Page 14 - IRISH HISTOEY - CHAPT 1_Neat

A Bare Bones History of Ireland Chap 1

spiritually. Britain, Scotland, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Slovakia,
Russia, Iceland, Greenland, America... are in many ways linked to Irish monks
Bobbio, Fiesole, Lucca, Taranto, Lumièges, Auxerre, Laon, Luxeuil, Liège, Trier,
Wurzburg, Regensburg, Rheinau, Reichenau, Salzburg, Vienna, St. Gallen... are all
European towns founded by, or linked to, Irish monks

Monastic Settlements in Ireland
Monastic schools in Ireland became
centres of excellence for peoples from
all over Europe. The historian Bede
and an earlier English contemporary,
Aldhelm, reported that sizeable
contingents of English students trained
as missionaries in Ireland
While the religious training was
paramount, both confirm that secular Reconstruction of a typical Irish Monastic Community
subjects were also taught at Irish
monastic schools and they both make it clear that students often travelled from site to
site seeking out teachers who had specialized knowledge in selected subjects

Lindisfarne, Northumberland: During the early decades of the seventh century
many Anglo-Saxon nobles were educated at Irish monasteries in northern Britain,
specifically at Iona. Bede said that the Irish willingly welcomed the English
students, gave them food, and provided them with books and instruction, without
seeking any payment. When these Irish-educated English nobles returned to
England, they invited Irish missionaries into their pagan kingdoms to evangelize.
For example, the Anglo-Saxon King Oswald invited the Irish bishop Aidan from
Iona into his kingdom, and Aidan founded the monastery at Lindisfarne on the
coast of Northumberland around 635.
Iona: The monastery of Iona, founded by Columba, encouraged literary production
in both languages. For example, one of its more famous abbots, Adomnán (679–
704), mentioned already as the author of the Latin "Life of Columba," wrote a
description in Latin of the significant sites in the Holy Land called "On the Holy
Places" (De Locis Sanctis). Abbot Adomnán also wrote and promulgated a law
(Cáin Adomnáin, 697), written in Irish, which was intended to protect women,
children, and clerics from the ravages of warfare.
Clonmacnoise: was founded in 544 by St. Ciarán, a young man from Rathcroghan,
Co. Roscommon. Until the 9th century it had close associations with the kings of
Connacht. The strategic location of the monastery helped it become a major centre
of religion, learning, craftsmanship, and trade by the 9th century and together with
Clonard it was the most famous in Ireland, visited by scholars from all over Europe.
From the ninth until the eleventh century it was allied with the kings of Meath and
many of the high kings of Tara and Connacht were buried here.

Illuminated Manuscripts
The rise of the manuscript coincided with the spread of Christianity, and many of the
early texts were produced specifically to aid in the process of conversion. In the Celtic
areas of Western Europe, the most important kind of text was the Gospel Book.
Of the wealth of Irish manuscripts which has come down to us from the early centuries
of the Christian era (c.500-850), two in particular, the Book of Durrow (c.650) and
the Book of Kells (c.800), stand as monuments of decorative art in that critical period

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