The Book of Invasions

wrote the story of the Irish race 

writing in 1921 "Irish war of independence" between the IRA and British

considered a patriotic text

·      after the Stone Age (as far as we know). First people we know arrived about 7000 BC (quite late compared to the rest of Europe)[according to Moody it is 6000BC - migrate from Scandavia --> Britain --> Ireland] by boat from Britain. Hunter gatherers – middle stone age people. Settled by lake shores and coastal regions for food sources. Irish salmon very important in Irish folklore. They hunted bird and wild pig. They ate a lot of hazelnuts. Archaeologists have found mounds of hazelnut shells. Structures basic/temporary. 

·      farming began in the Near East 10,000BC and spread north west. NEW STONE AGE. Reached Ireland about 4000BC. Very slow diffusion. More permanent settlements than in the Mesolithic. You get new groups of people settling Ireland and they seemed to have brought their own plants and animals with them. This is what the pilgrims did. They brought cattle, sheep, goats, and domesticated pigs. These new settlers began to farm in the ways they used to, but when you farm you need a more settled lifestyle. Fewer seasonal sites and more permanent settlements (except for raising of animals).

·      EFFECTS OF NEOLITHIC: population growth, end of old hunter-gatherer lifestyle (probably by assimilation). Extensive forest clearance, need for more fuel and clear forest for crops. Very few forests left today.

·      MORE PERMANENT SETTLEMENTS: Lough Gur, Co. Limerick. The dwellings are substantial, last a few decades.

·      INNOVATIONS: Pottery, Jewelry, Burial Mounds. You can date one site relative to another with pottery. They were crucial because the point of agriculture is to save some food for later, produce more than you consumed. Pottery is watertight and can hold this surplus. Jewelry basic beads, means that these people had some leisure. People liked to adorn themselves. The erection of stone burial monuments.

·      first appear after first farmers, c. 4000BC. Method of construction not entirely clear. Not all have burials in them. May have served as burial markers. Stones were probably transported on rollers or timber sledges. These are the skeletons, they would have been covered with earth.

·      NEOLITHIC SOCIAL STATUS: megaliths erected by classless society, but between 3800 and 3000, social stratification emerges, shown by sizes of tombs. 

passage tomb constructed 2475BC

·      : part of a cemetery in the Boyne Valley. Site where Tuatha supposedly went when exiled to underground. Aligned with winter solstice. Both bodies buried and cremation. Essentially a water tight tomb. 

·      period of landscape change. Cooler wetter conditions, expansion of blanket bogs. Introduction of metals second only to farming as an important innovation. Metal working brought by diffusion or new people?

·      METAL WORKING: metal tools used in farming and woodworking, but also weapons. Poured into a mold. Mining in Ireland: Copper, Tin, Gold. Copper mining led to expansion of settlement in southwest. Some bronzes exported to Britain. Exchange of tin for copper with Cornwall. 130 sites in Irelands where gold could be found.

·      JEWELRY: helped by gold. The age called the golden age.

·      LATER BRONZE AGE: dense settlement by enclosed sites. Introduction of harnessed horse to pull plows. Dramatic shift in culture at the end of the period. 

 much stronger, you can do a lot more with it. More durable weapons and tools. How does it get to Ireland. Iron is associated with the Celts. Are the Celts the ones who brought it? Celtic has three kinds of definitions depending of evidence used. Classical (ethnographics), archaelogical, linguistic. 

based on classical sources

said to have arrived 300 BC bringing celtic language, art, customs, social organization that would dominate Irish history for 2000 ·      ARCHEOLOGICAL: Hallstatt c. 700BC in Austria is center and they spread rapidly. La Tene c. 500BC second wave. Massive fortified settlements, forts, cemetaries with complete intact burials, and certain metal artifacts. Archeologists have made the assumption that these are the celts referred to by classics.

·      LINGUISTICS: show places where celtic languages were spoken at a period we can identify them in. The map of the archeologist is fairly close to linguistic map. 

·      the written sources as people who speak Celtic language is modern. People weren’t really classified by language in ancient world. People can be physically related to each other, race is constructive category. Iconoclastic interpretation B: Celts spread from west to east. Its all on the table.

this society is a product of contact with the wider world

THE COURSE OF IRISH HISTORY ch2

PREHISTORIC IRELAND

Moody 

prehistoric Ireland - no flint implements and not enough animals

10,000BC giant deer in Ireland

6000 BC first people to migrate from Scandinavia to Britain to Ireland and stay in the NE because of lakes. 

new stone age - revolution

Neolithic colonizers reach Europe by 3000 BC - ate great quanities of meat and adorned themselves with beads. 

megalithic tombs - burial chamber passage grave 

800BC close fighting with heavy swords

Iron ores cheaper than coppr and superior to bronze

CELTS: 600BC, Iron-using tribes led by wealthy chiefs in central Europe - spread west due to superior weaponry

alexandrain Greek philosopher AD 100

earliest detailed account of Ireland

said length of Island 20 days from East to West

IN SEARCH OF HISTORY; THE CELTS

VIDEO

Celtic Control

390 BC

large control but not unified- individual tribes 

only Roman and Greek documentation of this period

enormous size - warfare taunt enemy - competitive rather than team sport

spent 6 months looting Rome

279BC Greek state at Delphi they are beaten into submission

barbarians did not dilute wine

DRUIDS

art- abstract, impressionistic

by the time of Julius Caesar in 60BC Celts on longer on top 58BC Caesar invades celtic gaul - 1 million killed and 1 million enslaved. celts romanized as a result

Romans leave in 410 and are repalced by the Anglo-Saxons

legacy of the celts - would have been more if they had stayed in Rome

THE CELTIC HERIOC AGE

Posidonius

135-50BC

says celts place dried grass on ground for meals

meat cooked on spits

sit in circle, powerful man in the center

wealthy italian wine unmixed with water

plain, honeyed beer

corma cup carried by servant right to left

combat during feasts

bards recite praises in song

THE CELTIC HERIOC AGE

Diodorus Siculus

wrote 60-30BC

silver is scarce, gold abundant

gauls very tall, white skin, blonde hair artificially lightened

nobled long mustache no beard

they do not fear death

decapitate slain enemies and attach to horse necks

ignoble to sell proof of valor

striped cloaks, horns on helmet, long sword

deep, harsh voices, few words - riddles

exaggerate claims

THE CELTIC HERIOC AGE

Strabo

wrote 64-21 AD

land full of gold - immigrated from celtica

spirited and quick to go to war

now enslaved and live according to Romans

THE CELTIC HEROIC AGE

Julius Caesar

wrote 50-44 BC

says political parties and leaders in Gaul make all decisions 

talks about Druids intervening in divine matters - no public info so they rely on memory

sacrifice the only way to placate the Gods

wives questioned at husband's deaths excruciating tortures all held dear placed in pyre including slaves and clients

great historian and linguist

said early Irish texts were a window on the Iron Age

tripartite division of society

1. sovereignty - those who rule 2. warfare - those who fought 3. fecundity - those who tilled the soil

o   KH Jackson – the immediate setting of the classic hero tales – archaic in appearance, substantial, consistent, the Tain shows us what Irish prehistory is like.

·      Purpose of transmission

o   Why do these texts exist? The early Irish scholars had a deep respect for and love of their heritage and wanted to preserve it before it was lost. Perhaps were projecting our own desires a little bit. A few scraps to support this idea. Nativists say writers concede reluctantly that there might be some censorship made by the monks. Some people depicted as human beings but are probably gods or goddesses. 

o   Many small kingdoms (tuatha, sing. Tuath) People rather than kingdoms.

o   Provinces very vaguely defined, geographical ideas, no borders.

o   Five provinces: Ulster, Connacht, Meath, Munster, Leinster. Meath has been absorbed by the other by today however.

o   Ritual centers: Tara – Meath middle – seat of the high kingship in Ireland. As soon as the texs come into being, Tara is already a thing of the past. There seemed to have been some religious centers to have been important to Irish.

·      Social status defines by the relationship to the RI of the tuath. 

·      

·      fundamental unit of social organization was the FAMILY. Family defines very precisely by legal purposes: the FINE of “kin group”. Legal variation varied for different reasons.

·      Fine often called derbfine or “cerain kind”. Went back to common great-grandfather. The most unusual – great grandfather.

·      Obligations of fine: payment of compensation, need to ratify all property transactions. Murder handled as lawsuit, hit up relatives to help pay fine. The purpose of this is to get families to police their own family members. If someone assaults your relatives, you get compensation. Property was not an individual holding, so you had to get the consent of the group to come up with a satisfactory arrangement. There are power relationships within the kin group. The basic principle is that the FAMILY IS IN IT TOGETHER.

·      Fosterage: relationship created when one family cared for the child of another family. Could be between equals between families of disparate social status. This allows you to equipt them with relationships other than their kin. 

·      society divided by profession and status, much of your daily existence is determined by this

§  wealth

§  occupation

·      face – honor or enech precisely graded and influenced all social and legal interaction.

o   Varied with social status

o   Precise monetary valuation – there was a unit for
slave girls”

o   Injuries to “face” could lead to lawsuits or violence

·      Main Social Classes under the King

No cities at all in rural Ireland.

·      Settlement dispersed

·      Fortified enclosures

·      Individual farms

·      Types of fortified enclosures: RING FORTS

§  Built to impress, back of earth with outer ditch, two or more walls, usually made entirely of earth, not huge

§  So common that they have been incorporated into the modern landscape

§  Some built with stone CAISEAL. Tend to find them on higher ground. Usually don’t have ditches.  

·      DUN – fortress or amphitheatre? The word is used for any stone building. These are rare, would have taken a lot of labor.

·      IRISH DWELLINGS

§  Houses inside ringforts make of wood and wicker. Probably very cold in the winter.

§  CRANNOG: special kind of irish dwelling situated on a lake. They could either be natural or artificial islands. These were probably some sort of defense. Causeway could have been removed. People still building these in the 8^th and 9^th centuries. There was a Welsh king who thought they were cool and went to Wales and built a bunch of them.

§  THE PROBLEM OF EVIDENCE: most individual houses leave no trace. Many plowed under. 

·      status determined by wealth (in cattle) and clientship

o   Clients sometimes nobles themselves, distinguished nobles from commoners.

o   Clients got land, advance of cattle, legal support, protection from violence.

o   Entitled the noble to labor service, renders of cattle, milk and milk products, grain, malt and meat

o   Free clientship and base clientship.

o   Free clients made renders to the lord for a fief or rath. High rent, could end the relationship by mutual agreement, could be contracted between social equals, duties included rising as a mark of respect and attendance on the lord, and providing labor services (usually performed by dependents).

o   Base clientiship: got cattle or sometimes land and/or farming equipment, Lord also purchased clients honor price by giving chattels in advance, Client paid a food rent, could not end agreement as easily, had to pay double to get out of it. Dig grave mound and attend feast in his honor. They must patrol borders of land and go on “hostings”. Ireland is very decentralized and borders are very fluid so people would gather together armed men to show flag and make expedition. You wanted clients to do that and show flag. Sometimes fighting but sometimes not.

o   Advantages of base clientship: paid lower rent, got protection, nobles get food supply, entertainment, stuats, labor services, and military aid.

o   Noble pursuits – primary occupations were fighting, feasting and hunting. Seem to have fought on chariots in the ancient past. 

 possibly descended from class with similar functions to druids

o   File means “seer” or “wiseman” – wisdom

o   Lawyers, praise-poets, poet-historians.

o   DRUIDS: modern revival due to “celtic” nationalism in the 18^th and 19^th centuries – reading of classics.

o   Wicker man – Britannia Antiqua Illustrata (1676)

o   “Archdruid” national welsh poetry competition. 

o   Laws applied to all of Ireland – uniform throughout country. Lawyers have free passage throughout the country.

o   Lawyers (“brehons”) not subsumed into clerical elite

o   Legal texts preserve legal rules, not case law. Law comes up a lot in stories.

o   Irish law fundamentally about compensation, not punishment.

o   King and the law: no records of Kings taking initiative in “legal matters” (no charters, writs, wills) no royal statues. But king’s justice paramount.

o   Judges acted to advise kings.

o   Law school in early Ireland: by early Christian period, law schools had appeared in which legal texts were copied and glossed, especially 8^th c. Senchas Mar “The Great Old Stuff”

o   The scope of Irish Law: covers ALL OF SOCIETY.

§  Distraint: was the recognized legal method for coercing someone into complying with the law. Depriving someone of the ability to make use o their assets (usually cattle). Could take place on large or small scale. Cattle raids were probably often “legal” in origin. TAKE THE LAW INTO YOUR OWN HANDS. Not wholly archaic traditions. Earliest tradition: aggressor had to nurse the victim back to health – over time commuted to monetary payment. 

o   Fili (professional) vs bards (amateur)

o   Poets could travel freely around Ireland

o   Praise poetry primarily intended to flatter patrons. Could be dangerous though – satire could prove fatal. Society that values words very highly.

o   Historical poetry embodies lore. Included myths.

·      Four main literary cycles

o   Mythological cycles

o   Ulster cycle ( the tain)

o   Cycles of the kings

o   Fenian cycle

THE COURSE OF IRISH HISTORY

ch 3 Early Irish Society

Moody

cletic invaders arrive at the end of Bronze Age (sixth century BC)

sacked Rome 390, later Delphi

La Tene - culture of the late Iron Age

Tain - saga tradition set in Ulster and Connact

language derives from Q-celtic

Niall of the Nine Hostages - prince of Connacht won fame by successful raids on Britain

Old Irish Sagas written down by Latin scholars

Book of Leinster - 12th century - sketch of banquetting hall of Tara

fine: joint family

tuath: political unit

payment of blood money from the slayer

by fifth century, Niall and sons had upset the ancient division of Ireland into 5 fifths by setting up new kingdoms

written in 12th century, takes place in 1st century

Queen Medb of Connaught gathers an army in order to gain possession of the most famous bull in Ireland, which is the property of Daire, a chieftain of Ulster. Because the men of Ulster are afflicted by a debilitating curse, the seventeen-year-old Cuchulain must defend Ulster single-handedly. The battle between Cuchulain and his friend Ferdiad is one of the most famous passages in early Irish literature.

society values male power - daughter included as a form of moveable property

sexual values "friendship of her thighs"

female power comes from wealth - Medb's father "high king of Ireland"

relationship between pride and honor - they are obviously going to die

cattle raid - pride

Fergus: exile in Connacht, they cant win without him

Ferdiad: cu's foster brother, they learned to fight together

gae bolga- the bagged spear = dramatic center piece

parallelisms to sources about Early Irish society: severed heads, naked fighting, consulting druids, chariots, free love, gold artifacts, nomadic peoples, large warriors, war cries, torque warp spasm, spiky hair - lime paste!

late fourth/ early fifth century

probably in the South (Cashel)

how does it grow?

§  Trading raiding contacts

o   Roman hacksilver and 1506 coins

o   There is obviously a lot of exchange between Roman lands and Ireland.

§  Prisoners of War

o   Patrick mentions thousands taken captive

o   So first Christians in Ireland may have been Britons.

§  Settlement by Irish in Britain

o   Scotland

o   Wales

o   Cornwall

o   No evidence, though, that these Irish in Britain were Christians.

§  The British Church

o   Already Christians in Britain in early THIRD CENTURY (before conversion of Constantine)

o   Poor, but intellectually lively

o   Did not take over from Roman civil authority as was typical on the continent.

o   Reformation caused by (Pallagius and Henry VIII)

o   Remained the religion of the urban elite.

o   Britain is too far away from Rome to continue governing in the Roman fashion. It is under threat itself, not strong administratively. The Irish will eventually reconvert Britain later on. 

431

Gaulish deacon sent to Ireland as bishop by Pope Celestine to the "Irish believing in Christ"

o   probably had some rhetorical training at Auxerre

o   Probably came from a famous Gallo-Roman Family

o   Reverse Pallagius heresy

o   Little know about him.

o   Place-named indicate disciples Auxilius and Iserninus may have operated

§  Other Evidence of Palladius

o   East Coast has traces of Roman contacts

o   Irish Easter table show state of Easter controversy in late FOURTH century Gallican and in Italian churches.

o   Other wise, nothing survives.

o   So far missionaries all working in the South

431 - 461 AD

   Unique witness

§  Only first person account of captivity beyond Roman borders

§  His own writings are only reliable evidence about life.

§  We don’t have anyone else’s side of the story

§  We have to be a bit cautious

§  Earliest manuscript is four hundred years from the earliest textual witness

§  BOOK OF ARMAGH EARLY 9th CENTURY

·      St. Patrick dossier compiled to establish claim of primacy of Ireland. 

o   Comfortable youth

o   Captivity for 6 years in Ireland

o   Some years back in Britain

o   Vision of angel Victoricius telling him to return to Ireland

o   Mission to Ireland not as a bishop but as a private citizen

o   St. Patrick’s territory

§  St. Patrick probably worked in the north, especially in the northeast. Probably cooked up to give Armagh a claim over the churches

§  Challenges understanding Patrick

o   Dates (431 vs. 461) written retrospectively. Not contemporary. Conflict.

o   Puzzling silences

o   He doesn’t mention PALLADIUS. Is Patrick ignorant of Palladius or is he suppressing mention of him. Does he want to deemphasize the work of other people?

o   Physical danger

o   Resistance from parents

o   Oppositions from kings and aristocracy

o   Charges of corruption by his own church leaders

o   Other missionaries worked in the southeaster Ireland at the same time but left no writings (evidence solely from places-names)

o   Conversion seems to have processed very slowly for several centuries

o   Tuath by tuath

Paganism still present in the seventh century!!!! but then seemed to have dwindled 

§  Inscriptions carved mainly on stone

§  Erected from FOURTH to SIXTH centuries

§  A system of writing based largely on the Roman alphabets, short lines in groupings on the side of a central line. Like a bar code. Most standing stones are grave markers. We can decode these because knowledge of the writing system was never lost.

§  Ogam alphabet – Book of Ballymote

§  300 survive in Ireland with very few Christian traces

§  unlike British stones, which have inscriptions repeated in Latin letters – Irish simple genealogical formulae

§  the acceptance of the church was more advanced in the Irish areas of Britain than Ireland itself. 

·      (543-615)

·      Went to Gaul with 12 companions

·      Caused trouble at the Frankish court

·      Founded numerous monasteries that became centers of learning (luxeuil, Bobbio)

·      Exiled from the Frankish court, founded monasteries preserving learning of antiquity

·      (597)

·      Founded a confederation in both Ireland and what is now Scotland (Derry, Durrow, Kells, Iona)

·      Iona extended its influence

·      VITA by ADAMNAN, lochness monster first mentioned in this work.

·      Sea voyages could end in disaster

THE COURSE OF IRISH HISTORY

Ch 4 The Beginnings of Christianity

st. patrick author of earliest documents known to have been written in Ireland

ogham alphabet

Armagh considered patrick's church

individual cells: divine worship, mortification, study, and manual labor

strict rules of Columbanus ultimately abandoned

patriach over 3000 monks 

"the land of promise of the saints"

14 monks, fast 40 days

light vessel - wicker sides

little black boy possessed

St Patrick

fifth century

use of bible verses repetitive, used to instill authority

dissent in church, seems to have insecurities about his hold of leadership post

he was obviously not forgiven by the British church for bribery charges

reason behind letter - to shame coroticus - shows the importance of HONOR

captive to the will of God

o   Parish churches were very large, similar Anglo=Saxon minster churches

§  Nucleus of settlement

§  Could have several thousand residents

§  Those churches were called paruchiae – self contained community

§  Ruled by an often hereditary leader (coarb or erenagh)

§  Bishop on hand to perform sacramental functions – day to day administrative properties carried out by coarb or erenagh

o   In 7th century, Armagh in the north claimed to be archbishopric of the whole island

o   Used authority of St. Patrick to buttress claims.

o   They don’t have any sort of letter from the Pope and Rome never created an office for them. They are hoping that it’s going to fly. Why do they do this? 

o   Armagh’s clever retreat – accepted the Roman Easter in late 7^th C.

o   Result: success

o   By the time of 12^th c. church reform, Armagh chosen as primatial seat of Ireland based on association with St. Patrick. 

o   Lives of saints (vitae)

§  Most written 800-1200

§  In Latin and Irish (unusual)

§  Most anonymous

§  Lives treat 5^th to 7^th century saints but reflect later conditions.

§  Were not sure if they are based on a sound oral tradition.

§  Gives a good account of what the monastic movement thinks of itself. 

LAND OF WOMEN

Tales of Sex and Gender from Early Ireland

Lisa Bitel

women not social or political equals

no independent legal rights

a girl or woman defined socially in relation to her male guardian- women's bodies poor, less valuable copies - never attained their full human potential

sisters less righteous than priests

Mebd entirely exempt from the consequences of her sexual advances

Becfola seduces her husband's foster son - her husband more upset about people disturbing the sabbath

women were associated with the worst kinds of passion

literati write texts - written by elites for elites

Cain Admanan - liberated women from their suffering but only because his mother made him. pioneered the concept of motherhood in early ireland

adomnan came to emancipate women 

give them the single highly valued social role of motherhood

tensions between fosterers and mothers

dairy and cloth production

miracles

food kept lasting - provisional miracles

release captives - speaks to social relations in ireland 

fire on wedding night - sanctity of preserving virginity

fosterage of an illegitimate child

law promulgated in 697 but written in the 9th century

glorifies Cain Adamnan

the audience knows that it has probably been exaggerated

the status of women was being discussed

image of little babe on the breast of a corpse revolting

speaks about women using term slavery

unless ye women of this world do good to my community the offspring ye willl bear shall decay, or they shall die full of crimes

genealogy at the end 

"small dowry"  - went after her husbands foster son - seen as used - she travels to see him and her husband only rebukes the clerics for traveling on the sabbath

©     terse records of events kept in monasteries, take on a life of their own – people needed to keep rack of the wonders so that they would know when the world would end, they also wrote down pedestrian things as well. Seems pretty straight forward. What’s the risk with these annals? They may not be written down strictly contemporaneously. You may have retrospective annals. Sometimes things have been fudged a bit. Is anyone keeping Easter tables before St. Patrick came to Ireland, so the habit of keeping records doesn’t come in effect until the sixth century. Sometimes they get the math wrong. 

©     here are many for this period and they include 10,000 names. The real problem is not the sheer volume, but rather that they have been improved to take account of later developments. Sometimes people are removed because they are unimportant. Other times you end up with an ancestor named for the region that your dynasty controls. Conn – “Connacht” gives their name to a tribal group. This is called an EPONOMOUS ancestor. They send up red flags in terms of how historical they are. 

©     not really law codes, but rather discussions of what lawyers thought kings should be. Were not sure how much they reflect how kings really acted.

o   One of the four main literary cycles of early Irish literature

o   Concentration on kings from dominant dynasties.

o   A “grab bag” literary cycle: most diverse.

o   By the latest reckoning there are 137 of these tales. They come in all types. There are stories about battle with supernatural women. An entire subgenre devoted to the way that kings die.

o   Irish were obviously very interested in kings. There was a decided preference for kings who had been successful or at least dynasties that had been successful. If you map out the King tales you can see that the vast majority of king tales that have survived are ones that dominated Irish politics.

o   Praise for kings who represent military success and justice

o   Blame (and punishment) for failure

§  Threefold death for kings who violate expectations.

§  You die three ways

§  You can usually see it coming

§  There’s usually nothing you can do about it

·      There is a heavy emphasis on the expectation that the king will provide justice. If he doesn’t rule that way that’s a problem. Here’s a king who rules justly. Whatever people are worried about in contemporary politics, at the times the tales are being told people are worried about justice. They are projecting their concerns about justice. 

©     Choosing the King

©     Evidence from king tales, legal texts, and annals

©     According to tales:

o   King often had supernatural birth

o   King then married the land.

©     The Goddess of Sovereignty

©     Could appear in various guises

o   Beautiful omen (Etain)

o   Loathsome Hag (story of Niall Noigiallach)

THE COURSE OF IRISH HISTORY

The Golden Age of Early Christian Ireland

latin education standardized between fifth and sixth centuries

spoken learning came to be written down - latin words to describe irish legal practices

Brigid: perfect example of hospitality

fusion of Irish and Latin cultures found in art: gold, silver, precious stones, carved statues

Book of Kells perfect example of art - marvelous colors, innumerable drawings, intricacies said to be the work of angels

english student sometimes came to Ireland for education

Eighth or ninth century text

The wooing of Etain

Oengus fostered at the house of Midir

Oengus bought Etain from father Ailil

Fuamnach turns her into a pool of water, purple fly, etain born 1012 years after her first birth

AIlil wastes away, Etain goes to the hill to cure him but it is really Midir

Eochaid incestuous union instead of Etain

The Destruction of Da Dergas hostile

Conaire Mor breks taboos and travels alon the coast of ireland 

conaire had exiled men to britain and they try to burn down hostile three time Mac Cecht travels with cut but arrives just after they cut off Conaire's head 

Conaire's head drinks water and recites a poem praising Mac Cecht

The Birth of Aed Slaine

territorial goddess of munster gave birth t a trout before she bore him

THe kin slaying of Ronan

Fingal Ronan pursued by his stepmother - she accses him of attempted rape 

killed by warrior as ordered by the king

ronan laments his sons death and the queen kills herself

Niall high king of Ireland from 379 to 405

early example of th personification of ireland in the form of a woman

he has superior judgment - he naturally knew that she was a beautiful woman and said she was the sovereignty of Ireland - meatphore for gaining sovereignty. 

·      6^th-9^th centuries Irish monasticism inspired artistry

·      Ten Gospel Manuscripts

·      Older than 1000 AD

·      Book of Kells and Darrow

·      Great names associated with centers of education

·      Book of Armagh contains complete new testament and St. Patrick emblem

·      Columba left Ireland for Iona

·      Adamnan (Columba biographer) tells vivid story of Columba in his dying days – copying the psalms from a manuscript. Asked him to finish the psalm.

·      The script was in itself an art

·      Fish – early Christian symbol

·      Boxes for preservation of the manuscript – stowe missile

·      Orders of baptism and visitation of the sick written in Latin.

·      Significant amount of coloring as the art develops.

·      Sections and paragraphs marked with capital letters area associated in fourth century. 

·      Capital letters colorful, sometimes composed of human figures, animals, grotesque sense of tragedy, humor. Geometric patterns beautifully framed. Helped the illiterates.

·      Calf skins used

·      Special relationship between scribe and type of velum he used.

·      Adorned with gold – enriched by smiths

o   : significant increase in finds from fifth to eighth century. THREE areas of prominence: metal work, stone carving, jewelry

o   Most surviving artifact are religious. Secular objects subject to changing fashions. Some media, such as woodcarving, are mostly lost. This is not a representative sample, religious artifacts more likely to be kept. Many things melted down to make new things are pawned for cash. In religious house- if associated with important religious figure – then you would hold onto it. We know textiles were extremely important (form of expression for women) but there are little example of this.

o   Problem: hard to date them (especially metalworking and stone carving). Sometimes better luck with manuscripts because there are sometimes dates written in. Hard to localize finds because of similarities among all of “insular art” also called HIBERNO-SAXON. 

o   Blend of CELTIC, CLASSICAL and GEMRANIC art motifs

o   Formal patterns: spirals, interlaces, frets, steps, intertwined beasts, some plant ornaments.

o   Overall effect: STYLIZED AND ABSTRACT, not a naturalistic art. Emphasis is on striping objects down to their geometric essentials and manipulating them to abstract patterns

o   Developed as a result of contacts between Ireland and Roman Britain (in both directions) from the 3^rd and especially the 4^th c.

o   Apart from brooches, most objects are religious.

o   Liturgical object: ARDAGH CHALICE- found in 1868 by a farmer. Dates from 8^th century. The underside is richly decorated as well – because chalice is elevated during the mass. Obviously wealthy patron payed for it – a statement of extravagance

o   Metalworker practices motifs on a bone. 

o   cult of the saints of Ireland – claim to the spiritual power of the saint and you need to be able to show this piece to the faithful. Some mostly meant to be displayed in churches and others were for personal devotion. Lead and tin hammered into wood. Could be worn on a chord around the neck. 

o   finest examples of insular style date from late 7^th through the early 9^th centuries. Earliest is the Book of Durrow from 675. Middle generation, and Book of Kells

o   Characteristics: intricate, abstract interlace and animal ornament, highly stylized human figures with very flat surfaces – two dimensionality of the flat plain. 

o   Canterbury Codex captured by Vikings in late 9^th century and held for ransom which was paid. On the whole realistic, trying to depict actual human being. Durrow example is very much two-dimensional – excuse for interlaced decorations. 

o   Towns

o   Shipbuilding

o   Foreign trade

o   Coinage

going against the perceived historical idea - like vickings destorying everythingo

 may have gone too far

·      Vikings certainly disrupted native political process

·      Violence undoubtedly did Towns

Essentially they burst onto the scene in the late 8^th century, terrorize for 200 years, and then go home.

Scandinavian country side may have been unable to support the population so people took to the seas, they went all the way to Constantinople and thoroughly explored the north Atlantic. Very long history of settling in Greenland and in Newfoundland.

Improvement in ship building and navigation techniques made long distance travel possible. You tried to intimidate opponents. Removable heads. They were highly maneuverable with sails and ors. They rowed very high up in the water, traveled high upstream on navigable rivers. Allowed them to raid very far inland.

Phases of Activity

·      Raids by single boats

·      Larger fleets leading quickly to settlement

·      Involvement in local politics - integrated into political scene

THE EARLY PHASE

Raids mostly by one or several ships

First in a long series was 795 AD

·      Inishmurray, inishbofin

·      Rathlin island.

Iona particularly hard hit

·      Raids in 795, 802, 804 (68 people killed) many relocated to mainland in 807 to Kells – may have been the transportation of the book of Kells from Iona.

·      Repeated attacks on certain monasteries show the resilience of Irish economy. People brought there valuables to monasteries so the deposits in these banks would be replenished between raids. So it was worth going back to the same one over and over. Armagh was plundered three times in the same year. Sign that the economy in Ireland is resilient – money keeps flowing in.

Viking banks

·      Burying treasure in hoards (cuerdale hoard) seems to have been assembled in Dublin but buried in Northern Britain

Shift in the 830’s common to Vikings in Ireland and British Isles generally

·      Began to hit south and west of Ireland (Munster and Connacht as well)

·      Vikings now acting together

o   Fleets on the Liffey and Boyne rivers in 837

§  60 ships each , probably with a crew of 30

§  raided secular settlements as well as churches

§  battle against southern Ui Neill.

·      Began to construct more permanent settlements (longphort) from southwestern Norway, More Denmark Vikings in Britain.

·      Possibly because of reverses on the continent due to Frankish counterattacks.

·      Settlements at Dublin, Arklow, Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Limerick

·       Change Irish landscape permanently.

·      The areas that were significantly affected are fairly limited. 

841

Destroyed 902 kings of Brega due to internecine fighting

Vacant for 15 years.

·      N 917 a new settlement built by Sitrius son of Imar reoccupied it, but 2 miles down

ideal location for viking trade routes

1014

o   Portrayed as clash between Irish and foreigners

o   In fact Brian was allies with Limerick Vikings against eh Dublin Norse and the Leinstermen

·      System of alternating Kingship of Tara had broken down

o   Northern and southern Ui Neill fought eachother from the early 10^th c.

·      Mathgamain defeated Eoganachta and rled from CASHEL

·      KILLED in a reolve by Munster Kings in alliance with Vikings

·      BRIAN BORU would avenge his brother’s death

·      The “Lion of Ireland”

·      Punished brother’s murderers and consolidated his position in Munster

·      He is not content with provincial power, he aspires to more.

·      In 984, Brian allied with the Norse of Waterford in preparation for attack on Leinster in Dublin. Brian by land and Waterford Norse by sea

·      Confronting the Ui Neill

o   In 988 confrtonted the Ui Neill king, Mael Sechnaill by leading a fleet up the Shannon

o   In 996, he took hostages in Leinster

o   In 997 two kings met at Clonfert to formalize division of the Island. Exchanged hostages, equal at the moment

o   In 999 Brian repudiated his pact with Sechniall and attacked him

§  In 1002 Brian took hostages from Mael Sechnaill

§  In 1005 Brian marched north and took hostages

§  Gave 20 ounce of gold to Armagh

o   THE HIGH KINGSHIP

o   Brian was thas able to make the claim of “king of Ireland”

§  Probably no more authority than Ui Neill kings had had

§  No institutions of kinship, but set a precendetn that would be looked to as provincial kings struggled for high-kingship

·      Reasons for Brian’s success

o   Divisions within provincial kingdoms

o   Ability to exploit Norse of Limerick, Waterford, and Cork and Dublin when possible

o   Apt ecclesiasitical politician

§  Allied with Armagh

§  Put his own family members in charge of important Munster churches.

·      The Decline

o   In 1012, warning signs

o   Nothern rulers took the field

o   Norse of Dublin came into conflict with Brian’s (now) ally, Mael Sechnaill

o   CLONTARF

o   Dublin Norse called in allied from the isles

o   Leintersmen also prepared for attack

o   Brian failed to attract allies from north and west

o   Right before the battle, quarrel with Sechnaill

o   Thus Brian went into battle on Good Friday 1014

o   Battle of Clontarf was hard fought Leinster and Dublin forces eventually routed

o   Brian killed in his tent by a Norsemen fleeing the scene

§  Brian taken north to Armagh and buried with great ceremony

·      Signifcance of Clontarf

o   Not defeat of Norse but blow to Munster Kings

o   Still, within a generation, Brian’s grandson would dominate Leinster and Dublin

o   Thus, battle only forestalled later developments

o   Good story, not history

·      Ireland after Clontarf

o   Provincial kingdoms strengthened

o   Vikings a local factor, but no longer aggressive (due to developments elsewhere in the Viking world)

o   Ireland about to come into closer contacts with the rest of Europe

The War of the Irish with the Foreignors

early twelfth century, at least 100 years after the actual event

is a two-part medieval Irish chronicle that claims to record the depredations of the Vikings in Ireland and the Irish king Brian Boru's great war against them. That war culminated in the Battle of Clontarf (1014), in which Brian was slain but his forces were victorious. However, the chronicle, which extravagantly compares King Brian to Augustus and Alexander the Great, was written in the early twelfth century, at least a hundred years after the events that the anonymous composer claims to record had unfolded.

was king of Mide and High King of Ireland. He was a contemporary of Brian Boru, who deposed him as High King in 1002.

Máel Sechnaill belonged to the Clann Cholmáin sept of the Uí Néill. He was the grandson of Donnchad Donn, great-grandson of Flann Sinna and great-great-grandson of the first Máel Sechnaill, Máel Sechnaill mac Máele Ruanaid. The Kings of Tara or High Kings of Ireland had for centuries alternated between septs of the Uí Néill. By Máel Sechnaill's time this alternating succession passed between Clann Cholmáin in the south and the Cenél nEógain in the north, so that he succeeded Domnall ua Néill in 980. This system, which had survived previous challenges by outsiders including the kings of Ulster, Munster and Leinster, and the Viking invasions, was ended by Brian Boru's overthrow of Máel Sechnaill.

By the intervention of his warriors at the end of the battle of Clontarf on Good Friday, 1014, Máel Sechnaill sealed the fate of the Vikings as a political force in Ireland. Because of the death of Brian Boru, his son, and many other clan leaders, on the battlefield, he succeeded in regaining the titular High Kingship, with the aid of his northern kinsman Flaithbertach Ua Néill, but effective High Kingship, albeit with opposition, did not reappear until Brian's grandsonToirdelbach Ua Briain rose to power in the 1050s. Clann Cholmáin provided no further High Kings, but the northern Uí Néill of the Cenél nEógain provided two: Domnall Ua Lochlainn and Muirchertach MacLochlainn.

THE COURSE OF IRISH HISTORY

The Age of the Viking Wars

The Book of Kells was written and painted at the Irish foundation of St. Collum Cille on the island of Iona

795 long low ships with patterned sails with iron spears ransacked monastic villages

viking heathenism and indifference to sanctity

at home vikings were seamen, farmers and still pagans

eognachta and the ui neill came into conflict 

gradual stregthening of the power of the kings of tara - vikings in the northern half brought over control and the cashel dyasty declines

irishmen played a considerable part in the revival of learning in Europe under charlemagne 

irish learned mobility with ships, horsemen adopted heavy swords, iron spears, helmets, Scandinavian animal patterns

viking influence on economy: opened up to the outside world

viking words in the irish language

social and political center shifted to east cost

from the 13th century 

brief description of the Battle of Clontarf and the death of Brian Boru - favorable to him suggestion of pious death 

Binchy

described irish society as "rural, tribal, hierarchal, and familiar" 

says the norse turn society upside down in all of these areas

rural --> towns

tribal and heirarchical --> increased royal power

familiar --> fine - schliocht

changes n irish politics --> single king

otherness --> sense of identity

changes attributed to the need to defend Ireland against the norse

Lucas

agrees with Binchy that things changes 

but it is the Irish working WITH the norse - they plunder churches together, produce children, intermarry

nationalism develops in the presence of norse

you cant say there was a concerted effort however you can argue for nationalism if Norse tribes seen as fellow Irish tribes

"this is happening anyway"

presence of Viking allies in the Battle of Clontarf

Conchobar, like all the Ulstermen but Cúchulainn, is unable to fight, disabled by the curse of Macha. Cúchulainn fights a series of single combatsagainst Connacht champions, hoping to give the Ulstermen time to recover andtake the field.