History - Early Christian Ireland

Pre - Christian Ireland

Before Christianity came to Ireland , the country had a Celtic culture. The Celtic culture had come to Ireland about 900 years before which coincided with the Iron age. The Celtic language, laws, and religion were spoken and practised. The druids controlled the Celtic religion. It was a pagan religion that believed in many gods.

The coming of Christianity to Ireland

There were Christians in Ireland by the 5th century. Some were from Roman Britain who had been captured by Irish warriors while others were Irish people who had been converted. The first missionary was Palladius who was sent in 431 CE. The most famous missionary was ST Patrick.

ST Patrick

ST Patrick was born in Wales but at age 16 he was captured by Irish raiders. He was a slave for 6 years, tending sheep on mountains in the west of Ireland. He later escaped and eventually got home to his family. Later he became a priest and a bishop and returned to Ireland as missionary.

Differences between Celtic religion and Christianity

Celtic Religion

  • Worshipped many gods and goddesses

  • Believed in life after death, an otherworld

  • Their priests were called Druids who organised 4 main religious events

  • The Hill of Tara and Eamhain Macha were used for religious events

  • Human and animal sacrifices

    Christianity

  • Worshipped 1 god

  • Believed in life after death, heaven and hell

  • Druids were gone priests, bishops and monks led religious services

  • Churches and Monastries were founded

  • Human and animal sacrifice were banned

Early Irish Monastries

In the 6th century and onwards , many monastries were set up. ST Enda in the Aran islands, St Finian of Clonard, St Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, St Kevin of Glendalough, St Brendan of Clonfert, St Ita of Killeedy and St Bridgid of Kildare.

What happened in Monastries

The Bible was studied, manuscripts were written, metal-working and stone-carving were done to honour god and visitors were welcomed. The monks lived simple lives - they followed strict rules with the abbot in charge because by obeying him they were obeying god, ora et labora, they had 8-10 services per day where they prayed, they produced their own food on their own farm sometimes they had lay monks to help with the work. The food the monks ate consisted of cabbage, vegtables, flour, mixed with water and a biscuit and they ate in the evening so that the stomach would not be burdened and the mind not confused. Monks also wore long tunics with woolen cloaks and shoes or sandals. Their was cut in a tonsure.

Monasteries

Some monasteries such as Clonmacnoise, Clonard, Kells, Cork, Clonfert, Armagh and Glendalough were very large. They were built along important routes. Some such as Clonmacnoise were monastic towns with lay people living around it. They were centres of econimic activity. Some were small and remote, built on islands such as Skellig Michael where monks live in small stone beehive huts beside a small stone church.

Monastry buildings

In larger monastries , the buildings were surrounded by a circular bank or wall. the main building was the church or oratory. The earlier churches were small and wooden while the later ones were made from stone but both with the same simplistic design. Other buildings included.

  • The abbot’s house

  • The refectory, where the monks ate

  • The scriptorium where manuscripts were written

  • The guest house for visitors

  • Single cells where the monks lived

  • cemetary or graveyard

  • Round towers - Some monasteries had round towers such as Glendalough and Clonmacnoise. They were stone towers between 25 and 40 meters tall. The door was high above the ground and accesible by a ladder or wooden steps. Inside were 4 or more wooden floors and at the top there were 4 windows facing north south east and west. The towers were used as belfriers ( bell towers ) when a hand bell was rung from the top to call the monks to prayer. They were also used for storage and for safety when the monastry was attacked by the vikings. they were also a status symbol.

What was the contribution of Christianity to Culture and Society in early christian ireland

  1. New Religion - Irish people were converted to a new religion, Christianity. Celtic religion was gone. Druids were replaced by bishops, priests, nuns and monks. Christianity changed some laws so that polygamy and divorce were banned.

  2. Monastries and towns - big and small monastries and nunneries grew up around the country. some of the larger monastries had settlements around them with many lay people living there for example Clonmacnoise.

  3. Reading and writing - some people became literate. Reading and writing was done in Latin. Manuscripts were written in latin by the monks. New words came into irish from latin particularly religion and education words. Later on manuscripts were written in Irish.

  4. Contributation to art - By the 8th centuary the church had became a big patron of art. Irish monks produced great works of art such as manuscripts, stone crosses and religious ornaments. Manuscripts - were handwritten books with the gospels, the psalms, the lives of saints and celtic sagas were written in latin, later irish. The Anals record the events of early irish history, for example anals of the 4 masters. The monks who wrote the manuscripts were scribes who had great writing and illuminating skills. they practised on wax tablets. the manuscripts were written in the scriptorium on vellum or parchment. they were written with reeds or quills. the ink was produced from minerals and plants. example the book of kells. High crosses - the monks also carved stone crosses. at first they were simple but later on they became more detailed with scenes from the bible and stories of saints to teach illiterate people about christianity. Metal-working - Monks produced fine silver chalices, croziers and brooches decorated with gold, amber and enamel. The geometric gold wiring was called filigree. The influence of celtic designs - the la tene style- can clearly be seen. Example the ardagh chalice.

  5. to europe - Irish monks became great latin scholars. Some went abroad to start their own monastries. St colmcille went to scotland to found the monastry of Iona. st columbanas and his followeres went and set up many monastries in France, switzerland and Italy.

  6. St patricks day and irish diaspora - by the 20th centuary st patrick and the coming of christianity became part of irish identity. Every year on the 17th of march parades happen around the world which brings the irish diaspora together.

  7. The historical significance of christianity on the island of ireland in later centuries - christianity has influenced the development of irish history for almost 2000 years. In the 16th centuary, the reformation divided christianity into protestant and catholic. In the 17th centuary during the plantation of ulster thousands of protestants from england and scotland were given land in the north of ireland this caused conflict between the native irish catholics and the protestants. This conflict resulted in divisions in the 19th and 20th centuaries when catholic nationalists demanded home rule and independence for ireland while protestant unionists wanted ireland to remain under the control of britain. These differences led to the partition of ireland in 1920 and later the troubles in northern ireland from the 1960s to the early 2000s.