Craig Haggart

The cili De and ecclesiasticalgovemment in Ireland in the eighth and ninth centuries. Craig Haggart Submitted for the degreeof Ph.D. in the Department of Celtic, University of Glasgow, March 2003. C Craig Haggart 2003 Abstract This thesisexamines the CjU Dj, individual ecclesiasticswho constitutedthe intellectualand spiritualelite in the early medievalIrish church.The period covered by the thesisis restrictedto A.D. 700-900and focussesmost fully on the late eighth and early ninth centuries.A distinction is drawn betweenthose individuals referred to as cili Dj during this period under study and those 'communities within communities',concerned for the welfareof the sick and the poor, to whom the name is later attested.The thesisexamines the primary sourcematerial, considers past and presenttheories regarding these ecclesiastics and refutes the consensusof opinion that the c8i Dj were a reform movementwho emergedin reactionto a degenerate clergy in a church under secularinfluence. It discusseswhat was intendedby the designationcili Dj and proffersthe opinion that the c8i Dj were insteadconcerned with advancingall aspectsof the dutiesand responsibilitiesof the church.Particular developmentsin ecclesiasticalorganisation during the period under study are discussedand the extentof the role of individual cile Dj in theseare examined,but will concludethat it shouldnot be assumedthat thesedevelopments, or concernfor their introduction,was wholly restrictedto the cili De. Therewas a changein the basisof the sourceof royal authority from popular to divine sanction, during the course of the eighth century, and the political repercussionsof this more abstractconcept of kingship would ultimately culminate in the emergenceof Irish national identity. The potential extent of cili Dj involvement in the promulgation of ecclesiasticallaw, a contributory factor in establishingcentralised ecclesiastical authority, is discussedand an examinationof attemptsby kings of Tara to control the appointmentof the abbotsof Armagh is provided in an effort to indicatehow they soughtto establisha centralisedsecular authority on the basisof the acknowledgedauthority of Armagh. Finally, the thesis providesan examinationof the reign of Feidlimid mac Crimthainn,king of Munster (820-47),who was an ecclesiasticbefore becomingking and who, it is considered, washimself a Me De. 3 CONTENTS Tables Prefaceand acknowledgement 5 Author's declaration Abbreviations 9 Chapter 1: Conceptsof the cili D,j: views past and present 10 Chapter 2: The context of c8i: what was meant by cili Dj? 40 Chapter 3: The primary source material deriving from the c8i Di 76 Chapter 4: The eighth-century Irish church: degenerateand vulnerable to an encroachingsecularisation? 109 Chapter 5: Church organisation and the congressiosenadorum of 780 142 Chapter 6: The promulgation of the 4lawsof saints' in the eighth and ninth centuries 171 Chapter 7: The abbacyof Armagh 195 (1) Abbatial.rivalry in Armagh 787-807 and the year of four abbots 196 (11)Leth Cam and its aftermath: the abbacy of Armagh 826-48 214 Chapter 8: Feidlimid mac Crimthainn and the 6entu Mdel Ruain 228 Chapter 9: Conclusion and aftennath 262 Bibliography 269 Tables Fig. 1: Ecclesiasticaltitles from all annalistic sources,700-900 153 Fig. I a: Ecclesiasticaltitles fromA U, 700-900 154 5 Preface There has been, for almost two decades,a significant revision in the understandingof the early medieval Irish church. Prior to this, the work of scholars in the field of early Irish ecclesiasticalhistory had focussedon the peculiarities of the early Irish church and had developed an understanding whereby an early diocesan organisation introduced by Patrick had succumbed to a monastically-based organisation, in which abbots were perceived the supreme ecclesiasticalauthority to which bishops, if they were considered at all, were subject. This unique understanding of ecclesiastical organisation evolved from the concept of a 'Celtic Church' at variance with Rome, a concept which has proved tenacious, lingering long after the decline of the religious sectarianism from which it emerged. The monastically-basedorganisation which was understood to have supplanted Patrick's diocesan framework, however, came to be accepted as itself failing prey to an avaricious laity and the subsequent secularisation of the church proffered as the reason for the emergenceof a monastic reform movement called the Culdees, an anglicization of the Irish cRi Dj, in the latter half of the eighth century. These Culdeeswould themselvesbe perceived as succumbing to secular concernsby taking wives and establishing hereditary succession in their positions and titles and generally neglecting spiritual affairs until displaced by more orthodox monastic orders from the continent from the twelfth century. For almost two decades,however, this accepted model has been displaced and the understandingof the organisation of the early Irish church has fundamentally changed,as a result of the re-examination of the primary source material, originating from the question of the provision of pastoral care. It is now well establishedthat the mere fact of the obligation of pastoral care must mean the presenceof a network of priests under the direction of bishops- indeed, the revision has been so well accepted and establishedthat it is almost anachronistic to refer to it in the present tense when there is now a generationof scholars,myself included,who have known nothing other thanthe revisedunderstanding of early Irish ecclesiasticalorganisation for our entireacademic lives. Nevertheless,the understandingof the organisation of the early Irish church is far from complete.The efforts of those scholarsmost directly involved with the subjecthave, understandably, been focussed on a detailedexamination of all aspects 6 of pastoral provision; however, there is still a great deal of work to be done in other areasof early Irish ecclesiasticalhistory, the understandingof which were also called into question by the revision in ecclesiastical organisation but which have not yet received the attention they deserve.The aim of this thesis is to turn attention towards one of the most important of these topics that of the body of ecclesiasticswho have become known to us as the cjU Dj. The religious impact of these ecclesiastics has been noted, if not entirely agreed upon in regard to detail over the years, and their significance, consequently, accepted. The general impression, as will be discussed, has been one of a movement promoting the ideals of an austere, rigorous ascetic lifestyle in reaction to the failings of a church which had succumbedto the corrupt and insidious influence of a voracious laity and this, by-and-large, has remained, despite the removal of the model to which this understandingbelonged. The purpose of this thesis, however, will be a study of the impact of the cili Dj both on political philosophyand on ecclesiasticalorganisation in early medieval Ireland. No attempt will be made here to deal with their liturgical or spiritual concerns:these matters have already been dealt with in print at somelength and are, in any case,the basesof other, concurrentdoctoral thesesundertaken by Morgyn Wagnerin Edinburghand WestleyFollett in Toronto.The focusof the studywill be restrictedto the period from the early eighth century until the middle of the ninth, after which time the understandingof the natureof the cili Di beganto changeand they were not so influential as they had beenduring this period. It will examinethe impact the ecclesiasticaldevelopments of the period in questionhad on political developmentand the dynamicsof power politics, on the centralisationof authority and on the conceptof the kingship of Ireland, and attemptto delineatethe extentto which the d1i Di wereresponsible for thesedevelopments. Acknowleftment From a financial perspective, I would like to acknowledge the award of a Major Scottish Studentship from the Student Award Agency for Scotland, without which this work could not have been undertaken. From an academic perspective, however, my degree of debt is much broader. I have profited greatly from the meticuloussupervision of ThomasOwen Clancy, who has saved me from many glaring errors and whose knowledgeof the cleric-kings of Munster, particularly, greatlyhelped me when researchingthe backgroundof Feidlimid mac Crinithainn.I 7 would also like to thank Alex Woolf, Gilbert Mdrkus and Nick Evans, for the many productive conversationsbenefitting various aspectsof this work, and the staff in the university library at Glasgow for their efforts in securing the many inter-library loans necessary. I would particularly like to thank Dawn Gattens for her patience and support and who contributed many helpful suggestions upon reading the thesis in draft. It is to Dawn I would like to dedicatethis work. Craig aggart Dept. of Celtic University of Glasgow Author's declaration I declarethat this thesisembodies the resultsof my own specialwork, that it has beencomposed by myself and that it doesnot include work forming part of a thesispresented successfully for a degreein this or anotheruniversity. ,ýT iýýe 2LOO3 Signature ...... ... ................ I 9 Abbreviations Abbreviationsof texts andmanuscript ACIon: TheAnnals ofClonmacnolse. D. Murphy (ed.), Dublin, 1896; repr. Lampeter, 1993. AFM. Anndla Rioghachta Eireann: Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters. J O'Donovan (ed), 7 vols, Dublin, 1848-51. AL Annals ofInisfallen. S. Mac Airt (ed.), Dublin, 1951. AT. Annals of Tigernach. W.

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