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tWt Tt%ont' T-j=o TýP"a ct itflt0 dg" ptrcutit rr t t!' ý'ý itgýtp ý `"izrte- c' c hEýe- mEsmorit&e- uttýci : szýi"us" piväznil r-I, ovsrca rtu" rrkudto bneurrý., t, " A. 0clottiti: Obrecuncliute- end' mtinotLtaClrTryct no - . , lrrntrn1g e bir gttrt -t:obft - t3wmc? 1:n4e ýermlra-Cý locrtuttoS cj"cT. Ammo quc-st". ea. C1Ej.luri}m, g ecirrzi. tec- . týrnt .13rioý--utt"o-trcr4 ob n chi pai--zAti clen cliczls cl.clt-nbeýarrr. -cunotui I In-C7Cni-ILaý cvn ýtS ý týs maý>>' R hoc ut an btrtvot1m«M httec teczunttnvotw-e- quam uýzt-K, rGtirý, clarý , cln ttr q-ctmoIn Cutx-a no-mbrr ciuoýn, ttmr, m 8º-uztta ýSgeý-tndýrcuri ma.I' "1m'1: r iorut°`r'ý'., "' - 111ýntntýtttzýý tt"ti tli ma thl-eoö" boaro uttm. ; - tton In etoquen-p4e- eTc U Ö6Wuqzýn. cýt-rß,, j-ýt, ý-H bernct,trttcý.! ecl In p? delt hottu eý-,am-, raucol, ýi, ü u c tin td, -tia, c;onra. pa ' ýl.Conrclr-axionExn qutz nec u% cUtgtict j-cortCEL bt~8-urt-ý. cttcý.ý. a4.8 c4t$ tit tic, Uu:lelic&- LttrSt6- attc jwmmur. htnc rog-c h A.t, c humana. Onomcý. -zv-, /4trr rritma''r»ýazýurcýýtý`' ZoCotlii c1e-no%rnt. 36Y-c,-ý"---I. obsQtLa. e- U uocwm"r, r: t%44- . hle? "ue-uocabuLa cluLe-'tr- sutts oot.röt reco»ao II [ ýýý. _i I 14! '. Illli

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The 31st O'Donnell Lecture, 2003 ý1, An 310 Leacht Ui Dhönaill, 2003 ý

delivered at National University of Ireland, Gala (Ö Tnüthail Lecture Theatre) tugtha in Ollscoil na hEreann, Gaillimh, (Teatar Ui ThnOthaiq

by le

Däibhi 6 Cröinin, MPhi hD

Thursday 4th December, 2003 De Ceadaoin, 40 Nollaig, 2003

tý 

Ollscoil na hEireann National University of Ireland

49 Merrion Square, Dublin 2 49 Cearnog Mhuirfean, Baile Atha Cliath 2

Telephonel7e.7eaf6n: (353 1) 439 2424; Fax/Facs: (35'3 1) 439 2477

Ema,URiomhphost registrar nui. ie; Website/Greasan: www. nui. ie O'Donnell Lecture 2003 (31st in the series) Leacht Ui Dhönaill 2003 (an 310 Leacht san sraith)

che pnsic Cen-cUny or- anSto-ir, isih Petacions (ab 600-700)

© Däibhi 0 Cröinin 2004

Cover design by Red Dog Greas le Red Dog

Print and layout by CRM Design + Print Ltd. Clditeagus leaganamach le CRM Design+ Print Ltd.

Cover Illustrations: Stadtbibliothek Schaffhausen (Switzerland). MS. Generalia 1, p. 1. The opening of Adomnän's Vita Columbae (by kind permission of the Librarian. Dr Rene Specht).

ISSN: 1393-9726

ISBN: 0-901510-50-5

Price: @10

2 O'Donnell Lectures Charles James O'Donnell, born in Donegal and educated in Galway, provided in his will (1935) for a bequest to each of the Universities of Oxford, Wales, Edinburgh, National University of Ireland and Trinity College, to establish an annual lecture in each of the institutions - the lecture in the National University of Ireland to be on the history of Ireland since the time of Cromwell, with particular reference to the histories, since 1641, of old Irish families.

The NUI lecture series was established in 1957 and continued until 1986. Due to a lack of funds, there was a gap of some years, but the NUI Senate was pleased to be able to revive the series, to be presented annually in each of the NUI Constituent Universities in rotation, as and from 1999.

The O'Donnell Lecture 1999, the 28th in the series, was also the first O'Donnell Lecture to be delivered at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. The 29th Lecture was delivered by Professor J. J. Lee in University College Cork - National University of Ireland, Cork, and the 30th by Professor Tom Bartlett of University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin (published 2002). Lectures in this series are now published with funds from the NUI Publications Scheme. The full list of O'Donnell Lectures is included on page 17.

Däibhi Ö Cröinin Däibhi Ö Cröinin studied at University College Dublin and the Ludwig-Maximilians- Universität. München, and has been lecturing at the National University of Ireland, Galway (formerly UCG) since 1980.

He is the Editor of the Royal Irish Academy's New History of Ireland, Vol. 1 (Oxford 2005) and among his numerous other publications are The Irish Sex Aetates Mundi (Dublin 1983); Cummian's Letter 'De controuersia Paschall', together with a related Irish computistical tract 'De ratione conputandi' (Toronto 1988) [with Maura Walsh]; Evangeliarium Eptemacense (Universitätsbibl Augsburg, Cod. 1.2.402) + Evangelistarium (Eizbischöfiches Priesterseminar St. Peter, Cod. MS. 25) (München Staatsbibliothek 1988); Psalterium Salabergae, zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz - MS. Hamilton 553 (München 1994); Early Medieval Ireland, 400-1200 ( 1995), The Songs of Elizabeth Cronin, Irish Traditional Singer (Dublin 2000), and Early Irish History and Chronology (Dublin 2004). He has translated Bernhard Bischoff, Palaeography, Antiquity and the Middle Ages [= Paläographie des römischen Altertums and des lateinischen Mittelalters] (Cambridge 1990) [with David Ganz], and was responsible for the revised edition of Carlo Collodi, Eachtra Phinocchio [translated by Pädraig b Buachalla] (CGiIAodha 2003).

Since 1982 he has been Co-Editor [with Prof. Donnchadh Ö Corräin, UCC] of PERRL4, Journal of the Medieval Academy of Ireland, and is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy.

He was awarded a substantial research grant in the most recent Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTU) 3, which has funded a five-year project under the umbrella title Foundations of Irish Culture, based in NUI, Galway. "+ T _<

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-Che Cen-cuizy f7 of- O f-»sc "J' C C aný;Lo-ltý, ish lZeLa-cions O a = ý ö 'I suppose that everyone who has travelled in Ireland has been struck by ý ý the way in which an Irishman will discuss his most intimate private affairs with ý he happen to ö any casual stranger whom may meet'. Ný

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C, by Rev. Charles Plummer, O Those words were spoken the Fellow of Corpus Christi O College, Oxford, from 1873 (and, from 1875, Chaplain also) until his death in 1927. ' v 0 They are the opening words of his remarkable British Academy paper of nearly eighty years ago, 'On the Colophons and Marginalia of Irish Scribes'. 2 What I have to say will also concern the activities of Irish (and English) scribes in the period between AD 600 first Anglo-Irish and AD 700 - for that is what I call the century of relations.3 A good deal of the information on which we have to rely for our reconstruction of this period we have in the magnificent editions of texts produced by Plummer, who was arguably the finest example of Anglo-Irish scholarly collaboration in our own time. Plummer did more than most men to illustrate how the histories of these two islands - at least in intertwined, the early period - were remarkably and we will have cause to call upon his judgment at several points in my narrative. The first century of Anglo-Irish relations did not begin auspiciously. The Venerable in follows - who will be our guide much of what - preserves the text of a letter sent c. AD 605 by Archbishop Laurentius of and his fellow bishops and 'to our most beloved brethren, the bishops and Ireland' The text this letter is (and throughout the whole realm of .` of worth quoting so also is Plummer's comment on it):

The Apostolic See, in accordance with its custom in all parts of the world, directed us to preach to the heathen in these western regions, and it was our

1 For a brief assessmentof Plummer's contribution to Irish studies, see Thomas Charles-Edwards,'Charles Plummer and Irish Law'. ThePecan (1981-82) 69-73. There are more comprehensiveobituaries by P. Allen, P.M. Stenton, and RI Best in 'Charles Plummet 1851-1927 (with bibliography of Plummer's publications). Proceedingsof the British Academy15 (1929) 463-76 [repr in f; chael Lap:dge led) Interpreters of MedievalBritain (Oxford 2002) 77- 881. and by Paul Groslean.'Charles Plummer'. Reeve Celtgue 45 (1928) 431-35.

2 Proceedingsof t: e British Academy 12 (1926)11-72

3 Cp Michael Richter. The First Century of Anglo-Insh RelLions'. History 59. No 196 (June 1974) 195-210, where the 'First Century is initiated by the arrival of the Angfo-Normansin 1169.

4 Bede Hrstoru eocl:s:. sr ra gentis Anglornm [HEI It 4= Charles Plummer (ed). VenerabdisBaedae opera historica, 2 vols (Oxford 1696) 1 67-66 Translationbased on Bertram Colgrave& R.A. B. Mynors (eds), Bede's 'Ecclesiastical History of the Eng! sh Peop.e' (Oxford 1969) 147 5 lot to come to this island of Britain. Before we knew them we held the holiness both of the Britons and of the Irish in thinking that they il great esteem, walked according to the customs of the Universal Church. However, on C) becoming acquainted with the Britons, we still thought that the Irish would be better. But now we have learned from Bishop Dagan, when he came to this island, and from Columbanus, when he came to Gaul, that the Irish do

O n not differ from the Britons in their way of life. For when Bishop Dagan came to O us he refused to take food, not only with us, but even in the very house where ý we took our meals.

N C O ti Plummer's remark on this was: 'Whether this exordium was likely to conciliate the z persons to whom it was addressed may be doubted'., Perhaps it would be better if we set aside this unfortunate episode as an example of the difficulties we Irish occasionally have with Italian prelates, and turn instead to happier things. Here again, the Venerable Bede is our source for another statement, much repeated and about to be repeated again here, because it casts important light on our subject of early Anglo-Irish relations. In Book III, chapter 27 of his Ecclesiastical History Bede reports that during the middle years of the seventh century

there ... were many of the English race, both nobles and commoners, who, in the days of Bishops Finan and Colman [of Lindisfarne], had left their own country and retired to Ireland either for the sake of religious studies or to live a more ascetic life. In course of time some of these devoted themselves faithfully to the monastic life, while others preferred to travel round to the cells of various teachers and apply themselves to study. The Irish welcomed them all gladly, gave them their daily food, and also provided them with books to read and with instruction, without asking for any payment ...

Before we get carried away by this vision of educational paradise, it is as well to add here another of Plummer's observations: 'In some cases the exile was not wholly voluntary, but was due partly to political causes'; ' this is something I shall come back to again later. What was it that the English learned from their Irish masters during those years? The answer is simple: reading and writing. When we come to look at the earliest surviving example of Irish handwriting, the wax tablets discovered at the beginning of the last century in a bog at Springmount, Co. Antrim, two things stand out to the

5 Plummer,Baedae opera historica. 2.83

6 HE 11127 (Plummer, Baedaeopera histonca. 1 192)

7 Plummer, Baedaeopera histonca. 2.197 6 observer: Firstly, the 'Irish hand', ', the Irish way of writing the Latin script, is already ?-4 CDT here fully formed, at a date c. AD600 or before. These texts (the Psalms in Latin) are N n in the eighth and ninth centuries called Libri Scottice scripti ('books CD what continentals = c written in the Irish fashion') G .9 a Secondly, the very appearance and layout of the manuscript page (or, as in this a = a case, the waxed wooden tablet) are themselves distinctive; they are peculiarly Irish. ö To illustrate I the famous Vatican what mean we should compare a page of 0" 9 Virgil (Biblioteca Apostolica, Cod. Palatinus 1631), de luxe m manuscript of a copy of d the Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid written in the monumental script known as ö Ný Rome. 'rustic capitals', possibly c. AD500 in '0 The striking features of this manuscript, b O Irish a when compared with our earliest examples, are: 0 0

N Firstly, the complete absence of word-separation. C The text is written in scriptura continua, without any breaks. ý ý Secondly, there is no capitalisation of initial letters. ö Thirdly, is " there no punctuation or paragraphing. ýJ

Comparing the Virgil codex with the earliest Irish manuscript handwriting, the Cathach of St Columba (Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS. 12 R 33) 12we see how the Irish scribe has introduced word-separation, capitalisation, and a rudimentary system of This is Malcolm Parkes has christened 'the grammar legibility' 13 punctuation. what of . For an educated Roman reader, fluent in reading and writing Latin, scriptura continua would have presented no great difficulties (particularly when the text being read was as familiar as Virgil). The individual letter forms and groups of letters were sufficiently

8 See Tim O'Neill FSC The Irish Hand scribes and their manuscripts from the earliest times to the seventeenth centuq: rs7than exemplarof scripts (Portlao;se 1954)

9 See JohannesDuft. 'Insche Handschnftenüberlieferungin St Gallen'. in Heinz Löwe (ed), Die Iren and Europa im früheren lf, ttealier. 2 vols (Stuttgart 198212.916-37. esp. 925-32 and Tafel20 (9th c. St Gallen cataloguewith inventory of Ihbn Scottice scnpt, )

10 See E-A Lo. e. CodicesLatim Antiqu;ores [CLA] 199. for a full palaeographicaldescription. Facsimilein Rafael Sabbadm;.Codex Vergrl;anus Pafat,nus 1631 (P) quam simillime expressus(Rome 1929).

11 The Aene;d opens with a seven-lineverse-paragraph. the Georgicswith a sequenceof forty-two lines in which modem editors normally place no period at verse-end See CharlesW Jones. 'Carolingianaesthetics: why modular verse'. Valor 6 (19751309-40

12 For a complete description of this manuscript. see H.J Lawlor. 'The Cathachof St. Columba', Proceedingsof the Royal Insh.. cscemy IPRIA) 33 C 11 (1916) 241-443 The manuscript is supposed to have been written by St Columbahimself See nor; the CD-ROMpubhcat on. with text by Michael Herity & Aidan Breen, The 'Cathach'of Co'um Cite. an introduction (Dublin 2D04)

13 Malcolm Parkes. The contribution of Insular scribes of the seventhand eighth centuries to the "Grammar of Leg bf ty" in Parkes. Scribes. scnpts and readers Studies in the communication,presentation and dissemination of med,e: al texts (London 1991) 1-18. Seealso Paul Saenger.Spices bet een words: the origins of silent reading (Stanford. CA 1997) 7 distinctive in themselves to provide the practised eye with graphic cues which enabled the reader to distinguish between the letters and syllables, and to identify any

i, them in Word-separation, the hand, n combination of words or phrases. on other was

C-D introduced by the Irish because for them Latin was an alien language. Never having M been part of the Roman Empire, the Irish acquired their knowledge of Latin at second hand, from books. For the benefit Irish therefore, it to ö of readers, was necessary O n identify and mark the boundaries of Latin words, and this was done simply by leaving 0 spaces between them. Where spaces were used to separate words, it follows that W G larger spaces were naturally required to separate sentences, clauses, or phrases. The

G Irish developed the by to identify O also exploited and possibilities offered punctuation ý the boundaries Latin then developed G) elements within of a sentence, and the t additional tool of 'construe-marks' - signs and symbols used by scribes to indicate the grammatical relationship of words to one another in Latin sentences. " C They also mark off the beginning of a new text or section of text by use of more O prominent letters, and combined this with the characteristic 'diminuendo' effect to

C give more visual emphasis to the opening words of text. This distinctive and U innovative layout of the page, then, and the systematic use of punctuation (almost to LL the decoration) N point of combined to make it easier for a non-native speaker to read Latin. 15

How does all this come across in Anglo-Saxon sources of our period? What is believed to be the earliest manuscript written in - the so-called 'Rufinus- Fragment' - came to light just twenty years ago. At least, Sotheby's claimed the single bifolium as 'the only surviving fragment of what is possibly the oldest manuscript written in England', adding that 'the bifolium is written in a very fine Irish half-uncial'. 's The Dr Christopher cataloguer, de Hamel -a New Zealander - not wanting to do things by halves, I suppose, added for good measure that our Fragment was 'perhaps used by the Venerable Bede for his History of the English'. This manuscript caused something of a stir when it first came to light. There were several articles about it in Irish newspapers. " We are not a philosophical race by nature, and many Irish people found the idea of an English manuscript written in Irish script a concept difficult to grasp. The explanation is, however, quite straightforward:

14 For especiallyMaartje Draak 'Construe-marks H berno latin Mededelingen construe-marks see . in manuscripts'. de KomnklijkeNederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen(6tKflAj. afdelmg Letterkunde 20 (1957) 261-82. van . and eadem,'The higher teaching of Latin grammar in Ireland during the ninth century'. MKNA 30 (1967) 107-44

15 It is significant, however,that when Irish scribes came to write their own native language,they did not feel the need techniques becausethey the Old Irish they to employ these of word-separation.etc . understood more readily words were reading; see Parkes.'Insular scribes'. 4

16 Christopherde Hamel,in theSotheby Catalogue June 1935 fto 50

17 For the (mild) controversy surrounding the sale and the cataloguedescription of the manuscript, see. e g.. TheIrish Times,June 8,1985, WeekendSupplement. p6 8 'The oldest manuscripts of England are so like the Irish as to seem identical' (in the -aý 0T words of E.A. Lowe, the greatest palaeographer of our time), 'for the predominant N_ n script of England, that which became her national script, is the script she learned O =C This from Ireland'. " process of instruction and assimilation took place not only in ýG O_ England, but also in Ireland (as Bede informed us). In fact, can see the process in we =ý b action by reference to that group of Englishmen who, Bede says, were in Ireland O during our first century of Anglo-Irish relations. Bede himself refers to no fewer than a ý dozen of them by name; others are mentioned in different but contemporary fD d_ sources. " O Bede says that 'among those were two young Englishmen of great ability, named aý Of Aethelhun and Ecgberct, both of noble birth'; ' this last point I shall come back to O O before I finish. Aethelhun 'was a brother of Aethelwine, a man equally beloved of

0 God, who, later on, also went to Ireland to study. When he had been well grounded he returned to his native land and was made bishop in the kingdom of Lindsey, over which he ruled for a long time with great distinction'. Some of these English exiles C) land; did The famous 0 returned, then, to their native others not. most example of c those who remained in Ireland is Ecgberct himself? ' The passage in Bede's History (HE 11127) relating how Ecgberct determined on his career is too long to quote here; in brief he tells how Ecgberct had spent many years already in Ireland when the Great Plague struck in AD 664. Ecgberct vowed that, if he were spared, he would never again return to his homeland, but would devote whatever years remained of his life to a spiritual and physical exile. Ecgberct was saved, as it happens, and he lived to the grand old age of 90, dying on 24 April, 729 (HE V 22). Bede is also the source (HE V 9) for the information that Ecgberct, twenty years or so after the Great Plague, conceived the desire to go and preach the gospel to the continental Germans, but then two prophetic visions were revealed to him by a member of his Rath Melsigi community, who had been instructed in his dreams to warn Ecgberct against his plans for the German mission. Ecgberct twice ignored these warnings, but when finally the ship which he had provisioned for the journey was wrecked in a storm he reluctantly decided that his destiny lay elsewhere. Frustrated in his plans, Ecgberct chose in his stead another member of his Uuictberct, 'one his both for his community, of companions ... who was remarkable contempt of this world and for his learning [though not, it seems, for his patience. ) He

18 EA Lowe. 'Handwntng'. in C.G. Crump &EP Jacob (eds). Thelegacy of the middle ages (Oxford 1926) 197-228" 208

19 Seethe list in Plummer.Baedae opera. 2.196.

20 HE 11127.text in Plummer. Baedaeopera. 1.192. (mis)transtation in Colgrave& Mynors, Bedes 'Ecclesiastical History. 313.

21 For Ecgberctand Rath L".elsigi. see Dcibhi 6 Crronin, Rath Metsigi. Willi brord, and the earliest Echternach manuscripts Pentu3 (19ät) 17-49. 9 had spent many years in exile in Ireland, living as a hermit' 22 This Uuictberct took ship, probably c. AD684/85, and reached Frisia. But after two years' fruitless labour he gave up the ghost and returned to Rath Melsigi in Ireland ('his chosen place of exile'). He brought back with him the books that he had taken with him on the mission, which included an Easter table for the years AD 684-702. Undaunted by this second setback, Ecgberct chose another member of his community, Willibrord, and in AD 690 -a century exactly after Columbanus's departure for the continent in AD 590 - Willibrord and his companions set sail for Frisia. We are extremely fortunate in that we still have a book which we know was in Willibrord's own personal possession: the manuscript known as the Calendar of Willibrord (Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS. Lat. 9389) is the earliest such text to come down to us from the Anglo-Saxon church It has, in the margin of the November page, a summary account of Willibrord's career written in his own hand and dated AD 728 (perhaps written to mark his seventieth year)2 It is the earliest dateable example of English autograph handwriting. (For our purposes it is worth pointing out too that Er Willibrord's words are written Scottice, in the Irish fashion. ) The only possible rival for that title of oldest English autograph is the handwriting of Boniface, Apostle of the Germans, and at one time an assistant of Willibrord's on the Frisian mission. His handwriting is preserved in the margins of several manuscripts, the best-known being the so-called Victor Codex at Fulda (Fulda, Landesbibl., Cod. Bonif. 1).25 The main text is in an Italian uncial script of the mid sixth century; one of two different but very similar Insular cursive minuscule scripts in the margins is Boniface's. Comparison may be made with the script in the Book of Armagh, written c. AD 800 at Armagh. ` The two hands are clearly part of the one scribal tradition. Boniface did not spend any of his youth in Ireland (so far as we know). His education (and, we may add, his style of handwriting) was acquired entirely in England, but it was an education which, in crucial respects, can be traced directly back to the Irish tradition. For example, the dedicatory epistle" which he attached to his Latin grammar26was at one point (before its proper identification) thought to have

22 HE V9= Plummer, Baedaeopera, 1,298: translation in Co!grave & Minors, Bede's 'EcclesiasticalHistory, 479.

23 Facsimilein H.A. Wilson (ed). TheCalendar of St. 1Whbrord.Henry BradshawSociety Publications 55 (London 1918).

24 For discussion, see Wilhelm Levison. Englandand the continent in the eighth century (Oxford 1946) 65

25 E.A. Lowe, CLA VII11196. For the identification of Boniface'shand, see Malcolm Parkes. 'The handwriting of St Boniface,a reassessmentof the problems'. in Parkes. Scnbes. scripts and readers, 121-42.

26 See T.J. Brown, The Irish element in the Insular system of scripts to circa A0.850'. in Lowe. Die Iren und Europa. 1,101-119: 113

27 See Max Manitius, Geschichteder lateinischen Literatur des l fittela/ters 3 vols (Munich 1911-31) 1,459.60-

28 GeorgeJohn Gebauer & BengtLOtstedt (eds). Bonifatn (Vywtreth) Ars Grammatica= Corpus Chnstranorum Series Latina[CCSLJ 123 B (Turnhout1980) 10 been written not by Boniface but by Aldhelm, abbot of from 675, and ý from ýT 705 until his death in 709 first bishop of , so convoluted and precious

n was the style of Latin used in it -a style which Aldhelm before him had acquired from the Irishman Mdeldub, hermit and scholar of Malmesbury.ý Aldhelm, in fact, C 0 liked to tease the Irish about this on occasion (witness the letters exchanged between ý himself and two Irish acquaintances); " Boniface, by contrast, seems to have been sadly lacking in humour. The Easter-table mentioned previously was written at Rath Melsigi in Ireland in what I have called the script of Rath Melsigi'. Willibrord's Calendar to which the ö - ý table was later attached - is also written in that script, and so also is the manuscript

now known as the Augsburg Gospels. " This is the Insular decorated ý earliest gospel- 0 book for which we have a secure date. [I do not count the Lindisfarne Gospels, which ö I believe is later and which may not have been written at Lindisfarne.}-12 It is also the earliest manuscript to contain and Old High German (fourteen Old English and eighteen Old High German dry-point glosses, scratched with the sharp point of a stylus). Here too the English for the were good pupils, practice of glossing Latin texts ýCD C:

29 On Aldhetm. Michael & see Lapidge Michael Herren Aldhelm the prose works (Woodbridge 1979) and David Howlett. Irish learning'. Archnvm 'Aldhelm and Latinrtatis WediAew 52 (1994) 37-75. Writing of one of Aldhelm's letters. Englishman Eahind addressedto an named who had spent six years in Ireland, Plummer commented: The letter would be very interesting if it were not almost unintelligible through the writer's puerile pomposity' (Plummer, Baedaeopera. 2.1971

30 David Howlett. 'Exchangesbetween Insh and English writers Penha 11 (1997) 104 ff., and idem, 'Insular Latin writers rhythms', ib;d. 53-116 82-84

31 Full colour microfiche facsimile in Däibhi 6 Crtünin. Eiangelianum Eptemacense(Universdktsbibliothek Augsburg, Cod 1.2.42). Erangelistanum (Erzbrsch6fhchesPriesterseminar St. Peter.Cod. Ms. 25) = CodicesIlluminati Medii Aevi 9 (Munich 1958)

32 See the kamikazeattack in David 1`1Dumville A palaeographer'sreview: The Insular system of scripts in the Early 1.1iddleAges.1_ Kansai University Institute of Oriental & OccidentalStudies. Sources & Materials 20-1 (Kansai 1999)- 'The ultimate expressionof the Lindisfame dream has been provided by MP Brown' (with ref to her article in the St memorial vol. of 1959) Dr Dumville is reminiscent of one of those JapaneseWWII soldiers who emerge out of the jungle from time to time. obl vious of the fact that the war has been lost long ago. For a further (to my mind futile) attempt to shore up the tottering edifice of the Lindisfarne scriptorium, see now Michelle P. Brown. 'House style in the scnptonum: scribal reality, and scholarly myth', in CatherineE. Karkov & GeorgeHardin Brown (edsl Anglo-Saxonstyes SUNY Series in MedievalStudies (flew York 2003) 131-50. Dr Dumville, Palreographer'sreview. 107 has already deliveredthe coup de grace: '1Yiththe collapse of the reconstructed Lmd"sfamescriptorium under the weight of its own improbability, [T.J. ) Brown's concept of a Northumbrian style of Insular scripts rests uncomfortably heavily on manuscripts from Echtemach.In a throwaway line which now seems prophetic of subsequentscholarly developments.Bross wrote that if the early Echtemachscribes were not Northumbnans.Iae their founder Willibrord, they must have been Irish''. 11 with words in the vernacular was one initiated by the Irish a century or so earlier (c. AD 600) as part of that 'grammar of legibility' mentioned at the outset. 33

0 These Willibrord n manuscripts accompanied ultra mare in Francia. However, his O mentor, Ecgberct, remained in Ireland, in fulfilment of that vow which he made in the

33 The earliest Old Irish glosses are arguably those in the Trinity College Dublin MS 55 (CLA 11271), the so-called Ussher 0 Gospels,for which see Padraig f; cill. The earliest dry-point glosses in the Cod UssenanusPnmus'. in T. 0 C. Barnard, K. Simms & Daibhi CrOinin(eds). A hfiracle o/ Learning' Essaysin honour of William O'Sullivan (Aldershot 1998) 1-28.1 am not altogeher convinced. ho"rre'ier,that these dry-point glosses are contemporarywith the MS. 0 script of the On the subject in general,see Daibhi Winn The earliest Old Irish glosses'. in Rolf Bergmann,Elvira Glaser & ClaudineMoulin-Fankhanel (eds), Mittelalterliche volAssprachigeGlossen (Heidelberg 2001) 7-31. For the earliest Old High Germanglossing, see Elvira Glaser,'Typen and Funktionenvolkssprachiger (althochdeutschen)Eintragungen in lateinischer Kontext'. Sprachwissenschaft28/1 (2003) 1-27-

34 Plummer, Baedaeopera, 2,335

35 Plummer, Baedaeopera, 1,134-35. A.O. 36 & M.O. Anderson (eds), Adomnin's Life ofCotumba (Edinburgh 1961) 486 ('(rater Genereusnomine Saxo. pistor'; Vita Columbae111 10); 512 ('Pilu nuncupabaturSaxo': Vita Columbae111 22). 37 See HermannMoisl, The Bernician royal dynasty and the Irish in the seventhcentury'. Peritia 2 (1983) 103-26. and idem, 'Das Kloster Iona und seine Verbindungenand dem Kontinent im siebentenund achten Jahrhundert', in Heinz Dopsch & RoswithaJuffmger (eds). Virgil von Satzburg.Missionar und Gelehrter(Salzburg 1985) 27-37 IQ Others assisted the Irish in Scottish Däl Riata against their Northumbrian rivals. The -I ý Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, e. g., records that at the battle of Decgsastan, fought in AD ý 603 between the Irish of Däl Riata and the Northumbrians, the Irish were led into ýa battle by Hering son of Hussa, who was attempting to regain the crown that had 0 ä been his father's before him. There were doubtless others also whose names have ' Ecgberct, however, better not survived. was connected than most of his fellow ý6 countrymen. He was on terms of the greatest intimacy with king Ecgfrith of ý Northumbria, and urged the king against an attack he in ý which subsequently made Lf C AD 684 against Brega on the east coast of Ireland. Bede by 6) was outraged the attack ý. 'a harmless had been m against race that always most friendly to the English. '-" Ecgfrith ý

ý got his come-uppance the following year, when he and his army were wiped out by the Picts in the battle of Nechtansmere (Dunnichen Moss, in Forfarshire). Bede expressed the king's fate graphically when he said that 'the [Irish] resisted force by qý force far they imploring the God C so as were able, merciful aid of and invoking His O vengeance with unceasing imprecations. And although those who curse cannot inherit the kingdom of God, yet one may believe that those who were justly cursed for their wickedness quickly suffered the penalty of their guilt at the avenging hand of God'. Bede says that the king 'had refused to listen to the holy father Ecgberct, who had urged him not to attack the Irish, who had done him no harm'. Ecgfrith clearly had other ideas, but he was not always hostile to the church. His name appears, after all, on the dedication inscription of Bede's own monastery at Jarrow. 10 One would like to know how Ecgberct, permanently exiled in Ireland, was in a position to know about Ecgfrith's plans to attack Ireland. The political connections between the two islands have been mentioned before; it was not by any means unheard of, as we have seen, for displaced members of the Northumbrian royalty to bide their time in Ireland until the circumstances were such that they could make a renewed bid for power. " But how did Ecgberct know? It is tempting, in the circumstances, to ask if there was a connection between Ecgberct and Ecgfrith, or between Ecgberct and three of king Ecgfrith's henchmen: Berct (leader of the Northumbrian expedition against Brega in AD 664); Berctfrid, praefectus, who fought against the Picts at Nechtansmere, and Berctred, dux regius, who also fought at

0 38 See PAdraig Riain. Anglo-SaxonIreland: the evidenceof the I. farfyrology of Tallaght.H. M. ChadwickMemorial 0 Lectures3 (Cambridge1993). Prof. Riain v:as the first to point out that the two Hewalds,mentioned by Bede,HE V 10. as having followed the example of Yillibrordin departing for the lands of the Old Saxons in order to evangelise.are commemoratedin the insh martyrolog es

39 Plummer. Baedaeopera. 1.267: translation in Colgrave& Mynors. Bedes 'EcclesiasticalHistory, 429.

40 John Higgitt. 'The dedication mscnpuon at Jarrow and its context'. TheAntiquanes Journal 59 (1979) 343-74, with plates

41 For a good. generalaccount of the background,see dames Campbell,'Elements in the backgroundto the Life of St Cuthbert and his early cult', in Gerald Bonner.David Rollason & Clare Stancliffe (eds), St Cuthbert,his cult and his community to AD 1200 (Woodbridge 1969) 3-19. 13 `'rt ý. ý'-. > . 1QUlgeýa rlýnýlq+Cý;ý"'haýoiýwgxuaý ýäf+cýaº','nwaýa'äýilttYttipýýý ný, l, anp*a`:tt'! ýanoýa+ýi. týe-}ýýwý"lirriý'I!ýý+ºý t, a'ocinrýl r*? 1,tý- º'vabs- ohDrraýn cý.4s'ýýrgr»ýjDj ýjýpºý"""+, ý. +ýaqý"ý#4raýGiRý=ýrAj,ý, , - ý-,SDmor 1ýý. ba.,nd ý'. ý,äSrý ýº%k'laq"löaVýna? rýlýqttaºqýnlýrtýoýöarýltý++ºb}"oq+ýº`ýila týtýctt an1rtý+Qiýc ý+++an1 _T_ rý 1iu+ýc sýya1-' ý "ý,at) "aDäý titstý aeä ý eoDy^ýc"uu" ýc? ºýualý"uý . }1u71 a11"ýl81tMä. rc1fl1. lD"tarnt ý-: Orutu" 'cum "eR1=ý"tý, w' cil "4Y"AC, Llar7tT;. t't " lBOttltljr, 44111 AUtt jNQ1jL11f1ý"1ý,{ýTOti(tjj CXt art cý»ýýcsýt"rä, Dýi,týý? +ý' atii aýiiiý }riýý>aoäýq t`t -- apseý.lnJ 11111'mýratiU . qdC uýtrt'-moDt.. AYiaii Li7ir "ýtA1 , tý! 'tiýljýcýilýLtt1? cC=Giýcj+i; ý? ýaýiýutt'cýY'r: m"Q. YTýL1It1; 1 c !xýfi ttftiofuf Aea. 7 tytruf nl*t. wnisýºsr f. eleefurn, r, w+yf fere+f'irW t:.* l. l"f. kfezf. a"^

vJº, erf'e(Axhilrdrv, ý eº-+nepnt ý Vn rt'rnirOOMfiý'. ý1 R-'ý'+nloOnr fiLýeumjsr. ý..,, ý. rýdýýý ýfýYnuLºn. npýr3r1iriWrýýmdufý/ ený'Mýct: uiuiz+"n`+n+`1" 'ý"ýý Ganil, Unicerc, -="-. ndge , ý_ýUrd', ._ý_. ýF crlrlsirishcr9ý ti ý:. . ... - .. -.. .-ý--... -'... -ý. ý; ýýnilýýmlýp ,... ..,,......

Nechtansmere. Desp, Jý te , -- ,- _ tr r+hbatibus of Aethilwulf, '1 that Ecgberct was in close contact with Northumbria, to the point where he could advise on the proper location of a new monastic foundation ('? Bywell, c. 50 miles from Undisfarne ),` and also provide it with a consecrated altar- stone. The poem contains a lengthy account of Ecgberct's prophetic vision of the site rind of his continued interest in its subsequent development. This new foundation no boasted the presence of Ultän, praeclaro nomine dictus, a famous scribe and lluminator. Ecgberct supplied Willibrord and his missionary party with manuscripts. Did he do the same for Bywell? Did Ultdnnthe scribe come from Rath Melsigi? These are (Iu estions which we cannot answer with certainty on the evidence currently available. Hut Ecgberct almost certainly did bring a manuscript with him for presentation to the aummunity of Iona. That manuscript, I suggest, is the magnificent book now known

Alistair Campbell(ed). Aethelwull *Deabbahbus'(Oxford 1967)

he identification of the site with Bywell was proposed by David Howlett. The provenance,date. and structure of ')e ArchaeologiaAelrana 53' 9'S ' . abbatibus', ;; as the Gospels (Durham, Dean & Chapter Library, MS. A. 11.17).The very ý T striking affinity - amounting almost to identity - between the texts of John's gospel C7 in Durham A. 11.17and in the Book of Keils has led the most recent student of the l9 problem to suggest that Kells might be in direct line from the Durham Gospels. " The G O striking similarity of the overall conception in both books leads us to suggest that 0 perhaps Ecgberct brought the Durham Gospels with him from Rath Melsigi to Iona in AD 715. Impressed by its grand design, the community of Columba might perhaps have been inspired to go one better, the result being the Book of Keils. This, however, is nothing more than speculation. Ecgberct lived on Iona for fourteen years from AD 715, and he died there on April C7 24,729, Sunday. The date had ai Easter a special significance for Bede, who pointed 0 0 out that it was the first year in which the Iona community had celebrated Easter on ö that particular date (which would have been impossible using the older Irish 84-year Easter tables). Ecgberct received the ultimate honour from his hosts, an Irish nickname: Mac Flathi ('son of a lord') `5 He had repaid, with interest, the debt which Englishmen felt they owed their Irish neighbours from that time, c. AD 634/5, when monks first came from Iona to establish the monastery of Lindisfarne (now Holy Island) off the north-east coast. The wheel had turned full circle by the time of Ecgberct's death, and the 'crooked furrow' was straightened at last. The first century of Anglo-Irish relations opened, as I remarked at the outset, somewhat under a cloud. But with the establishment of Irish monks in Northumbria in the and after, relations between Irishmen and Anglo-Saxons steadily improved, and despite the upset caused by the synod of in AD664 those relations continued to prosper. A change is noticeable after AD 669, when Archbishop Theodore and Abbot Hadrian established their school at Canterbury, and offered for the first time the opportunity to acquire a thorough grounding in Greek biblical and patristic scholarship. 'Until 669, then, Anglo-Saxon England was a cultural province of Ireland, and evidently a province in which Latin learning flourished much less vigorously than in Ireland itself' '6 The influence of the new Canterbury school, however, must soon have been felt in Ireland as well, for as Aldhelm points out in his letter to Eahfrith, Theodore was 'hemmed in by a mass of Irish students', who presumably brought their newly-gained learning back to Ireland. Herein, I believe, lie

44 Christopher D Verey. The gospel texts at Undistame at the time of St Cuthbert'. in Bonner,Rollason & Stancliffe, St Cuthbert 143-50 148

45 Georg H Pertz (ed). Annales el chronica aetii Carolyn,(Annales Laureshamensis) = 6fonumenta Germaniae Histonca, Scnp;ores. 1 (Hannover 1826) 22-30.24 Rtacflathei Ecgberct'sis the only obit recorded for the year AD 729 in the contemporaryAnnals of Ulster Mac Rath: might also mean 'son of a ruler'.

46 The verdict of TJ Broem, 'An historical introduction to the use of ClassicalLatin authors in the British Isles from the fifth to the eleventhcentury'. Settimanedi studio del Centro Itahanodi StudyBull' alto medioevo22 (Spoleto 1975) 237-99. repr in Janet Batety.Michelle Brown & Jane Roberts (eds). A palaeographer"sview. Selected wntings of Julian Bromi (London 1993) 141-fl 150 13 the seeds of that knowledge of Greek which was to make the Irish - and particularly lohannes Scottus Eriugena and Sedulius Scottus - such figures of renown in the ý eighth and ninth centuries. r] Both peoples stood on the threshold of the ninth century on an equal footing, and M each was to make its separate mark in the centuries that followed. But it is that first century of Anglo-Irish relations, c. AD 600 to c. AD700, that offered a model of how O O I- relations might be between the peoples of these islands.

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