Erskine, Sarah Christine (2012) The relic cult of St Patrick between the seventh and the late twelfth centuries in its European contexts: A focus on the lives. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3398/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] The Relic Cult of St Patrick between the Seventh and the Late Twelfth Centuries in its European Contexts: A Focus on the Lives By Sarah Christine Erskine MA (Hons), MLitt A thesis presented to the University of Glasgow, School of Humanities, College of Arts. In fulfilment of the thesis requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Celtic Civilisation and History. December 2011 © Sarah Christine Erskine ii Acknowledgements I respectfully extend the first of these acknowledgements to my supervisors at Glasgow University, Professor Thomas Owen Clancy and Dr Marilyn Dunn. Thomas, ‘my Gaffer’, has loyally supported me in my intellectual pursuits and has offered invaluable advice whenever needed: I remain wholeheartedly grateful and proud to have learned so much from such a formidable and respected scholar. Marilyn’s Special Subject in my senior-honours year marks the time when I truly fell in love with the Middle Ages, and when her inspirational teaching drove me to pursue this to postgraduate study: she still provides that same inspiration in spades, and I thank her for the unstinting support she has unselfishly imparted over the years. I am grateful to my thesis examiners, Professor Robert Bartlett and Dr Katherine Forsyth, whose keen observations have undoubtedly improved the overall quality of the work. I also snatch this opportunity to thank the chair, Professor Roibeard Ó Maolalaigh, and the examiners for the fact my viva was a fairly painless experience! The invaluable academic support and variety of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching experience provided by the Departments of Celtic & Gaelic and History at Glasgow is deeply appreciated, and I particularly thank Professor Dauvit Broun, Dr Bronagh Ní Chonaill, Dr Geraldine Parsons and Professor Julia M. H. Smith. I gratefully acknowledge the financial advice of the Registry staff at Glasgow, namely David Martin and Anne Anderson, without whom I would not have been able to complete the work; this also extends to the university’s library staff for the many inter-library loans handled with efficiency. Thanks also to the Early and Medieval Irish Department at University College Cork, especially to Professor John Carey, Professor Máire Herbert, Dr Caitriona Ó Dochartaigh and Professor Padraig Ó Riain, whose reception of some of my research at a guest-lecture nervously delivered in March 2010 was graciously insightful. I also thank the Lecale and Down Historical Society for their invitation to deliver a public lecture this forthcoming March in Downpatrick on my favourite medieval relic, Bachall Ísu . There are others at Glasgow and elsewhere, in and out of academia, who have contributed to the thesis in some measure, supported me on a personal level, or simply provided a postgraduate community to be proud of: Dr Helen Birkett, Elín Eyjolfdottir, Catriona Gray, Tony Harpur, iii Cindy Lee, Dr Courtney Luckhardt, Gilbert Márkus, Dr Kirsteen McCue, Dr Peter McNiven, Anne Paton, Dr Mhairi-Claire Semple, Carol Smith and Dr Simon Taylor. Many thanks to my office roommate Marie-Louise Leonard and to Dr Iain MacDonald, who read some draft-chapters of the thesis with efficiency; I am grateful for their companionship and patience in the last few months preceding submission. I am also especially honoured to have cherished the friendship of Tamla Feeney over the last eight years. In the early stages of my research Iain MacDonald has since become my closest friend and has deeply enriched my life more than words can express. My family have wholeheartedly backed my ambition to undertake a PhD and have stuck by me through difficult times; I love and respect them always, and I hope I have made them proud. Last, but not least, my daughters fundamentally motivated my belief in achieving this PhD in the hope that their future will be a much brighter one than I have so far been able to provide. Throughout my university studies it has been the three of us against the world, and despite some tough times along the way we always were and will be happiest when together: it is with purest love that I very humbly dedicate this thesis to Victoria and Rebecca, my beautiful girls. Sarah Christine Erskine 3 January 2012 (Feast of St Fintan of Dún Bleisce) iv Abstract The cult of St Patrick in the medieval period has been largely neglected in modern scholarship, which has predominantly tended to favour analysis of the saint’s own fifth-century writings; the troublesome area of fixing exact dates for his fifth-century career and context; the seventh-century Patrician vitae in the context of political rivalries between Armagh, Kildare and Iona; and Patrick’s status as an icon of modern Irish identity. My thesis represents the first full-length study of Patrick’s relic cult between the seventh and the late twelfth centuries by primarily concentrating on the evidence from his various Latin and Irish Lives belonging to this period. Each of the Lives of Patrick provide us a lens through which we can observe a vibrant and diverse array of Patrician relics during our period, many of which survive only in these texts; however, these Lives also act like mirrors of the historical realities in which they were conceived. By studying the Lives over a broad chronological period we gain invaluable information on several key aspects: why authors have chosen or not to retain or omit certain stories featuring relics; whether the numerous and various miracles and functions that these relics perform in the narratives indicate the type of role they had in and their value to wider society; if there is a growth in the number of Patrician relics in the texts at any given point in our period. By placing these aspects in their historical contexts, this thesis musters a better understanding of the broader ecclesiastical and secular political fortunes in Ireland and elsewhere that helped shape the development of Patrick’s cult as we know of it today. v Contents Title Page Acknowledgements ii Abstract iv Contents v Declaration of Originality Form vii Introduction I The Problem with Patrick: Historiography and the Quest for New Vistas Introduction p. 1 The Scholarly Tradition of Patrick, Man and Saint p. 1 Why Bother with Patrick? p. 11 Aims and Objectives of this Thesis p. 17 Outline of the Thesis p. 19 Introduction II The Latin and Irish Lives of Patrick between the Seventh and the Late Twelfth Centuries The Patrician Texts in the Book of Armagh p. 21 The ‘pseudo-Life’ of Patrick in the Historia Brittonum p. 26 The Collection known as Four Latin Lives of Patrick p. 27 The Middle Irish Tripartite Life of St Patrick p. 30 William of Malmesbury’s fragmentary Vita Patricii p. 31 Jocelin of Furness’ Vita Patricii p. 32 Conclusion p. 33 Chapter One Patrick’s Corporeal Relics and the whereabouts of his Grave: Uncertainty, Dilemma and Contention Introduction p. 34 The Uncertainty of Patrick’s Grave: Seventh-Century Origins p. 35 Multiple Patricks? The Eighth to the Eleventh Centuries p. 49 The Peak of Contention: the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries p. 72 Conclusions p. 86 Chapter Two The Origins, Traditions and Functions of Bachall Ísu (Staff of Jesus) Introduction p. 88 What is a Bachall ? p. 89 Relics of Christ at Armagh p. 94 The Origins of the Staff of Jesus p. 97 The Conception and Emergence of Bachall Ísu in the Lives p. 99 The Rise to Prominence of Bachall Ísu as Armagh’s Premier Insigne p. 104 Miracles and other Functions of Bachall Ísu p. 120 Conclusions p. 125 vi Chapter Three Cloc ind Édachta (‘Bell of the Testament’) and other Bells in the Lives: Traditions, Functions, Miracles and Contexts Introduction p. 127 The Origins of Bells in the West and their Veneration as Relics Transitions from Paganism p. 128 Bells in the Early Christian Church p. 129 Hand-Bells and their Veneration as Relics p. 131 Cloc ind Édachta and other Patrician Bells: the Lives and their Contexts Dating and Describing Cloc ind Édachta p. 134 The Absence of Cloc ind Édachta in the Major Texts p. 138 Contexts, Miracles and Functions of Cloc ind Édachta p. 148 Bell-relics and their Various Miracles and Functions p. 152 Conclusions p. 157 Chapter Four Miscellaneous Relics of Patrick in the Lives of Patrick Introduction p. 159 The Lives of Patrick between the Seventh and Late Twelfth Centuries Book Shrines p. 159 Altars, Chalices and other Liturgical Furnishings p. 165 Other Miscellaneous Relics of Patrick p. 177 Conclusions p. 182 Conclusion: p. 183 Bibliography: Primary Sources p. 188 Secondary Sources p. 193 E-Sources p. 210 Appendix A: A Basic List of the Irish and Latin Lives of Patrick and other Patrician Texts in the Chronological Order presented in this Thesis (see Introduction II for details of each text) p. 211 Appendix B: Instances when Relics of Patrick appear in the Irish Annals to circa 1200: Annals of Ulster, Annals of the Four Masters, Annals of Loch Cé and Mac Carthaigh’s Book p.