DOCSLIB.ORG

The Relic Cult of St Patrick Between the Seventh and the Late Twelfth Centuries in Its European Contexts: a Focus on the Lives

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Relic Cult of St Patrick Between the Seventh and the Late Twelfth Centuries in Its European Contexts: a Focus on the Lives 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.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Antiphonary of Bangor and Its Musical Implications
    The Antiphonary of Bangor and its Musical Implications by Helen Patterson A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Music University of Toronto © Copyright by Helen Patterson 2013 The Antiphonary of Bangor and its Musical Implications Helen Patterson Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Music University of Toronto 2013 Abstract This dissertation examines the hymns of the Antiphonary of Bangor (AB) (Antiphonarium Benchorense, Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana C. 5 inf.) and considers its musical implications in medieval Ireland. Neither an antiphonary in the true sense, with chants and verses for the Office, nor a book with the complete texts for the liturgy, the AB is a unique Irish manuscript. Dated from the late seventh-century, the AB is a collection of Latin hymns, prayers and texts attributed to the monastic community of Bangor in Northern Ireland. Given the scarcity of information pertaining to music in early Ireland, the AB is invaluable for its literary insights. Studied by liturgical, medieval, and Celtic scholars, and acknowledged as one of the few surviving sources of the Irish church, the manuscript reflects the influence of the wider Christian world. The hymns in particular show that this form of poetical expression was significant in early Christian Ireland and have made a contribution to the corpus of Latin literature. Prompted by an earlier hypothesis that the AB was a type of choirbook, the chapters move from these texts to consider the monastery of Bangor and the cultural context from which the manuscript emerges. As the Irish peregrini are known to have had an impact on the continent, and the AB was recovered in ii Bobbio, Italy, it is important to recognize the hymns not only in terms of monastic development, but what they reveal about music.
    [Show full text]
  • Saint Patrick: Issues of Translation & His Enduring
    SAINT PATRICK: ISSUES OF TRANSLATION & HIS ENDURING PASTORAL MESSAGE A dissertation submitted to the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies Drew University in partial fulfillment of The requirements for the degree, Doctor of Letters Christina Isabella McGrath Drew University Madison, New Jersey May 2021 Copyright © 2021 by Christina Isabella McGrath All Rights Reserved Abstract Saint Patrick: Issues of Translation and His Enduring Pastoral Message Doctor of Letters Dissertation by Christina Isabella McGrath The Caspersen School of Graduate Studies Drew University May 2021 This dissertation attempts to discover the reason(s) for the worldwide interest in Saint Patrick of Ireland by focusing on the numerous translations of his two writings, the Confessio (The Confession of Saint Patrick) and the Epistola (The Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus). By analyzing seven specific twentieth century translations of the saint’s fifth century writings, the reader will discern subtle differences in each end product, leading to a unique message from Patrick. Working with the assertions that every translation is a political act of some kind and that the translator becomes part of the translation, specific passages from the saint’s writings are examined and discussed through the lens of translation theory along with survey responses from accessible translators. After delving into Patrician scholarship, the historical sources presenting Saint Patrick’s letters have been called into question, due to the personal agendas and biases of his seventh century biographers. Over the past 1500 years, both political and religious factions have usurped him for their own agendas. The end result of this exploration led to the discovery of a man who went to the end of his world to preach the Gospel, to convert the Irish to Christianity, and to share the love of his God with the place and people who once enslaved him.
    [Show full text]
  • 560 – 579 560. the Festival of Temuir [Celebrated] by Diarmait, Son Of
    560 – 579 560. The Festival of Temuir [celebrated] by Diarmait, son of Cerball. 560 Annals of Ulster The Feast of Temair held by Diarmait son of Cerball; and the death of Gabrán son of Domangart. The migration before Máelchú's son i.e. king Bruide. The battle of Cúil Dreimne. 560. Annals of the Four Masters The second year of Domhnall and Fearghus. Daimhin Damhairgitr, i.e. Cairbre, died. From him are the Airghialla. 560.CRONICUM SCOTORUM The last feast i.e. of Temair held by Diarmait son of Cerball. The death of Gabrán son of Domangart, king of Alba. The flight of the Scots before Bruide son of Máelchú, king of the Cruithin. The killing of Curnán, son of Aed son of Eochu, king of Connacht, by Diarmait son of Cerball when under the protection of Colum Cille, and this is why the battle of Cúl Dremne was fought. 560 ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE. This year Ceawlin undertook the government of the West-Saxons; and Ella, on the death of Ida, that of the Northumbrians; each of whom reigned thirty winters. Ella was the son of Iff, Iff of Usfrey, Usfrey of Wilgis, Wilgis of Westerfalcon, Westerfalcon of Seafowl, Seafowl of Sebbald, Sebbald of Sigeat, Sigeat of Swaddy, Swaddy of Seagirt, Seagar of Waddy, Waddy of Woden, Woden of Frithowulf. This year Ethelbert came to the kingdom of the Cantuarians, and held it fifty-three winters. In his days the holy Pope Gregory sent us baptism. That was in the two and thirtieth year of his reign. And Columba, the mass-priest, came to the Picts, and converted them to the belief of Christ.
    [Show full text]
  • Saints, Monks and Bishops; Cult and Authority in the Diocese of Wells (England) Before the Norman Conquest
    Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture Volume 3 Issue 2 63-95 2011 Saints, Monks and Bishops; cult and authority in the diocese of Wells (England) before the Norman Conquest Michael Costen University of Bristol Follow this and additional works at: https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal Part of the Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons Recommended Citation Costen, Michael. "Saints, Monks and Bishops; cult and authority in the diocese of Wells (England) before the Norman Conquest." Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture 3, 2 (2011): 63-95. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol3/iss2/4 This Feature Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Art History at Digital Kenyon: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture by an authorized editor of Digital Kenyon: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Costen Saints, Monks and Bishops; cult and authority in the diocese of Wells (England) before the Norman Conquest Michael Costen, University of Bristol, UK Introduction This paper is founded upon a database, assembled by the writer, of some 3300 instances of dedications to saints and of other cult objects in the Diocese of Bath and Wells. The database makes it possible to order references to an object in many ways including in terms of dedication, location, date, and possible authenticity, and it makes data available to derive some history of the object in order to assess the reliability of the information it presents.
    [Show full text]
  • The Early Medieval Period, Its Main Conclusion Is They Were Compiled at Malmesbury
    Early Medieval 10 Early Medieval Edited by Chris Webster from contributions by Mick Aston, Bruce Eagles, David Evans, Keith Gardner, Moira and Brian Gittos, Teresa Hall, Bill Horner, Susan Pearce, Sam Turner, Howard Williams and Barbara Yorke 10.1 Introduction raphy, as two entities: one “British” (covering most 10.1.1 Early Medieval Studies of the region in the 5th century, and only Cornwall by the end of the period), and one “Anglo-Saxon” The South West of England, and in particular the three (focusing on the Old Sarum/Salisbury area from the western counties of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset, later 5th century and covering much of the region has a long history of study of the Early Medieval by the 7th and 8th centuries). This is important, not period. This has concentrated on the perceived “gap” only because it has influenced past research questions, between the end of the Roman period and the influ- but also because this ethnic division does describe (if ence of Anglo-Saxon culture; a gap of several hundred not explain) a genuine distinction in the archaeological years in the west of the region. There has been less evidence in the earlier part of the period. Conse- emphasis on the eastern parts of the region, perhaps quently, research questions have to deal less with as they are seen as peripheral to Anglo-Saxon studies a period, than with a highly complex sequence of focused on the east of England. The region identi- different types of Early Medieval archaeology, shifting fied as the kingdom of Dumnonia has received detailed both chronologically and geographically in which issues treatment in most recent work on the subject, for of continuity and change from the Roman period, and example Pearce (1978; 2004), KR Dark (1994) and the evolution of medieval society and landscape, frame Somerset has been covered by Costen (1992) with an internally dynamic period.
    [Show full text]
  • The Norse Influence on Celtic Scotland Published by James Maclehose and Sons, Glasgow
    i^ttiin •••7 * tuwn 1 1 ,1 vir tiiTiv^Vv5*^M òlo^l^!^^ '^- - /f^K$ , yt A"-^^^^- /^AO. "-'no.-' iiuUcotettt>tnc -DOcholiiunc THE NORSE INFLUENCE ON CELTIC SCOTLAND PUBLISHED BY JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS, GLASGOW, inblishcre to the anibersitg. MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON. New York, • • The Macmillan Co. Toronto, • - • The Mactnillan Co. of Canada. London, • . - Simpkin, Hamilton and Co. Cambridse, • Bowes and Bowes. Edinburgh, • • Douglas and Foults. Sydney, • • Angus and Robertson. THE NORSE INFLUENCE ON CELTIC SCOTLAND BY GEORGE HENDERSON M.A. (Edin.), B.Litt. (Jesus Coll., Oxon.), Ph.D. (Vienna) KELLY-MACCALLUM LECTURER IN CELTIC, UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW EXAMINER IN SCOTTISH GADHELIC, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON GLASGOW JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS PUBLISHERS TO THE UNIVERSITY I9IO Is buaine focal no toic an t-saoghail. A word is 7nore lasting than the world's wealth. ' ' Gadhelic Proverb. Lochlannaich is ànnuinn iad. Norsemen and heroes they. ' Book of the Dean of Lismore. Lochlannaich thi'eun Toiseach bhiir sgéil Sliochd solta ofrettmh Mhamiis. Of Norsemen bold Of doughty mould Your line of oldfrom Magnus. '' AIairi inghean Alasdair Ruaidh. PREFACE Since ever dwellers on the Continent were first able to navigate the ocean, the isles of Great Britain and Ireland must have been objects which excited their supreme interest. To this we owe in part the com- ing of our own early ancestors to these isles. But while we have histories which inform us of the several historic invasions, they all seem to me to belittle far too much the influence of the Norse Invasions in particular. This error I would fain correct, so far as regards Celtic Scotland.
    [Show full text]
  • Genre and Identity in British and Irish National Histories, 1541-1691
    “NO ROOM IN HISTORY”: GENRE AND IDENTIY IN BRITISH AND IRISH NATIONAL HISTORIES, 1541-1691 A dissertation presented by Sarah Elizabeth Connell to The Department of English In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the field of English Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts April 2014 1 “NO ROOM IN HISTORY”: GENRE AND IDENTIY IN BRITISH AND IRISH NATIONAL HISTORIES, 1541-1691 by Sarah Elizabeth Connell ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities of Northeastern University April 2014 2 ABSTRACT In this project, I build on the scholarship that has challenged the historiographic revolution model to question the valorization of the early modern humanist narrative history’s sophistication and historiographic advancement in direct relation to its concerted efforts to shed the purportedly pious, credulous, and naïve materials and methods of medieval history. As I demonstrate, the methodologies available to early modern historians, many of which were developed by medieval chroniclers, were extraordinary flexible, able to meet a large number of scholarly and political needs. I argue that many early modern historians worked with medieval texts and genres not because they had yet to learn more sophisticated models for representing the past, but rather because one of the most effective ways that these writers dealt with the political and religious exigencies of their times was by adapting the practices, genres, and materials of medieval history. I demonstrate that the early modern national history was capable of supporting multiple genres and reading modes; in fact, many of these histories reflect their authors’ conviction that authentic past narratives required genres with varying levels of facticity.
    [Show full text]
  • Bilingualism in the Cambrai Homily
    Bilingualism in the Cambrai Homily Gwendolyne Knight* The Cambrai Homily (Cambrai, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 679 [s. viii2] ff. 37rb–38rb) is a short prose homily found between two chapters of the Collectio canonum Hibernensis; as the Homily is incomplete, it has been suggested that it was copied from a stray leaf inserted into the exemplar of the Collectio. The Homily itself is estimated to date to the seventh or first half of the eighth century. More salient for the purpose of this anthology, however, is the fact that the Homily code-switches between Latin and Old Irish. Some claim that this text provides us with the earliest record of continuous Irish prose; as such it has long been an important source for early Irish linguistics, as well as evidence for sermons in the seventh-century Irish Church. Nevertheless, the aspects of code-switching between Old Irish and Latin in the Cambrai Homily remain underexplored. This article provides an assessment of existing perspectives on the relationship between Latin and Old Irish in this homily, and offers a fresh interpretation of the code-switching that takes place. Keywords: Medieval homily, code-switching, translation studies, Old Irish, Latin, Cambrai Introduction The manuscript preserved in Cambrai, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 679 (formerly 619) is a partial transmission of the Collectio canonum Hibernensis, containing 38 of 65-69 books of scriptural and patristic extracts, as well as canon law, and Irish synodal and penitential de- crees. It was copied for Alberic, bishop of Cambrai and Arras (763-790), in the second half of the 8th century.
    [Show full text]
  • ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND Her Mon Mæg Giet Gesion Hiora Swæð
    CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND Her mon mæg giet gesion hiora swæð EXECUTIVE EDITORS Simon Keynes, Rosalind Love and Andy Orchard Editorial Assistant Dr Brittany Schorn ([email protected]) ADVISORY EDITORIAL BOARD Professor Robert Bjork, Arizona State University, Tempe AZ 85287-4402, USA Professor John Blair, The Queen’s College, Oxford OX1 4AW, UK Professor Mary Clayton, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland Dr Richard Dance, St Catharine’s College, Cambridge CB2 1RL, UK Professor Roberta Frank, Dept of English, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA Professor Richard Gameson, Dept of History, Durham University, Durham DH1 3EX, UK Professor Helmut Gneuss, Universität München, Germany Professor Simon Keynes, Trinity College, Cambridge CB2 1TQ, UK Professor Michael Lapidge, Clare College, Cambridge CB2 1TL, UK Professor Patrizia Lendinara, Facoltà di Scienze della Formazione, Palermo, Italy Dr Rosalind Love, Robinson College, Cambridge CB3 9AN, UK Dr Rory Naismith, Clare College, Cambridge CB2 1TL, UK Professor Katherine O’Brien O’Keeffe, University of California, Berkeley, USA Professor Andrew Orchard, Pembroke College, Oxford OX1 1DW, UK Professor Paul G. Remley, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-4330, USA Professor Paul E. Szarmach, Medieval Academy of America, Cambridge MA 02138, USA PRODUCTION TEAM AT THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Sarah Westlake (Production Editor, Journals) <[email protected]> Daniel Pearce (Commissioning Editor) <[email protected]> Cambridge University Press, Edinburgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8BS Clare Orchard (copyeditor) < [email protected]> Dr Debby Banham (proofreader) <[email protected]> CONTACTING MEMBERS OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD If in need of guidance whilst preparing a contribution, prospective contributors may wish to make contact with an editor whose area of interest and expertise is close to their own.
    [Show full text]
  • Codex Amiatinus
    LOCAL STUDIES CENTRE FACT SHEET NUMBER 23 The Codex Amiatinus Abbot Ceolfrith, who succeeded Benedict Biscop as Abbot of the twin monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow. The Bibles were made in the monastic scriptorium during his abbacy, 690-716 AD. It was a remarkable thing to undertake at the time; usually copies of books of the Bible were produced as single volumes (eg, the Book of Psalms) or volumes containing a small number of books (eg, the four Gospels). Ceolfrith intended to carry the Codex Amiatinus to Rome in AD 716 as a gift to Pope Gregory II. He left Wearmouth with an entourage of 80 followers, intending to spend his last days in Rome, but died in Langres monastery in France en route. Some of his followers took the Codex Amiatinus on to Rome and presented it to the Pope to fulfil Ceolfrith’s wishes. The later history of the book is unknown until it reappeared at the monastery of San Salvatore at Monte Amiata in Italy, where it was highly prized and thought to be a 6th century Italian work. When the monastery was closed in the 18th century it was Illustration of Ezra, the Old Testament scribe The History of the Codex Amiatinus The Codex Amiatinus was one of three great single- volume Bibles made at Wearmouth-Jarrow, written in the 8th century. It is the earliest one-volume Latin Bible to survive in the world. Wearmouth-Jarrow had been established in the late 7th century by the nobleman Benedict Biscop. After visiting Rome, Biscop, inspired by the architecture, art, treasures, music and books of the Roman church, endeavoured to bring the best of the continent back to his native Northumbria.
    [Show full text]
  • A History of the O'shea Clan (July 2012)
    A History of the O’Shea Clan (July 2012) At the beginning of the second millennium in the High Kingship of Brian Boru, there were three distinct races or petty kingdoms in what is now the County of Kerry. In the north along the Shannon estuary lived the most ancient of these known as the Ciarraige, reputed to be descendants of the Picts, who may have preceded the first Celts to settle in Ireland. On either side of Dingle Bay and inland eastwards lived the Corcu Duibne1 descended from possibly the first wave of Celtic immigration called the Fir Bolg and also referred to as Iverni or Erainn. Legend has it that these Fir Bolg, as we will see possibly the ancestors of the O’Shea clan, landed in Cork. Reputedly small, dark and boorish they settled in Cork and Kerry and were the authors of the great Red Branch group of sagas and the builders of great stone fortresses around the seacoasts of Kerry. Finally around Killarney and south of it lived the Eoganacht Locha Lein, descendants of a later Celtic visitation called Goidels or Gaels. Present Kerry boundary (3) (2) (1) The territories of the people of the Corcu Duibne with subsequent sept strongholds; (1) O’Sheas (2) O’Falveys (3) O’Connells The Eoganacht Locha Lein were associated with the powerful Eoganacht race, originally based around Cashel in Tipperary. By both military prowess and political skill they had become dominant for a long period in the South of Ireland, exacting tributes from lesser kingdoms such as the Corcu Duibne.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cath Maige Tuired and the Vǫluspá
    Connections: the Cath Maige Tuired and the Vǫluspá Convergence of cultures, history and myth Angelina Kjerstad Johansen Master's Thesis History of Religion UNIVERSITY OF OSLO Autumn 2015 1 Copyright Angelina Kjerstad Johansen 2015 Connections: the Cath Maige Tuired and the Vǫluspá – Convergence of cultures, history and myth Angelina Kjerstad Johansen http://www.duo.uio.no Trykk: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo 2 3 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Jens Braarvig, for having the patience to deal with me and my strange ways of doing things. Thank you to Jan Erik Rekdal and Karl Johansson for giving me the idea for this thesis and to my fellow students for great discussions. To all my friends and my amazing family, you know who you are, I love you more and more each day. And to the artists and musicians that make my life bearable, you do not know who you are, but without you I would truly go insane. A special thanks goes to my sister, Monica, for being my co-conspirator and for helping me bore every other member of our family with our academic discussions. May we continue to do so in the future! To Rita, whom I miss beyond words. I dedicate all my triumphs to you 4 5 Introduction The topic of the thesis is the Irish myth Cath Maige Tuired - "The Second Battle of Mag Tuired", which is the story about the battle between the Túatha Dé Danann, the gods of pagan Ireland, and their enemies the Fomoire. What I wish to focus upon in the Cath Maige Tuired is not the battle in itself, which has been compared to the war between the Aesir and the Vanir in Scandinavian mythology1, but a passage at the end of this myth, where the goddess Mórrigan (here in the form of a mortal) comes with a prediction of the end of the world.
    [Show full text]