Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps
- List of tables
- List of figures
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- A note on pronunciation
- A note on the Chronicle of Ireland
- Introduction
- 1 Ireland in the seventh century: a tour
- 2 Irish society c. 700: I. Communities
- 3 Irish society c. 700: II Social distinctions and moral values
- 4 Ireland and Rome
- 5 Conversion to Christianity
- 6 The organisation of the early Irish Church
- 7 Columba, Iona and Lindisfarne
- 8 Columbanus and his disciples
- 9 The Paschal controversy
- 10 The primatial claims of Armagh, Kildare and Canterbury
- 11 The origins and rise of the Uí Néill
- 12 The kingship of Tara
- 13 The powers of kings
- 14 Conclusion
- Appendix: genealogies and king-lists
- Glossary: Irish and Latin
- Bibliography
- Index
Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps
- List of tables
- List of figures
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- A note on pronunciation
- A note on the Chronicle of Ireland
- Introduction
- 1 Ireland in the seventh century: a tour
- 2 Irish society c. 700: I. Communities
- 3 Irish society c. 700: II Social distinctions and moral values
- 4 Ireland and Rome
- 5 Conversion to Christianity
- 6 The organisation of the early Irish Church
- 7 Columba, Iona and Lindisfarne
- 8 Columbanus and his disciples
- 9 The Paschal controversy
- 10 The primatial claims of Armagh, Kildare and Canterbury
- 11 The origins and rise of the Uí Néill
- 12 The kingship of Tara
- 13 The powers of kings
- 14 Conclusion
- Appendix: genealogies and king-lists
- Glossary: Irish and Latin
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This history of the Irish between the fourth and the ninth centuries, from the beginning of the historical period up to the Vikings, flollows only one of many possible approaches to the period. It is, in the first place, a history of the Irish people, and not just of the inhabitants of Ireland. What the Irish did in Britain, Francia and Italy is as much its concern as what they did at home. Secondly, although it gives a major place to the Church, it is a history of a people rather than of books or artefacts. Some surviving texts cannot be given a clear historical context; they are anonymous, only vaguely dated and not attached to any particular institution. Some of them may be of great intellectual importance, but I have deliberately preferred to concentrate on those for which I could propose an historical context. For that reason, the main illustration of Irish artistic production occurs within a chapter on Columba and Iona, while the main discussion of intellectual debate is in the chapter on the paschal question.
Another principle limiting the range of topics covered was that there should be themes connecting one chapter with another. The effect has been to divide the book into three parts, beginning with an introductory section in which the Ireland of c. 700 is presented, first in a discursive manner, through the journey made by Bishop Tírechán's Patrick, and, secondly, more analytically, in the two chapters on Irish society.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Early Christian Ireland , pp. 1 - 7Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000