A Monastic Landscape: The Cistercians In Medieval Ireland

By Breda Lynch

This book offers a fascinating insight into some of the majestic ruins that dot the Irish landscape. These Cistercian monasteries were repositories of prayer, learning, physical labour, exquisite stone structure and so much more. This text explo

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookTrail Publishing
• Release date: Jan 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781637673584

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Copyright © 2022 Breda Lynch

Paperback: 978-1-63767-357-7

Hardcover: 978-1-63767-397-3

eBook: 978-1-63767-358-4

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021915692

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Contents

Preface

Chapter 1:   From Jerusalem to Mellifont

Chapter 2:   The Cistercians Settle in Ireland

Chapter 3:   Leinster Beyond the Pale

Chapter 4:   What Did It Look Like?

Chapter 5:   Within the Monastic Precinct

Chapter 6:   The Monastic Economy

Chapter 7:   Dissolution & Destruction

Chapter 8:   Looking to the Future

Glossary of Useful Terms

Endnotes

Bibliography

Dedication:

Abbreviations:

Preface

My motivation in writing this book is simple. Through the following pages I want to open up the fascinating world of the medieval monastery to you. I want to share knowledge, ignite your imagination and curiosity and help you to visualise these buildings not as old ruins but as the vibrant, colourful and peaceful places they once were.

Throughout this book we will explore the world of medieval Ireland from various aspects including the natural, political, religious and economic. Irish Christianity is a deeply culturally emotive subject. The physical remnants of this time are synonymous with the image of Ireland, from ruined monasteries, to round towers, high crosses and illuminated manuscripts and the treasures of early Christian Ireland created by gold and silversmiths of the first millennium. The uniqueness of the character of those early hermits permeates the Irish psyche to this day. The location of the country as a small island on the fringe of the known world allowed it to develop its own unique identity; one which is still evident today.

Questions direct conversation and this is true also of questions about a site or a religious order. In my experience the most often asked questions relate to the presence of artistic expression within a Cistercian monastery, the definition of abbey versus monastery, the status of abbot versus prior and the use of various rooms within the abbey plus general queries regarding the lives of the monks and the social world which surrounded the monasteries. Many people do not realise the existence of the complex or the purpose of the surrounding lands and estate. The notion of the monks being wealthy but premised on the old phrase of asset rich cash poor is not generally understood. For many people the sight of large monasteries and the statement of the acreage associated with the monastery equals fabulous wealth. An assumption that is wildly inaccurate. The question of the status of lay-brothers is another oft asked question. The organisation of a monks day or year is another ponderable as is the international dimension of the Cistercian organisation. The breakdown of the use of the rooms within the monastery, its organisation with regard to functional use and the arrangement of the outer complex is worthy of discussion and will form the basis of two full chapters. The use and organisation of one monastery can be used as the basis of study or explanation of others as the Cistercians, conveniently, built to a well-known plan. That plan and an analysis of it will receive much attention both to aid in an understanding of the organisation of the monastery and the day to day life of the monks but also to enable visitors to the monasteries in their current physical state to enjoy a re-created experience; enabling them to ‘step back in time’. We will take a deeper look behind the high walls of the monastery and discover what it was like to live within these monasteries. I will answer questions such as: what did the monasteries look like, were they decorated, what did the monks do, how were they organised, what interaction did the monks have with the world outside the monastery, how did it all end?

In relation to the exploration of the lands identified and listed within this text it is important to note that, when studying the medieval period, there are no comprehensive lists, no easy to download full histories of these sites. The information available is piecemeal, often what has been presented as factual histories of sites for decades turns out, with a little digging, to be inaccurate. It is impossible to compile complete directories of the lands held by each monastery from foundation to dissolution, and further discover the fate of that land into the modern period. Within the following chapters the information presented is, as always intended, a basis to aid further research. With that in mind, additional and updated information will be included on the accompanying website and I would encourage you to engage and return to that source over time; treat it as additional chapters, waiting to be explored and populated - www.drbredalynch.com

The purpose of this book is twofold. One I wish to provide a basic starting point for those interested in the study of the Cistercian Order in medieval Ireland. This is not meant as a full history of the order nor does it claim to be. The basic information such as the number of monasteries founded, the founders and location of those monasteries in both the medieval and modern landscape might sound simple. However, its complication is evidenced in that fact that such a task has not been compiled or discussed in any detail in one singe published volume prior to the first edition of this publication. That publication stemmed from my PhD thesis and while the information is difficult to obtain and has many gaps and omissions those gaps prompt further study and act as a way to progress the vast area of study that is the role of the Cistercian order in medieval Ireland. In addition to identifying the monasteries, founder and location I also include details of land, rights and privileges granted to various foundations. In order to best emphasise the evolution of the social and political world of the medieval Ireland into which the Cistercians settled and progressed I pay particular attention to the monasteries located within the lordship of Leinster. Following the evolution of the administration of that territory and the broader societal changes the focus extends to the province of Leinster and the establishment of the counties within that area before finishing with an examination of the monasteries and associated lands at time of the dissolution of the monasteries in the sixteenth century.

The second purpose has evolved from many years of welcoming visitors, national and international, to the sites under my management. Through numerous seasons and years, I have had the honour of managing and helping to present a number of national monument sites to the public. This has been possible through my role as guide, then head guide then supervisor guide/manager with the Heritage Services section of the Office of Public Works. This is the government body that oversees the conservation, presentation and management of Ireland’s National Monument and Historic Properties portfolio. The team I work with is comprised of experts in many fields, conservation architecture, craftworkers, maintenance crews and guide staff all supported by an extensive administration section. Ours is a dedicated, ambitious and exceptionally talented workforce who strive every day to preserve the past, excel in the present and build for the future. Through thousands of conversations and guided tours or chance meetings I have discussed the medieval Cistercians and the buildings they left behind. I have delighted in the nuances of seemingly small innocuous observations that have led to deep and far-reaching discussions with people from all over the world. Those questions and conversations are what influence my second purpose; to make the history of these medieval monasteries accessible to all people and in doing so to answer the most often recurring questions. My intention is this; if you are planning to, or have already visited a medieval Cistercian monastery in Ireland (or elsewhere) then you need to read this book. Doing so will deepen your understanding of the subject, answer your questions, guide you on the ground, aid you to step back in time and through the lavish illustrations, create a visual image of the complete Cistercian monastery.

My hope is to strike the balance between a text that is accessible to all but grounded in fact and researched to a high academic standard thus making this publication a must-read for the general visitor and the serious historian alike.

I express my deepest gratitude to all who have helped in any way to bring this publication to fruition.

Breda Lynch

All Souls Day, November 2021.

Kilkenny, Ireland.

www.drbredalynch.com

Chapter 1

From Jerusalem to Mellifont

Having thus ‘put off the old man’, they rejoiced in having ‘put on the new’. ¹

Ireland’s Christian heritage is both compelling and abstract. The country is dotted with the remnants of the physical presence of monasteries and churches. Our museums hold the gold and silver treasures from this time, chalices studded with coloured gems, pattens decorated with intricate details, croziers once held within the hand of bishops, archbishops or saints, payer books stained with the oils of the faithful hands who once intoned the words now faded within the battered covers. As one travels the country one cannot help but be confronted with physical remains of almost two millennia of Ireland’s built Christian heritage. Much of what unfurls before a visitor is a jumble of time-periods and architectural styles combined with the physical incarnation of culturally diverse people all on display within a diverse landscape, at times lush and rolling valleys, at times harsh escarped mountain, at times remote islands and at times part of the crush of urban spaces. The physical manifestation of a constant progression of faith, power, wealth and the sense of belonging, both to a place and to a greater power clash forcibly within the Irish church and landscape. To most, this period is known as the Dark Ages but to the Irish it was a golden age. An age when the skill of the metalworker was at its peak and the term ‘island of saints and scholars’ applied across the land and the first centuries of that millennium. The names and personal stories of early missionaries may be lost to history but their influence still remains, awaiting discovery.

Our exploration begins by first discussing how Christianity evolved at its inception and then tracing its journey to the shores of the island of Ireland. The story of Christianity begins with the worldly life of Jesus Christ, his birth and early ministry and most importantly death and resurrection which ultimately gave the institutions of the Mass and core beliefs of the Christian faith. We know that during the earthly life of Jesus Jerusalem was ruled by the Romans, as was a vast portion of the Middle East and the later continent of Europe. The earliest church, a Jewish Christian Church was established by followers of Jesus and was led by James whom some of the early documents call the brother of Jesus. This was a dynamic church from the earliest times; Jesus told the apostles to spread the Good News and they certainly followed through. Even today following the routes taken by those early preachers would be challenging. Take St Paul for example, his journey brought him to Syria, Cilicia, the south costal region of Asia Minor extending inland from the south-eastern coast of modern Turkey due north and northeast to the island of Cyprus, Galatia, an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey then Asia, Macedonia and Achaia, part of modern day Greece. From Paul’s own writings we know that he was engaged in what centuries later would be termed ‘good trouble’ in each of these regions and it is known that he was imprisoned more than once. Paul returned to Jerusalem on a number of occasions during his missionary years and so the members of the early Church were informed about his travels and the events of his life as they were about many of the other early missionaries. We can be sure there were very many others filled with a similar missionary zeal and the names of some men and women have come down to us through history. Barnabas, Titus, Timothy, Aquila, Epaphras, Epaphroditus, Luke, Mark, Onesimus, Onesiphorus, Silas, Silvanus, Stephanas, Tychicus and Prisca, Junia, Chloe and Phoebe were companions of Paul’s in the broad sense, traveling around the Mediterranean and building up the church. However, these were all individual people, and so they did not always agree. An example of this is found from Paul in 2 Corinthians 11 where he expresses his disagreement with the super-apostles who came to Corinth after he left. Presumably, wherever there is humanity there will be discord. We wonder how many others were preaching and teaching in the name of Jesus without being recorded anywhere.

Within three or four decades many Christian communities were established around the Mediterranean region. It is important to note that during this time, from the crucifixion of Jesus to approx. 70 AD, this early Christian church was what should be termed a sect within Judaism. Both Paul and Luke supported the conversion of gentiles into a broader Christian faith, separate from Judaism. By the sixth decade of the first century revolt was brewing in Judea against Roman rule. In the year 62 James, the leader of the church and brother of Jesus was killed. James was probably replaced as head of the church by Symeon, the son of Clopas and likely a cousin of Jesus. Four years later in 66AD a Jewish rebellion against the Romans broke out and after the revolt various sects within Judaism were wiped out. At this time the religious landscape changed considerably, and it was the Pharisees who kept Judaism alive. Because the Jewish-Christians had not fully supported their brother Jews, mainly for faith/belief reasons, they began to exist outside of the Jewish systems. This continued to be the case and within a century of the life of Jesus the Jewish-Christian sect was no more, now the majority if not all members were gentiles. The significance of this is underlined when we consider that in c. 135AD The Roman Emperor Hadrian expelled all Jews from Jerusalem but by this time many Christians were not included in the expulsion. The fault lines never recovered. For the next two centuries Jews were banished from the city, it was not until the reign of the Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363) that this was reversed.

When Jerusalem fell in 70AD it seems that many of those Jewish-Christians got out of the city before the culmination of the rebellion. Once they got out many never went back. During this time Paul travelled to Rome. This is the time of the Great Persecution by Nero; Nero killed large numbers of Christians in the 60’s and Paul feared that the persecution was endangering the very existence of the church in Rome. Paul travelled to Rome to be a witness to this persecution, but he was imprisoned himself. His time in captivity lasted for about two years before he was martyred, probably beheaded towards the close of the year 67. Much of the information about his time in Rome comes from Paul himself, while he was in prison, he wrote many letters to Timothy which we still have access to today through the New Testament; Acts, Romans and Galitians. The act of the beheading of Paul was significant. Because he was a Roman citizen, he was given the great honour of beheading, crucifixion was only for non-Romans. Clearly the Christians in Jerusalem and Rome and wherever else they were within the Empire were very much aware of the danger that members of their Church were in.

Reference was made above to the fall of Jerusalem in about 70AD. Many Jewish-Christians, probably more correctly termed gentiles by then, had already fled the city before it’s fall, heading eastwards. Obviously, these Christians were accepted in those locations where they then established churches or faith centres. By the end of the 1st century King Edgar of Edessa, modern day Turkey, had adopted Christianity as the official religion of his state. This was significant, firstly because he had actually made this move but secondly because of the status of Edessa which controlled part of the main trade route east. Traditionally it is believed that church music first emerged in Edessa. This is one example of how new norms became established and developed within this Church in the east while in the western portion of the Empire the persecution of Christians continued. Change was on the horizon, a new emperor emerged in Rome; known in history to Christians as Constantine the Great.

About a century after King Edgar adopted Christianity as the state religion in Edessa Constantine did the same in Rome, now the Roman Empire was Christian. The repercussions were massive; the persecution ended, Christians were free to emerge from the underground status and begin in earnest to convert others and develop their Church. The Church had a new impetus and didn’t waste any time in capitalising on the new status. In theory persecution was over and power and wealth beckoned. The Roman Church embraced all from east to west. Obviously, such a fundamental shift in the power base and focus was not going to go unchallenged. Many Christians in the east, and presumably some in the western part of the empire too, questioned the direction that the Church was taking. Jesus had told people to abandon wealth and riches and give it all away to the poor, but this was not the path that the Church seemed to be taking, aligning itself to the emperor and empire was not what Jesus intended. A clear divide emerged. In the east there was an appetite to follow the very fundamental and basic teachings of Jesus and so this gave way to a new form of Christian living where people would either go into the desert to think and pray alone or to gather in communities of likeminded people - this is what we label monasticism. Therefore, in the eastern part of the empire at this time we find monasteries established in addition to a strict focus on the teachings of Jesus. The emergence of church music along with a desire to retain a language which evolved from the very earliest time of the church owes its origin to this period. For example, the church which emerged in Syria, The Syriac Orthodox Church celebrates Mass in the Syriac language which is a dialect of the Arameic spoken by Jesus, so the church there is connected intimately with him. Thus that church does not have any of the issues of interpretation through translation that most other elements of the Church has in the west. The same for the Greek Orthodox Church as many of the earliest church documents and writings were written in Greek.

Constantine may well have felt that he would use Christianity to unite his huge and sprawling empire but in reality, it did the opposite. Ultimately, Constantine ruled over four rival centers of Christian authority. Antioch in modern day Turkey, Alexandria in Egypt, the Bishop of Rome and Constantine’s capital in Constantinople, now Istanbul. While this indicates how diverse the church had become within three centuries it also belies problems. A number of early church councils sought to answer fundamental questions for the Church in order to ground its teachings and message and establish a direction for the Church to follow. Questions such as Who exactly was Jesus? What was his relationship to God? How are they both God? The answers which were agreed upon at these councils are an integral part of the church today. For example, the Council of Nicaea met in the 4th century near the modern town of Iznick near Istanbul and, after much debate established the Nicene Creed and the recognition/teaching of the Trinity. This acknowledgement is recited in everyday worship today and stretching right back to that 4th century council.

The establishment of Constantinople was a move made by Constantine to secure the eastern portion of the empire, but Rome figured prominently in his plans too. Constantine began to root out Rome’s pagan past and then present and, with fervour, modelled this Christianity to become a state religion. Having Christian martyrs, Peter, Paul and many others who were killed during the Great Persecution gave Rome a piece of Christian history which was now built upon. Christians venerated the relics of Peter and Paul from very early times. Many of those early Christians in Rome are buried in the catacombs under the city and the art from these places are both remarkable in their survival and in what they tell us. From the 4th century the cult of relics became an established part of Christian worship, and the catacombs became places of pilgrimage. The early Christians bound the bodies of dead Christians in linen and placed them in burial niches named loculi which were sealed with a slab bearing the name, age and the day of death. Often Christian symbols such as the chi-rho were included. Images of bread and fish, Christ the good shepherd, and a bearded Christ are all found within the catacombs dating to the early centuries of the Christian tradition. Images that still resonate with Christians today.

What was begun under Constantine continued after his death, most notably when Pope Damasus I, who, 30 years after Constantine’s death was established as a bishop in succession from St Peter. As that successor the bishop of Rome became the Holy Father, Pope of all Christians in the west, and St Peter became the rock upon which that Church stood. Damascus made a crucial decision; he began to target the Roman nobility for conversion. He also commissioned a new translation of the Bible. This act was intended to cement the claim that this Church was the legitimate heir to the original church led by St James. The translator was a man named Jerome, secretary to Pope Damascus and it is Jerome’s translation which is still the approved Latin translation today. The significance of this act can’t be overemphasised because it is this which set the development of the Church apart. From then on East and West would grow in two very separate languages, Greek and Latin respectively. The use of Latin also made Christianity accessible to the ‘aristocracy’ in the Roman Empire. From now on theologians began to have their say on the moulding of the Church of the West.

In the 5th century disaster struck. The Barbarian invaders overran the western part of the Empire and, in 410 Rome itself fell to them. With the fall of the Empire, we traditionally pass from the Classical world into the Middle Ages in the west. The invading Franks from Gaul, Ostrogoths of North Italy, the Visigoths of Spain, and the Vandals of the African provinces all played a part in reshaping the fallen empire and gave history one of the greatest misnomers, the label of the Dark Ages. Many people either don’t know or forget that these invaders were Christians, just not Roman or Catholic Christians. These events shaped the Church once more. To provide just one example, an emperor of the East named Justinian was one of the conquering barbarians. Justinian built churches destined to become an orthodox branch of imperial Christianity that would prosper in Russia and the Balkans. Conversely, Theodoric king of the Ostrogoths was also a Christian and church builder but his branch of Christianity did not fit in with the church which had developed in Rome either. It was decision time. Would the Roman church align itself with the winners in the old empire? And if so which winner? Ultimately the Roman church would go it alone.

The Roman Church or more correctly by this time the Western Latin or Catholic church still had friends in high places and favours were called in. The roman aristocracy had once ruled the Roman Empire, now they began to rule the Church. Roman noblemen stepped into the vaccum and became bishops in order to preserve the world and structures that they knew. The Church had once been against the establishment but now it was the establishment. The Latin Church of the West, or what we will call from now on the Roman Catholic Church (that label also included the Eastern Catholic Churches whereas we are concentrating on the Western Catholic Church) expanded in two ways, through direct impetus from the Pope and the central authority and also through the monastic movement.

At the close of the sixth century, in the year 597 a party of religious landed in Kent in south-east England. They were sent by Pope Gregory I with the explicit mission to convert the inhabitants of that island. In a parallel to when Patrick would arrive in Ireland, some Christians already lived in England but Augustine led this mission and so would get the ‘claim to conversion’ fame. The issue of the conversion of Britain is not of concern here but reference to it is included to underline the fact that the see of Canterbury was established practically upon the arrival of the delegation from the Holy See and the organisation of the church followed. Britain was part of the Roman Empire and so followed certain patterns and expectations. Those same expectations did not exist in Ireland at this time.

The Fall of Rome in 410 led to the misnomer of the Dark Ages. In Ireland, this period would become known as the golden age of Irish metalwork, manuscript production and illumination and ecclesiastical decoration. The formal story of Irish Christianity begins in the fifth century, and it was not until the sixth century that Papal authority caused structures to be placed on the church. Therefore, Christianity in Ireland had been allowed to evolve on an ad hoc basis for several centuries thus creating space for Ireland’s unique form of Christian worship to develop. Additionally, this is why few studies of this earliest period of Irish Christianity exist. The foundational texts of the early church in Ireland marks the beginning of the written history of the country. The arrival of St Patrick is a hugely important period in Irish history. Not just because of the subsequent spread of Christianity and all that is associated with it, but because Patrick’s writings represent the first recorded documentation; the first written history of the country. The surviving writings, which are accepted to be from the hand of St Patrick, the Confessio and the Epistola (or Letter) to Coroticus represent the earliest documents known to have been written in Ireland and are written in Latin.

Although Patrick represents the beginning of recorded Irish history it is not true to say that Patrick was the first person to bring the message of Christianity to the country. People like St Declan, St Carthage and others had already begun the mission. An entry for the year 431 in the Chronicle of Prosper of Aquitaine states that:

Palladius, having been ordained by Pope Celestine, is sent as first bishop to the Irish believing in Christ.

Muirchu moccu Machtheni (Latin: Maccutinus), usually known simply as Muirchu, was a seventh-century Irish historian and monk who appears to have spent most of his time in Leinster. Muirchu is accredited as being the author of Vita sancti Patricii or Life of Saint Patrick which is one of the first accounts of Patricks life. However, Muirchu’s words are also recorded in The Book of Armagh. In reference to Pallidus Muirchu records that

God hindered him [Pallidus] ... and neither did those fierce and cruel men receive his doctrine readily, nor did he himself wish to spend time in a strange land, but returned to him who sent him.

We know that a man named Palladius lived in Rome between 418-29 and was probably responsible for encouraging Pope Celestine to send the bishop Germanus to Britain where he guided the Britons back to the Catholic faith. This is in all probability the same man who in 431 was sent by the same pope as the first bishop to Ireland. Regarding the arrival of St Patrick to Ireland the most often referenced date for his arrival is 432. However, that is not the date when he first arrived as a slave, this occurred around 416. The 432 date is the date when he came back to Ireland having been ordained a bishop by Pope Celestine.

The movement that impacted more than any other on the early Irish church is monasticism. Both forms of monasticism - eremitical and cenobitical existed in the early Irish church. Eremitc monasticism refers to taking oneself away and living alone as a hermit, defined as a person living in solitude. Cenobitic monasticism refers to living within a community of monks. Two examples may be used to represent respectively this type of life in early Christian Ireland; the bleak beauty of the hermitage on the isolated and remote Skellig Michael off the south-west coast, contrasted with the monks living in communities at Glendalough. (Fig 1 & 2) The definition above can be used as the rule of thumb, but it is important to note that within the monastic movement of early Christian Ireland there was a certain fluidity that did not always fit neatly within definitions.

The Celtic Christian monks of the early period of Christianity appear to have shared a strong connection with Byzantine influences. These influences have been preserved in much of the artwork from the early Irish church. These links caused a Celtic theology to emerge which in turn evolved into a particularly Irish devotional practice which would influence the entire Western Church. The Irish monks developed a series of ‘tariff books’ which equated penance and a tariff - i.e. each sin has a penance that will balance the sin. In the words of Diarmaid MacCulloch

They [Irish monks] saw the spiritual life as a constant series of little setbacks, laboriously compensated for before the next little lapse. They used their tariff books to help layfolk who were oppressed by guilt and shame.²

Constantinople was the link between Europe and Asia. Literally the crossroads of an amazing amount of learning and information with so many influences passing through the minds of many learned people and the Irish monks seem to have had a particularly voracious appetite for learning. A copy of the Syriac (middle Arameic) manuscript Diatessaron, described as a late sixth century harmony of the four gospels, is believed to have travelled through Scotland and Ireland in the seventh century. The decoration within this manuscript may have supplied the influences for the illustrations in the Book of Durrow, the illuminated manuscript possibly created at Durrow Abbey about the year 675. The fact is that, prior to this period, there was little effort to portray the human form within the illuminated manuscripts; the sudden appearance of the representation of the human form in the Book of Durrow suggests an outside influence.

Another much more recent find may add weight to this theory and that is the discovery of the Fadden More Psalter in 2006. The most significant element of the psalter from the point of this discussion is the papyrus found as part of the lining of the book covering. The Psalter, or book of Psalms, has been dated to the eighth century and the psalms are in Latin. The text follows the Gallican Psalter, a version of the Latin Psalter devised by the fourth century St Jerome. The most obvious and usual source for papyrus was in Egypt thus this indicates strong physical connections between the Irish monks of the eighth century and Egypt.³ As above this may account for the Coptic influence often observed in Irish Christian art and thought of this period.

It is well known that Irish monks traversed Europe spreading the word and bringing their tariff books, thus spreading the idea of penance and causing it to become the basis of the Western Church’s system of penance and confession. St Brendan may not be accepted worldwide as a person of fact but his existence in Ireland is undisputed. St Columba or Colmcille founded the monasteries of Durrow, Derry and Iona, Scotland. He is said to have frequently crossed the sea to his various foundations. A younger contemporary of Colmcille, known to history as Columbanus travelled further. In the late sixth century Columbanus began to journey in Gaul (present day France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switzerland and parts of Northern Italy, the Netherlands and Germany) and founded monasteries there including at Luxeuil, not always to the delight of the bishops he encountered. It was during this time that the differences regarding the dating of Easter came to the fore. The Irish monk left the bickering and journeyed further east in search of an answer. Columbanus travelled to Switzerland and then into Italy where he founded the monastery at Bobbio, where he died in 615. To put this into context Bede, considered the greatest historian in Europe at this time, (c.672-735) was writing his Ecclesiastical History. Part of the history focused on the time spent in England by Augustine, sent on his mission by Pope Gregory mentioned above. Indeed the history quotes letters exchanged between the two. The most long lasting and important event in Augustine’s time in England for this study was the establishment of the principal churches and cathedrals which would form the diocesan structure upon which the Irish system is based. Canterbury would be subservient to Rome from then onwards. In 1072 Lanfranc informed the Pope that from the time of Augustine’s primacy to the time of Bede, the Archbishops of Canterbury had exercised jurisdiction over the whole of Britain and Ireland.⁴ In the same year Lanfranc wrote to Turlough O’Brien, king of Munster, urging him to come into line and follow the observances of the Roman Church. Matters which Lanfranc wanted movement on included marriage laws, the reform of both appointing bishops and baptising and the problems of paying for holy orders. In the letter Lanfranc urges Turlough to call a council of senior clergy and, with lay participation, begin the work of reform. To place this in context, at the same time as Lanfranc was urging reform in the Irish church, Irish monks were leaving Ireland and travelling east while the Roman church was bringing its structures westwards. The Venerable Bede wrote:

It was now that many noble English and others of inferior rank, leaving their native country, withdrew to Ireland, to cultivate letters or lead a life of greater purity. Some became monks, others attended the lectures of celebrated teachers; these the Irish most cheerfully received and supplied without any recompense, with food, books, and instruction.

Mosheim writes:

That the Hibernians were lovers of learning, and distinguished themselves in those times of ignorance by the culture of the sciences beyond all other European nations, travelling the most distant lands, with a view to improve and communicate their knowledge, is a fact with which I have long been acquainted, as we see them in the most authentic records of antiquity discharging with the highest reputation and applause the functions of doctors in France, Germany, and Italy both during this and the following century. But that these Hibernians were the first teachers of scholastic theology in Europe, and so early as the 8th century illustrated the doctrines of religion by the principles of philosophy I learned but lately from the testimony of Benedict, Abbot of Amuane in the province of Languedoc, who lived in this period, and some of whose productions are published by Baluzius in the fifth tome of his Miscellanea.

The Irish, according to this learned writer, not only distinguished themselves by the culture of the sciences beyond all other European nations, but travelled the most distant lands with a view to improve and communicate their knowledge. Not only did they convert and civilise many countries of Europe, they also imparted a knowledge of agriculture, built asylums, hospitals, refuges, and introduced the arts and sciences. Saints Colman, Modestus, Virgilius, and others laboured in Austria. Saints Kilian and Firmin were the apostles of Franconia (a region in modern-day Germany). Columbanus, Gall, Fridolin, were the first to preach the Gospel in Burgundy, Alasce, Helvetia, Suevia. St Virgilius was the apostle of all Bavaria (Germany). St Columba preached to the Picts (Scotland) and in the north of England. The labours of the Irish monks extended to many other regions, including Switzerland, Saxony, and Northern Germany.

The Christianity that came to Ireland had spread west, through Gaul from the deserts of Egypt and Syria while at the same time spreading in the Middle East, Arabia, Central Asia and Ethopia as outlined above. The significant difference was that the Celtic Britons who were Catholic Christians were very strongly influenced by the Church in Gaul and, by extension Rome and both elements retained Latin as the sacred language and the language of their literature and liturgy. Throughout all of this time Christianity was becoming stronger and more organised in Ireland. Monasteries were spreading across the country from Ardfert to Killybegs, Lismore to Downpatrick and everywhere in between.

Intimately connected with the arrival of the Cistercians is the reform of the Church in Ireland. The beginnings of this reform coincided with the arrival of the Scandinavian adventurers better known as the Vikings. These Hiberno-Scandinavians were instrumental with the establishment of many cities in Ireland. During this same period many Irish monasteries were administered by lay people and a growing secularisation developed.⁵ This secularisation probably reached its zenith in the early eleventh century when the Viking king of Dublin Sitric Silkenbeard went on pilgrimage to Rome. It is important to note here that Sitric was grandson of the King of Leinster and was married to the daughter of Brian Bóruma, testimony to the many alliances which were in place among the two peoples. Upon his return he established a bishopric in Dublin with Dúnán becoming its first bishop. He was succeeded, upon his death in 1074, by Patrick. Bishop Patrick had been trained as a monk at Worcester and was consecrated at Canterbury, England.

The arrival of Bishop Patrick in Ireland was important, because he brought with him, letters from Archbishop Lanfranc to the kings of Dublin and the Irish province of Munster. The king of Munster in this period was also the High King with opposition – Turlough O’Briain (Ua Briain, known hereafter as O’Brien) grandson of Brian Bóruma.⁶ Lanfranc, in his letter to Turlough,