The Fifth
Century or ‘Patrician’ Age
Summary.
Around the Fifth Century A.D. a few writings which survived begin to
appear. Even so,
most of the knowledge we regard as reasonably reliable come
from writings of the following century
.The accounts of the various attempts to
bring Christianity to Ireland are described, and also what we
know of the
various ruling families.
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General
Considerations
Names of
the Tuatha
Patterns
of Power
The Ui Neill in the Fifth Century
The
Beginnings of Christianity
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General Considerations
Not only are there almost no
Irish documents from the fifth century, there are no archaeological remains
either. Almost everything is based on conjectures, with such evidence as there
is coming from the following century. Though we entering the historical period,
i.e. the time about which we have written documents, very few written records
about Ireland survive from the fifth century. Accounts are given by the
genealogists and annalists that may contain some facts. A lot depends on what
credence we can give to such accounts. The difference between the northern half
and the southern half of Ireland
persists into this period. Almost all the literary sources refer to events in
the northern half, the part where there was the heaviest concentration of La
Tene finds. There is a core however of indisputable facts, such as the mission
of Pope Celestine I in 432, and the mission of the bishop Patrick in the same
century.
The Celtic language spoken by all of the
upper class at least was changing rapidly at this time from a
recognisable
dialect of Gaulish in the fourth century to Old Irish by the seventh century.
As noted earlier
there is no need to assume that the line of fracture was along
the Irish Sea. There was no central ruler over
the whole of Ireland.
Nor, does it seem, were there central rulers in each of the provinces. In each
province,
however, there would have been groups of tuatha under superior or mesne chiefs in particular localities.
We
must remember this when examining the locations of the earliest churches.
Geographical conditions
ensured that Ireland was split into four or five regions, later called provinces, though
they were never Roman provinces. Munster was the largest, but probably the least populated. One should not
imagine a country evenly and densely populated from end to end. Rather most of
the country was covered by dense forests or vast bogs. Forests in course of
time could be cut down, and bogs partially drained. Agriculture seems to have
been recovering at this time, and forests and scrub
around the various tuatha cleared for
tillage. The population may not have exceeded a density of 10 to the square
mile, or about 10,000 in an average county. We are looking at islands of
population in a vast sea of bog and forest. As late as the twelfth century,
Irish dioceses had no definite boundaries, for the boundaries lay in the middle
of the forests. The centres of population were linked to each other, and we can
also assume that in the midst of the forests and bogs were little settlements
of fugitives, or thieves.
It was always possible for privileged classes like merchants,
craftsmen, and learned or religious men to go from one region to another, for
they were valued. But an armed man was largely confined to his own district.
Travel between Munster and the rest of Ireland
was difficult, as was also travel between Ulster
and the rest of Ireland. In both cases, great forests and bogs protected their borders. Leinster too was similarly
protected. The border between Meath and Connaught, though to a considerable extent covered by bogs, marshes, and the
river Shannon, was the most open. It was also probably the one across which river
travel was easiest as the Shannon had tributaries on either bank. It was well into the Christian era
before the idea of a single ruler of All-Ireland could even be envisaged.
Events were unrelated to each other in the two parts until early in the eighth
century when Cathal Mac Finguine attacked Leinster. Great belts of largely unoccupied land separated the two parts.
The only feasible path was along the Shannon and then along the lower slopes of the Slieve Bloom Mountains. The Shannon, though a large river,
was difficult to navigate up and downstream. In winter it ran fast and wide,
while in summer, when the water was lower there were numerous sandbanks. Also
small craft suitable for travelling along the stretches of river were too small
to safely cross the often stormy lakes. These difficulties were not overcome
until mid-nineteenth century. Travelling from east to west and vice versa along
the tributaries of the Shannon would have been much easier. It is a commentary on the character of
the country that the Norse were able to establish a very defensible stronghold
on the modest-sized Lake Ennel, presumably because of impassable bogs it’s
shores were only approachable from the lake itself.
At the time of the arrival of Christianity and with it some written
records the basic political shape of Ireland
was beginning to take shape which was to last for the next thousand years. The
most densely populated part of the country was the belt in the middle, east of
the Shannon, and north of the present Dublin-Galway line and extending to the
present Ulster border. It is also the region about which most historical records
survive and the history of the Ui Neill can
be given with reasonable confidence from the fifth century onwards. This region, and the eastern maritime counties in general were
presumably the most open to influences of all kinds from the Roman Empire on the other side
of the Irish Sea. As monasteries increased and with them the habit of keeping annals
we gradually gain more information about the other parts of Ireland.
It is also the region where the early churches and monasteries are found. [Top]
Names of the Tuatha
Though the names of the tuatha
are found in written sources of a later date, it is possible for scholars to
make out the locations of the names. There are three distinct groups of
name-forms in Ireland. In the north they have the form of Clann, Cenel, Ui, Fir, or Dal
all meaning much the same thing, descent from a recent common ancestor, followed
by the name of the ancestor. The same is true of South Leinster. In
Munster the
characteristic name ends in -rige or
else begins with Corcu. These types
of names are sometimes found in Connaught. The third group is in north Leinster and extending into Connaught, the borderlands of south Ulster
and south Leinster with forms like Delbna or Luigne. Other names like Deisi (Dayshe), Decies, Loigse, (Leegse,
later Leix or Laoighis, Leesh ), Oirthir, Orior, and so on, have no
obvious explanation of their form. Over all of these spread the branches of the
Eoganacht and the Connacht and probably also the Cianacht
in the fifth century, all with names of the Ulster
type. Three principal groups had names ending in -acht, the Eoganacht, the Connacht, and the Cianacht and
these names seem to have been derived from gods. All these names seem to refer
not to the tuath but to the principal
families of the tuath from which the
chief was selected. In a similar manner the geographical region called Italia is called after the Itali and Sicilia after the Siculi.
This would suggest a group derived from a common sanctuary or shrine, perhaps
even an amphictony. In Munster the various septs of the Eoganacht
were not given separate names but assigned geographical locations. The
family structure was however the same. Some see the clan names ending in -rige or beginning with Corcu (and in the north Dal) as the most ancient, with some or
all god-related like Boandrige from
the river goddess Boand (MacNicholas). A name too like Luigne could be derived from the god Lug. Those beginning with Ui would have been the most recent. Ua means grandson of, and Ui is the plural, but Ui naturally included great grandsons in
the normal four generation derb fine.
But most of these family names became generic and included all those who had
any claim to be chief. They were all also hopelessly inter-married within the
forbidden degrees of Roman or canon law. We are making a major assumption,
namely that the genealogies are at least approximately true. We know that the
genealogies in the Bible are, in many cases, artificial constructions, for example
the accounts of the descendants from Adam, or the sons of Noah. Irish
genealogists similarly constructed fictitious genealogies.[Top]
Patterns of Power
It is fairly easy to work out from later data the distribution of
the various tuatha and the families
who controlled them. It is much more difficult to decide from data compiled a
few centuries after the events, the balances of powers, the power struggles,
and the sequences of events in those power struggles. Scholars are by and large
agreed that by the end of the Roman period there was considerable disruption
occurring in the political balance in Ireland,
and that new groups were coming to the fore and establishing themselves as
local overlords. There is a general consensus too that the slave-raiding into Britain
that characterised the late Roman period increased the wealth and military
power of those who took part. It seems also to be agreed that certain groups
such as the Laigin in east Ireland,
the Ulaid in north east Ireland,
and the Corcu Loegde in
Munster had
acquired a certain eminence as local overlords. It is not at all clear who or
what the Laigin or the Ulaid were. Were they family groups like
the later Ui Neill or a league of tuatha? The Ulaid in particular seem to have been dominated by unrelated
families. Similarly the Laigin seem
to have been composed originally of unrelated families. If the various groups
with a god or goddess in their names were tuatha
that worshipped at a particular shrine who had agreed on a common enterprise
such as a raid into England, it would give a sufficient mass and cohesion for initial conquests
on Ireland as well. But as they dispersed over Ireland
the initial cohesion would be lost, but the cohesion of family groups would
remain.
The particular quest we are
studying here is the spread of the Eoganacht
families in southern Ireland and the Connacht families including
the Ui Neill in northern Ireland. There are disputes among scholars as to whether Ireland
in the fifth century was conquered by these families from east to west or from
west to east. Some prefer to see the Eoganacht
and the Connacht originating in
fierce military families in the more barren western parts, gradually conquering
the more fertile parts in the centre and the east. Others see them as originating
in the east, gaining wealth and military expertise from raids to Britain,
and then as they needed tuatha for
their younger sons to rule, attacking west.
In this theory, the Connacht
would have been originally from around Tara in Meath. Byrne, in his genealogical tables commences with Echu Mugmedon who had three important sons,
Niall Naoigiallach, Fiachra, and
Brion. From the latter pair were descended the Ui Fiachrach and Ui Briuin
chiefs of Connaught, of whom more later. Nath I son of Fiachra and Aiilil Molt his grandson (d. 482) became
overchiefs of Tara. After the battle of Ocha in 482 AD the Ui Neill allegedly secured the exclusion of the Ui Fiachrach from the chieftainship of Tara. There certainly were none
of them after the death of Aillil Molt. Echu Mugmedon
would have been a chief somewhere near Tara. His sons would have commenced the expansion towards the west. The
family unity lasted for some time, but gradually it split into antagonistic
branches, the Ui Neill, the Ui Briuin and the Ui Fiachrach. Three of Echu’s grandsons, Eogan, Enda, and Conall Gulban would have attacked towards
north west into Donegal. (This would have the advantage of placing the Connacht next to the Ulaid for the
contest between them forms the local basis of the Tain.) Others contend that the Ui
Neill may have been originally from Connaught and indeed have been lesser branches of the ruling family there.
This theory maintains they attacked the Laigin
in Leinster, and seized the sacred site of Tara from them. Some Connaught chiefs like Nath I and
Aillil Molt are placed among the
earliest overchiefs of Tara. They maintain that the geographical spread of the Ui Neill and the Eoganacht is better explained by an expansion from western parts.
In either case, the sons of Niall Naoigiallach,
by the end of the century had succeeded in excluding their Connacht rivals from the
over-chieftainship of Tara.
I favour the spread from east to west. Tuatha on the east coast were more likely to participate in raids
on Britain, to receive warrior refugees from Britain,
and to amass wealth and power from the slave trade. Leagues like the Ulaid and the Laigin could concentrate power along stretches of the east coast, and
then exact tribute from the less successful tuatha
inland. Some of the earlier participants in the raids like the Deisi in Meath could have found
themselves squeezed out and then finding another role as the chief assistants
of the Eoganacht in Munster
Not only must the direction of the expansions be considered, but
also the timescales. Was there a sudden expansion of the Eoganacht and the Connacht in
the fifth century or was what we know of the distribution of their families at
the beginning of the sixth century the result of centuries of expansion? We
know that in Ireland the concentration of power to the extent that there was only a
single family controlling a province was not attained until the tenth or
eleventh century. At the beginning of the sixth century, the very feeble
efforts made by the Ui Neill,
supposedly the strongest military power in the northern half of Ireland shows
that the concentration of power had not proceeded very far.
I am inclined to conclude that there was no sudden expansion of the
Eoganacht and Connacht, and that what we know of circumstances about the middle of the
fifth century was the result of centuries of wars. If the initial expansion was
at the same rate as during the historical period it must have commenced at an
early date. By the year 450 AD, the Connacht under Echu Mugmedon had
reached the stage of ruiri or
overchief over a handful of tuatha in
Meath. Their opponents, the Laigin
would have had the same status. These overchiefs would have battled for the
possession of the sacred site of Tara. I am inclined to think that the expansion of the Connacht and the Eoganacht was
initially very fast, but also very dispersed. They
would have raided Ireland like they raided Britain,
and also displaced local rulers from small tuatha
and installed their own kin in dispersed areas. This initial expansion would
have carried the Connacht west of the Shannon where they seized tuatha
in various parts of that province. They would even have expanded, using ships
to capture small tuatha along the
coast in Donegal. The advance of the Eoganacht
also seems to have started on the east coast around Waterford. A
tradition said that a member of a family exiled to Britain
returned, and with the help of the Deisi
of Brega established himself in Eile in north Munster. The Deisi of Brega, who were probably
pirates, established themselves in Waterford. It is
possible that the Deisi began the
attack with the help of British mercenaries, and established themselves
on the more profitable coast. The original settlement of the Eoganacht seems to have been in the tuath of Eile, but they soon established
themselves on a remarkable rock not far away at Cashel. From there they and
their allies the Deisi conquered
various dispersed tuatha in
Munster. This
dispersal, and lack of a focal point, meant that they were unable or unwilling
to co-operate as the Ui Neill were
able to do in the north. But the co-operation among the Ui Neill was very limited. We must always remember that we are
trying to reconstruct events from documents written centuries later when the
political situation was quite different.
So by the middle of the fifth century we find four powerful groups
on the east coast, the Ulaid, the Laigin, the Eoganacht and the Connacht who
had some control over the tuatha
further inland. They had considerable contacts with Roman Britain, either by
raiding or trading. They were probably intermarried with the leading British
families on the west coast of Britain,
and were used to Roman ways. In their territories there were probably quite a
number of Britons living, some of whom were Christian, Christianity now being
reasonably established in south Wales and
in Strathclyde. Almost certainly these Christians would have been among the
lowest strata, the slaves, the sen cleithes
and the fuidhirs. These latter,
though at the very bottom of the social scale, could have been very important
and useful to their owners or patrons. Like Greek slaves in Rome, they could
have possessed valuable skills, the ability to read and write, and to speak
Latin. Or they could have possessed a knowledge of the
value of goods, and been able to bargain with foreign traders. It was to
minister to these people that the first Christian priests came to Ireland.
With regard to the
political structure we are again reduced to trying to interpret the situation
in the fifth century in the light of much later legal documents dating from a
period when there was a hierarchy of chiefs within a province with hierarchical
subordination . In the later law tracts
there were three grades of chief the ri tuaithe, who controlled
an area the size of a barony, the ri
ruiri or greater chief who ruled his own barony, but was also the overlord
of other barony chiefs perhaps in a whole county. Then there was the ri ruirech who was overlord of all the
chiefs in a province. By the eighth century it is clear that among the Ui Neill, the chiefs of Clan Colmain at Uisneach,
and of Cenel Eogain at Aileach and Sil nAedo Slaine at Brega respectively
had the rank of ri ruiri so that the
chief of Tara, being over them, would have the position of ri ruirech. (This latter rank did not necessarily mean then, as it
later came to mean, the overlord of a province, but merely the overlord of
overlords.) Whether any of these chiefs in the fifth century controlled more
than one tuath each may be doubted.
Chiefs were essentially elected chiefs of warbands, so the two grades would
correspond to captains of ships and a captain of the fleet. Both offices were
elective. This system would work when all the warriors with a vote belonged to
branches of the same family. But there were obviously other conquered tribes,
who likely became client tribes, who would have no vote in elections for the
chieftainship of the ruling family.[Top]
The Ui Neill in the Fifth Century
There is a complete list
of kings of Tara from Niall Naoigiallach (Neel Nee geelach,
Niall of the nine hostages d. 453?) which can be taken as reasonably certain.
The list refers of course not to the 'high kings' of Ireland
but to the overlords or paramount chiefs of the Ui Neill. This is the only family with regard to which we have
reasonable information respecting the fifth century. He was followed by his son
Loeguire (Laereh) who was killed in
the wars with the Laigin. His dates
are given provisionally as c 454 to c 460. Among Loeguire’s brothers the
genealogists record Conall Cremhthain
from who the Southern Ui Neill
claimed descent, Eogan (Owen) of Aileach from whom the Cenel Eogain of Aileach and Inishowen claimed descent, Conall Gulban from whom Cenel Conaill of Tir Conaill,
and Coirpre, besides other brothers who held lesser pieces of land in Meath.
(There are at present between twenty and thirty baronies in Meath and on the
borders of the surrounding counties, and a further eight in Donegal. The
immediate descendants of Niall Naoigiallach
may have captured several of these.) Coirpre
succeeded Loeguire. According to tradition c. 460 the succession to the
chieftainship of Tara was disputed by members of the collateral branch from Connaught, Nath I and his son Aillil Molt
of the Ui Fiachrach and they were
successfully elected. The battle of Ocha or Faughan Hill forty three years
after the coming of Patrick (482?, 502?) is said to
have led to the exclusion of the Ui
Fiachrach branch from the chieftainship of Tara. Finally Lugaid (Louie) son of Loeguire is said
to have ruled from c 485 to 507. None of these were known as Ui Neill.
Conall Gulban, son of Niall, was supposed
to have land around Ballyshannon on the borders with Connaught, as we would expect,
but we also find the Cenel Conaill
and the Cenel Eogan established in
the north of the county, occupying the northern quarter of the county between
them. The land around Ballyshannon is one of the few fertile places in the
county, but the best land in the county is in east Donegal around Raphoe, and
it would appear that it was from here that the great expansion of the northern Ui Neill took place. Like Norman
families, the sons of Niall Naoigiallach
would have targeted small and possibly impoverished tuatha in Donegal, a rather barren county and worked in harmony
with each other. (The Irish climate was probably somewhat warmer in those days,
somewhat warmer and dryer, with settlements possible in places that were not
occupied again until the population explosion in the late eighteenth century.
The land around the old church of Killeavy in south Armagh, one of the earliest in Ireland,
is not very prepossessing nowadays, but other archaeological sites in the area
show that it was settled and farmed.) Originally the Cenel Conaill seems to have been the strongest branch, while the Cenel Eogain occupied the
peninsula of
Inishowen. The
Cenel Enda seems to have occupied the
Laggan, the fertile area around Raphoe, which was later occupied by Clan Connor of Magh Ithe, a branch of the Cenel
Eogain. The Cenel Enda never
amounted to much and its land was later swallowed up by the other two. They
then each presumably established themselves as local over-chiefs of the
neighbouring tuatha. They were not
yet ready to challenge the established powers in Ulster
like the Cianacht, the Oirgialla, and the Ulaid. Even relatively minor family groups like the Cianacht had to be by-passed. What
exactly gave the Ui Neill their edge
over the others is not clear, but over the next thousand years they were to
conquer and largely occupy most of Ulster.
This expansion was slow, at a rate of scarcely 10 miles in a hundred years, but
slowly and surely most of the land of
Ulster came to
be owned and occupied by the northern Ui
Neill.
Several others of the sons of Niall Naoigiallach seem to have been involved in the drive in Meath,
Conall Cremhthain, Loeguire, and
Coirpre, among them. The chief branches of the southern Ui Neill were descended from a grandson of Conall Cremhthain called Diarmait mac Cerbaill.
The southern Ui Neill seem to have
established themselves at an early date in a tuath near Screen very close to Tara in eastern Meath, presumably
roughly the present barony. They may have driven out the Deisi or restricted their territory to the present baronies of
Upper and Lower Deece. This was and is some of the best land in Ireland.
Later they formed an overlordship over the local tuatha, and formed a local chiefdom historically known as Brega,
which included various subject clans. There was another branch near Killallon
about thirty miles west of Screen descendants of Colmain Bec. Another branch, descendants of Loeguire mac Niall had a tuath near Navan, scarcely more than 10
miles from Screen. They survived as the small sept of O’Quinlans survived until
1690. Just west of Navan was another Ui
Neill family, that of Ardgal. These latter two never grew in importance,
but survived as petty subordinate tuatha for centuries. To the west of these
again in present day Westmeath, lay the lands of Clan Colmain, the most successful of the branches of the Southern Ui Neill. Their great centre was around the hill or shrine of Uisneach,
roughly the present barony of Rathconrath. Like their cousins around Screen,
they were to carve out quite a large overlordship for themselves, finally
covering Westmeath and parts of adjacent counties. Some of the tuatha around them would have been daer tuatha, paying tribute. But for a
long time most of the tuatha would
have been independent. But at the beginning of their expansion the sons of
Niall Naoigiallach probably only possessed
a few tuatha around Navan and Tara.
If Saint Patrick ever visited them they would only have been minor local
chiefs.
[Top]
The Beginnings of Christianity
The whole of the writing
of the history of the Church in Ireland
has been distorted by the development of the St Patrick legend in aid of the
claims of the see of Armagh to the primacy of Ireland.
The legend benefited by the fact that the only two reliable Irish writings of
the fifth century were his. As much of
this legend is now discounted we must make a fresh start. It is now recognised
that St Patrick was not the first to convert the Irish, and was not the first
bishop in Ireland. But Armagh's based their claims to primacy and rents on the alleged facts that
it was the earliest of the surviving dioceses, and that it was founded by St
Patrick in the fifth century.
I have suggested in an
earlier chapter that the earliest missions among the pagan tribes to the north
and east of the Roman Empire were to scattered groups of Christian slaves. As trading never
ceased, there could always have been settlements of traders and craftsmen who
were also Christian or had been Christian.
The first definite
mention of Christianity in Ireland
recorded in writing was in the Chronicle
of Prosper of Aquitaine which was completed about 450 AD. Prosper strongly
opposed Pelagianism and strongly supported the teaching of St Augustine (d.
430 AD) on this point. . Under the year 431 Prosper has the cryptic note,
‘Palladius was ordained
by Pope Celestine, and sent to the Irish believers in Christ as
their first bishop’ (de Paor79). On this line an enormous amount of speculation
was built especially regarding a supposed Gaulish mission to Ireland.
Two years earlier Palladius, the archdeacon of Pope Celestine had been acting
as a messenger between the Pope and Germanus of Auxerre. Germanus had just been
sent to deal with Pelagianism in Britain,
as also mentioned by Prosper This raises all sorts of
questions. Why did the Pope send him? Who told the Pope that there were
Christians in Ireland? Why a deacon from the church of
Auxerre, and
not a priest from the nearby British Church? One explanation would be that somebody had told the Pope, that the Irish Christians, priests and laymen, were
infected with Pelagianism, and the Pope decided to send a person of sound
doctrine to deal with them. This need not imply that a diocese was created for
him in Ireland, any more than one was created for St Germanus in Britain.
It would seem that his mission was to the Laigin,
and that they
still controlled Tara and parts of Meath at the time. What is clear is that Palladius was
ordained bishop in 431 and was sent to Ireland to
the Irish believers in Christ as their first bishop. Muirchu, a biographer of
St Patrick, writing two hundred and fifty years later, say that Palladius
retired to Britain. If so, he was presumably a bishop there.
Palladius may, or may not,
have been accompanied by three priests called Secundinus, Auxilius, and Iserninus, who may, or may not,
have come from Gaul, and who may have been made
bishops later on either by Palladius or some other bishop, On the other
hand, they may have been British priests already ministering in Leinster. References
to these three are late and inconsistent, and there is no contemporary evidence
that they were bishops. They undoubtedly existed, but who they were, where they
came from, or who sent them is not obvious.
Secundinus is associated with Dunshaughlin (barony of Rathoath, co.
Meath); Auxilius with Killashee near Naas in Kildare. Iserninus is associated
with Aghade near Tullow in Carlow, and also with Kilcullen,
county
Kildare.
Dunshaughlin was then in territory controlled by the Laigin. (Corish 2). The churches they
founded were on hilltops near the forts of the principal local chiefs. We can assume that the church or diocese was
co-extensive with the local tuath,
and the land for its support was given by the local ri. It is reasonable to assume that the places they built their
churches were also the places where there was the greatest number of British
Christians. The Laigin too were among
those who had the closest contacts with post-Roman Britain.
de Paor gives a map of churches associated with ‘pre-Patrician
saints’, seven in all, and they are in a close group in south Leinster and
north Munster, four in Leinster and three in Munster (de Paor 38-45, 274).
Just as the earliest
churches in North Leinster were associated with
Secundinus, Auxilius, and
Iserninus, so the earliest churches in South Leinster and Munster were associated with St Declan of Ardmore, St Abban, St. Ibhar of Beggary, St Ciaran of Saighir
and St Ailbe. If that is true, Christianity came later to Munster than to the other provinces for the death of Ailbe is recorded after
527. These are
sometimes called the 'pre-Patrician saints', but they
would have been contemporaries of Patrick, with Ailbe a younger contemporary.
de Paor
considers all references to work
of St Patrick in Munster to be later fictions. There is no indication that any
chief other than
Oengus mac Nad Froich
of Emly was ever baptised. In the
traditions he is associated with St Ailbe of Emly. Emly was the first
and much more important church in Munster before the
era of the dominance of the Eoganacht of Cashel. There was another
group of churches, chiefly in North Leinster but spreading across Central
Ireland into Connaught, said to have been
founded by British priests. (de Paor in his map p.
292, shows this part of Ireland still under the control of the Laigin.)
One of these at Trim, co. Meath was said to have been founded by St Lomman
twenty five years before the church in Armagh. The churches in South Leinster and in North Munster would have been later, by half a century than those in North Leinster, and probably
contemporary with this of the British priests in Meath, and with the mission of
Patrick among the Oirgialla. The impression one gets is that Christianity was first
established firmly in Ireland in county Kildare, and from there spread out over most of Ireland
except the north. Most, or all of the priests would
have been British.
Who was the first bishop of an Irish diocese? It is impossible to answer this question for
we have no idea if those who founded churches acquired their episcopal rank
posthumously. (The same problem exists with regard to Wales and
Scotland.) It is impossible to say if an Irish diocese was created for
Palladius, or whether the existing Irish parishes were just added to an
existing British diocese. Pope Celestine sent Palladius as a bishop to Ireland
but apparently he did not stay long. He could have returned because of illness,
or because of the hostility of the local chiefs, or merely to return to his own
diocese. As in the case of St Patrick, he was probably made a bishop of an
existing diocese. A late tradition makes him bishop of Carlisle or Whithorn, which is
likely enough. The annals are not reliable before the middle of the sixth century.
The big difficulty is the impression given that there was an excessive number of fifth century
bishops recorded in the annals, especially if one compares conditions in Ireland
with those in Wales, where priests founded churches. There may have been bishops in Ireland,
but there was no need
for them. By the standards
of Gaul
one bishop would have been sufficient for the whole island. Ordained priests
and the holy oils could easily have been obtained from Wales. It
may very well have been that when Patrick, later in the century, came to northern Ireland, there was no bishop there. There may even have been no bishop in
the whole of Ireland. Patrick himself may not have consecrated any bishops. The whole
history of the fifth century is too vague, and at the same time obscured by
tendentious claims, that considerable scepticism is warranted about it. For
centuries, in more modern times there were priests but no bishops in large
parts of the United
States, the colonies
being subject to an English Vicar Apostolic. If no bishoprics were formed in Ireland
in the fifth century, because there were no cities, it would explain the way
the Irish Church developed in the following century.
There may indeed have been a mission from Gaul, sent at the instigation
of the Pope, at the time of the Pelagian scare. But one would have expected
that most of the missionary effort would have come from Celtic Britain. Celtic
states existed in Wales, Cumbria, and Cornwall to quite a late date. Normal practice, then as now, would have been
to send priests, or to allow volunteer priests to go, into pagan villages. This
happened in Wales. Bede, quoting the unreliable Gildas, later accused the
British
Church with
not being sufficiently active in converting the pagan Saxons, but as usual such
remarks apply only to the ruling classes. St Augustine of Canterbury was lucky
because the local chief was already married to a Christian woman. The chiefs of
the barbarians became Christians whenever they saw an advantage to themselves
in it.
There can be little
doubt that the introduction of Christianity into Ulster
was independent of its introduction into Leinster. Nor is there any reason to doubt that it followed a similar
pattern. Therefore we would expect several priests from the dioceses of
York and Carlisle to have been
ministering to British captives. A chance remark of Tertullian indicates that
the Christian clergy preached beyond the extent of Roman arms. The aim of the
Patrician myth was to make all of these priests later than and subordinate to
St Patrick. It also intended to downgrade and belittle Palladius, for if it
were conceded that Palladius founded a diocese Armagh could not claim neither
the primacy nor the tribute. The clergy of Armagh stood stoutly by their claim, that Patrick was the bishop of Armagh, and that Armagh was the first diocese in
Ireland, and that consequently all other dioceses had to be subordinate to
it. They could not prove this, but then the other churches could not disprove
it. Kildare, however, with some reason, claimed to be earlier.
Of Patrick and his mission we really know nothing except
what we can glean from his two obscure pieces of writing, the
'Declaration' (Confessio) and the
'Letter against the Soldiers of Coroticus' (Ceredic or Caradog). The Declaration
was really a letter
written to members of his own family justifying his conduct in Ireland,
and written to people who were largely
conversant with the events of his
life and
disapproved of them. In fact the
nub of their complaints seems to have been that he was spending family money in Ireland
which should, they thought, have been
used for their support. The other letter was a written
rebuke of a minor British chief named Coroticus whose soldiers had captured
and carried away into slavery some of
Patrick's own converts. Coroticus was
himself apparently a Christian.
Patrick was born in Roman
Britain, almost certainly on the north west coast near Carlisle. His grandfather had been a priest, and his father a deacon and
civil administrator with the rank of decurion. He was born shortly after the departure of the
Roman armies, when the British were still trying to re-organise their defences against the raids of the
Scots. He was probably captured by the raiders from Ireland
around 430 AD. When he escaped after several year's slavery, he returned home and was made a priest, and later a bishop
of some town in the northern half of Britain,
possibly Carlisle. He seems to have been and to have remained a bishop in Britain.
But he spent much of his
time and money in Ireland,
hence the complaint apparently that he
deserted his see for motives of profit. There is no reason to believe that he was
ever the bishop of an Irish diocese.
He considers that his mission was chiefly to
the ordinary people of Ireland whom he calls Hiberionaces
not to the ruling classes whom he calls Scotti (de Paor 93). This would fit with the theory that the first Christian priests
and bishops were sent to minister to the captured Christian slaves, and other
British Christian settlers. He seems to
have returned to Ireland about 460 in response to a vision (de Paor 90). This chronology
places the mission of St Patrick firmly in the second half of the fifth century, and thirty years after Palladius, Auxilius and
Iserninus. Oddly enough, only one placename is mentioned, namely the wood of Foclut
by the western sea near where he served his captivity.
Where he laboured in Ireland
is unclear as well. Tradition has it that he landed in County
Down and
founded his first church at Saul near Downpatrick, which town
also claims a connection with him. This
local tuath would have been one of
the subordinate tuatha of the Ulaid. It is probable that he provided a priest for the
existing Christians and new converts on the coast, if there was not one there
already. It is also likely that he worked among the Oirgialla and indeed may have worked principally among them. Whether there were any priests
working in Ulster before the arrival of Patrick about 460 is hard to say. The obits
of the earliest priests and bishops in Ulster, Mochai of Nendrum, MacCartan of
Clogher, MacNissi of Connor are more consistent with an arrival after Patrick,
but again the dating in the Annals is itself suspect. The Annals
of Ulster conveniently provide for the death of Benignus, the first bishop of
Armagh
in 467. He may have visited the Southern Ui Neill near Tara, and the Northern Ui Neill at Aileach. It is hard to see how he
could have avoided going to the
ruling over-lords, if the over-lordship of the Ui Neill had been established by his time. But this is very doubtful. On the other
hand, his mission may have been largely confined to the lands of the Oirgialla. It is likely that place-names
beginning or ending in 'donagh' represent churches of the Patrician age, but
not necessarily founded by Patrick. The Latin Domus Dominica (House of the Lord) would accurately reflect the
Greek Kyriacon (kirk, church) which was the
house where the people of the Lord met to pray. Ecclesia in both Latin and Greek meant the local body of faithful.
The Northern Ui Neill, namely
those descended from Eogan and Conall Gulban, had apparently at this
time secured possession of tuatha in
north and south Donegal.. A map given by de Paor of the distribution of the
principal Christian sites at the beginning of the sixth century show them to have
been largely among the Oirgialla, and
then in north Leinster in the territory
recently conquered by Niall and Loeguire, lands recently in the possession of the Laigin. There are only two
churches in Donegal, one at Carndonagh among the Cenel Eogain, and the other at Raphoe among the Cenel Conaill. The tradition given in
the ninth century 'Tripartite
Life of St Patrick' that St Patrick blessed the sons of Eogan and the sons of Conall is not
impossible (Mullin and Mullan 18). At what date a church was founded in Armagh is impossible to
establish. It would probably have been in the tuath of Oirthir (Orior). The scribes in Armagh were determined to prove
that their church and diocese was the first in Ireland,
a claim nobody today would allow to pass unchallenged.
By 492 AD when Patrick
is supposed to have
died there were close
connections between the churches in Britain
and Ireland. British priests seem routinely to have come to Ireland.
Irish Christians wishing to study for the priesthood or the monastic life would
have travelled routinely to Britain.
The idea that St Patrick converted the Irish single-handedly is clearly
mythical. A question must be asked, Was there ever any
connection between Bishop Patrick and Armagh? Scholars are usually very sceptical of any claims of any churchmen
in the Middle Ages with regard to anything to which
revenues were attached. And there were revenues claimed by Archbishops of Armagh.
There certainly was a later monastery at Armagh, from which the town and city is derived. But there was no town
before the monastery. Indeed a monastery was always built in a waste spot. Nor
was there any seat of a major chiefdom near to which it was common to erect a
church. Eamhain Macha was long since
deserted. The place seems to have been in the territory of a local branch of
the Oirgialla, the Oirthir (Orior). Was the sole connection
between the monastery of Armagh and St Patrick the fact that the two precious manuscripts of his
writings were found in its library? Given that, any monastic scribe and
genealogist worth his salt could provide the connection. On the other hand it
could be plausibly argued that the present diocese of Armagh represents the ancient
territory of the Oirthir. In this
case the chief must have had a wooden residence somewhere,
and probably near the present city of Armagh. Armagh could then have had a
resident priest or deacon from the time of St Patrick, who only needed to be posthumously
promoted to episcopal rank. Whether Patrick ever returned to his diocese or
died in Ireland is unknown.
De Paor dismisses to
so-called ‘Synod of St Patrick’ as a later compilation. Corish considers that
some of the canons may have had a connection with Auxilius and Iserninus.
The overall conclusions
are that several British priests preached in Ireland
at least from the first half of the fifth century. Palladius, possibly a bishop
of a British diocese, came to Ireland
briefly around 432. Several churches were founded by British priests chiefly in
Leinster
and parts of Munster bordering on it, probably before 450. Churches were founded in the
southern half of Ulster, principally among the Oirgialla after 450, and may all have been
connected with Bishop Patrick. Finally, towards the end of the century, more
priests established themselves in other parts of Munster and in Connaught. It is impossible to
say which was the first surviving Irish diocese, but it was almost certainly in
Leinster.
Emly, not Cashel, was probably the first church in Munster, but
Cashel could have been the first diocese.
Note. The Latin spelling
of Irish names seems to reflect a time when consonants between vowels were
still pronounced. Later these were aspirated or completely silent, but
modifying the vowels. Thus Lagen becomes Laighin and pronounced as line, but in
Latin became Lagenia.. This modification was never complete,
and it could develop in stages over the centuries. Thus Catherlough in the
Middle Ages becomes Carlow. Some would also argue that spelling was always
archaic and centuries behind the actual pronunciation. Hence modern scholars
tend to use modern Irish pronunciation which is certainly historically
incorrect.
Modern Irish spelling,
like that of other languages, retains various letters that were formerly
pronounced but now are not. The letter d and g at the end of a name are always
silent. Many consonants in the middle of a word between two vowels become
silent and modify the vowel sounds as mentioned above. Many names have a
genitive case that often consists of inserting an i
before the last consonant. The initial vowel is also aspirated. Thus Conall becomes Chonaill. But -ch becomes -g which then becomes silent. If it
begins with a vowel n is often prefixed and written nA or nO as the case may
be. Mac (genitive meic or mic) means son. Ua
(plural Ui) means a grandson, but the
Ui is often used generically to
denote the entire family. Niall (neel) in the genitive becomes Neill (nale). The name following mac and ui is always in
the genitive, which often too differs considerably from the modern form. The
adjective following the name is also declined. The rules were somewhat different
in ancient Irish so the names given by the scribes do not always seem to follow
the rules. When there is a doubt whether the vowel is an a or an o I have used
o as that was the form used in the Middle Ages when English-speakers first
wrote them down. Thus Oirgialla
(Oriel) instead of Airgialla which is
equally correct. Nd became nn in modern Irish, though clann was clearly
pronounced cland. O in places became u, though in my own name mond has become
Mumhan (Mooan). Modern Irish historians are not wholly consistent in rendering
ancient spelling, depending on the degree to which modern Irish spelling should
be approached and conjectures about the pronunciation of various letters
derived from the Roman alphabet. One could write a whole treatise on how St.
Patrick pronounced his own name. I have tried to provide forms suitable for
those who have no knowledge of Irish ancient or modern. They will have little
difficulty in recognising the genitive form after mac in personal names.
In the Middle Ages when
there was a recognised anglicised form it is better for non-Irish speakers to stick to that
pronunciation. But this is not possible for earlier periods.
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