Island of saints and scholars
Island of saints and scholars
myth or reality?
This chapter poses a challenge to the romanticised idea of medieval Ireland as a land of saints and scholars. A concept so beloved of generations of Catholics in Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Having said that there is no doubt that the Irish did contribute enormously to the development of European civilisation. However, the role of the church in the middle ages within Ireland was much more ambiguous. It was by turns domineering and rapacious. It acted to ensure its own place in Irish society, and in particular it vigorously defended its right to property, that it had not always honestly acquired. Its scholar manipulated the teaching of scripture, the Fathers and the traditions of early Irish ecclesiastical history to ensure and approve practices such as slavery, and the sexual exploitation of women. Whatever about the absence of saintliness this carefully researched and reasoned piece demonstrates that medieval Ireland’s reputation for scholarship is securely grounded.
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