Chapter I: Civilization and Learning in

IRELAND IN PAGAN TIMES 1

„ II.—THE BEGINNINGS OF CLASSICAL
LEARNING 15

„ III.—IRISH MONASTICISM 30

„ IV.—THE RELATION OF THE IRISH
MONASTIC SCHOOLS TO THE
GENERAL EDUCATIONAL SITUATION
(550–900 A.D.) 71

„ V.—CENTRES OF INTELLECTUAL LIFE
IN IRISH MONASTERIES 93

„ VI.—COURSE OF STUDIES 119

„ VII.—SCOPE AND INFLUENCE OF IRISH
SCHOLARSHIP 171

BIBLIOGRAPHY:—(a) SOURCES 195

(b) SECONDARY AUTHORITIES 198

“The ages which deserve an exact enquiry are those times (for such there were) when Ireland was the School of the West, the quiet habitation of sanctity and literature.”

—Extract from a letter written by Dr. Samuel Johnson
(1709–1780) to Charles O’Connor (1710–1791), published in
Edward O’Reilly’s _Irish Writers_, pp. i., ii. Dublin, 1770.

“Le peuple monastique des temps barbares, le peuple missionare, et destiné à apporter la lumière de la foi et de la science dans les ténèbres croissantes de l’Occident, c’est le peuple Irlandais dont on connait mieux les malheurs que les services et dont on n’a pas assez étudié l’étonnante vocation.”

—Ozanam, Frederic. _La Civilisation Chrétienne chez les
Francs_, Ch. 4.

Roddet in cach cill caid
Etir tir is tuinnd is traig
Foglaim ecnai crabud De
Lubair cretra commairge.

—From a poem attributed to Flann Fine, the Irish name of
Aldfrith, King of Northumbria (d. 704 A.D.), who studied in
Ireland.

Text in _Eriu_, viii., p. 67. Translation, p. 71.

[Transcriber’s note.

This stanza is written in Old Irish, a language that can be read today by only a small number of scholars. The following translation, which is not in the source book, was made by Paul Walsh who published the entire poem in _Eriu_.

There were yielded in every holy church,
on land and water and beach,
learning of wisdom, piety to God,
ecclesiastical duty, relics, and protection.]

[Transcriber’s note.

In the source book the following stanza is printed in an older Irish orthography and typeface, no longer in common use. Here it is printed using modern Irish orthography.]

Tuilleadh Feasa ar Éirinn óigh
Do chruinnigheasa ó scoith-seanóir;
Beag mo stuaim, gidh mór mo ghrádh
Ar an oileán uasal, Eire áin.
An t-Ughdar.

THE EARLY IRISH MONASTIC SCHOOLS