Aibhm O Croinin - Early Medieval Ireland, 400-1200

E ARLY M EDIEVAL I RELAND

LONGMAN HISTORY OF IRELAND

General Editor: Steven G. Ellis

An analytical account of Ireland from early Christian times to the present, the six volumes of this new series are being written by a team of leading historians in Ireland, Britain and America. The volumes (each substantial enough to make a significant contribution to scholarship without becoming unwieldy for the non-specialist) will tackle a common central agenda, including politics, religion, society, the economy and government. The series will be the obvious starting point for anyone scholar, student or general reader wanting an authoritative but accessible introduction to Irish history.

The first volume to be published in the series is:

EARLY MEDIEVAL IRELAND 4001200

DIBH CRINN

EARLY MEDIEVAL IRELAND

4001200

DIBH CRINN

First published 1995 by Pearson Education Limited

Published 2013 by Routledge

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Copyright 1995, Taylor & Francis.

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ISBN 13: 9780-582015654 (pbk)

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Crinn, Dibh.

Early medieval Ireland, c. AD400AD1200

p. cm. (Longman history of Ireland)

Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index.

ISBN 0582015669 (cased). ISBN 0582015650 (paper)

1. Ireland-History-To 1172. I. Series.

DA930.02 1995

Set by 7 in 10/13pt ITC Garamond Light

CONTENTS

We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright material: the Royal Irish Academy for the translation by Calvert Watkins of an early Irish verse which appeared in Varia III/Calvert Watkins (riu, xxix, 1978); Colin Smythe Limited, Publishers for extracts from three (translated) poems which appeared in Medieval Irish lyrics by James Carney (The Dolmen Press, 1967); the Governing Board of the School of Celtic Studies of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies for translated material from the following works Thesaurus palaeohibernicus by W. Stokes and J. Strachan, Dicuili Liber de mensura orbis terrae by J. J. Tierney, and Old Irish reader by R. Thurneysen.

R eaders of Sellar and Yeatmans classic 1066 and all that will know about The Irish Question and King Johns attempt to solve it by pulling the beards of the aged Irish chiefs, which was a Bad Thing and the wrong answer. This book tries to make good the neglect of Irish history which is thus gently lampooned, offering a different perspective on Britains nearest neighbour. Most general readers will be vaguely familiar only with the Irishmen mentioned in Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, with Charles Stewart Parnell perhaps, or with Eamon de Valera, though most will admit that the island of Ireland existed during the First World War, and even during the Second World War (which citizens of the Republic called The Emergency). For the most part, Englands involvement in Irish affairs has been seen in Irish eyes, at least as baneful and destructive, a verdict echoed by some commentators on the other side of the Irish Sea. Thus, William of Canterbury, writing in the twelfth century, mentions a certain Theobald, who was wounded in the Irish wars, and it served him right (said William), or so those thought who saw no reason for the disquieting of a neighbouring nation, who, however uncivilised and barbarous, were remarkable and noteworthy practisers of the Christian religion.