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Reassessing the Irish ‘monastic town’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Mary A. Valante
Mary A. Valante*
Affiliation:
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
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Extract

D. A. Binchy stated that ‘the idea of a town, with a corporate personality distinct from that of the ruler, was quite foreign to the Gaelic mind until the Scandinavians set up their “cities” in Dublin, Limerick, Waterford and elsewhere’. Numerous scholars have disagreed with Binchy’s assessment and have claimed instead that Irish monasteries were evolving, whether before Viking settlement in Ireland or somehow as a response to that presence, into what have been variously called ‘protourban’ sites, ‘pre-urban nuclei’, ‘centres of … industrial activity and local trade’, or simply ‘monastic towns’. The term ‘monastic town’ has been in use for many years, and is now part of the standard vocabulary in discussions of early medieval Ireland. From scholarly works to popular publications for tourist consumption, the Irish monastic town has been a known and accepted entity. Armagh, Downpatrick, Kildare and Clonmacnoise are the most commonly cited examples, and Charles Doherty has argued that these monasteries were beginning to function as urban centres by the ninth century. Many scholars would agree that by the tenth and eleventh centuries, possibly in response to Scandinavian urban settlement in Ireland, certain Irish monasteries were urban centres themselves. Brian Graham has raised a number of objections to the concept of the monastic town in Ireland, but his work has remained unacknowledged; others have recently called for a critical reassessment of the theory, but none has as yet been forthcoming.

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Articles
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 31 , Issue 121 , May 1998 , pp. 1 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1998

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References

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36 Gaskell-Brown, Cynthia and Harper, A.E.T., ‘Excavations on Cathedral Hill, Armagh, 1968’ in U.J.A., 3rd ser., xlvii (1984), pp 109-61Google Scholar; King, Heather, ‘Excavations at Clonmacnois’ in Archaeology Ireland, vi, no. 3 (autumn 1992), pp 12–14 Google Scholar: Yates, ‘Preliminary excavations at Movilla Abbey’, pp 53–66; Ivens, ‘Movilla Abbey’, pp 71–108; idem, ‘Saints, scholars & smiths’, pp 50–52; Ivens, ‘Tullylish, Co. Down’, pp 55–121; idem, ‘Around an early church’, pp 55–6; Fanning, ‘Excavations at Reask, Co. Kerry (1973), pp 5–8; idem, ‘Excavations at Reask, Co. Kerry: preliminary report — seasons 1973–5’, pp 5–10; idem, ‘Excavations of an Early Christian cemetery and settlement’, pp 67–172; Swan, ‘Excavations at Kilpatrick’, pp 1–21.

37 Lucas, A.T., ‘Irish-Norse relations: time for a reappraisal?’ in Cork Hist. Soc. Jn., lxxi (1966), pp 62–75 Google Scholar; idem, ‘The plundering and burning of churches in Ireland, 7th to 16th century’ in Etienne Rynne (ed.), North Munster studies (Limerick, 1967), pp 172–229.

38 Doherty, ‘Some aspects of hagiography’, pp 300–28.

39 See, for example, the Addamienta in Bieler, Ludwig (ed. and trans.), The Patrician texts in the Book of Armagh (Dublin, 1979), pp 166–179 Google Scholar.

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41 Donnchadh Ó Corráin on a number of occasions, including, ‘The historical and cultural background of the Book of Kells’ in O’Mahony, Felicity (ed.), The Book of Kells: proceedings of a conference at Trinity College, Dublin, 6–9 September, 1992 (Dublin, 1994), pp 1–32 Google Scholar, and ‘Early Irish churches’ in Corráin, Donnchadh Ó (ed.), Irish antiquity (Dublin, 1981), pp 327-11Google Scholar, refers to ‘bustling towns’ after the seventh century. See also Paor, Liam de, ‘The Viking towns of Ireland’ in Almqvist, Bo and Greene, David (eds), Proceedings of the Seventh Viking Congress (Dublin, 1976), p. 29 Google Scholar; Hughes, Kathleen, Early Christian Ireland: introduction to the sources (Cambridge, 1972), p. 228 Google Scholar.

42 For the Latin see Acta SS, 1 February (Antwerp & Brussels, 1658), pp 135–41; the edition in Colgan, John (ed.), Trias thaumaturga (Louvain, 1647), pp 518–26 Google Scholar, is far less reliable.

43 Connolly, Sean and Picard, Jean-Michel, ‘Cogitosus: Life of St Brigit ’ in R.S.A.I. J., cxvii (1987), p. 26 Google Scholar.

44 MacDonald, A.D.S., ‘Notes on terminology in the Annals of Ulster, 650–1050’ in Peritia, i (1982), pp 329-33CrossRefGoogle Scholar, demonstrates that from the eighth through the twelfth century, the term civitas is used exclusively for episcopal sees, and not for ceremonial sites such as Tara or urban sites such as Dublin. Although there is less Latin used in the Annals of Inisfallen, the same holds true. A thorough examination of the texts included to date in Harvey, Anthony, Devine, Kieran and Smith, Francis J. (eds), Archive of Celtic-Latin literature: Royal Irish Academy dictionary of medieval Latin from Celtic sources (Turnhout, 1994)Google Scholar makes it clear that this was the case in other written sources as well: civitas was used by the Irish to refer to a place with a bishop, whether that place was urban (as in the case of Rome or Jerusalem) or not (as in the case of Iona), although a few Biblical place-names, such as Sodom and Gomorrah, are occasionally referred to as civitates.

45 Regarding the population of a monastery, compare, for example, Bede, who said that there were less than 800 monks living at the double monastery of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow in his day ( Plummer, Charles (ed.), ‘Historia abbatum auctore Baeda’ in Venerabilis Bedae opera historica (2 vols, Oxford, 1896), i, 368Google Scholar).

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48 Bradley, John, ‘Excavations at Moynagh Lough, 1984: summary report’ in Ríocht na Midhe, vii, no. 4 (1985-6), pp 79–92 Google Scholar; King, Heather A., ‘Clonmacnoise’ in Bennett, Isabel (ed.), Excavations 1993. summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland (Bray, 1994), p. 67 Google Scholar.

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63 Ibid., p. 81.

64 Royal Irish Academy, Dictionary of the Irish language based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials (Dublin, 1983), p. 103 Google Scholar.

65 See Niermeyer, J.F., Media Latinitatis lexicon minus (Leiden, 1976)Google Scholar and Lewis, and Short, ’s Latin dictionary (Oxford, 1879)Google Scholar. I have again consulted the Archive of Celtic-Latin literature (above, n. 44), and not one entry for circius can remotely be considered ‘fair’ or ‘festival’ or óenach.

66 Meyer, Kuno (ed.), The Triads of Ireland, Todd Lecture Series, 13 (Dublin, 1906), p. 5 Google Scholar.

67 Stokes, Whitley (ed. and trans.), Tripartite Life of St Patrick (2 vols, Rolls Series, London, 1887), i, 238-9Google Scholar.

68 Ann. Inisf., s.a. 1275.

69 King, Heather A., ‘Clonmacnoise’ in Bennett, Isabel (ed.), Excavations 1994: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland (Bray, 1995), p. 74 Google Scholar.

70 Doherty, ‘Exchange & trade’, pp 82–3.

71 Ibid., p 84; see also Duffy, Seán, ‘Irishmen and islesmen in the kingdoms of Dublin and Man, 1052–1171’ in Ériu, xliii (1992), pp 93–133 Google Scholar; idem, ‘Pre-Norman Dublin: capital of Ireland?’ in History Ireland, i (winter 1993), pp 13–18; idem, ‘Ostmen, Irish and Welsh in the eleventh century’ in Peritia, ix (1995), pp 378–96.

72 A.U., s.a. 1097.

73 Doherty, ‘Exchange & trade’, p. 83.

74 Ryan, Michael, ‘An Early Christian hoard from Derrynaflan, Co. Tipperary’ in N. Munster Antiq. Jn., xxii (1980), pp 9–26 Google Scholar; idem (ed.), The Derrynaflan hoard, I: a preliminary account (Dublin, 1983), pp 46–9; idem, ‘Fine metalworking’, pp 33–48; idem, ‘Church metalwork in the eighth and ninth centuries’ in Susan Youngs (ed.), The work of angels (Austin, 1989), pp 125–30.

75 Hamlin, ‘Archaeology of the Irish churches’, pp 279–99.

76 C.I.H., 777.6-783.38; 563.1-570.32; MacNeill, ‘Ancient law’, pp 265–316; see also Ancient laws of Ireland (6 vols, Dublin, 1865–1901), iv, 299–339. Translation kindly provided by Professor Fergus Kelly.

77 Hodkinson, Brian, ‘A reappraisal of the archaeological evidence for weaving in Ireland in the Early Christian period’ in U.J.A., 3rd ser., 1 (1987), pp 47–53 Google Scholar.

78 Hencken, Hugh, ‘Lagore crannog: an Irish royal residence of the 7th to 10th centuries A.D.’ in R.I.A. Proc., liii (1950-51), sect. C, pp 1–247 Google Scholar; Bradley, John, ‘Excavations at Moynagh Lough, Co. Meath 1980–1: interim report’ in Ríocht na Midhe, vii, no. 2 (1982-3), pp 12–32 Google Scholar; idem, ‘Excavations at Moynagh Lough, Co. Meath, 1982–83: interim report’ in Ríocht na Midhe, vii, no. 3 (1984), pp 86–93; idem, ‘Excavations at Moynagh Lough, County Meath’ in R.S.A.I. Jn., cxx (1990), pp 5–26.

79 Edwards, Archaeology of early medieval Ireland, p. 96.

80 Richard J. Ivens, ‘Secrets of a hilltop: Dunmisk, Co. Tyrone’ in Hamłin & Lynn (eds), Pieces of the past, pp 27–9; Henderson, Julian, ‘The nature of the Early Christian glass industry in Ireland: some evidence from Dunmisk Fort, Co. Tyrone’ in U.J.A., 3rd ser., li (1988), pp 115-26Google Scholar; Ivens, Richard J., ‘Dunmisk Fort, Carrickmore, Co. Tyrone: excavations 1984–1986’ in U.J.A., 3rd ser., lii (1989), pp 17–110 Google Scholar.

81 Edwards, Archaeology of early medieval Ireland, pp 96–8, would argue for England as a source, but Bede claimed that there were few skilled glass-workers in Anglo-Saxon England and that they had to be brought from Gaul to build Jarrow (see Plummer (ed.), ‘Historia abbatum’, p. 368).

82 Graham, ‘Early medieval Ireland’, p. 29; see also Corráin, Donncha Ó, Ireland before the Normans (Dublin, 1972), p. 37 Google Scholar.

83 Flanagan, Marie Therese, ‘Strategies of lordship in pre- and post-Norman Leinster’ in Anglo-Norman studies: proceedings of the Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies, xx (1997), pp 107–26 Google Scholar.

84 Bradley, John, ‘Town life in medieval Ireland’ in Archaeology Ireland, v, no. 3 (autumn 1991), pp 25-8Google Scholar; idem, Walled towns in Ireland (Dublin, 1995).

85 Lucas, ‘Plundering & burning of churches’, pp 205–8.

86 Graham, ‘Early medieval Ireland’, p. 35.

87 See Shamhráin, Ailbhe Séamus Mac, Church and polity in pre-Norman Ireland: the case of Glendalough, Maynooth Monographs, 7 (Maynooth, 1996), pp xx–xxi Google Scholar. (In an entire book about Glendalough before 1169 the author devotes only one paragraph to discussion of industry and commerce.)

88 Graham, ‘Early medieval Ireland’, pp 27–8.

89 Moore, Fionnbarr, ‘Ireland’s oldest bridge — at Clonmacnoise’ in Archaeology Ireland, x, no. 4 (winter 1996), pp 24-7Google Scholar.

90 King, ‘Excavations at Clonmacnois’, pp 12–14.

91 Doherty, ‘Some aspects of hagiography’, p. 303; see Chron. Scot, s.a. 1130, and Ann. Tig., s.a. 1134.

92 While Killaloe was unlikely to have been a town as he has suggested, see Bradley, John, ‘Killaloe: a pre-Norman borough?’ in Peritia, viii (1994), pp 170-79Google Scholar, for a discussion of involvement by the Uí Briain family in trade in the twelfth century. Muirchertach Ua Briain was king of Munster in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries (see A.U., s.a. 1090).

93 Simms, Anngret with Simms, Katharine, Kells, Irish Historic Towns Atlas, 4, ed. Andrews, J.H. and Simms, Anngret (Dublin, 1990), p. 2 Google Scholar.

94 Swan, D. Leo, ‘Monastic proto-towns in early medieval Ireland’ in Clarke, H.B. and Simms, Anngret (eds), The comparative history of urban origins in non-Roman Europe, B.A.R. International Series, 255 (Oxford, 1985), pp 99–101 Google Scholar.

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96 Thomas, Walled towns of Ireland, ii, 123.

97 See Andrews, J.H., Kildare, Irish Historic Towns Atlas, 1, ed. Andrews, J.H and Simms, Anngret (Dublin, 1986), p. 2 Google Scholar.

98 Gaskell-Brown & Harper, ‘Excavations on Cathedral Hill’, pp 109–61.

99 Lynn & McDowell, ‘The oldest city in Ireland’, pp 57–61; see A. U., s.a. 1090.

100 Acta SS, 2 November (Brussels, 1894), p. 144. Bernard only uses the term civitatus when referring to a monastery; see, for example, ‘in civitate Ardmacha’ (p. 144), ‘hoc enim nomen civitatis’ and ‘destrui civitatem a rege’, both referring to Connor (pp 149, 150), ‘in civitate Culratim’ (Coleraine, p. 157), and ‘in civitate cui nomen Oenthreb’ (Antrim, p. 158); the royal seat at Cashel is called an urbs (p. 158), and rural communities are called vici, as above, or oppidae, as on p. 150.

101 Thomas, Walled towns of Ireland, ii, 222.

102 See Proudfoot, Bruce, ‘Excavations at the Cathedral Hill, Downpatrick, Co. Down’ in U.J.A., 3rd ser., xvii (1954), pp 97–102 Google Scholar; idem, ‘Excavations at the Cathedral Hill, Downpatrick, Co. Down: preliminary report on excavations in 1954’ in U.J.A., 3rd ser., xix (1956), pp 57–72; see also Brannon, ‘Life and death at an early monastery’, pp 61–4.

103 Scott, A.B. and Martin, F.X. (eds), Expugnatio Hibernica: the conquest of Ireland by Giraldus Cambrensis, A New History of Ireland Ancillary Publications, 3 (Dublin, 1978), pp 174-9Google Scholar; Thomas, Walled towns of Ireland, ii, 70.

104 There is one ninth-century reference, but that is only to a Viking raid in the ‘caves’ at Drogheda (A.F.M., s.a. 861).

105 Thomas, Walled towns of Ireland, ii, 74, 146.

106 Graham, ‘Urbanisation in medieval Ireland’, p. 185.

107 Scott & Martin (eds), Expugnatio Hibernica, pp 88–9; see also Orpen, G.H. (ed. and trans.), The song of Dermot and the earl: an old French poem about the coming of the Normans to Ireland (Oxford, 1892; repr., Llanerch, 1994), ll 2585-654, 2902–5, 3040–182Google Scholar.

108 Thomas, Walled towns of Ireland, ii, 211, 222.