THE BEGINNINGS OF CLASSICAL LEARNING
Hitherto our study has been limited to a discussion of native Irish
culture influenced but slightly from the outside. Here the attempt is
made to trace the beginnings of classical learning. In this connection
it is worth noting that Ireland occupies the unique position of being
the only part of the Celtic world that was not brought under the
sway of Roman arms. The consequence is that she is one of the very
few nations of Western Europe whose civilization was free to develop
along native lines. Yet it must not be supposed that Ireland remained
completely aloof from the Graeco-Roman culture to which the world owes
so much.[27] The great difference between Ireland and the other Celtic
countries such as Britain and Gaul lies in this: in Gaul the combined
forces of Roman arms and Roman culture wiped out almost every trace of
native culture, the same is true of the greater part of Britain.[28]
In Ireland, on the other hand, Roman learning was introduced in a
peaceful manner (at least as early as the fifth century, as will
be shown later). Now as we have seen native learning was already
developing along national lines, the result was that not only did the
native learning continue to flourish unchecked by the arrival of the
new learning but the former actually received a fresh impulse,[29]
while classical learning was cultivated to an extent that is without
parallel in contemporary Europe.[30]
The precise way in which letters reached Ireland and the causes which
led to “that remarkable outburst of classical learning towards the
close of the sixth century”[31] are matters on which most writers
express themselves vaguely, or assume that certain ill-defined
influences emanating from Britain or Gaul somehow reached her shores,
but at what time or by what means they have not been able to determine.
The introduction of classical learning as well as of Christianity is
popularly ascribed to St. Patrick whose missionary work began 432 A.D.
This opinion though widespread will not stand a critical examination.
It is true, however, that St. Patrick is the first person whose name
is associated with the introduction of classical learning of whom it
can be said that the writings ascribed to him are really his. In the
_Book of Armagh_ (completed c. 806 A.D.) there is a document called
his “Confession,” or apology which was copied by the scribe Torbach
from the original.[32] Although the “Confession” and other writings
attributed to St. Patrick may be admitted as genuine, it must not be
assumed that the learning for which Ireland became famous during the
sixth, seventh and eighth centuries could have been the result of his
labours.[33] Most people who have read St. Patrick’s writings will
admit that he makes no claim to be a scholar but on the contrary he
has a very humble opinion of himself and reminds us frequently of his
ignorance of letters. As Bury says,[34] “His Latin is as ‘rustic’ as
the Greek of St. Mark and St. Matthew,” and Whitley Stokes infers from
his writings that he knew no Greek.[35] In this respect St. Patrick was
no worse than many of his famous contemporaries and successors, for
example—his Latin is no more ‘rustic’ than that of Gregory of Tours
who lived a century later. Indeed St. Patrick’s claim to fame rests on
higher grounds than those of classical scholarship. He was a preacher
and organizer rather than a man of letters. He was a _homo unius libri_
but with that book, the Christian Scriptures, he was extraordinarily
familiar.[36] Yet some writers have attributed the introduction of
learning and even of the Roman alphabet to St. Patrick. It is true that
in the _Tripartite Life_ there are frequent statements that he wrote
_Abgitoria_ (usually translated Alphabets) for his noble or bardic
converts.[37] It is very probable that these do not mean alphabets, as
is usually supposed, like that on the pillar stone of Kilmakedar in
Kerry,[38] but _elementa_, the A B C of the Christian Doctrine. This
explanation seems justified by the words _Abgitir Crabaid_ glossed
_initium fidei_ in a Würzburg MS.[39] In the Tripartite occur the
words, _Aibgitir in Crabaid_—translated the Alphabet of Piety—where
a specimen is given of a work so entitled.[40] For these and other
reasons which will be stated presently the weight of evidence is
against attributing to St. Patrick the introduction of the Roman
alphabet or any liberal measure of classical learning.
It has also been suggested[41] that some of the Britons or Gauls
who accompanied St. Patrick brought these studies to Ireland, but
Meyer thinks this most improbable and dismisses the idea that any
missionaries whether Gallic or British introduced classical learning
into Ireland. The origin of that deep culture embracing not only the
classical authors but also grammar, metrics, and other sciences such as
astronomy he would attribute to a much broader and deeper influence.[42]
Basing his argument on a document found among Zimmer’s papers, Meyer
contends that the seeds of classical learning were sown in Ireland
during the first and second decades of the fifth century by Gallic
scholars who fled their own country owing to the invasion of the latter
by the Goths and other barbarians.[43] The same explanation seems to
have occurred to De Jubainville, for he says: “La culture des lettres
classiques et latins a cessé en Gaule depuis la conquête germanique
au cinquième siècle; _l’Irlande_ qu’à cette époque n’a pas encore
envahie les barbares des contrées situées à nord-ouest de la Gaule,
_paraît avoir donné asile aux hommes d’étude chassés de la Gaule_ par
les armes et la domination sauvage des Burgundes, des Wisigoths et des
Francs.”[44] To Meyer, however, we owe the development of this theory.
He quotes from a sixth century entry in a Leyden MS. This note states
that owing to a barbarian invasion “all the learned men fled from
Gaul, and in transmarine parts, _i.e._ in Ireland and wherever they
betook themselves, brought about a great advancement of learning to
the inhabitants of these regions.”[45] This theory is supported by a
passage in St. Patrick’s “Confession”[46] where evidently replying to
the attacks of certain rhetoricians who were hostile to him, the saint
exclaims: “You rhetoricians who know not the Lord hear and search who
it was that called me up, fool though I be, from the midst of those
who call themselves wise and skilled in the law and mighty orators and
powerful in everything.”[47] Meyer maintains that the reference is to
the pagan rhetoricians from Gaul whose arrogant presumption founded on
their own learning made them regard with disdain the illiterate apostle
of the Scots. His few and forcible epithets well describe the type of
rhetorician common in Gaul.
If Meyer’s theory is correct, and it seems the most tenable that has
been advanced, then we may conclude that Ireland derived her classical
learning from Gaul when Gallic scholarship was at its best. This would
explain the excellence of the Latin and the acquaintance with Greek
which, as we shall show, was exhibited by the Irish scholars who
visited the Continent from the time of Columbanus (543–615) to that of
Johannes Scottus Eriugena (c. 810–c. 875).
The more one examines this subject the more he is inclined to accept
this theory which gets over the difficulty of assuming that the Irish
obtained their classical learning from Britain where as Zimmer has
shown there was not any classical learning wide and profound enough to
produce such results;[48] nor were the High Schools of Gaul a quiet
place for learning in the fifth century[49] though Colgan would have us
believe—we know not on what authority—that St. Patrick sent St. Olcan
to Gaul to study sacred and profane learning so that he might return to
Ireland to establish “publicas scholas.”[50]
There is nothing improbable in supposing that these rhetoricians should
flee to Ireland for safety just as refugee Christians fled to the same
island from the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian more than a
century before St. Patrick’s time.[51] Indeed Ireland was well known
to Roman geographers, though their ideas of its location were rather
inaccurate. Tacitus informs us that Ireland is situated between Spain
and Britain,[52] a conception which points to direct communication with
the Empire. The same author further informs us that the harbours of
Ireland were well known to merchants through trade and commerce.[53]
As the researches of Mr. George Coffey and Mrs. Greene have shown,
intercourse and commerce between Ireland and Gaul had been constant
and regular for centuries before the fifth.[54] There were even Gallic
mercenaries in the service of Irish kings during the early centuries
of our era.[55] Moreover, Irishmen at this time were familiar figures
on the Continent. Amongst these may be mentioned Mansuetus, Bishop of
Toul about 350 A.D.[56] There can be little doubt that Sedulius, the
great Christian poet, author of _Carmen Pascale_, was an Irishman.[57]
Sedulius, sometimes called Sedulius the Elder (to distinguish him
from another Sedulius who was at Compostella in the eighth century
and still another Sedulius who was at Liège in the ninth), flourished
between 423–450 A.D.[58] His work treating of the chief events recorded
in the Old and New Testament was “the first Christian Epic worthy
of the name.”[59] Dr. Sigerson by a scholarly analysis[60] of the
verse structure traces the influence of the Irish school of prosody
referred to in the previous chapter. Though Sedulius wrote in Latin and
followed the classical forms of verse, yet he infused into them certain
characteristics of Irish poetry, such as systematic alliteration,
assonance and rhyme—qualities that reveal the Gael.
Ireland is also credited with the doubtful honour of having given
birth to Pelagius and his associate Caelestius.[61] Both flourished
in the beginning of the fifth century. Zimmer contended that Pelagius
was an Irishman,[62] but Healy shows that he was a British monk of
Irish origin.[63] Healy also endeavours to prove that the assumption
that Caelestius was an Irishman is based on a misconception.[64]
Against this view we must place Meyer’s opinion. The latter asserts
that whether Pelagius was an Irishman or not “his faithful henchman,
Caelestius, he of the plausible tongue, certainly was.”[65] The weight
of evidence seems to point to the conclusion that one or other, if not
both, of these heresiarchs was Irish or at least of Irish descent.
Enough was written to show that some Irish families at least were
in reach of a classical literary education and were prompt to grasp
it even before the middle of the fifth century.[66] Hence we cannot
attribute the introduction of classical learning to St. Patrick as
has been so often asserted. Nor can we attribute to St. Patrick the
introduction of Christianity itself. According to Zimmer there were
missionaries at work in the third century in the southern part of
Ireland.[67] It would seem, however, that Zimmer makes too sweeping a
statement when he says that Ireland was a Christian land before the
fifth century; for, as MacCaffery has pointed out, the Irish Hero
Tales which were taken down about the beginning of the eighth century
represent the life of the first, second and third centuries and paint
the social life as unaffected by Christianity.[68]
That there were some Christians in Ireland before the time of St.
Patrick there can be no doubt. Bede distinctly states that Palladius,
the predecessor of St. Patrick, was sent by Pope Celestine to the Irish
who believed in Christ—“_ad Scottos in Christum credentes_.”[69] Here
it should be pointed out that the word _Scoti_ or _Scotti_ wherever it
occurs in writings prior to the tenth century means the _Irish_, and
the Irish alone, the inhabitants of Scotia Major (Ireland). Later the
term was extended to include the Irish colony in North Britain (Scotia
Minor). Eventually the name was still further extended to include the
inhabitants of the whole country now called Scotland.[70]
It has been necessary to go into some detail in order to refute a
popular fallacy that it was due to the labours of St. Patrick that
Ireland owes the introduction of Christianity as well as the beginnings
of classical learning. However, as Professor Bury points out, the
fact that the foundations of Christianity had been laid sporadically
in certain parts of Ireland does not deprive St. Patrick’s mission
of its eminent significance. He did three things: he organised the
Christianity which already existed; he converted many districts which
were still pagan, especially in the West; he brought Ireland into
connection with the Church of the Empire and made it formally a part
of universal Christendom.[71] While as has been shown he did not
introduce classical learning, his indirect influence must have been
considerable. The very fact that Latin was the ecclesiastical language
of the new religion gave it an importance and a dignity. Besides
St. Patrick and his fellow workers would naturally help to diffuse a
knowledge of ecclesiastical Latin at least in every part of the island
which Christianity reached,[72] but it must be remembered that Ireland
was not a completely Christian land even at his death.[73] Paganism
still lingered in many parts and its influence can be traced in the
early native literature,[74] and even in the early Lives of the Irish
Saints.[75] To complete the work which he did so much to promote as
well as to supply the spiritual wants of the converted, a native
ministry was essential. In order to equip such a ministry Christian
schools had to be established. Unable to give proper attention to the
instruction of these ecclesiastical students, St. Patrick after about
twenty years’ peripatetic teaching established c. 450 A.D. a school at
Armagh of which St. Benin or Benignus was given charge. The primary
aim of this school was to train subjects for the priesthood.[76] A
knowledge of Latin and perhaps Greek were acquired. To supply the
various churches with books there was a special house in which students
were employed as scribes.[77]
From what has been said about the presence of Gallic scholars in
Ireland we may infer that there were classical schools in existence
in certain localities, but in the foundation of the School of Armagh
we have the first recorded attempt at the organization of instruction
in Christian theology and classical learning in Ireland. We append a
list of other schools which the most reliable authorities ascribe to
the latter half of the fifth century. It is doubtful whether these
were really monastic schools at first for reasons that will be given
in the next chapter. It is more likely that they were ecclesiastical
seminaries during the time of the First Order of Saints (c. 440–534
A.D.).[78]
The significance of these fifth century schools from the point of view
of the present study lies in the fact that they were the precursors of
the great monastic schools which sprang up in such numbers in the sixth
century. We have good reason for believing that it was in these early
schools and by the labours of Gallic scholars and their pupils that the
foundations were laid of that classical scholarship that drew the eyes
of Europe upon Ireland during the sixth, seventh and eighth and ninth
centuries.
IRISH SCHOOLS IN THE FIFTH CENTURY
SCHOOL DATE LOCATION FOUNDER
Ardagh[1a] —[1b] Co. Longford St. Patrick, d. 465
A.D.[1c] and St. Mel,
d. 488 A.D.
Ardmore[2a] —[2b] Co. Waterford St. Declan*[2c]
Armagh[3a] 450–5 A.D.[3b] Co. Armagh St. Patrick[3c]
Arran[4a] ante Co. Galway St. Enda[4c]
484 A.D.[4b]
Beg Eri[5a] —[5b] Co. Wexford St. Ibar*[5c]
Dysart[6a] c. 450 A.D.[6b] Co. Louth SS. Patrick and
Dachonna[6c]
Emly[7a] —[7b] Co. Tipperary St. Ailbe*[7c]
Elphin[8a] —[8b] Co. Roscommon St. Asicus, d. 470
A.D.[8c]
Kildare[9a] c. 487 A.D.[9b] Co. Kildare SS. Brigid, d. 525
A.D.[9c] and Conlaeth,
d. 419 A.D.
Louth[10a] c. 454 A.D.[10b] Co. Louth St. Mochta[10c]
Nendrum[11a] c. 450 A.D.[11b] Co. Down St. Caelan or Mochaoi
[11c] d. 497–9
Rath —[12b] Co. Antrim St. Patrick[12c]
Muighe[12a]
Saul[13a] —[13b] Co. Down St. Patrick[13c]
Slane[14a] —[14b] Co. Meath St. Patrick[14c]
Seir[15a] —[15b] King’s Co. St. Ciaran,* the
Elder[15c]
Trim[16a] —[16b] Co. Meath St. Patrick[16c]
For a discussion of the chronology of SS. Declan, Ibar, Ailbe and
Ciaran the Elder, see Power, Rev. Patrick, _Lives of SS. Declan and
Mocuda_, pp. xix–xxii, _Irish Texts Series_.
1a. Conyngham, D. P., _Irish Saints and Martyrs_, p. 540. Conyngham
relies mainly on Walter Harris’s ed. of Ware’s _Monasticon
Hiberniae_ and Lanigan’s _Ecclesiastical History of Ireland_. 1b.
Unknown. 1c. St. Patrick’s death, see Conyngham, D. P., _op. cit._
p. 2; St. Mell’s _op. cit._ p. 117.
For the various dates assigned to St. Patrick’s death, see
Healy, John. _Life and Writings of St Patrick_, pp. 635–7.
Bury, J. B. _op. cit._ p. 206 places his death as early as
461 A.D., while the _Annals of the Four Masters_, I., pp.
154–6 give the traditional date as 493 A.D. Modern scholars
are inclined to accept one of the earlier dates as the more
probable.
2a. Conyngham, D. P., _op. cit._ p. 541. 2b. Unknown. 2c. Power P.,
_op. cit._ pp. xix–xxii.
3a and 3b. Healy, John, _Ireland’s Saints and Scholars_, p. 114 gives
455 A.D. as the date of foundation, the Four Masters give 457 A.D.
I, p. 142. Bury, J. B., places the date of foundation as early as
444 A.D. _op. cit._ p. 154. 3c. See Note 1c above.
4a, 4b, and 4c. Conyngham, D. P., _op. cit._ p. 182. See also Healy,
John, for an account of the School of St. Enda. _op. cit._
5a and 5b. Conyngham, D. P., _op. cit._ p. 538. 5c. See Note 1c above.
6a, 6b and 6c. For this and other monasteries see Article by (Rev.)
Laurence P. Murray, _Monasteries of County Louth_, in the _Louth
Journal of Archaeology_, I, pp. 22–36.
7a. See Healy’s account of this school, _op. cit._ 7b. Unknown.
7c. The _Annals of Ulster_, sub anno 526 record St. Ailbe’s death, but
see Note 2c above.
8a, 8b, and 8c. Healy, John, _op. cit._ 161.
9a, 9b, and 9c. Healy, John, _op. cit._ p. 132, gives 527 A.D. as
the date of foundation. The _Chronicon Scottorum_ gives 510 A.D.;
but this is evidently too late, as St. Brigid died in 525 A.D.,
according to the Chronology in Miss Hull’s _Early Christian
Ireland_, introductory pages. St. Conlaeth died in 519 A.D.
Conyngham, D. P., _op. cit._ p. 133. The same author places the
date of her birth at 453 A.D., so it is fair to assume that the
date of the foundation of this school is 487 A.D. and not 467 A.D.
10a, 10b, 10c. Murray, L. P., _ibid._
11a and 11b. Reeves, Wm., _Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor,
and Dromore_, p. 10; 11c. Reeves, Wm., _op. cit._ p. 138.
12a, 12b, and 12c. Founded by St. Patrick according to the tradition
accepted by Conyngham, _op. cit._ p. 540, and others, but more
probably at a later date by St. Comgall, d. 601 A.D. See Reeves’
_Ecc. Antiq._, p. 70.
13a, 13b, and 13c. Conyngham, D. P., _op. cit._ p. 540.
14a, 14b, and 14c. „ „ „ p. 539.
15a, 15b, and 15c. „ „ „ p. 538.
16a, 16b, and 16c. „ „ „ p. 539.
This list does not claim to be complete. The above dates agree with
those given by the most careful authorities. The four saints whose
names are marked (*) are usually called the pre-Patrician Saints. Their
chronology is very difficult. Some authorities place them as early as
the fourth century and some as late as the sixth.