CENTRES OF INTELLECTUAL LIFE IN IRISH MONASTERIES
In an Irish monastic school, as in the case of every other school,
the most important centre of intellectual life was the class-room.
Unlike our modern schools, however, these schools had to produce their
own text-books. This work was carried on in a special room called
the scriptorium. The work of the scriptorium was not limited to the
production of text-books. Often valuable books of more permanent
interest were written in the scriptorium and stored for reference in
a special room, the library. In this way copies of many of the most
treasured books of antiquity have been preserved for posterity. Indeed
the educational work of the scriptorium and the library was scarcely
less important than that of the class-room, or school proper. These
three centres of intellectual life were closely related to each other,
but each is sufficiently important to warrant a separate treatment.
THE SCHOOL:
In the last chapter we stated that the _aim_ of the monastic school
was frankly religious. In our next chapter we hope to prove that in
practice this did not necessarily mean a narrow _curriculum_. Here we
shall briefly state that the particulars we have been able to glean
on a miscellaneous collection of topics are of some interest to the
educationist. The data are so few on each topic that the treatment is
necessarily somewhat disconnected. In general these topics refer to
school age, accommodation of students, school buildings, methods of
teaching and pedagogical principles so far as they are revealed in the
meagre materials to hand.
Seven years was the age at which it was thought schooling should
begin.[259] We do not know exactly what provision was made for young
boys of this tender age, but we know that in case of the older students
a few resided in the school itself, so it is possible that the younger
children also resided in the school or in the houses of the teachers.
Many of the students lived in the houses of people in the neighbourhood
of the school, but the majority lived in huts which they built for
themselves near the school. Where the school was a large one these
huts were arranged in streets.[260] The poorer students lived in
houses with the richer ones whom they waited upon and served, receiving
in return food, clothing, and other necessities. Some even chose to
live in this matter, not through poverty but through a self-imposed
penance.[261]
There were no spacious lecture halls; the master taught and lectured
and the pupils studied very much in the open air, when weather
permitted.[262] Judging by the large number of monks in every monastery
and recalling the fact that teaching was regarded as a most meritorious
form of labour, we are inclined to think that there was a great deal of
individual teaching, or at least teaching in small groups, especially
when the weather was unfavourable for outdoor lectures. This conjecture
derives some support from Bede, who informs us that of the Anglo-Saxons
who went to Ireland many of them passed from one master’s cell to
another for instruction.[263]
METHODS OF TEACHING:
In teaching _reading_ it was usual to begin with the _Alphabet_.
St. Columba’s first alphabet was written or impressed upon a cake
which he afterwards ate as he played by the side of a stream near
his tutor’s home.[264] Sometimes the alphabet was engraved upon a
large stone.[265] The Psalms in Latin seem to have been the earliest
subject of instruction.[266] As we have seen these were learned by
rote, but judging by the numerous glosses and annotations[267] thereon
it is almost certain that the teachers were not satisfied with mere
repetition but explained the meaning thoroughly.
It may seem strange that the reading of Latin should be taught before
the reading of the vernacular. The explanation is simple. The Irish
alphabet is based on the Latin (as are the alphabets of most European
languages) and consequently suits the phonetic system of the Irish
language less perfectly than it does the Latin. Having learned the
alphabet the reading of Latin is comparatively easy even for young
students. At a later stage when the reading of the vernacular was
introduced progress was no doubt rapid since the student had merely to
associate the written symbols with sounds that were familiar to him.
The next stage was to teach writing. The letters were formed on a waxen
tablet (_polaire_ in Irish) with a pointed metal style (_graib_).[268]
One of these old-time tablets is now in the National Museum,
Dublin.[269] The writing on it is in Latin, apparently a pupil’s class
notes.
Joyce thinks that there were no elementary books for teaching Latin and
that the pupil had to face the difficulties of the language in a rough
and ready manner, beginning right away at the author.[270] With this
view we do not agree. There are still extant numerous vocabularies,
paradigms, treatises on declensions, and several copies of Priscian’s
grammatical tract all in the style of writing practised by Irish
scribes. In such works we have clear evidence of preparations made to
smooth the path for beginners. Our view is in harmony with the maxim
laid down in the eighth century gloss: “It is the custom with good
teachers (dagforcitlidib) to praise the understanding of their pupils
that _they may love what they hear_.”[271] There is a similar reminder
in another eighth century gloss.[272] This quotation is interesting
as showing that oral teaching was practised, that good teaching was
appreciated, that the methods of good teachers were commended for
imitation and further that the learning process was to be as pleasant
as possible. It would be a mistake to imagine that the desire to make
learning attractive began and ended with the carving of alphabets on
cakes. In the same connection we may refer to the practice of many
eminent teachers who were wont to compose educational poems embodying
the leading facts of history and other branches of instruction. A
considerable number of compositions in old Irish MSS. are of this
class. These poems were explained and commented upon by their authors
and learned by rote by the pupils. Flann of Monasterboice followed this
plan and we still have several of his educational poems on historical
subjects.[273]
There is a curious geographical poem[274] forming a sort of text-book
on general geography which was used in the school of Ros-Ailithir in
Cork of which the author MacCosse was Principal (Fer-gleighinn). This
poem contained practically all that was then known of the principal
countries of the world. It was written about the beginning of the tenth
century. The tenth century map of the world drawn in England for an
Anglo-Saxon is supposed to have been the work of an Irish artist.[275]
Although inaccurate in many particulars this map is historically
interesting as showing the state of geographical knowledge at this time.
In teaching Greek the Irish monks used the _Nermeneumata_ of the
Pseudo-Dositheus, the work of Macrobius _De Differentiis et Societatibus
Graeci Latinique Verbi_, Latin glosses and interlinear versions.[276]
With regard to the Pseudo-Dositheus and the book of Macrobius, Traube
believes that were it not for the fact that these books were used by the
Irish in teaching Greek both would have been lost to the afterworld.
Mrs. Concannon conjectures that the earliest teachers of Latin brought
with them to Ireland the third century _Disticha Catonis_ and used them
as materials for teaching as well as for moral instruction.[277] The
many copies of Priscian with numerous glosses thereon would suggest that
this work was extensively used in Irish monastic schools. Traube has
shown conclusively that the St. Gall copy of Priscian was written by
some friends of Sedulius (of Liège) and supposes it was copied in some
Irish monastery about the beginning of the ninth century and brought by
Irishmen to the Continent.[278] Indeed, the glosses everywhere furnish
objective proofs that the Irish monks were skilled practical teachers as
well as accomplished classical scholars. In all these interlinear and
marginal notes so abundant in the MSS. of the Old Irish period (prior to
900 A.D.) we see clear evidence of preparation for the work of teaching.
It is worthy of note that in the earlier stages of instruction the
pupil was encouraged to ask questions about the difficulties which he
encountered and the tutor was expected to explain everything that was
obscure to the learner. At a later stage the learner was questioned
to test whether he had grasped the meaning of what he read, and to
raise difficulties which he was required to explain.[279] In fact the
instruction would seem to have been thorough and in many respects was
at least equal in efficiency, if not in technique, to that imparted in
many of our modern schools. We are told that it was the special merit
of the tutor who obtained the degree known as _Sruth-do-aill_ that “he
was able to modify his instruction to the complexion of the information
in mercy to the people who were unable to follow the instruction of
a teacher of higher degree. In other words he was able to make hard
things easy to weak students who might get frightened in the presence
of the formidable scholar.”[280] This would show that the question of
“individual differences” was a live one in pedagogical circles in those
days and that a genuine attempt was made to solve it. When we come in a
later chapter to discuss the characteristics of the groups of figures
represented on the sculptured crosses we shall see that the value of
“visual instruction” was appreciated.
THE SCRIPTORIUM:
The function of the scriptorium was to supply text-books for the
school, service books for the church and monastic community, and works
of a more general and ambitious nature for the library. Our knowledge
of the internal life of the scriptorium is unfortunately very limited
and is deduced almost entirely from an examination of the MSS. produced
therein. It would seem that the scriptorium was not unlike a modern
school-room in some respects. In silence the younger members of the
monastic community and other students sat there writing out and
multiplying books, sometimes from dictation, sometimes by copying.
An invigilator sat there also to preserve silence and to act as task
master. On the margins of the MSS. we sometimes find short fragmentary
notes devoid of literary value, but of deep human interest as showing
that unregenerate human nature had its opportunities even in a monastic
scriptorium as much as in a modern school-room. These notes[281] are
supposed to be fragments of conversations carried on _sotto voce_
to evade the rule of silence and doubtlessly notes were scribbled
surreptitiously to companions. Though all too few these vivid human
touches add not a little to our knowledge of student life in those far
off days.
The scribes made all the _writing materials_: tablets, vellum, ink,
pens. We have shown that _wax tablets_ were used in teaching writing.
They were also used in teaching reading, and for such temporary
purposes as taking notes of a sermon or lecture.[282] Adamnan writing
in the seventh century mentions that he inscribed certain writings
first on wax tablets and afterwards on vellum.[283] For memoranda
a _slate and pencil_ were also used, as we learn from the story of
Cinnfaela the Learned. When he was at the school of Tuaim Drecain, now
Tom Regan in Co. Cavan, he wrote down roughly on slates what he heard
during the day, but at night he transferred the entries into a vellum
book.[284] These tablets were made of long strips of wood and covered
with beeswax. In shape they were sometimes like short swords.
The schools prepared their own vellum or parchment from the skins of
goats, sheep, and calves. This parchment was usually finely polished,
but sometimes it was hard and not well cleaned. The parchment prepared
by the Irish scribes was much thicker than that used by the French from
the seventh to the tenth century: thus we have an additional means
whereby we can identify Irish MSS. on the Continent.[285]
The ink was made of carbon. It has been found to resist all the
chemical tests for iron. The blackness of the ink even at the present
day is quite remarkable. The writing of the _Book of Armagh_, for
instance, is as black as if it were written yesterday.[286]
The ink was very likely made of lampblack, or possibly of fish bone
black.[287] When we come to describe the illuminated MSS. which remain
to attest the artistic skill of the monastic scribes we shall see
that not only were they experts at making a superior quality of ink
but, what is still more remarkable, they manufactured a large variety
of pigments which even at the present day have lost little of their
original brilliancy after a lapse of one thousand years.
PENS:
The beauty, neatness, and perfect uniformity of the handwriting in
old Irish MSS. have led some antiquarians to express an opinion that
the scribes used metal pens; but such an opinion is quite untenable.
Keller has shown that the pens were made from the quills of geese,
swans, crows, and other birds.[288] This is also the opinion of Miss
Stokes.[289] One of the pictures in the _Book of Kells_ confirms this
view. This is a picture representing St. John the Evangelist engaged in
writing the Gospel. He holds a pen in his hand the feather of which can
be clearly detected.[290] The inkstand is also represented by a slender
conical cup fastened to the corner of the chair on which he is sitting
or upon a stick stuck in the ground.
The old scribes sometimes wrote with the book resting upon the knees
using a flat board for support. But when writing became more elaborate
and ornamental a desk was used and, if necessary, a maulstick to
support the wrist.[291]
THE SCRIBE:
In almost every monastery there was at least one especially expert
scribe who was selected partly because of his scholarship, and partly
because of his skill in penmanship. Outside of the time set apart
for religious exercises the scribe devoted almost his whole time to
the work of copying and multiplying books. At a time when there were
no printed books we can easily imagine the important part played by
the scribe in the educational life of the monastery. Not only did
the scribes produce the necessary books for class use, but by their
indefatigable industry they preserved those valuable relics of the
past—a large mass of historical records and numerous specimens of the
literature of ancient times. To copy a book was considered a highly
meritorious work, especially if it were a part of the Scriptures, or
any other book on sacred or devotional subjects.[292] The scribe was
therefore highly honoured. The Brehon Laws prescribed the same penalty
for the murder of a scribe as for that of an abbot or bishop and, as we
pointed out,[293] the Annals in recording the death of a man otherwise
learned or eminent whether bishop, abbot, priest, or lay professor
considered it an enhancement of his dignity to add that he was an
excellent scribe, _scribhneoir tocchaidhe_. The _Four Masters_ record
the obits of 61 eminent scribes before the year 900 A.D. of whom 40
lived between 700 and 800 A.D. One has only to glance at some of the
MSS. that have come down to us to realise what excellent penmen these
ancient scribes were. Such skill could only be acquired after years of
careful training. As will be shown later the scribe was an accomplished
artist as well as an expert penman.
IRISH SCRIPT:
The Irish style of writing played an important part in development not
only of the modern Irish hand, but of the style of writing practised
for centuries in England and to some extent on the Continent also,
hence the necessity of giving a brief account of its history. There
is little doubt that Ireland modelled her national script on the
Roman half-uncial hand, but, as Reeves has pointed out, the Greek and
Roman letters as written by the Irish scribes mutually affected each
other and gave the Irish alphabet, especially in the capitals that
peculiar form which distinguishes it from all others.[294] The Roman
half-uncial hand, however, was the basis from which the characteristic
Irish had developed. In the words of a recognised authority,[295] “The
Irish scribe adopted the Roman half-uncial script and then with his
own innate sense of beauty of form he produced from it the handsome
literary hand which culminated in the native half-uncial writing as
seen in perfection in the _Book of Kells_ and contemporary MSS. of
the latter part of the seventh century. But the round half-uncial
hand thus formed was too elaborate for the ordinary uses of life. It
was necessary to produce a script that would serve all the duties
of a current hand. Therefore, taking the Roman half-uncial hand the
Irish scribe adapted it to commoner uses, and writing the letters more
negligently he evolved the compact, pointed minuscule hand which became
the current form of handwriting of the country and which again in
its turn was in the course of time moulded into the book hand which
superseded the half-uncial.” The absence of an extraneous influence
was an important factor in aiding the development of a strongly
characteristic national hand which ran its uninterrupted course down to
the late Middle Ages and is still retained with slight variations in
the writing of Modern Irish. The high degree of cultivation of Irish
writing did not result from the genius of single individuals, but
from the emulation of various schools of writing and the improvements
of several generations. “There is not a single letter in the entire
alphabet which does not give evidence both in the general form and in
its minutest parts of the sound judgment and taste of the penman.”[296]
IRISH HAND ABROAD:
Not only did the Irish perfect this script in the schools of their
native land, but they carried it with them when they went abroad and
taught it in the schools which they founded in foreign countries. Owing
to the fact that the Irish schools kept up the tradition of Greek
and Latin learning, philologists and palaeographers have studied the
development of Irish writing very carefully with a view to determining
the dates of classical MSS. which were transcribed by Irish monks or
their pupils. The most important of these studies are those made by
Keller[297] and Lindsey.[298] The work of these scholars has placed the
question of the influence of the Irish style of writing beyond dispute.
“England borrowed it _en bloc_; and in the Early Middle Ages the Irish
missionaries who spread over the continent of Europe and who became the
founders of religious houses carried their native script with them and
taught it to their pupils. Thus in such centres as Luxeuil in France,
Würzburg in Germany, St. Gall in Switzerland, and Bobbio in Italy,
Irish writing flourished and MSS. in the Irish hand multiplied. At
first there was no difference between the writing in these MSS. and
that in the Irish codices actually written in Ireland. But as might be
expected the script thus employed in isolated foreign places gradually
deteriorated as the bonds with the native hand relaxed and the Irish
monks died off.”[299] From these MSS. written in the characteristic
Irish script we are able to form some idea, though an inadequate
one, of the magnitude and importance of the work done by the Irish
monks in preserving the ancient classics. Moreover, in addition to
those MSS. described as _Scottice Scripta_ by continental librarians,
Zimmer has shown that many of the MSS. ostensibly the work of the
continental scholars are in reality the work of Irish monks.[300] The
explanation is that those monks who studied on the Continent tried as
far as possible to accustom themselves to the forms of the letters
used by continental scholars. For instance, this is the case of all
the documents written by Moengal at St. Gall between the years 853–860
A.D.[301]
LIBRARIES:
An important feature of every monastic school was the library, or _tech
screptra_, as it is styled in the older Irish MSS. When we recall
the fame of these schools, the needs of the students, and the number
of scribes whose business it was to cater to these needs we might
reasonably infer that these libraries were provided with text-books
and with books for general reading. These libraries differed widely
from our modern libraries. There were no shelves for rows of books,
but there was another arrangement which was more suitable for the type
of book then in use. The books were kept in satchels hung on pegs or
racks round the room. Each satchel containing one or more volumes
was labelled on the outside. The satchels were of embossed leather
beautifully adorned with designs of interlaced ornament so common
in Irish art. Many specimens of these satchels are on view in the
National Museum, Dublin, and there is one in Corpus Christi College,
Oxford.[302] These satchels were also used when carrying a book from
place to place.
The book itself was of parchment. Manuscripts which were greatly valued
were usually kept in elaborately embossed leather covers of which two
are still preserved, namely, the cover of the _Book of Armagh_,[303]
and that of the Shrine of St. Maidoc.[304]
Books abounded in Ireland when the Danes made their appearance there
about the end of the eighth century; hence the pride with which the
old writers referred to “the hosts of the books of Erin.” But with
the first Danish incursions began an era of burning and pillaging the
monasteries and consequently a woeful destruction of MSS., the records
of the ancient learning. The special fury of the invaders appears
to have been directed against books, monasteries, and monuments of
religion. All the books they could lay hands upon they either burned
or “drowned” by throwing them into the nearest river, or lake. For two
centuries this wanton destruction continued, and ceased only when the
Danes were finally crushed at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 A.D.[305]
During the Danish period missionaries and scholars who went abroad
carried with them great numbers of MSS. As a result of the exportation
as well as of the destruction of MSS. we can merely conjecture as to
the extent and value of the books in a library attached to a great
Irish monastic school during the period covered by our investigation.
Fortunately, however, we are able to describe the contents of the
libraries of the Irish establishment of St. Gall in Switzerland, and
Bobbio in Italy, and this may serve to give us some idea of the wealth
of material the Irish libraries once possessed, but most of it is now
irreparably lost.
A catalogue of the Bobbio library was made between the years 967–972
A.D. It is attributed to the Abbot Gerbert who afterwards became
Pope Silvester II.[306] At this time the library contained about 700
volumes,[307] of which 479 had been acquired gradually from various
unstated sources, and over 220 had been presented by scholars who
are named with the list of books they had given,[308] 43 having been
a donation from the famous Irish monk Dungal who presided over the
school of Pavia.[309] This catalogue itself is strong objective
evidence for the claim we are making that the classical authors were
read. The list of MSS. shows that both Greek and Latin classics, were
well represented. Among others we find works by the following authors:
Terence, Lucretius, Virgil, Ovid, Lucian, Martial, Juvenal, Claudian,
Cicero, Seneca, and the Elder Pliny;[310] also Persius, Flaccus,
Horace, Demosthenes, and Aristotle.[311]
The greater part of the Bobbio collection has been dispersed through
the libraries of Rome, Milan, Naples, and Vienna.[312] It is
practically certain that the Ambrosian palimpsest of Plautus and those
of several of Cicero’s orations and of the letters of Fronto discovered
in the Ambrosian Library (Milan) early in the ninth century all came
from the monastery founded by the Irish monk of Bobbio.[313] Among
other MSS. which once belonged to Bobbio may be mentioned fragments
of Symmachus (in Milan) and the Theodosian Code (formerly in Turin),
Scholia on Cicero (v. century) MSS. of St. Luke (v.–vi. cent.), St.
Severinus (vi. cent.), Josephus (vi.–vii.), Gregory’s Dialogue (c. 750)
and St. Isadore’s (before 840). Last but not least we must mention the
“Muratori Fragment” (viii. cent., or earlier), the earliest extant list
of Books of the New Testament.[314]
St. Agilius (St. Aile), a pupil of St. Columbanus the founder of
Bobbio, was first abbot of the monastery founded at Resbacus (Rébais,
east of Paris) in 634 A.D.[315] The MSS. copied there included the
works of Terence, Cicero, Virgil, Horace, Donatus, Priscian and
Boethius.[316]
The libraries of the Irish monasteries of Würzburg and Reichau seem
to have been large and important. Many existing Irish MSS. come from
these two monasteries. Unfortunately, no old catalogue of the Würzburg
collection seems to have come down to us. In the case of Reichau (Augia
Major) on Lake Constance a catalogue was made while Erlebald was abbot
between 822 and 838 A.D. The number of MSS. given in this catalogue is
415 of which 30 were written in Erlebald’s time.[317]
Important though the collections of Rébais, Würzburg and Reichau
undoubtedly were they are overshadowed by the greater fame of Bobbio.
Indeed there is only one library that could compare with Bobbio either
for the extent or the value of its MSS., and that was the library
of St. Gall or Sangallen in Switzerland. This great monastery was
founded by St. Gall (in Irish Cellach), the pupil and companion of
St. Columbanus, about the year of 612 A.D. In the ninth century
the library of St. Gall possessed 533 volumes, nine of them being
palimpsests.[318] This library was famous during the Middle Ages. The
Fathers who attended the Council of Constance depended mainly for
reference on the valuable MSS. in this library to which they had free
access; and, sad to relate, when the Council broke up in 1418 A.D. many
of these holy men neglected to return these valuable old theological
works in Latin and Greek.[319] This same library came to another loss
two years earlier, in 1416, when Poggio, the Florentine scholar, with
two learned friends who had been engaged at the Council visited St.
Gall. Having a season of leisure they made a search for some missing
volumes of Cicero, Livy, and other classical writers. Nor were they
disappointed. Among other precious tomes they discovered the well-known
_Argonauticon_ of Flaccus, copies of eight of Cicero’s orations with
valuable commentaries by Asconius Pedianus, the works of the Roman
architect Vitruvius, also the works of Priscian, of Quintilian, of
Lucretius, and of other great scholars.[320]
In many libraries of Europe there are MSS. written, or copied, by
Irish monks during the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries. These
MSS. are bound together into Codices which are named either after the
principal work included therein, or after the monastery where they
were written, or sometimes from the library where they are at present
deposited. These Codices contain copies of the classics, treatises
on grammar, the Psalms, the Epistles of St Paul, and other portions
of the Scriptures, Lives of the Saints, Hymns, Bede’s Ecclesiastical
History of England, &c. Scribes when studying these often added glosses
and scholia either on the margin or between the lines to explain the
Latin and Greek words of the text. Sometimes as in the case of the
Psalms and of Priscian’s grammatical tract these glosses were copious
and show that the scribe had availed himself freely of the work of
earlier commentators. These glosses have been a rich mine to students
of philology and have been extensively used for linguistic purposes
containing as they do many of the most archaic forms of the Irish
language. The meaning of these Old Irish words can now be obtained from
the Greek and Latin words which were originally explained by the Irish
words. Some of these MSS. were written by Irishmen on the Continent,
while others were written in Ireland and carried to the Continent by
other monks who deposited them in the libraries of their monasteries.
LIST[321] OF LIBRARIES CONTAINING MSS. WITH IRISH GLOSSES THEREON NOT
LATER THAN END OF NINTH OR BEGINNING OF TENTH CENTURY:
1. Trinity College Library, Dublin.
2. Library of the Franciscan Monastery, Dublin.
3. Royal Irish Academy, Dublin.
4. British Museum, London.
5. Lambert Library, South London.
6. University Library, Cambridge, England.
7. Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
8. St. John’s College, Cambridge.
9. Bodleian Library, Oxford, England.
10. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
11. Library of Nancy.
12. Library of Cambray.
13. University Library, Leyden.
14. University Library, Würzburg.
15. Hof-und Landesbibliothek, Carlsruhe.
16. Royal Library, Munich.
17. Library of the Monastery of Engelberg.
18. Library of St. Paul’s Kloster in Carinthia.
19. Royal Library, Dresden.
20. Stadtbibliothek, Schaffhausen.
21. Royal Library, Vienna.
22. Stifsbibliothek, St. Gall.
23. Stadtbibliothek, Berne.
24. Ambrosian Library, Milan.
25. Vatican Library, Rome.
26. University Library, Turin.
27. Biblioteca Nazionale, Turin.
28. Laurentian Library, Florence.
These numerous and valuable MSS. that have come down to us are in
themselves the most convincing evidence of the zeal of the Irish
monks for the promotion and transmission of classical learning. There
can be little doubt that these Irish scholars under the most adverse
circumstances fostered learning during the dark ages that preceded
the Renaissance and, as we have seen, when the great awakening came
one of the sources from which the treasures of classical antiquity
emerged were the monastic libraries that contained the MSS. copied, or
preserved, with loving care by Irish scribes and scholars.
In this chapter we have endeavoured to show how the zeal for learning
which inspired the teacher in the class-room was carried into the
scriptorium; how the scribes with patient industry copied, and so
transmitted, the relics of classical antiquity; and how these relics
were preserved to the afterworld in the great monastic libraries. The
direct contribution made by the Irish monks of the Early Middle Ages
to contemporary education will be studied in the next chapter. Here
we would emphasise the fact that the full significance of the Irish
monastic schools as an educational factor cannot be understood unless
we realize the importance of the combined, as well as the separate,
contribution of these three great centres of intellectual activity, the
school, the scriptorium and the library.