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Despite the political disunity of early Irish society, theories and expressions of national identity abounded in the work of the learned classes of clerics, genealogists, poets and lawyers. This thesis examines texts from two crucial periods in the evolution of these theories. Focusing initially on the seventh and eighth centuries, the first part of the thesis argues that Irish national identity was created as part of a campaign to assert the joint authority of the Uf Neill kings of Tara and their ecclesiastical allies in Armagh. Drawing inspiration from biblical and patristic sources, and possibly also from contemporary developments elsewhere in Europe, these ecclesiastico-political allies asserted the national unity of the Irish in linguistic, genetic and territorial terms in pursuit of their own particular objectives. The influence of biblical and patristic beliefs on many of these early expressions of Irish identity highlights the outward-looking nature of the Irish scholarly tradition. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, this international dimension intensified as the histories and identities of foreign peoples became subjects of study in Ireland, and new source materials filtered into the country from overseas. With reference to two texts composed during this period, the Irish Sex Aetates Mundi and a poem on national characteristics beginning Cumtach na nludaide n-ard - the second part of this thesis discusses the influence of newly acquired sources on contemporary Irish scholarship. It also examines how the information contained in these sources was adapted and rationalised to conform to the basic assumptions of Irish society. 4.
Crucial texts from ninth- and tenth-century Wales analysed to show their key role in identify formation. WINNER OF THE FRANCIS JONES PRIZE 2022 Early medieval writers viewed the world as divided into gentes ("peoples"). These were groups that could be differentiated from each other according to certain characteristics - by the language they spoke or the territory they inhabited, for example. The same writers played a key role in deciding which characteristics were important and using these to construct ethnic identities. This book explores this process of identity construction in texts from early medieval Wales, focusing primarily on the early ninth-century Latin history of the Britons (Historia Brittonum), the biography of Alfred the Great composed by the Welsh scholar Asser in 893, and the tenth-century vernacular poem Armes Prydein Vawr ("The Great Prophecy of Britain"). It examines how these writers set about distinguishing between the Welsh and the other gentes inhabiting the island of Britain through the use of names, attention to linguistic difference, and the writing of history and origin legends. Crucially important was the identity of the Welsh as Britons, the rightful inhabitants of the entirety of Britain; its significance and durability are investigated, alongside its interaction with the emergence of an identity focused on the geographical unit of Wales.
A growing band of historians, political commentators, and cultural critics has sought to analyse Ireland's past and present in colonial terms. For some, including Irish Republicans, it is the only proper framework for understanding Ireland. Others reject the very use of the colonial label for Ireland's history; while using the term for the present arouses outrage, especially amongst Ulster Unionists. This book evaluates and analuses these controversies, ranging from debates over the ancient and medieval past to those in current literary and postcolonial theory. Scholarly, at times polemical, it is the most comprehensive study of these themes ever to appear, and will undoubtedly stimulate discussion for years to come.
This study argues that concepts of nation, nationalism, national ideology and identity did exist in Ireland in the 13th and 14th centuries, and that the Irish people used the concept of nation especially in response to foreigness or foreigners.
Irish scholars who arrived in Continental Europe in the early Middle Ages are often credited with making some of the most important contributions to European culture and learning of the time, from the introduction of a new calendar to monastic reform. Among them were celebrated personalities such as St Columbanus, John Scottus Eriugena, and Sedulius Scottus who were in the vanguard of a constant stream of arrivals from Ireland to continental Europe, collectively known as 'peregrini'. The continental response to this Irish 'diaspora' ranged from admiration to open hostility, especially when peregrini were deemed to challenge prevalent cultural or spiritual conventions. This volume brings together leading historians, archaeologists, and palaeographers who provide-for the first time-a comprehensive assessment of the phenomenon of Irish peregrini in their continental context and the manner in which it is framed by modern scholarship as well as the popular imagination.
Noting the distinction of the Irish in early medieval Europe as a culture that, never having been conquered by the Roman Empire could accept Roman cultural influences on their own terms, 11 essays from an international colloquium at Utrecht University (no date noted) explore various aspects of Irela
The Céli Dé (`clients of God'), sometimes referred to as the Culdees, comprise the group of monks who first appeared in Ireland in the eighth century in association with St Máel Ruain of Tallaght. Although influential and important in the development of the monastic tradition in Ireland, they have been neglected in general histories. This book offers an investigation into the movement. Proceeding from an examination of ascetic practice and theory in early medieval Ireland, followed by a fresh look at the evidence most often cited in support of the prevailing theory of céli Dé identity, the author challenges the orthodox opinion that they were an order or movement intent upon monastic reform at a time of declining religious discipline. At the heart of the book is a manuscript-centred critical evaluation of the large corpus of putative céli Dé texts, offered as a means for establishing a more comprehensive assessment of who and what céli Dé were. Dr Follett argues that they are properly understood as the self-identified members of the personal retinue of God, in whose service they distinguished themselves from other monks and monastic communities in their personal devotion, pastoral care, Sunday observance, and other matters. A catalogue of céli Dé texts with manuscript references is provided in an appendix.WESTLEY FOLLETT is the LeConte Teaching Fellow in Medieval History at the University of Georgia.
Irish inhabitants of the 'four obedient shires' - a term commonly used to describe the region at the heart of the English colony in the later Middle Ages - were significantly anglicised, taking on English names, dress, and even legal status. However, the processes of cultural exchange went both ways. This study examines the nature of interactions between English and Irish neighbours in the four shires, taking into account the complex tensions between assimilation and the preservation of distinct ethnic identities and exploring how the common colonial rhetoric of the Irish as an 'enemy' coexisted with the daily reality of alliance, intermarriage, and accommodation. Placing Ireland in a broad context, Sparky Booker addresses the strategies the colonial community used to deal with the difficulties posed by extensive assimilation, and the lasting changes this made to understandings of what it meant to be 'English' or 'Irish' in the face of such challenges.