Quernstones – Beehive quern
Distribution
Finding an Invisible People
http://www.ucd.ie/t4cms/iron_age_ireland_project_16365_pilotweb.pdf
Iron Age Research Project
Recent large–scale development activity is bringing new Iron Age sites to light at an increasing rate and presents us with an opportunity to resolve some of the key issues of this enigmatic period. Much of the relevant information resides in the considerable body of unpublished literature such as excavation reports.
The aim of the project is to collate, synthesise and analyse this evidence and to examine it in the context of the major thematic framework identified in the recent Heritage Council report on Research Needs in Irish Archaeology. Hence, in the later stages of the project issues of regionality, social and regional identity, economic organisation, landscape use and cultural change from the Bronze Age through to the Early Medieval period will be addressed.
A survey of archaeological consultancies, consultation of the NRA database of sites which is currently under development and a survey of the Excavations Bulletin 1970–2004 and the published literature. All excavated structures or features that have produced radiocarbon or dendrochronological dates between 900 cal. BC and AD cal. 400 or artefactual evidence for an Iron Age date will be recorded. These sites will be categorised by morphology and associated evidence for their function and entered into a searchable database. Based on this assessment a preliminary cultural characterisation will be developed.
Parameters of sites included in the study
Excavated sites which can be securely dated (radiocarbon, dendro, artefacts) to the Iron Age (ie. 700BC to AD400)
Aim is to characterise Iron Age sites – not end up with a distribution map of Iron Age activity of any form
Late Bronze Age sites (ca 900 BC onwards)
The catalogue also includes excavated sites that are possibly of Iron Age date, as for example identified by problematic associations of artefacts or stratigraphy
Chronology
1.Late Bronze Age (end)
900-700 BC
2. Plateau/Early Iron Age
700-400 BC
3. Developed Iron Age
400BC-0BC/AD
4. Late Iron Age
0BC/AD – AD 400
Biases Data gathering ie. which companies have responded (strong NRA bias through database and contractors) Recognisability - dating strategies (how many dates are obtained, ind features vs structures, favouring of metalworking etc.
Biases Data gathering ie. which companies have responded (strong NRA bias through database and contractors) Recognisability - dating strategies (how many dates are obtained, ind features vs structures, favouring of metalworking etc.
Multiperiod sites
Multiperiod sites
Multiperiod sites
Structures
Finds and activities
Ironworking
Bronzes, wood, glass, flint and antler artefacts
(cf pottery!)
Finds and activities
Ironworking
Bronzes, wood, glass, flint and antler artefacts
(cf pottery!)
Regionality
Site types IA
Settlement
Structures
Metalworking
Later IA with finds Burials
Burial in Ireland
Limited amount of information – burials without gravegoods or monuments not recognisable
Cremation in ring-barrows, ring-ditches and various other forms of monuments
Later centuries BC and early centuries AD
Carbury Hill, Site B, Co. Kildare
Grannagh, Co. Galway
Carowjames, Co.Mayo
Ballydavis, Co. Laois
cremation in bronze box fibula (Nauheim type), wire, 80 beads, stone and blue, green and yellow glass beads iron blade, nails, bronze bracelet fragment, mulitphased, layers containing artefacts, charcoal and cremated bones change with sterile layer> repeated activity
Ballybronoge,
Co. Limerick
Depth of 0.5m 14 token cremations in ditch fill bone plaque bronze spiral ring
Carn More, Dundalk, Co. Louth
Ballykeel South, Co. Clare
Dooey, Co. Donegal
phase 4
70 extended inhumations, EW
no burial goods
early c. AD
Carrowbeg North, Co. Galway
MBA barrow
4 secondary inhumations in silted ditch
Female skeleton with locket and bead anklet
Kiltierney, Co.Fermanagh
Knowth, Co.Meath
Sense of ancestry
Remember Tara and other royal sites
> Lough Crew, Co. Meath
Tara: Neolithic to Iron Age
Rath, Co.Meath
Lough Crew, Co.Meath, Cairn T
Turoe, Co.
Kilcluggin, Galway
Derrykeighan, Co. Antrim
Panels, ears/domed trumpet
100BC-100AD? Double curved lines linking circle motifs, ears
Broighter and Turoe: domed trumpets, peltate patterns, voids
Castlestrange, Co. Roscommon
Tara, Lia Fáil
Brittany
Kermaria
Stelae in Brittany
Raffin, Co. Meath
excarnation?
scattered cremations?
only part of society received formal burial
Lambay Island
Shield, sword and ornaments, iron disc
Beaded torc, northern England
Roman fibulae bracelets
Lambay Island?
Tacitus, Agricola
Quinto expeditionum anno nave prima transgressus ignotas ad id tempus gentis crebris simul ac prosperis proeliis domuit; eamque partem Britanniae quae Hiberniam aspicit copiis instruxit, in spem magis quam ob formidinem, si quidem Hibernia medio inter Britanniam atque Hispaniam sita et Gallico quoque mari opportuna valentissimam imperii partem magnis in vicem usibus miscuerit.
Still invisible?
Tara
Dindsenchus (Placename Lore)
Derivation of the Name given in the 9th century Senas Cormaic (king-bishop of Cashel who died in 908).
earliest form
Temhair
medieval
Taueragh
modern
Tara
Triad 54
Trí tellaige Hérenn: tellach Temrach, tellach Caisil, tellach Crúachan.
The three households of Ireland: the household of Tara, the household of Cashel, the household of Croghan
Triad 202
Tréde neimthigedar ríg: fonaidm ruirech, feis Temrach, roimse inna fhlaith.
Three things that constitute a king: a contract with (other) kings, the feast of Tara, abundance during his reign.
Togail Bruidne Da Derga The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel
- Conaire, King of Tara, is subject to a number of taboos (geis) which state that he cannot:
- pass Tara on his right hand side
- pass Brega on his left
- hunt the swans of Cernae (either Carnes near Duleek or Triad 9 Tech commairce Hérenn: Tech Cairnig for sligid Assail.The Sanctuary of Ireland: the House of Cairnech upon the Road of Asal.2 )
- Stay away from Tara for longer than 9 days
1st edition OS
Placenames assigned by O’Donovan.
Rath na Riogh
measures 318 m north-south by 264 m east-west
Enclosed by an internal ditch and external bank
Name means ‘the Fort of the Kings’.
Rath na Riogh
Rath of the Synods (blue marks enclosure noted during geophysical survey)
Mound of the Hostages (Dumha na nGiall)
An Forradh (and Lia Fail)
Teach Chormaic
Rath of the Synods
WB Yeats and the British-Israelites
Navan Fort
Broad parallels between Navan Fort (top), Rath of the Synods (bottom left) and Dun Ailline (bottom right).
Lismullin
The Stone of Scone
Lia Fail
Recorded stones at Tara include Dall, Dorcha, Maol, Bloc and Bluicne (the two on the right). The taller is sometimes known as Admonans Pillar.
Sheelanagig
On a stone in the churchyard.
The present church dates from 1822; the original church on this site was founded by the Hospitallers of Saint John in about 1212 AD, part of one of the walls of the original is still standing.
'King O'Connell at Tara' This cartoon entitled 'King O'Connell at Tara' was printed in Punch magazine, 26 August 1843, was drawn by 'Shallaballa'. The Irish peasants bring their buttermilk and scrawny pigs as offerings to O'Connell, who rests on the devil's back, with his foot on the British Constitution. The scale under his arm is labelled "Justice to Ireland," and is tipped by "Daniel's Allowance." On the floor nearby is the "Royal Plunder Chest." In the summer of 1843, his monster meeting at Tara, where he called for the repeal of the Union, was attended by an estimated 750,000 people.
Mound of the Hostages
Rath Laoghaire
Claonferta and Rath Grainne
Banqueting Hall
Triad 120 (Yellow Book of Lecan) Tréde neimthigedar gobainn: bir Neithin, fulacht na Morrígna, inneóin in Dagda. Three things that constitute a blacksmith: Nethin's spit, the cooking-spit of the Morrigan, the Dagda's griddle.
Giraldus Cambrensis
Triad 202
Three things that constitute a king: a contract with (other) kings, the feast of Tara, abundance during his reign.
View of Skryne
St Patrick
Arrives on the eve of Easter, lights paschal fire on Hill of Slane.
When the ‘druids’ at Tara saw the light from Slane, they warned King Laoghaire that he must extinguish it or it would burn forever.
Patrick summoned to Tara (on the way singing the hymn "Saint Patrick's Breastplate“).
Impresses Laoghaire who lets him Christianise.
Early Christians…
Christianity was probably first introduced to Ireland sometime at the very end of the 4th century AD or early in the 5th century AD
The earliest church sites are not easy to identify or date
Sometimes only placename evidence survives
Early Christians
Earliest church developed as members of the aristocracy were converted by the earliest missionary/converts (such as St. Patrick)
Initial Christianisation appears to occur in the south half of Ireland in the late fourth or early fifth century AD and spreads to the northern half by around 450-460 AD
Ogham
Dating evidence suggests the earliest stones with ogham inscriptions date to around the 4th century AD.
Ogham (map)
Main areas of distribution may reflect earliest Christianisation.
Early Ecclesiastical Centres
As the earliest churches were associated with the aristocracy, the early parish and bishopric boundaries tend to be similar to the early kingdoms or chiefdoms in Ireland
As a result – the power of bishops was confined to their own kingdom
Early Christians
Monastic sites and hermitage emerge that are independent of the parish-bishopric system
They appear to have been given separate endowments and are economically independent
Successful monasteries are able to set up or acquire additional monasteries and increase their prestige
This system survives in various forms until the arrival of the Normans in the 12th century AD
Early Christians
These early Christian centres often survive today as large enclosures, sometimes with multiple concentric earthworks or ditches.
Today these are often only visible as crop marks from the air.
In some cases, only the placename evidence survives:
Cell often anglicised as Kill
Domhnaig often anglicised as Donagh or Downey
Teampall often anglicised as Temple
Ringforts
Univallate (i.e. one enclosing bank).
Example here is from Killyliss in Tyrone.
Ringforts
Bivallate (i.e. two enclosing banks).
Example here is from Lisnageeha in Tipperary.
Ringforts
Multivallate (i.e. more than two enclosing banks).
Example here is from Garranes in Cork.
Ringforts
Platform or raised ringfort
Example here is from Rathmullan in Down.
Dressogagh, Armagh + Whiteford, Down
Ballinderry 2, Offaly: crannog
Corofin, Clare
Carn More, County Louth (from www.nra.ie)
Newtownbalregan, County Louth
Horizontal Mills
Derivation of the Name given in the 9th century Senas Cormaic (king-bishop of Cashel who died in 908).
earliest form
Temhair
medieval
Taueragh
modern
Tara
Triad 54
Trí tellaige Hérenn: tellach Temrach, tellach Caisil, tellach Crúachan.
The three households of Ireland: the household of Tara, the household of Cashel, the household of Croghan
Triad 202
Tréde neimthigedar ríg: fonaidm ruirech, feis Temrach, roimse inna fhlaith.
Three things that constitute a king: a contract with (other) kings, the feast of Tara, abundance during his reign.
Togail Bruidne Da Derga The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel
- Conaire, King of Tara, is subject to a number of taboos (geis) which state that he cannot:
- pass Tara on his right hand side
- pass Brega on his left
- hunt the swans of Cernae (either Carnes near Duleek or Triad 9 Tech commairce Hérenn: Tech Cairnig for sligid Assail.The Sanctuary of Ireland: the House of Cairnech upon the Road of Asal.2 )
- Stay away from Tara for longer than 9 days
1st edition OS
Placenames assigned by O’Donovan.
Rath na Riogh
measures 318 m north-south by 264 m east-west
Enclosed by an internal ditch and external bank
Name means ‘the Fort of the Kings’.
Rath na Riogh
Rath of the Synods (blue marks enclosure noted during geophysical survey)
Mound of the Hostages (Dumha na nGiall)
An Forradh (and Lia Fail)
Teach Chormaic
Rath of the Synods
WB Yeats and the British-Israelites
Navan Fort
Broad parallels between Navan Fort (top), Rath of the Synods (bottom left) and Dun Ailline (bottom right).
Lismullin
The Stone of Scone
Lia Fail
Recorded stones at Tara include Dall, Dorcha, Maol, Bloc and Bluicne (the two on the right). The taller is sometimes known as Admonans Pillar.
Sheelanagig
On a stone in the churchyard.
The present church dates from 1822; the original church on this site was founded by the Hospitallers of Saint John in about 1212 AD, part of one of the walls of the original is still standing.
'King O'Connell at Tara' This cartoon entitled 'King O'Connell at Tara' was printed in Punch magazine, 26 August 1843, was drawn by 'Shallaballa'. The Irish peasants bring their buttermilk and scrawny pigs as offerings to O'Connell, who rests on the devil's back, with his foot on the British Constitution. The scale under his arm is labelled "Justice to Ireland," and is tipped by "Daniel's Allowance." On the floor nearby is the "Royal Plunder Chest." In the summer of 1843, his monster meeting at Tara, where he called for the repeal of the Union, was attended by an estimated 750,000 people.
Mound of the Hostages
Rath Laoghaire
Claonferta and Rath Grainne
Banqueting Hall
Triad 120 (Yellow Book of Lecan) Tréde neimthigedar gobainn: bir Neithin, fulacht na Morrígna, inneóin in Dagda. Three things that constitute a blacksmith: Nethin's spit, the cooking-spit of the Morrigan, the Dagda's griddle.
Giraldus Cambrensis
Triad 202
Three things that constitute a king: a contract with (other) kings, the feast of Tara, abundance during his reign.
View of Skryne
St Patrick
Arrives on the eve of Easter, lights paschal fire on Hill of Slane.
When the ‘druids’ at Tara saw the light from Slane, they warned King Laoghaire that he must extinguish it or it would burn forever.
Patrick summoned to Tara (on the way singing the hymn "Saint Patrick's Breastplate“).
Impresses Laoghaire who lets him Christianise.
Early Christians…
Christianity was probably first introduced to Ireland sometime at the very end of the 4th century AD or early in the 5th century AD
The earliest church sites are not easy to identify or date
Sometimes only placename evidence survives
Early Christians
Earliest church developed as members of the aristocracy were converted by the earliest missionary/converts (such as St. Patrick)
Initial Christianisation appears to occur in the south half of Ireland in the late fourth or early fifth century AD and spreads to the northern half by around 450-460 AD
Ogham
Dating evidence suggests the earliest stones with ogham inscriptions date to around the 4th century AD.
Ogham (map)
Main areas of distribution may reflect earliest Christianisation.
Early Ecclesiastical Centres
As the earliest churches were associated with the aristocracy, the early parish and bishopric boundaries tend to be similar to the early kingdoms or chiefdoms in Ireland
As a result – the power of bishops was confined to their own kingdom
Early Christians
Monastic sites and hermitage emerge that are independent of the parish-bishopric system
They appear to have been given separate endowments and are economically independent
Successful monasteries are able to set up or acquire additional monasteries and increase their prestige
This system survives in various forms until the arrival of the Normans in the 12th century AD
Early Christians
These early Christian centres often survive today as large enclosures, sometimes with multiple concentric earthworks or ditches.
Today these are often only visible as crop marks from the air.
In some cases, only the placename evidence survives:
Cell often anglicised as Kill
Domhnaig often anglicised as Donagh or Downey
Teampall often anglicised as Temple
Ringforts
Univallate (i.e. one enclosing bank).
Example here is from Killyliss in Tyrone.
Ringforts
Bivallate (i.e. two enclosing banks).
Example here is from Lisnageeha in Tipperary.
Ringforts
Multivallate (i.e. more than two enclosing banks).
Example here is from Garranes in Cork.
Ringforts
Platform or raised ringfort
Example here is from Rathmullan in Down.
Dressogagh, Armagh + Whiteford, Down
Ballinderry 2, Offaly: crannog
Corofin, Clare
Carn More, County Louth (from www.nra.ie)
Newtownbalregan, County Louth
Horizontal Mills
Ireland: Christianisation
Earliest Christianisation in Ireland
Christianity introduced to Ireland sometime at the very end of the 4th century AD or early in the 5th century AD
Initial Christianisation appears to occur in the south half of Ireland and spreads to the northern half by around 450-460 AD
Our only undisputed source for this period are the two documents written by St Patrick – his Confessio and letter to Coroticus, both providing our only eyewitness account of mid-5th century Ireland.
Confessio – St Patrick’s Confession
Ogham (map)
Distribution of ogham is believed to reflect areas Christianised at in the earliest stages (before 450 AD).
Little other physical evidence of this episode.
Confessio – St Patrick’s Confession
Letter to Coroticus
Who was Patrick?
Bannaventa
Confessio
I was taken into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of people, according to our desserts, for quite drawn away from God, we did not keep his precepts, nor were we obedient to our priests who used to remind us of our salvation.
And therefore for some time I have thought of writing, but I have hesitated until now, for truly, I feared to expose myself to the criticism of men, because I have not studied like others, who have assimilated both Law and the Holy Scriptures equally and have never changed their idiom since their infancy, but instead were always learning it increasingly, to perfection, while my idiom and language have been translated into a foreign tongue.
Confessio
A young man, almost a beardless boy, I was taken captive before I knew what I should desire and what I should shun.
And again, the Spirit witnessed that the rustic life was created by the Most High ... I am, then, first of all, countrified, an exile, evidently unlearned, one who is not able to see into the future, but I know for certain, that before I was humbled I was like a stone lying in deep mire, and he that is mighty came and in his mercy raised me up and, indeed, lifted me high up and placed me on top of the wall.
Confessio
But after I reached Ireland I used to pasture the flock each day and I used to pray many times a day. More and more did the love of God, and my fear of him and faith increase, and my spirit was moved so that in a day [I said] from one up to a hundred prayers, and in the night a like number; besides I used to stay out in the forests and on the mountain and I would wake up before daylight to pray in the snow, in icy coldness, in rain, and I used to feel neither ill nor any slothfulness, because, as I now see, the Spirit was burning in me at that time.
Confessio
And it was there of course that one night in my sleep I heard a voice saying to me: 'You … soon you will depart for your home country.' And again, a very short time later, there was a voice prophesying: 'Behold, your ship is ready.'
And it was not close by, but, as it happened, two hundred miles away, where I had never been nor knew any person. And shortly thereafter I turned about and fled from the man with whom I had been for six years, and I came, by the power of God who directed my route to advantage (and I was afraid of nothing), until I reached that ship.
200 Miles?
200 Roman miles to a ship (equivalent to c. 185 modern miles).
Later on ‘Foclut’ is mentioned as where he stayed. It's location is uncertain. Tírechán (7th century) indicates that it was on the Mayo-Sligo border, near Killala.
Confessio
And on the same day that I arrived, the ship was setting out from the place, and I said that I had the wherewithal to sail with them; and the steersman was displeased and replied in anger, sharply: 'By no means attempt to go with us.' Hearing this I left them to go to the hut where I was staying, and on the way I began to pray, and before the prayer was finished I heard one of them shouting loudly after me: 'Come quickly because the men are calling you.' And immediately I went back to them and they started to say to me: 'Come, because we are admitting you out of good faith; make friendship with us in any way you wish.'
Confessio
And after three days (sail) we reached land, and for twenty-eight days journeyed through uninhabited country, and the food ran out and hunger overtook them; and one day the steersman began saying: 'Why is it, Christian? You say your God is great and all-powerful; then why can you not pray for us? For we may perish of hunger; it is unlikely indeed that we shall ever see another human being.' In fact, I said to them, confidently: 'Be converted by faith with all your heart to my Lord God, because nothing is impossible for him, so that today he will send food for you on your road, until you be sated, because everywhere he abounds.'
Confessio
And with God's help this came to pass; and behold, a herd of swine appeared on the road before our eyes, and they slew many of them, and remained there for two nights, and they were full of their meat and well restored, for many of them had fainted and would otherwise have been left half-dead by the wayside. And after this they gave the utmost thanks to God, and I was esteemed in their eyes, and from that day they had food abundantly. They discovered wild honey, besides, and they offered a share to me, and one of them said: 'It is a sacrifice.' Thanks be to God, I tasted none of it.
Confessio
And a second time, after many years, I was taken captive. On the first night I accordingly remained with my captors, but I heard a divine prophecy, saying to me: 'You shall be with them for two months. So it happened. On the sixtieth night the Lord delivered me from their hands.
On the journey he provided us with food and fire and dry weather every day, until on the tenth day we came upon people. As I mentioned above, we had journeyed through an unpopulated country for twenty-eight days, and in fact the night that we came upon people we had no food.
And after a few years I was again in Britain with my family, and they welcomed me as a son, and asked me, in faith, that after the great tribulations I had endured I should not go anywhere else away from them.
Confessio
... in a vision of the night, I saw a man whose name was Victoricus coming … from Ireland with innumerable letters, and he gave me one of them, and I read the beginning of the letter: 'The Voice of the Irish', and as I was reading the beginning of the letter I seemed at that moment to hear the voice of those who were beside the forest of Foclut which is near the western sea, and they were crying as if with one voice: 'We beg you, holy youth, that you shall come and shall walk again among us...
... I was attacked by a goodly number of my elders, who [brought up] my sins against my arduous episcopate ... I pray God that it shall not be held against them as a sin that I fell truly into disgrace and scandal.
Confessio
They brought up against me after thirty years an occurrence I had confessed before becoming a deacon. On account of the anxiety in my sorrowful mind, I laid before my close friend what I had perpetrated on a day-- nay, rather in one hour-- in my boyhood because I was not yet proof against sin. God knows-- I do not-- whether I was fifteen years old at the time, and I did not then believe in the living God, nor had I believed, since my infancy; but I remained in death and unbelief until I was severely rebuked, and in truth I was humbled every day by hunger and nakedness.
On the other hand, I did not proceed to Ireland of my own accord until I was almost giving up, but through this I was corrected by the Lord, and he prepared me …
Confessio
'See, the rank of bishop goes to you‘ … of which I was not worthy. But how did it come to him, shortly afterwards, to disgrace me publicly, in the presence of all, good and bad …
I will tell briefly how most holy God frequently delivered me, from slavery, and from the twelve trials with which my soul was threatened, from man traps as well, and from things I am not able to put into words.
...And many gifts were offered to me with weeping and tears, and I offended the donors ... endure insults from unbelievers ... that I might hear scandal of my travels, and endure many persecutions to the extent of prison ... and so that I might give up my free birthright for the advantage of others ...
Confessio
So, how is it that in Ireland, where they never had any knowledge of God but, always, until now, cherished idols and unclean things, they are lately become a people of the Lord … the sons of the Irish and the daughters of the chieftains are to be seen as monks and virgins of Christ.
And there was, besides, a most beautiful, blessed, native-born noble Irish woman of adult age whom I baptized; and a few days later she had reason to come to us to intimate that she had received a prophecy from a divine messenger advising her that she should become a virgin of Christ and she would draw nearer to God. Thanks be to God, six days from then, opportunely and most eagerly, she took the course that all virgins of God take, not with their fathers' consent but enduring the persecutions and deceitful hindrances of their parents.
Confessio
Notwithstanding that, their number increases, (we do not know the number of them that are so reborn) besides the widows, and those who practise self-denial. Those who are kept in slavery suffer the most. They endure terrors and constant threats, but the Lord has given grace to many of his handmaidens, for even though they are forbidden to do so, still they resolutely follow his example.
Confessio
And I gave back again to my Christian brethren and the virgins of Christ and the holy women the small unasked for gifts that they used to give me or some of their ornaments which they used to throw on the altar. And they would be offended with me because I did this. But in the hope of eternity, I safeguarded myself carefully in all things, so that they might not cheat me of my office of service on any pretext of dishonesty, and so that I should not in the smallest way provide any occasion for defamation or disparagement on the part of unbelievers.
Confessio
What is more, when I baptized so many thousands of people, did I hope for even half a jot from any of them? Tell me, and I will give it back to you. And when the Lord ordained clergy everywhere by my humble means, and I freely conferred office on them, if I asked any of them anywhere even for the price of one shoe, say so to my face and I will give it back ... And I went about among you, and everywhere for your sake, in danger, and as far as the outermost regions beyond which no one lived, and where no one had ever penetrated before, to baptize or to ordain clergy or to confirm people.
Confessio
From time to time I gave rewards to the kings, as well as making payments to their sons who travel with me; notwithstanding which, they seized me with my companions, and that day most avidly desired to kill me ... they plundered everything they found on us anyway, and fettered me in irons; and on the fourteenth day the Lord freed me from their power, and whatever they had of ours was given back to us for the sake of God on account of the indispensable friends whom we had made before.
Confessio
For the sun we see rises each day for us at his command, but it will never reign, neither will its splendour last, but all who worship it will come wretchedly to punishment. We, on the other hand, shall not die, who believe in and worship the true sun, Christ, who will never die, no more shall he die who has done Christ's will, but will abide for ever just as Christ abides for ever, who reigns with God the Father Almighty and with the Holy Spirit before the beginning of time and now and for ever and ever. Amen.
Letter To Coroticus
I, Patrick, a sinner, unlearned, resident in Ireland, declare myself to be a bishop ... And so I live among barbarians, a stranger and exile for the love of God.
I have written ... these words, to be given, delivered, and sent to the soldiers of Coroticus; I do not say, to my fellow citizens, or to fellow citizens of the holy Romans, but to fellow citizens of the demons, because of their evil works. Like our enemies, they live in death, allies of the Irish and the apostate Picts. Dripping with blood, they welter in the blood of innocent Christians, whom I have begotten into the number for God and confirmed in Christ!
Letter To Coroticus
The day after the newly baptized, anointed with chrism, in white garments had been slain — the fragrance was still on their foreheads when they were butchered and slaughtered with the sword by the above-mentioned people — I sent a letter with a holy presbyter whom I had taught from his childhood, clerics accompanying him, asking them to let us have some of the booty, and of the baptized they had made captives. They only jeered at them. Hence I do not know what to lament more: those who have been slain, or those whom they have taken captive, or those whom the devil has mightily ensnared. Together with him they will be slaves in Hell in an eternal punishment; for who commits sin is a slave and will be called a son of the devil.
... ravening wolves that "eat the people of the Lord as they eat bread!"
Letter To Coroticus
... I was freeborn according to the flesh. I am the son of a decurion. But I sold my noble rank I am neither ashamed nor sorry for the good of others. Thus I am a servant in Christ to a foreign nation for the unspeakable glory of life everlasting which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And if my own people do not know me, a prophet has no honor in his own country .Perhaps we are not of the same fold and have not one and the same God as father, as is written: "He that is not with me, is against me, and he that gathers not with me, scatters." It is not right that one destroys, another builds up. I seek not the things that are mine.
It is not my grace, but God who has given this solicitude into my heart, to be one of His hunters or fishers whom God once foretold would come in the last days.
Letter To Coroticus
I am hated. What shall I do, Lord? I am most despised. Look, Thy sheep around me are tom to pieces and driven away, and that by those robbers, by the orders of the hostile-minded Coroticus. Far from the love of God is a man who hands over Christians to the Picts and Scots. Ravening wolves have devoured the flock of the Lord, which in Ireland was indeed growing splendidly with the greatest care; and the sons and daughters of kings were monks and virgins of Christ — I cannot count their number. Wherefore, be not pleased with the wrong done to the just; even to hell it shall not please. Who of the saints would not shudder to be merry with such persons or to enjoy a meal with them? They have filled their houses with the spoils of dead Christians, they live on plunder. They do not know, the wretches, that what they offer their friends and sons as food is deadly poison, just as Eve did not understand that it was death she gave to her husband. So are all that do evil: they work death as their eternal punishment.
Letter To Coroticus
This is the custom of the Roman Christians of Gaul: they send holy and able men to the Franks and other heathen with so many thousand solidi to ransom baptized captives. You prefer to kill and sell them to a foreign nation that has no knowledge of God. You betray the members of Christ as it were into a brothel.
Hence the Church mourns and laments her sons and daughters whom the sword has not yet slain, but who were removed and carried off to faraway lands, where sin abounds openly, grossly, impudently. There people who were freeborn have, been sold, Christians made slaves, and that, too, in the service of the abominable, wicked, and apostate Picts!
Letter To Coroticus
"Without are dogs, and sorcerers,... and murderers; and liars and perjurers have their portion in the pool of everlasting fire."
Where, then, will Coroticus with his criminals, rebels against Christ, where will they see themselves, they who distribute baptized women as prizes — for a miserable temporal kingdom, which will pass away in a moment?
Earliest Christian Sites and Monuments?
The earliest churches in Ireland are hard to identify as they were of wood and may not have been different from other buildings.
The types of churches and ecclesiastical buildings that pre-date the introduction of the Romanesque architectural style (11th century), or at the very least overlap with it’s appearance include:
Wooden churches
Tomb shrines
Gallarus-type churches
Stone churches with timber roof and antae
Stone churches with a vaulted roof
Round towers
Ecclesiastical enclosures in towns
Armagh: ecclesiastical capital of Ireland.
Dublin
This is from John Rocques map of Dublin in the 1750s. The street pattern encloses St. Peters.
Dublin
This is a close up of the map. Is the east-west building St. Peters??
Dublin: St. Peters based on excavations.
Moyne, near Shrule, County Mayo
Moyne, near Shrule, County Mayo
Book of Kells
Depiction of a church.
But – is this the illustrators imaginative drawing or is it real?
Book of Kells
There are some early depictions of churches, such as this one from the Book of Kells, which are our main source for the earliest sites.
Shrines
Many relics of early saints were incased in shrines shaped like buildings (this one is from Emly) – are these similar to the early churches?
Clonmore
The Clonmore shrine is believed to be the oldest known example of Irish Christian metalwork.
Dates to the second half o the 7th century.
Also demonstrates that ‘Christian’ metalwork is a relatively late feature.
Early Churches
Other sources also hint at the shape of these early churches.
This is the South Cross at Monasterboice.
Early Churches
The top of the cross is often shaped like churches.
Early churches
The shapes of these churchbuildings are indicated in many places – such as the Emly shrine, the finial of the south cross at Monasterboice or the buildings described in the Hisperica Famina and the Life of St. Brigid.
Textual sources
A number of early texts (7th century AD) provide descriptions of churches that allow us to make some reconstruction of how they looked.
Vita secunda Sanctuae Brigidae
Hisperica Famina
Excavation?
A few examples of possible wooden churches have been excavated.
In general, all that survives are traces of a wooden structure at a known church site.
Their interpretation as churches is uncertain!
Church Island, Kerry
Derry, Down
Wooden structure pre-dates a church with projecting antae.
Again it is early – but is it a church??
Carnsore, Wexford
There was a wooden structure beneath a later church at Carnsore. It is proportionally similar to the later church. It was dated to 641-940 AD.
Early Churches
The real or re-constructed plans of these churches do not match the earliest stone churches – so they probably reflect styles of building of timber churches.
Timber Churches
Some were evidently quite large, as indicated by a grim entry in the Annals of Ulster for 850, which records the burning of 260 people in a wooden church at Trevet in county Meath.
The introduction of Stone Churches
One of the most fundamental changes that took place in Irish church architecture was the introduction of stone as the primary building material. The development of stone building was a slow process but also reflected the growing size and wealth of the communities.
Resistance to the use of stone might be seen as a preference for the more plentiful and easily worked wood as well as continued veneration of existing wooden buildings that accrued value through use and tradition.
Introduction of Stone Churches to Ireland
Contrary to the prevailing impression, the stone church - or 'daimhliag' - was not fireproof, since such buildings were generally covered by timber-framed roofs.
The occasional stone church existed in the pre-Viking period:
there was one at Duleek in the 7th century
And, another at Armagh in 789.
Outside major centers like Kells and Armagh, however, they remained rare until the 10th century.
It may be significant that the first stone church recorded in the annals was built at Armagh, the monastery which claimed to be the centre of Christian Ireland.
Stone Churches
The development of stone building probably evolved through a desire for greater status and prestige but also relied on the growing size and wealth of the community.
Further, stone buildings were more durable and, if not completely immune from the ravages of fire due to continued use of wooden roofs, there was certainly some improvement in the safety and reliability of the structures.
Early Stone Churches
The common characteristics of stone churches in major monasteries may be assessed according to a variety of criteria.
They were single cell structures, often with a length to breadth ratio of 3 (such as St Fecthins at Fore, Co. Westmeath, below)
Stone Churches with a 3:1 ratio
This is the cathedral at Glendalough – not the extent of the original cathedral rather than the 12th century extension).
Early Churches – windows?
Window design and the problem of glazing offers another point of interest. Windows tend to be very small, their heads either triangular or round-headed. In the latter case they are often cut from a single stone, rather than constructed as a genuine arch (the example here is from Gallarus).
There is no evidence, either from documentary or archaeological indications, for the use of glass but, given its use in Anglo-Saxon England, it is hard to believe that it was unknown in Ireland.
At the very least wooden shutters must have been essential in adverse weather.
Early Churches - Doorways
The west wall of the early churches invariably contained a lintelled doorway with inclined jambs, framed in some cases by an 'architrave' band projecting from the surface in thin relief.
Though deceptively simple in form, the doorways are built of well-dressed stone, robust and imposing in appearance.
Fine examples are found at Fore, St. Fechin's and St. Mary's Church at Glendalough.
Fore, St. Fechin’s
Note the band in relief around the door – it is carved in the stone to retain the shape of the door, even though the stone is not the correct shapes.
St. Mary’s Church Glendalough
Note the angle of the jambs of the door and how the shape is cut into the stone.
Tomb Shrines
The earliest church like buildings are those often described as Tomb Shrines.
These are mortared church buildings located in a primary position at a church site.
These include examples such as St Ciarans in Clonmacnoise and St Declans at Ardmore.
Some have been investigated and samples of mortar from the structures were analysed and pieces of charcoal which were included in the mortar during manufacture have dated these Tomb Shrines to before 1000 AD.
No clear examples in the immediate vicinity of Dublin.
Inishcleraun, Co. Longford
Example of a Tomb Shrine.
Built of quite small limestone blocks, which are not typical of early churches.
Shows the difficulty in identifying these early sites.
St Declans Oratory, Ardmore, Co. Waterford
St Declans is another eary tomb shrine, although largely re-built.
Devenish, Co. Fermanagh St. Molaise House
Tomb shrine built as late as 12th century AD – showing they continuing being built to this date.
Gallarus-type churches
Only known from south-west.
Notoriously difficult to date. But probably later than 10th century.
Example on the left is Gallarus itself (before the site was cleaned up).
Gallarus
Doorway is similar to those at churches with antae.
Window has a hint of Romanesque (round-headed arch) – suggesting a date from the mid-11th century onwards.
Gallarus
Interior of buildings seems very dark – but this is an illusion – although little light penetrates, this allows for more strict control of light, aromas, noise etc to distinguish it clearly from the outside world.
May have been seen as a way of helping define the buildings as God’s house?
Unusual style of church.
Church Island, Kerry
Early Churches - Derry, Co. Down
We know from historical dates of some churches that they begin to appear in the 10th century AD.
We know from excavation that some are later than timber churches.
Stone churches
We have a strong tradition of building churches in mortared masonry from around the 10th century onwards (this is Kill of the Grange on the right).
Early Stone Churches – Dalkey Island
The main features of this type of stone church are – they are aligned east-west, as is traditional for christian churches.
The roof is not vaulted, but is made of timber.
Early Stone Churches – Dalkey Island
The walls are generally faced in stone with a clay or rubble core.
There are projections at either gable, called antae.
There is only a single room (i.e. the churches are unicameral).
Stone Churches and Liturgy
There was a preference for small churches, which did not allow for elaborate liturgical ceremonies within the building.
It is likely that some important ceremonies took place outside. The churches were not usually divided in separate sections, and the chancels visible today generally represent later additions.
Furnishings included an altar, shrines with relics of the ancient Irish saints, hanging crowns, as well as paintings, though none of the latter survive. .
Ahenny, Co. Tipperary
These are the north cross (top) and south cross (bottom) at Ahenny at Kilclispin.
They are among the earliest high crosses that were manufactured and represent a translation into stone of a style of wood and metal crosses.
They are over 3 m in height.
They date to the late 8th to the early 9th century AD.
North Cross Ahenny, Co. Tipperary
This is a panel decorated with enamel studs that would be attached to a wooden cross (from Antrim)
Not the position of the rivet holes.
North Cross (west face) Ahenny, Co. Tipperary
Or compare this example from the Ardagh chalice
Killamery, Co. Kilkenny
Note the position of the finial
These mimic the shape of churches.
What about the earlier capstones (e.g. Ahenny)??
Killamery, Co. Kilkenny
Dating High Crosses can be fairly straightforward.
Killamery contains the inscription: ‘OR DO MAELSECHNAILL’ [Pray for Maelsechnaill].
Maelsechnaill was High King from 846-862 AD.
Cross Slabs
Some examples of crosses carved on slab like stones (this example is from Killegar)
Cross Slabs
Their true function isn’t clear as they don’t always mark graves.
Some are upright, others lie flat (this example is from Whitechurch).
Rathdown Slabs
Decorated slabs: found only in South Dublin and Wicklow
Style is a mixture of Irish and Norse (Hiberno-Norse)
Bullaun Stones
Usually natural rocks or boulders with deliberate hollows.
Often found on ecclesiastical sites.
Their origin and date is obscure, but they are at least medieval in date.
The Church before the Vikings
This is a brief survey of the references to various abbeys in the Annals of Ulster before the first Viking raids (remember this is only one of the annals – and only references to the 8th century AD!!):
U710.2
The burning of Cell Dara.
U719.9
The killing of the community of Suibne in Ard Macha.
Before the Vikings
U723.1
The burning of Cluain Moccu Nóis.
U749.3
The burning of Cluain Ferta Brénainn.
U749.4
The burning of Cell Mór of Aedán son of Aengus.
Before the Vikings
U750.1
The burning of Fobar, and the burning of Domnach Pátraic.
U750.2
Death of Suairlech, bishop of Fobar.
U756.1
The burning of Bennchor the Great on St Patrick's Day [17th] March.
Before the Vikings
U760.8
A battle between the communities of Cluain and Biror in Móin Choise Blae.
U762.2
The killing of bishop Eóthigern by a priest in the oratory of Cell Dara. A great disturbance in Ard Macha on Quinquagesima day, in which Condálach son of Ailill fell.
Before the Vikings
U764.6
The battle of Argaman between the community of Cluain Moccu Nóis and the community of Dermag, in which fell Diarmait Dub son of Domnall, and Diglach son of Dub Lis, and two hundred men of the community of Dermag. Bresal, son of Murchad, emerged victor, with the community of Cluain.
Before the Vikings
U775.2
The burning of Ard Macha.
U775.3
The burning of Cell Dara.
U775.4
The burning of Glenn dá Locha.
Before the Vikings
U778.2
The burning of Cluain Moccu Nóis on the sixth of the Ides [10th] of July.
U779.4
The burning of Cell Dara on the third of the Ides [11th] of June.
U779.5
The burning of Cluain Mór Maedóc.
U779.6
The burning of Cell Deilge.
U783.6
A battle in Ferna Mór between the abbot and the steward, i.e. between Cathal and Fiannachtach.
How useful are the annals?
U735.6
A huge dragon was seen, with great thunder after it, at the end of autumn.
U746.2
Dragons were seen in the sky.
U749.9
Ships with their crews were seen in the air above Cluain Moccu Nóis.
Other hints of how abbeys function: Relics
U734.3
The bringing on tour of the relics of Peter, Paul and Patrick to fulfil the law; and the slaying of Coibdenach son of Flann grandson of Congal.
U743.11
The taking on tour of the relics of Trian of Cell Deilge; and the bolgach was rampant.
U776.5
The taking on tour of the relics of St Erc of Sláine and of the relics of Finnian of Cluain Iraird.
U784.9
The coming of the relics of Erc's son to the city of Tailtiu.
Travelling Relic shows
U785.2
The taking on tour of the relics of Ultán.
U790.5
The taking on tour of the relics of Caemgein and of Mo-Chua moccu Lugedon.
U789.17
Dishonouring of the staff of Jesus and relics of Patrick by Donnchad son of Domnall at Ráith Airthir at an assembly.
U793.5
The taking on tour of the relics of Tóla.
Relics
U818.4
Cuanu, abbot of Lugmad, went into exile into the lands of Mumu with the shrine of Mochta.
U818.5
Artrí, superior of Ard Macha, went to Connacht with the shrine of Patrick.
U819.8
At Ard Macha Whitsun 5 June was not publicly celebrated nor the shrine taken on tour; and there was a disturbance in which the son of Echaid son of Fiachna fell.
When the Vikings appear…
U798.2
The burning of Inis Pátraic by the heathens, and they took the cattle-tribute of the territories, and broke the shrine of Do-Chonna, and also made great incursions both in Ireland and in Alba.
U800.6
The placing of the relics of Conlaed in a shrine of gold and silver.
U801.1
The placing of the relics of Rónán son of Berach in a gold and silver casket.
Offices performed by the abbots
U804.7
A meeting of the synods of the Uí Néill in Dún Cuair, presided over by Connmach, abbot of Ard Macha.
U804.8
This year, moreover, the clerics of Ireland were freed by Aed Oirdnide, at the behest of Fothad of the Canon, from the obligation of attendance on expeditions and hostings.
Offices performed by the abbots
U780.12
A congress of the synods of Uí Néill and Laigin, in the town of Temair, at which were present many anchorites and scribes, led by Dubliter.
U811.2
The fair of Tailtiu was prevented from being held on Saturday under the aegis of Aed son of Niall, neither horse nor chariot arriving there. It was the community of Tamlacht who caused the boycott after the Uí Néill had violated the sanctuary of Tamlacht of Mael Ruain; and many gifts were subsequently made to the community of Tamlacht.
And after the Vikings…
U817.7
Mael Dúin son of Cenn Faelad, superior of Ráith Both, a member of Colum Cille's community, was slain.
U817.8
Colum Cille's community went to Temair to excommunicate Aed.
U831.5
The fair of Tailtiu was disturbed at the platforms owing to dissension over the shrine of MacCuilinn and the halidoms of Patrick, and many died as a result.
And after the Vikings…
U832.1
The first plundering of Ard Macha by the heathens three times in one month.
U832.2
The plundering of Mucnám, Lugbad, Uí Méith, Druim Moccu Blae, and other churches.
U832.3
The plundering of Dam Liac and the sept of the Cianacht with all their churches by the heathens.
U832.4
Ailill son of Colgu was taken captive by the heathens.
And after the Vikings….
U832.5
Tuathal son of Feradach was taken away by the heathens, and Adamnán's shrine from Domnach Maigen.
U832.6
Ráith Luraig and Connaire were plundered by the heathens.
U833.5
Cluain Dolcáin was plundered by the heathens
U833.6
Cellach son of Bran routed the community of Cell Dara in a battle in their monastery, many being killed, on St. John's day in the autumn 29 Aug..
Some references to size…
U806.8
The community of Í, to the number of sixty-eight, was killed by the heathens.
U817.5
Cathal son of Dúnlang and the community of Tech Munna won a battle against the community of Ferna, in which four hundred were slain.
Christianity introduced to Ireland sometime at the very end of the 4th century AD or early in the 5th century AD
Initial Christianisation appears to occur in the south half of Ireland and spreads to the northern half by around 450-460 AD
Our only undisputed source for this period are the two documents written by St Patrick – his Confessio and letter to Coroticus, both providing our only eyewitness account of mid-5th century Ireland.
Confessio – St Patrick’s Confession
Ogham (map)
Distribution of ogham is believed to reflect areas Christianised at in the earliest stages (before 450 AD).
Little other physical evidence of this episode.
Confessio – St Patrick’s Confession
Letter to Coroticus
Who was Patrick?
Bannaventa
Confessio
I was taken into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of people, according to our desserts, for quite drawn away from God, we did not keep his precepts, nor were we obedient to our priests who used to remind us of our salvation.
And therefore for some time I have thought of writing, but I have hesitated until now, for truly, I feared to expose myself to the criticism of men, because I have not studied like others, who have assimilated both Law and the Holy Scriptures equally and have never changed their idiom since their infancy, but instead were always learning it increasingly, to perfection, while my idiom and language have been translated into a foreign tongue.
Confessio
A young man, almost a beardless boy, I was taken captive before I knew what I should desire and what I should shun.
And again, the Spirit witnessed that the rustic life was created by the Most High ... I am, then, first of all, countrified, an exile, evidently unlearned, one who is not able to see into the future, but I know for certain, that before I was humbled I was like a stone lying in deep mire, and he that is mighty came and in his mercy raised me up and, indeed, lifted me high up and placed me on top of the wall.
Confessio
But after I reached Ireland I used to pasture the flock each day and I used to pray many times a day. More and more did the love of God, and my fear of him and faith increase, and my spirit was moved so that in a day [I said] from one up to a hundred prayers, and in the night a like number; besides I used to stay out in the forests and on the mountain and I would wake up before daylight to pray in the snow, in icy coldness, in rain, and I used to feel neither ill nor any slothfulness, because, as I now see, the Spirit was burning in me at that time.
Confessio
And it was there of course that one night in my sleep I heard a voice saying to me: 'You … soon you will depart for your home country.' And again, a very short time later, there was a voice prophesying: 'Behold, your ship is ready.'
And it was not close by, but, as it happened, two hundred miles away, where I had never been nor knew any person. And shortly thereafter I turned about and fled from the man with whom I had been for six years, and I came, by the power of God who directed my route to advantage (and I was afraid of nothing), until I reached that ship.
200 Miles?
200 Roman miles to a ship (equivalent to c. 185 modern miles).
Later on ‘Foclut’ is mentioned as where he stayed. It's location is uncertain. Tírechán (7th century) indicates that it was on the Mayo-Sligo border, near Killala.
Confessio
And on the same day that I arrived, the ship was setting out from the place, and I said that I had the wherewithal to sail with them; and the steersman was displeased and replied in anger, sharply: 'By no means attempt to go with us.' Hearing this I left them to go to the hut where I was staying, and on the way I began to pray, and before the prayer was finished I heard one of them shouting loudly after me: 'Come quickly because the men are calling you.' And immediately I went back to them and they started to say to me: 'Come, because we are admitting you out of good faith; make friendship with us in any way you wish.'
Confessio
And after three days (sail) we reached land, and for twenty-eight days journeyed through uninhabited country, and the food ran out and hunger overtook them; and one day the steersman began saying: 'Why is it, Christian? You say your God is great and all-powerful; then why can you not pray for us? For we may perish of hunger; it is unlikely indeed that we shall ever see another human being.' In fact, I said to them, confidently: 'Be converted by faith with all your heart to my Lord God, because nothing is impossible for him, so that today he will send food for you on your road, until you be sated, because everywhere he abounds.'
Confessio
And with God's help this came to pass; and behold, a herd of swine appeared on the road before our eyes, and they slew many of them, and remained there for two nights, and they were full of their meat and well restored, for many of them had fainted and would otherwise have been left half-dead by the wayside. And after this they gave the utmost thanks to God, and I was esteemed in their eyes, and from that day they had food abundantly. They discovered wild honey, besides, and they offered a share to me, and one of them said: 'It is a sacrifice.' Thanks be to God, I tasted none of it.
Confessio
And a second time, after many years, I was taken captive. On the first night I accordingly remained with my captors, but I heard a divine prophecy, saying to me: 'You shall be with them for two months. So it happened. On the sixtieth night the Lord delivered me from their hands.
On the journey he provided us with food and fire and dry weather every day, until on the tenth day we came upon people. As I mentioned above, we had journeyed through an unpopulated country for twenty-eight days, and in fact the night that we came upon people we had no food.
And after a few years I was again in Britain with my family, and they welcomed me as a son, and asked me, in faith, that after the great tribulations I had endured I should not go anywhere else away from them.
Confessio
... in a vision of the night, I saw a man whose name was Victoricus coming … from Ireland with innumerable letters, and he gave me one of them, and I read the beginning of the letter: 'The Voice of the Irish', and as I was reading the beginning of the letter I seemed at that moment to hear the voice of those who were beside the forest of Foclut which is near the western sea, and they were crying as if with one voice: 'We beg you, holy youth, that you shall come and shall walk again among us...
... I was attacked by a goodly number of my elders, who [brought up] my sins against my arduous episcopate ... I pray God that it shall not be held against them as a sin that I fell truly into disgrace and scandal.
Confessio
They brought up against me after thirty years an occurrence I had confessed before becoming a deacon. On account of the anxiety in my sorrowful mind, I laid before my close friend what I had perpetrated on a day-- nay, rather in one hour-- in my boyhood because I was not yet proof against sin. God knows-- I do not-- whether I was fifteen years old at the time, and I did not then believe in the living God, nor had I believed, since my infancy; but I remained in death and unbelief until I was severely rebuked, and in truth I was humbled every day by hunger and nakedness.
On the other hand, I did not proceed to Ireland of my own accord until I was almost giving up, but through this I was corrected by the Lord, and he prepared me …
Confessio
'See, the rank of bishop goes to you‘ … of which I was not worthy. But how did it come to him, shortly afterwards, to disgrace me publicly, in the presence of all, good and bad …
I will tell briefly how most holy God frequently delivered me, from slavery, and from the twelve trials with which my soul was threatened, from man traps as well, and from things I am not able to put into words.
...And many gifts were offered to me with weeping and tears, and I offended the donors ... endure insults from unbelievers ... that I might hear scandal of my travels, and endure many persecutions to the extent of prison ... and so that I might give up my free birthright for the advantage of others ...
Confessio
So, how is it that in Ireland, where they never had any knowledge of God but, always, until now, cherished idols and unclean things, they are lately become a people of the Lord … the sons of the Irish and the daughters of the chieftains are to be seen as monks and virgins of Christ.
And there was, besides, a most beautiful, blessed, native-born noble Irish woman of adult age whom I baptized; and a few days later she had reason to come to us to intimate that she had received a prophecy from a divine messenger advising her that she should become a virgin of Christ and she would draw nearer to God. Thanks be to God, six days from then, opportunely and most eagerly, she took the course that all virgins of God take, not with their fathers' consent but enduring the persecutions and deceitful hindrances of their parents.
Confessio
Notwithstanding that, their number increases, (we do not know the number of them that are so reborn) besides the widows, and those who practise self-denial. Those who are kept in slavery suffer the most. They endure terrors and constant threats, but the Lord has given grace to many of his handmaidens, for even though they are forbidden to do so, still they resolutely follow his example.
Confessio
And I gave back again to my Christian brethren and the virgins of Christ and the holy women the small unasked for gifts that they used to give me or some of their ornaments which they used to throw on the altar. And they would be offended with me because I did this. But in the hope of eternity, I safeguarded myself carefully in all things, so that they might not cheat me of my office of service on any pretext of dishonesty, and so that I should not in the smallest way provide any occasion for defamation or disparagement on the part of unbelievers.
Confessio
What is more, when I baptized so many thousands of people, did I hope for even half a jot from any of them? Tell me, and I will give it back to you. And when the Lord ordained clergy everywhere by my humble means, and I freely conferred office on them, if I asked any of them anywhere even for the price of one shoe, say so to my face and I will give it back ... And I went about among you, and everywhere for your sake, in danger, and as far as the outermost regions beyond which no one lived, and where no one had ever penetrated before, to baptize or to ordain clergy or to confirm people.
Confessio
From time to time I gave rewards to the kings, as well as making payments to their sons who travel with me; notwithstanding which, they seized me with my companions, and that day most avidly desired to kill me ... they plundered everything they found on us anyway, and fettered me in irons; and on the fourteenth day the Lord freed me from their power, and whatever they had of ours was given back to us for the sake of God on account of the indispensable friends whom we had made before.
Confessio
For the sun we see rises each day for us at his command, but it will never reign, neither will its splendour last, but all who worship it will come wretchedly to punishment. We, on the other hand, shall not die, who believe in and worship the true sun, Christ, who will never die, no more shall he die who has done Christ's will, but will abide for ever just as Christ abides for ever, who reigns with God the Father Almighty and with the Holy Spirit before the beginning of time and now and for ever and ever. Amen.
Letter To Coroticus
I, Patrick, a sinner, unlearned, resident in Ireland, declare myself to be a bishop ... And so I live among barbarians, a stranger and exile for the love of God.
I have written ... these words, to be given, delivered, and sent to the soldiers of Coroticus; I do not say, to my fellow citizens, or to fellow citizens of the holy Romans, but to fellow citizens of the demons, because of their evil works. Like our enemies, they live in death, allies of the Irish and the apostate Picts. Dripping with blood, they welter in the blood of innocent Christians, whom I have begotten into the number for God and confirmed in Christ!
Letter To Coroticus
The day after the newly baptized, anointed with chrism, in white garments had been slain — the fragrance was still on their foreheads when they were butchered and slaughtered with the sword by the above-mentioned people — I sent a letter with a holy presbyter whom I had taught from his childhood, clerics accompanying him, asking them to let us have some of the booty, and of the baptized they had made captives. They only jeered at them. Hence I do not know what to lament more: those who have been slain, or those whom they have taken captive, or those whom the devil has mightily ensnared. Together with him they will be slaves in Hell in an eternal punishment; for who commits sin is a slave and will be called a son of the devil.
... ravening wolves that "eat the people of the Lord as they eat bread!"
Letter To Coroticus
... I was freeborn according to the flesh. I am the son of a decurion. But I sold my noble rank I am neither ashamed nor sorry for the good of others. Thus I am a servant in Christ to a foreign nation for the unspeakable glory of life everlasting which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And if my own people do not know me, a prophet has no honor in his own country .Perhaps we are not of the same fold and have not one and the same God as father, as is written: "He that is not with me, is against me, and he that gathers not with me, scatters." It is not right that one destroys, another builds up. I seek not the things that are mine.
It is not my grace, but God who has given this solicitude into my heart, to be one of His hunters or fishers whom God once foretold would come in the last days.
Letter To Coroticus
I am hated. What shall I do, Lord? I am most despised. Look, Thy sheep around me are tom to pieces and driven away, and that by those robbers, by the orders of the hostile-minded Coroticus. Far from the love of God is a man who hands over Christians to the Picts and Scots. Ravening wolves have devoured the flock of the Lord, which in Ireland was indeed growing splendidly with the greatest care; and the sons and daughters of kings were monks and virgins of Christ — I cannot count their number. Wherefore, be not pleased with the wrong done to the just; even to hell it shall not please. Who of the saints would not shudder to be merry with such persons or to enjoy a meal with them? They have filled their houses with the spoils of dead Christians, they live on plunder. They do not know, the wretches, that what they offer their friends and sons as food is deadly poison, just as Eve did not understand that it was death she gave to her husband. So are all that do evil: they work death as their eternal punishment.
Letter To Coroticus
This is the custom of the Roman Christians of Gaul: they send holy and able men to the Franks and other heathen with so many thousand solidi to ransom baptized captives. You prefer to kill and sell them to a foreign nation that has no knowledge of God. You betray the members of Christ as it were into a brothel.
Hence the Church mourns and laments her sons and daughters whom the sword has not yet slain, but who were removed and carried off to faraway lands, where sin abounds openly, grossly, impudently. There people who were freeborn have, been sold, Christians made slaves, and that, too, in the service of the abominable, wicked, and apostate Picts!
Letter To Coroticus
"Without are dogs, and sorcerers,... and murderers; and liars and perjurers have their portion in the pool of everlasting fire."
Where, then, will Coroticus with his criminals, rebels against Christ, where will they see themselves, they who distribute baptized women as prizes — for a miserable temporal kingdom, which will pass away in a moment?
Earliest Christian Sites and Monuments?
The earliest churches in Ireland are hard to identify as they were of wood and may not have been different from other buildings.
The types of churches and ecclesiastical buildings that pre-date the introduction of the Romanesque architectural style (11th century), or at the very least overlap with it’s appearance include:
Wooden churches
Tomb shrines
Gallarus-type churches
Stone churches with timber roof and antae
Stone churches with a vaulted roof
Round towers
Ecclesiastical enclosures in towns
Armagh: ecclesiastical capital of Ireland.
Dublin
This is from John Rocques map of Dublin in the 1750s. The street pattern encloses St. Peters.
Dublin
This is a close up of the map. Is the east-west building St. Peters??
Dublin: St. Peters based on excavations.
Moyne, near Shrule, County Mayo
Moyne, near Shrule, County Mayo
Book of Kells
Depiction of a church.
But – is this the illustrators imaginative drawing or is it real?
Book of Kells
There are some early depictions of churches, such as this one from the Book of Kells, which are our main source for the earliest sites.
Shrines
Many relics of early saints were incased in shrines shaped like buildings (this one is from Emly) – are these similar to the early churches?
Clonmore
The Clonmore shrine is believed to be the oldest known example of Irish Christian metalwork.
Dates to the second half o the 7th century.
Also demonstrates that ‘Christian’ metalwork is a relatively late feature.
Early Churches
Other sources also hint at the shape of these early churches.
This is the South Cross at Monasterboice.
Early Churches
The top of the cross is often shaped like churches.
Early churches
The shapes of these churchbuildings are indicated in many places – such as the Emly shrine, the finial of the south cross at Monasterboice or the buildings described in the Hisperica Famina and the Life of St. Brigid.
Textual sources
A number of early texts (7th century AD) provide descriptions of churches that allow us to make some reconstruction of how they looked.
Vita secunda Sanctuae Brigidae
Hisperica Famina
Excavation?
A few examples of possible wooden churches have been excavated.
In general, all that survives are traces of a wooden structure at a known church site.
Their interpretation as churches is uncertain!
Church Island, Kerry
Derry, Down
Wooden structure pre-dates a church with projecting antae.
Again it is early – but is it a church??
Carnsore, Wexford
There was a wooden structure beneath a later church at Carnsore. It is proportionally similar to the later church. It was dated to 641-940 AD.
Early Churches
The real or re-constructed plans of these churches do not match the earliest stone churches – so they probably reflect styles of building of timber churches.
Timber Churches
Some were evidently quite large, as indicated by a grim entry in the Annals of Ulster for 850, which records the burning of 260 people in a wooden church at Trevet in county Meath.
The introduction of Stone Churches
One of the most fundamental changes that took place in Irish church architecture was the introduction of stone as the primary building material. The development of stone building was a slow process but also reflected the growing size and wealth of the communities.
Resistance to the use of stone might be seen as a preference for the more plentiful and easily worked wood as well as continued veneration of existing wooden buildings that accrued value through use and tradition.
Introduction of Stone Churches to Ireland
Contrary to the prevailing impression, the stone church - or 'daimhliag' - was not fireproof, since such buildings were generally covered by timber-framed roofs.
The occasional stone church existed in the pre-Viking period:
there was one at Duleek in the 7th century
And, another at Armagh in 789.
Outside major centers like Kells and Armagh, however, they remained rare until the 10th century.
It may be significant that the first stone church recorded in the annals was built at Armagh, the monastery which claimed to be the centre of Christian Ireland.
Stone Churches
The development of stone building probably evolved through a desire for greater status and prestige but also relied on the growing size and wealth of the community.
Further, stone buildings were more durable and, if not completely immune from the ravages of fire due to continued use of wooden roofs, there was certainly some improvement in the safety and reliability of the structures.
Early Stone Churches
The common characteristics of stone churches in major monasteries may be assessed according to a variety of criteria.
They were single cell structures, often with a length to breadth ratio of 3 (such as St Fecthins at Fore, Co. Westmeath, below)
Stone Churches with a 3:1 ratio
This is the cathedral at Glendalough – not the extent of the original cathedral rather than the 12th century extension).
Early Churches – windows?
Window design and the problem of glazing offers another point of interest. Windows tend to be very small, their heads either triangular or round-headed. In the latter case they are often cut from a single stone, rather than constructed as a genuine arch (the example here is from Gallarus).
There is no evidence, either from documentary or archaeological indications, for the use of glass but, given its use in Anglo-Saxon England, it is hard to believe that it was unknown in Ireland.
At the very least wooden shutters must have been essential in adverse weather.
Early Churches - Doorways
The west wall of the early churches invariably contained a lintelled doorway with inclined jambs, framed in some cases by an 'architrave' band projecting from the surface in thin relief.
Though deceptively simple in form, the doorways are built of well-dressed stone, robust and imposing in appearance.
Fine examples are found at Fore, St. Fechin's and St. Mary's Church at Glendalough.
Fore, St. Fechin’s
Note the band in relief around the door – it is carved in the stone to retain the shape of the door, even though the stone is not the correct shapes.
St. Mary’s Church Glendalough
Note the angle of the jambs of the door and how the shape is cut into the stone.
Tomb Shrines
The earliest church like buildings are those often described as Tomb Shrines.
These are mortared church buildings located in a primary position at a church site.
These include examples such as St Ciarans in Clonmacnoise and St Declans at Ardmore.
Some have been investigated and samples of mortar from the structures were analysed and pieces of charcoal which were included in the mortar during manufacture have dated these Tomb Shrines to before 1000 AD.
No clear examples in the immediate vicinity of Dublin.
Inishcleraun, Co. Longford
Example of a Tomb Shrine.
Built of quite small limestone blocks, which are not typical of early churches.
Shows the difficulty in identifying these early sites.
St Declans Oratory, Ardmore, Co. Waterford
St Declans is another eary tomb shrine, although largely re-built.
Devenish, Co. Fermanagh St. Molaise House
Tomb shrine built as late as 12th century AD – showing they continuing being built to this date.
Gallarus-type churches
Only known from south-west.
Notoriously difficult to date. But probably later than 10th century.
Example on the left is Gallarus itself (before the site was cleaned up).
Gallarus
Doorway is similar to those at churches with antae.
Window has a hint of Romanesque (round-headed arch) – suggesting a date from the mid-11th century onwards.
Gallarus
Interior of buildings seems very dark – but this is an illusion – although little light penetrates, this allows for more strict control of light, aromas, noise etc to distinguish it clearly from the outside world.
May have been seen as a way of helping define the buildings as God’s house?
Unusual style of church.
Church Island, Kerry
Early Churches - Derry, Co. Down
We know from historical dates of some churches that they begin to appear in the 10th century AD.
We know from excavation that some are later than timber churches.
Stone churches
We have a strong tradition of building churches in mortared masonry from around the 10th century onwards (this is Kill of the Grange on the right).
Early Stone Churches – Dalkey Island
The main features of this type of stone church are – they are aligned east-west, as is traditional for christian churches.
The roof is not vaulted, but is made of timber.
Early Stone Churches – Dalkey Island
The walls are generally faced in stone with a clay or rubble core.
There are projections at either gable, called antae.
There is only a single room (i.e. the churches are unicameral).
Stone Churches and Liturgy
There was a preference for small churches, which did not allow for elaborate liturgical ceremonies within the building.
It is likely that some important ceremonies took place outside. The churches were not usually divided in separate sections, and the chancels visible today generally represent later additions.
Furnishings included an altar, shrines with relics of the ancient Irish saints, hanging crowns, as well as paintings, though none of the latter survive. .
Ahenny, Co. Tipperary
These are the north cross (top) and south cross (bottom) at Ahenny at Kilclispin.
They are among the earliest high crosses that were manufactured and represent a translation into stone of a style of wood and metal crosses.
They are over 3 m in height.
They date to the late 8th to the early 9th century AD.
North Cross Ahenny, Co. Tipperary
This is a panel decorated with enamel studs that would be attached to a wooden cross (from Antrim)
Not the position of the rivet holes.
North Cross (west face) Ahenny, Co. Tipperary
Or compare this example from the Ardagh chalice
Killamery, Co. Kilkenny
Note the position of the finial
These mimic the shape of churches.
What about the earlier capstones (e.g. Ahenny)??
Killamery, Co. Kilkenny
Dating High Crosses can be fairly straightforward.
Killamery contains the inscription: ‘OR DO MAELSECHNAILL’ [Pray for Maelsechnaill].
Maelsechnaill was High King from 846-862 AD.
Cross Slabs
Some examples of crosses carved on slab like stones (this example is from Killegar)
Cross Slabs
Their true function isn’t clear as they don’t always mark graves.
Some are upright, others lie flat (this example is from Whitechurch).
Rathdown Slabs
Decorated slabs: found only in South Dublin and Wicklow
Style is a mixture of Irish and Norse (Hiberno-Norse)
Bullaun Stones
Usually natural rocks or boulders with deliberate hollows.
Often found on ecclesiastical sites.
Their origin and date is obscure, but they are at least medieval in date.
The Church before the Vikings
This is a brief survey of the references to various abbeys in the Annals of Ulster before the first Viking raids (remember this is only one of the annals – and only references to the 8th century AD!!):
U710.2
The burning of Cell Dara.
U719.9
The killing of the community of Suibne in Ard Macha.
Before the Vikings
U723.1
The burning of Cluain Moccu Nóis.
U749.3
The burning of Cluain Ferta Brénainn.
U749.4
The burning of Cell Mór of Aedán son of Aengus.
Before the Vikings
U750.1
The burning of Fobar, and the burning of Domnach Pátraic.
U750.2
Death of Suairlech, bishop of Fobar.
U756.1
The burning of Bennchor the Great on St Patrick's Day [17th] March.
Before the Vikings
U760.8
A battle between the communities of Cluain and Biror in Móin Choise Blae.
U762.2
The killing of bishop Eóthigern by a priest in the oratory of Cell Dara. A great disturbance in Ard Macha on Quinquagesima day, in which Condálach son of Ailill fell.
Before the Vikings
U764.6
The battle of Argaman between the community of Cluain Moccu Nóis and the community of Dermag, in which fell Diarmait Dub son of Domnall, and Diglach son of Dub Lis, and two hundred men of the community of Dermag. Bresal, son of Murchad, emerged victor, with the community of Cluain.
Before the Vikings
U775.2
The burning of Ard Macha.
U775.3
The burning of Cell Dara.
U775.4
The burning of Glenn dá Locha.
Before the Vikings
U778.2
The burning of Cluain Moccu Nóis on the sixth of the Ides [10th] of July.
U779.4
The burning of Cell Dara on the third of the Ides [11th] of June.
U779.5
The burning of Cluain Mór Maedóc.
U779.6
The burning of Cell Deilge.
U783.6
A battle in Ferna Mór between the abbot and the steward, i.e. between Cathal and Fiannachtach.
How useful are the annals?
U735.6
A huge dragon was seen, with great thunder after it, at the end of autumn.
U746.2
Dragons were seen in the sky.
U749.9
Ships with their crews were seen in the air above Cluain Moccu Nóis.
Other hints of how abbeys function: Relics
U734.3
The bringing on tour of the relics of Peter, Paul and Patrick to fulfil the law; and the slaying of Coibdenach son of Flann grandson of Congal.
U743.11
The taking on tour of the relics of Trian of Cell Deilge; and the bolgach was rampant.
U776.5
The taking on tour of the relics of St Erc of Sláine and of the relics of Finnian of Cluain Iraird.
U784.9
The coming of the relics of Erc's son to the city of Tailtiu.
Travelling Relic shows
U785.2
The taking on tour of the relics of Ultán.
U790.5
The taking on tour of the relics of Caemgein and of Mo-Chua moccu Lugedon.
U789.17
Dishonouring of the staff of Jesus and relics of Patrick by Donnchad son of Domnall at Ráith Airthir at an assembly.
U793.5
The taking on tour of the relics of Tóla.
Relics
U818.4
Cuanu, abbot of Lugmad, went into exile into the lands of Mumu with the shrine of Mochta.
U818.5
Artrí, superior of Ard Macha, went to Connacht with the shrine of Patrick.
U819.8
At Ard Macha Whitsun 5 June was not publicly celebrated nor the shrine taken on tour; and there was a disturbance in which the son of Echaid son of Fiachna fell.
When the Vikings appear…
U798.2
The burning of Inis Pátraic by the heathens, and they took the cattle-tribute of the territories, and broke the shrine of Do-Chonna, and also made great incursions both in Ireland and in Alba.
U800.6
The placing of the relics of Conlaed in a shrine of gold and silver.
U801.1
The placing of the relics of Rónán son of Berach in a gold and silver casket.
Offices performed by the abbots
U804.7
A meeting of the synods of the Uí Néill in Dún Cuair, presided over by Connmach, abbot of Ard Macha.
U804.8
This year, moreover, the clerics of Ireland were freed by Aed Oirdnide, at the behest of Fothad of the Canon, from the obligation of attendance on expeditions and hostings.
Offices performed by the abbots
U780.12
A congress of the synods of Uí Néill and Laigin, in the town of Temair, at which were present many anchorites and scribes, led by Dubliter.
U811.2
The fair of Tailtiu was prevented from being held on Saturday under the aegis of Aed son of Niall, neither horse nor chariot arriving there. It was the community of Tamlacht who caused the boycott after the Uí Néill had violated the sanctuary of Tamlacht of Mael Ruain; and many gifts were subsequently made to the community of Tamlacht.
And after the Vikings…
U817.7
Mael Dúin son of Cenn Faelad, superior of Ráith Both, a member of Colum Cille's community, was slain.
U817.8
Colum Cille's community went to Temair to excommunicate Aed.
U831.5
The fair of Tailtiu was disturbed at the platforms owing to dissension over the shrine of MacCuilinn and the halidoms of Patrick, and many died as a result.
And after the Vikings…
U832.1
The first plundering of Ard Macha by the heathens three times in one month.
U832.2
The plundering of Mucnám, Lugbad, Uí Méith, Druim Moccu Blae, and other churches.
U832.3
The plundering of Dam Liac and the sept of the Cianacht with all their churches by the heathens.
U832.4
Ailill son of Colgu was taken captive by the heathens.
And after the Vikings….
U832.5
Tuathal son of Feradach was taken away by the heathens, and Adamnán's shrine from Domnach Maigen.
U832.6
Ráith Luraig and Connaire were plundered by the heathens.
U833.5
Cluain Dolcáin was plundered by the heathens
U833.6
Cellach son of Bran routed the community of Cell Dara in a battle in their monastery, many being killed, on St. John's day in the autumn 29 Aug..
Some references to size…
U806.8
The community of Í, to the number of sixty-eight, was killed by the heathens.
U817.5
Cathal son of Dúnlang and the community of Tech Munna won a battle against the community of Ferna, in which four hundred were slain.
European exploration 1500-1600
European Exploration 1500-1600
As Europe’s population recovered from the Black Death, the demand for trade goods grew.
Europeans wanted spices but not to pay the prices dictated by (mainly) Islamic traders (trade was also endangered by the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453).
European merchants wanted to gain direct access to the riches of Asia.
Some voyagers still wanted to crusade against the Muslims.
Others were inspired by the Renaissance spirit of Marco Polo and others to learn about distant lands.
European Exploration 1500-1600
The general historical chronology is well-known.
But why had Europe not explored the west before?
What was different about the late-15th century?
What were the impacts of the so-called Columban exchange?
The World
Typical modern world map
Pre-existing limitations to Exploration
Compasses were very simple and maps either imaginative, fragmentary, or non-existent.
Enemies – for many European states that had begun to develop their naval capabilities, exploration might mean navigating through unfriendly waters.
Disease/death/starvation during an expedition
Fear of falling off the earth (e.g. world map from the Apocalypse of Saint-Sever, dated 1050 AD)!
Compass: China
Disagreement over when and where the compass was invented.
The earliest Chinese literature reference to magnetism lies in the 4th century BC book Book of the Devil Valley Master which states that "The lodestone makes iron come or it attracts it.“
The compass, or ‘south pointer’, could be carried with jade hunters to prevent them from getting lost during their journeys.
Compass: China
The first mention of the attraction of a needle by a magnet is in the Louen-heng or ‘Discourses weighed in the Balance’ (70 and 80 AD): "A lodestone attracts a needle.“
A Song Dynasty book, Wujing Zongyao (Collection of the Most Important Military Techniques), dated to 1040-44 describes an iron "south-pointing fish" floating in a bowl of water which is recommended as a means of orientation at night.
Compass: China
The first definite reference to a magnetized needle in Chinese literature appears in 1088.
The Dream Pool Essays, written by Shen Kuo, contained a detailed description of how to magnetize a needle by rubbing its tip with lodestone and hang it from a single strain of silk so that it sometimes pointed south, sometimes north.
Compass: China
The earliest recorded actual use of a magnetized needle for navigational purposes is found in Zhu Yu's book Pingzhou Table Talks of 1119 (written from 1111 to 1117): “The navigator knows the geography, he watches the stars at night, watches the sun at day; when it is dark and cloudy, he watches the compass.”
The first clear use of a magnetic direction finder occurred before 1044, but clear evidence for the use of the compass as a navigational device first appears in 1119.
Compass: China
Song and Yuan Dynasty: dry compass was in use as described in the Shilin Guangji (Guide Through the Forest of Affairs), from 1325 (written 1100 to 1250).
Shilin Guangji apart, some claim that Chinese mariners only ever used the floating needle in a bowl until the 16th-century European contacts.
Compass: China
The use of a 48 position mariner's compass appears in “The Customs of Cambodia” by Yuan dynasty diplomat Zhou Daguan, describing his 1296 voyage from Wenzhou to Angkor Thom in detail; when his ship set sailed from Wenzhou, the mariner took a needle direction of “ding wei” position, which is equivalent to 22.5 degree SW. After they arrived at Baria, he took "Kun Shen needle" , or 52.5 degree SW.
Zheng He's Navigation Map, also known as "The Mao Kun Map", contains a large number of "needle records" of Zheng He's travel (i.e. bearings).
Diffusion or invention?
Did the compass travel from China to Europe or the Middle East via the Silk Road or was it independently created in Europe (and diffused from there to the Middle East and got called al-konbas).
The first European reference to a magnetized needle and its use among sailors occurs in Alexander Neckam's De naturis rerum (On the Natures of Things), written in Paris in 1190.
In the Arab world, first reference is from 1282 (The Book of the Merchants' Treasure), by Baylak al-Kibjaki of Cairo. There is also a reference to an iron fish-like compass in a Persian talebook from 1232.
Independent European invention?
The arguments against the independent invention of the magnetic compass in Europe are credible.
The close dates of the Chinese navigational compass (1117) and its first appearance in Europe (1190).
The common form of the early compass as a magnetized needle floating in a bowl of water.
Absence of prior knowledge in Europe of magnetism.
Remaining issue is over how it got from China to Europe in mid-1100s – it seems it must have passed through Islamic hands (despite not being mentioned in Arabic sources until mid-1200s).
Medieval European compasses
Pivoting compass needle in a 14th century copy of Epistola de magnete of Peter Peregrinus (1269)
In Europe, the compass, improved dead reckoning, and Portolan charts, allowed winter sailing (and increased and less-hazardous journeys) from the second half of the 13th century.
Navigational Improvements: Jacob’s staff
Originally for astronomical measurements, developed in 1300s by Jacob ben Makir of Provence and described by Levi ben Gerson.
Shen Kuo (1031–1095) describes it in his Song Dynasty Dream Pool Essays (1088).
Employed in Indian, where it was known as Yasti-yantra by the time of Bhāskara II (1114–1185).
By 1514, Johannes Werner suggested it be used for navigation at sea.
John Dee introduced it to England in the 1550s.
A Jacob's staff, from John Sellers' Practical Navigation (1672)
Astrolabe
Known in classical Europe, medieval re-introduction from the Arab world, via Spain in the mid-1020s.
From about 1480 navigators began to carry modified versions we now refer to as `Mariners Astrolabes'.
Enabled East -West travel with the movable arm (alidade) sighted on the North star to measure the angle of its height of the north star above the horizon.
With the panorganon (quadrant) distances could be reliably calculated.
T-O Maps
7th century scholar Isidore of Seville in his Etymologiae did identify the earth as a sphere although the southern hemisphere was believed uninhabitable.
A 12th century copy includes this schematic T-O map.
The T is the Mediterranean, the O is the Ocean around the three landmasses – Asia, Europe and Africa.
Mappa Mundi
More detailed maps, the mappa mundi are known from around 1100 surviving medieval examples.
The Tabula Rogeriana, drawn by Muhammad al-Idrisi for Roger II of Sicily in 1154 and preserved in the Bibliotheque nationale de France
Mappa Mundi
Detail of the Tabula Rogeriana.
Despite the limitations much is clearly recognisable.
From 12th century ships often had a manuscript detailing sailing distances between ports, capes etc.
Portolan Chart
Carte Pisane (Portolan Chart) from 1296.
The straight lines represent the 32 directions of the mariner's compass.
This improves the capacity for sea travel.
Catalan Atlas (1375)
Most important Catalan map of the period. It was produced by the Majorcan cartographic school and is attributed to Cresques Abraham.
Portolans were mainly a Mediterranean phenomenon.
Rutters
Northern version of portolans: small pocket books with courses between ports and distances but in addition they also had soundings and data on tides.
Only a very few survive from before the early sixteenth century but their numbers rose sharply after 1500 when printers began to produce more of them and with longer pressruns.
Early examples, like Das Seebuch, also included descriptions of the western front of Europe.
Le routier de la mer ascribed to Pierre Garcie was printed in Rouen between 1502 and 1510.
Jan Severszoon's De Kaert van der Zee of 1532 was followed by an enlarged version in 1541 and then a series of new editions through to 1588.
Columbus in the context of Portugese in Africa
During the 15th century Portugese sailors pioneered the routes down the Atlantic coast towards the Cape of Good Hope – led by Henry the Navigator, Fernão Gomes, Fernão do Pó., Diogo Cão and João Afonso d'Aveiros.
Finally, in 1488, Bartolomeu Dias and his pilot Pêro de Alenquer, turned a cape where they were caught by a storm, naming it Cape of Storms.
Afterwards the Portugese pushed on and made contact with Indians and Chinese, provoking Egypt and Venice.
Spain joined the race by sponsoring Columbus to seek a western passage to India.
Inter caetera was a papal bull issued by Pope Alexander VI on 4 May 1493 to resolve sovereignty issues.
Earlier Contact: Olmecs 1200 BC – 400 BC?
Located in Mexico (near Veracruz)
Grew corn beans and squash primarily
Vast trade networks, encompassing very diverse areas, but small territory relative to land available- no empire/political unification
Each center seems to have fallen due to a violent rebellion (defaced monuments)
Colossal mounds used in religious ceremonies, importance of animal motifs, calendar/writing
Clear social structure, elites controlled labor pool (increased food production), merchants
Olmec Colossal Heads
African features are regularly commented upon – indicating contact?
St Brendan
5th-6th century Irish saint.
Supposed to have found a land to the west as told in a Gaelic immram.
Popularised in medieval texts in German, through earlier contacts with Irish sources.
This is from a Dutch version (Des Reis van Sint Brandaen) dating to the 12th century which derives from an earlier (lost) German version of Navigatio Sancti Brendani.
The Vinland Sagas
We know the Vikings were there.
Helge Ingstad unearthed the ruins of an ancient Norse village near L’Anse aux Meadows on the north coast of Newfoundland, conclusively proving that the Vikings has established a settlement in North America 1000 years previously.
Henry Sinclair
Claimed to have led expeditions to Greenland and onwards to Nova Scotia in the late 14th century.
Based on letters and a map ascribed to the Venetian Zeno brothers and published in 1558, although their authenticity has not be established.
The letters describe a voyage taken by a ‘Zichmni’ around the year 1398 to Greenland that actually reached North America.
It is claimed that Zichmni is Henry Sinclair.
Basque Whalers
Claimed to have had knowledge of America through whale-fishing in the medieval period.
Known to have come to North America in 1517 and soon 2,000 Arrantzales are estimated to have set sail every year from Basque ports to the St. Lawrence River.
Longer term stations were set up (eg Saddle Island below).
João Vaz Corte Real
João Vaz Corte Real made a voyage of discovery (1472) to Greenland and Newfoundland with two Danish pilots named Pining and Pothorst.
Found Terra Nova do Bacalhau ‘New Isle of Codfish’ which was named on later maps.
Some claim it is modern Baccalieu Island off the Canadian coast.
Columbus and the “Enterprise of the Indies”
Columbus left Spain in 1492 to discover a trade route to the Orient.
Spanish Monarchs commissioned the trip as they sought to compete with Portuguese domination of the Oriental Spice Trade.
Columbus had, in fact, landed in the Caribbean and hadn’t realized what he had found even when he died.
This is a 1493 engraving showing King Ferdinand overseeing his journey to the New World.
Columbus
Believed to be Italian (but was only literate in Spanish).
Worked for Spain.
Landed in San Salvador on Oct. 12, 1492, with 3 ships & 87 men.
Had a very peaceful first encounter with the Indians and wrote “they invite you to share anything they posses & show as much love as if their hearts went with it….with 50 men, they could be subjugated & compelled to do anything one wishes!”
He left 40 men & returned to Spain with 12 Indians to give as presents to the King & Queen.
Columbus’ Second Trip
He brought 17 ships & 1200 Spaniards, but they were not greeted peacefully.
The Indians attacked & killed 10 Spaniards. Columbus retaliated by killing all the Indians, burning their villages & enslaved over 500 to sell in Spain. This damaged any peaceful meetings that may have happened.
Columbus made 4 trips to the New World before he died.
Cortés and the Aztec Empire
In 1519 explorer Hernan de Cortés landed on the Yucatan in search of gold.
Cortés' party was welcomed into the Aztec capitol Tenochtitlan, where he was believed to be the god Quetzalcoatl.
In time, the population of Tenochtitlan was devastated by smallpox, carried by the Spanish explorers, a disease to which the natives had no natural resistance.
Eventually, Cortés arrested the Aztec monarch Montezuma II and tried to assume power over Aztec lands and resources.
French Exploration: Jacques Cartier Explores the St. Lawrence River for France
In 1534, French explorers, led by Jacques Cartier, explored the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by ship. Finding economic promise in the region, Cartier returned the following year and sailed down the St. Lawrence as far as modern Montreal.
Unlike the Spanish, the French were far more interested in establishing trade networks and building sustainable colonies in the New World than in finding gold. The French were particularly interested in the harvesting the bountiful furs found in the area.
English Explorations
John Cabot – 1st to see North America. He represented England (he was from Venice). But England was too busy fighting with France to exploit his discovery.
Later, pirates & privateers from England, Holland, France, etc. were the biggest threat to the Spanish search for gold. John Hawkins & Sir Francis Drake were the most famous & were encouraged by Queen Elizabeth.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert – ½ brother to Sir Walter Raleigh, received a Royal Patent in 1578 to est. & hold land in America. After 2 delayed attempts to leave, he set sail in 1583 & landed in New Foundland. Set sail for England to escape the on set of winter & was never seen again.
Roanoke
Sir Walter Raleigh – 1584 – had the Queen put his brother’s patent in his name, then sent a scout ship to America. It landed at Roanoke Island, N.C. (good soil & the Indians were friendly)
1587 – Raleigh & 117 men, women & children, including Gov. John White set sail.
After a month on the island, Gov. White returned to England for supplies, his grand-daughter, Virginia Dare was born. The 1st English child born in the New World.
Gov. White returned in 1590 – no one from the group was ever found. Roanoke – the lost colony. The only clue was a word carved into a tree “Croatoan”.
1492 and Later: Aztecs
After 1492 AD
Set the stage for Indian policy for the next 500 years.
Hernando Cortes – (Spain) 1519 – landed in Vera Cruz with 600 Conquistadors & conquered the Aztec Empire.
Tricked his way into Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) took all of the gold & enslaved the Aztecs.
They rebelled & ran him out of the city. He later returned & destroyed the Aztec civilization.
Francisco Pizarro – (Spain) – a Lt. of Cortes, did the same thing to the Incas in South America as Cortes did to the Aztecs.
Europeans brought diseases, viruses, pests, vermin, etc. This decimated the Indian population.
Some scientists estimate that 80% of the Indian population of North & South America were killed during this period.
Aztecs
Originally named Mexica
Located in what is now central Mexico
The empire lasted during the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries AD
Aztecs
Tenochtitlan was the capital city and is located in what is now present day Mexico city
The Aztecs were ruled by a single emperor called the Huey Tlatoani which roughly translates to “The Great Speaker”
There was also a ruling counsel from the Calpulli, a group of extended families that controlled the use of local lands and performed other territorial and social functions
Government
Each urban settlement had a calpulli and four main leaders would be selected to a governing board the most powerful being named Tlatoani
The Tlatoani from the all over the emperor would then comprise the main ruling counsel in the capital city
The Aztecs grew rapidly by conquering nearby cities and would force them to pay tributes
These tributes would eventually result in the increased welfare of the common people
Art
The favored form of art in the Aztec empire was sculpture
Most Sculptures were made from limestone, which is still abundant in Mexico today
Aztec sculpture was like most other Mesoamerican cultures and was mostly directly related to religion
Art
The Aztecs also made other religious and non-religious artifacts such as jade masks
Clothing was also a popular art form and women from around the empire would use bead, flower, and metal decorations
These artifacts were sold in markets by visiting merchants
Architecture
There where several main types of architecture in the Aztec society: sacrificial temples, emperors temple, and shines of the gods
Social Structure and Religion
The Aztec society was divided into three socal classes: the macehualli (people) or peasantry, the pochteca or merchants and traders, and the pilli or nobility
Slaves or tlacotin consisted as a large part of the Aztec society
Though people were born into a certain class it was possible to move up the ranks within a life time
Main deity in the Aztec religion was Huitzilopochtli and was known as both the sun god and war god
Human sacrifice was practiced heavily in the Aztec religion
The Aztecs believed that by performing these sacrifices that it gave power to the gods which in turn would insure the survival of the Aztec universe
Tenochtitlan
When the Aztecs settled in the swampy Lake Texcoco and built Tenochtitlan, around the year 1350, the dominant tribe had been the Tepanecs. They controlled most of the shore of Lake Texcoco and forced the Aztecs and a number of other other tribes including the Texcoco, Tlateloco and Tlacopan to pay heavy tribute.
Agriculture
The comprehension of how irrigation can benefit agriculture is evident by the expansion into the highland areas.
They developed drainage systems and canals to expand their crop resources.
Potatoes, tomatoes, cotton, peanuts and coca were among the many crops grown by the Inca.
Llama were used for meat and transportation.
There was more than enough resources available for everyone.
Horse and cannon figure prominently in this Aztec drawing from the Florentine Codex
INCAS
Twantinsuyu:World of the Incas.
Recent arrivals on the political stage in America.
The term 'Incas' (or Inkas) is often used to refer to the people of the empire as a whole, whereas strictly it refers to the ruling aristocracy.
Incas
The beginning of the Inca rule started with the conquest of the Chimu Culture in Peru.
The original Inca tribe was a minor Andean tribe whose expansion began with a successful campaign against its more powerful neighbours, the Chancas, in the 1440s.
Leading them was Pachacuti a military strategist, statesman, and diplomat of enormous skill. Armies under Pachacuti and his son and successor, Topa Inca, conquered the entire mountainous area from Quito south past Lake Titicaca.
Topa Inca also subjugated the coastal kingdom of Chimor, and extended the Inca domain farther south, as well as east to the fringes of Amazonia.
Inca Conquest and Religion
"Split inheritance“ : Power to successor, Wealth, land to male descendants
Result is continual succession disputes and conquest
Religion
Sun god supreme and he is represented by ruler (Inca)
Temple of the Sun at Cuzco
Local gods survive
The Techniques of Inca Imperial Rule
Rules from Cuzco
Governors of four provinces with local rulers (curacas)
Unified by Quechua language and forced transfers of people
Military system of roads, way stations (tambos) and storehouses.
State had a redistributive economy and carried out building and irrigation projects
Gender cooperation, ideology of complementarity of sexes
Inca's senior wife links state to moon
Inca Cultural Achievements
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu
Architecture
The dominant stylistic form in Inca architecture is a simple, but elegantly proportioned trapezoid, which serves the dual ends of functionality and severely restrained decoration.
Trapezoidal doorways, windows, and wall niches are found in Inca constructions of all types, from the most finely wrought temples to crudely built walls in unimportant buildings.
The doorways and windows are obviously functional, and the niches probably served a variety of functions as yet unidentified by the archeologists.
Placement of these trapezoidal openings was primarily functional, but occasionally, esthetic arrangements might dominate the placement of the trapezoids, if there was no conflict with functionality.
Stone Work
Sacsayhuaman
Cuzco
The ancient Inca capital is said to have been founded around 1100 AD.
The Incas conceived their capital in the shape of a Puma with the river serving as the spine, Sacsayhuaman the head, and the main city center the body.
Almost every central street has remains of Inca walls, arches and doorways. Many streets are lined with Inca stonework, now serving as foundations for more modern buildings.
Khipu (Quipu)
A khipu consists, minimally, of a main cord from which pendant cords hang. (Pendants of pendants are called subsidiaries.)
Knots tied in the pendant cords and other modifications of the pendant are the commonest data-bearing or significant features.
Inka functionaries used cord records for censuses, inventories, tribute records, and documents about transactions; Spanish courts also accepted them as documents of record in early colonial times.
Inca Social Structure
The Incas had a very clear social structure.
The ruler, the Sapa Inca, and his wives, the Coyas, had supreme control over the empire.
The High Priest and the Army Commander in Chief were next.
Military
Then came the Four Apus, the regional army commanders.
Next came temple priests, architects, administrators and army generals.
Merchants and Middle Class
Next were artisans, musicians, army captains and the quipucamayoc, the Incan "accountants."
At the bottom were sorcerers, farmers, herding families and conscripts.
Inca Dynasty
About 1438, the ninth Inca, Pachacuti, set forth to conquer on a scale never before attempted in aboriginal America. Pachacuti and his son, Tupac Inca, the tenth Inca, forged an empire nearly as far reaching and well organized as Caesar's Rome. They Called it Tahuantinsuyu, Quechua for the " Four Quarters of the World".
Huayna Capac - Valiant Youth - surely visited Machu Picchu after he succeeded Tupac Inca in 1493, for he devoted years to a grand tour of his inherited Four Quarters of the World.
Dynasty
Huayna Capac settled down in Ecuador with his hundreds of wives and concubines, occupying a sumptuous palace of which no trace remains. Today natives, reminders of the brief lnca occupation of Ecuador are Quechua-speaking Indian communities of diverse tribal origins-some from distant Bolivia- found along the Pan American Highway.
The emperor's warrior son, Atahuallpa, became a favorite of the battle-tested armies that carried on the northern border campaigns. Meanwhile premonitions of doom haunted Huayna Capac.
About 1525 Huayna Capac was stricken possibly by smallpox introduced into the continent by Europeans probing its coastline. Before he could choose, he died. In Cuzco the high priest conferred the royal fringe on Huascar, a son of Huayna Capac and his sister wife the queen. But Atahuallpa, Huascar's half brother, governor of Quito, reportedly refused to accompany his father's mummy to Cuzco and render homage. His generals, veterans of Ecuadorean wars, backed his insurgency, and civil war flared.
Dynasty
Huascar sent a huge inexperienced army against Atahuallpa, but it perished in battle near Ambato, Ecuador.
The chronicler Cieza, who saw the skeleton-strewn battlefield twenty years later, wrote that the body count of 25 or 26 thousand was an underestimate.
Huascar conscripted army after army, including peasants from as far away as Argentina.
Thousands who had escaped the plague now fell under the northerner's onslaughts.
Perhaps 200,000 men fought in the final battle near Cuzco.
The unthinkable occurred: Atahuallpa's generals tumbled Huascar from his golden litter. Cuzco's defenders fled in terror. The Son of the Sun had fallen.
The generals dressed the emperor in women's clothes. They forced him to eat excrement in Cuzco's streets and watch the extermination of his multitudinous family and courtiers.
Atahuallpa
ATAHUALLPA had left Quito to make triumphal entry into Cuzco when he got word of his generals' victory. But at this moment coastal chiefs warned him of Pizarro's approach. A mere 62 cavalrymen and 106 foot soldiers, armed with Toledo blades and a few guns and crossbows, were winding slowly into the mountains of northern Peru.
Pizarro sent an interpreter and 15 riders under Hernando de Soto (who later discovered the Mississippi River) to offer his services in arms and to ask the emperor to dine next day. The seated Inca offered ceremonial chicha, accepted the invitation, and told his guests to occupy the town plaza.
Pizarro set a trap that the Inca had unwittingly provided him. In the great triangular plaza, with an entrance at its apex, he laid an ambush. He hid his forces inside buildings that had doorways, high enough for horse and rider, facing into the walled plaza.
Atahuallpa and Pizzaro
On Saturday, November 16, 1532, the Inca delayed his social call until sundown, supposing horses to be of no use after dark, and bemused by reports that the bearded men were hiding in fear. Then be capped his spate of bad decisions by going unarmed to sup and spend the night in town.
The Spaniards captured Atahuallpa and he ruled for eight months from a prison compound in the triangular plaza, keeping his lordly mien, his authority unquestioned by any subject of the empire.
To secure his release, Atahuallpa decreed that the realm be ransacked to fill a 18-by-22-foot room once with gold, as high as he could reach, and twice with silver. Totally unaware that Pizarro's men spearheaded a massive European invasion of the Tahuantinsuyu, he presumed the bearded ones would go away once they had received their booty.
By July 1533 more than 24 tons of exquisite treasure had been collected: idols and chalices, necklaces and nuggets, accumulated through centuries of placer mining. Though this was only a fraction of the plunder that awaited the Spaniards elsewhere in the Four Quarters of the World, Atahuallpa's ransom, as duly recorded in the Spanish archives, was worth at least 267 million dollars at today's bullion values for gold ($315 ounce-Nov/02/1997-) and silver.
Treason
But instead of freeing the Inca, they tried him for treason, and was sentenced to death for treason against the strangers within his own realm.
To avoid the horror of being burned alive as a heretic and thus deprived of mummification, Atahuallpa accepted Christian baptism and took Pizarro's Christian name: Francisco- Then the Spaniards garroted Francisco Atahuallpa, thirteenth Inca, and marched down the royal road to Cuzco.
Final Battle
The 40,000 member army of the Inca was destroyed by a 180 member Spanish conquistador army, which was commanded by Francisco Pizarro.
The warriors of the Inca were no match for the Spanish guns. By 1535, the Inca society was completely overthrown.
Mississippian
Large settlements, development of Chiefdoms & usage of kinship lines.
Use of the large Temple-Mound complexes, i.e. Ocmulgee, Etowah, etc. Large truncated, flat-top pyramids.
Extensive farming, use of corn as staple crop, along with beans, squash.
The main dish from this was called Succatash (the 3 Sisters) and provided energy from corn, protein from beans & vitamins from squash. This process saved on land, labor & fertilizer.
Food storage buildings, palisades surrounded villages, extensive warfare for land & food.
Religious influences from Mexico & South America, i.e. Spider Cult, Snake Cult, use of Charnel Houses, complex belief systems.
Mississippian Mounds
After 1492
Period just prior to the European invasion.
Warfare among the tribes & religious/cultural diversity caused the great temple complexes to lose power.
People began to break up into smaller villages & away from the great cities.
Less trade & contact with outside tribes. Isolation & development of a homogenous population.
Hernando de Soto – (Spain) 1539 – took 6oo Conquistadors through Fla., GA., S.C., N.C., Tenn., & Miss., destroying the Indians as they went.
Cataloged the plant & animal life & some of the Indians.
He was killed near Memphis in 1542. Over ½ of his men were killed on the expedition.
Epidemics in Mexico, 1520-1595
Epidemics in Central America 1520-1578
Plants
As Europe’s population recovered from the Black Death, the demand for trade goods grew.
Europeans wanted spices but not to pay the prices dictated by (mainly) Islamic traders (trade was also endangered by the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453).
European merchants wanted to gain direct access to the riches of Asia.
Some voyagers still wanted to crusade against the Muslims.
Others were inspired by the Renaissance spirit of Marco Polo and others to learn about distant lands.
European Exploration 1500-1600
The general historical chronology is well-known.
But why had Europe not explored the west before?
What was different about the late-15th century?
What were the impacts of the so-called Columban exchange?
The World
Typical modern world map
Pre-existing limitations to Exploration
Compasses were very simple and maps either imaginative, fragmentary, or non-existent.
Enemies – for many European states that had begun to develop their naval capabilities, exploration might mean navigating through unfriendly waters.
Disease/death/starvation during an expedition
Fear of falling off the earth (e.g. world map from the Apocalypse of Saint-Sever, dated 1050 AD)!
Compass: China
Disagreement over when and where the compass was invented.
The earliest Chinese literature reference to magnetism lies in the 4th century BC book Book of the Devil Valley Master which states that "The lodestone makes iron come or it attracts it.“
The compass, or ‘south pointer’, could be carried with jade hunters to prevent them from getting lost during their journeys.
Compass: China
The first mention of the attraction of a needle by a magnet is in the Louen-heng or ‘Discourses weighed in the Balance’ (70 and 80 AD): "A lodestone attracts a needle.“
A Song Dynasty book, Wujing Zongyao (Collection of the Most Important Military Techniques), dated to 1040-44 describes an iron "south-pointing fish" floating in a bowl of water which is recommended as a means of orientation at night.
Compass: China
The first definite reference to a magnetized needle in Chinese literature appears in 1088.
The Dream Pool Essays, written by Shen Kuo, contained a detailed description of how to magnetize a needle by rubbing its tip with lodestone and hang it from a single strain of silk so that it sometimes pointed south, sometimes north.
Compass: China
The earliest recorded actual use of a magnetized needle for navigational purposes is found in Zhu Yu's book Pingzhou Table Talks of 1119 (written from 1111 to 1117): “The navigator knows the geography, he watches the stars at night, watches the sun at day; when it is dark and cloudy, he watches the compass.”
The first clear use of a magnetic direction finder occurred before 1044, but clear evidence for the use of the compass as a navigational device first appears in 1119.
Compass: China
Song and Yuan Dynasty: dry compass was in use as described in the Shilin Guangji (Guide Through the Forest of Affairs), from 1325 (written 1100 to 1250).
Shilin Guangji apart, some claim that Chinese mariners only ever used the floating needle in a bowl until the 16th-century European contacts.
Compass: China
The use of a 48 position mariner's compass appears in “The Customs of Cambodia” by Yuan dynasty diplomat Zhou Daguan, describing his 1296 voyage from Wenzhou to Angkor Thom in detail; when his ship set sailed from Wenzhou, the mariner took a needle direction of “ding wei” position, which is equivalent to 22.5 degree SW. After they arrived at Baria, he took "Kun Shen needle" , or 52.5 degree SW.
Zheng He's Navigation Map, also known as "The Mao Kun Map", contains a large number of "needle records" of Zheng He's travel (i.e. bearings).
Diffusion or invention?
Did the compass travel from China to Europe or the Middle East via the Silk Road or was it independently created in Europe (and diffused from there to the Middle East and got called al-konbas).
The first European reference to a magnetized needle and its use among sailors occurs in Alexander Neckam's De naturis rerum (On the Natures of Things), written in Paris in 1190.
In the Arab world, first reference is from 1282 (The Book of the Merchants' Treasure), by Baylak al-Kibjaki of Cairo. There is also a reference to an iron fish-like compass in a Persian talebook from 1232.
Independent European invention?
The arguments against the independent invention of the magnetic compass in Europe are credible.
The close dates of the Chinese navigational compass (1117) and its first appearance in Europe (1190).
The common form of the early compass as a magnetized needle floating in a bowl of water.
Absence of prior knowledge in Europe of magnetism.
Remaining issue is over how it got from China to Europe in mid-1100s – it seems it must have passed through Islamic hands (despite not being mentioned in Arabic sources until mid-1200s).
Medieval European compasses
Pivoting compass needle in a 14th century copy of Epistola de magnete of Peter Peregrinus (1269)
In Europe, the compass, improved dead reckoning, and Portolan charts, allowed winter sailing (and increased and less-hazardous journeys) from the second half of the 13th century.
Navigational Improvements: Jacob’s staff
Originally for astronomical measurements, developed in 1300s by Jacob ben Makir of Provence and described by Levi ben Gerson.
Shen Kuo (1031–1095) describes it in his Song Dynasty Dream Pool Essays (1088).
Employed in Indian, where it was known as Yasti-yantra by the time of Bhāskara II (1114–1185).
By 1514, Johannes Werner suggested it be used for navigation at sea.
John Dee introduced it to England in the 1550s.
A Jacob's staff, from John Sellers' Practical Navigation (1672)
Astrolabe
Known in classical Europe, medieval re-introduction from the Arab world, via Spain in the mid-1020s.
From about 1480 navigators began to carry modified versions we now refer to as `Mariners Astrolabes'.
Enabled East -West travel with the movable arm (alidade) sighted on the North star to measure the angle of its height of the north star above the horizon.
With the panorganon (quadrant) distances could be reliably calculated.
T-O Maps
7th century scholar Isidore of Seville in his Etymologiae did identify the earth as a sphere although the southern hemisphere was believed uninhabitable.
A 12th century copy includes this schematic T-O map.
The T is the Mediterranean, the O is the Ocean around the three landmasses – Asia, Europe and Africa.
Mappa Mundi
More detailed maps, the mappa mundi are known from around 1100 surviving medieval examples.
The Tabula Rogeriana, drawn by Muhammad al-Idrisi for Roger II of Sicily in 1154 and preserved in the Bibliotheque nationale de France
Mappa Mundi
Detail of the Tabula Rogeriana.
Despite the limitations much is clearly recognisable.
From 12th century ships often had a manuscript detailing sailing distances between ports, capes etc.
Portolan Chart
Carte Pisane (Portolan Chart) from 1296.
The straight lines represent the 32 directions of the mariner's compass.
This improves the capacity for sea travel.
Catalan Atlas (1375)
Most important Catalan map of the period. It was produced by the Majorcan cartographic school and is attributed to Cresques Abraham.
Portolans were mainly a Mediterranean phenomenon.
Rutters
Northern version of portolans: small pocket books with courses between ports and distances but in addition they also had soundings and data on tides.
Only a very few survive from before the early sixteenth century but their numbers rose sharply after 1500 when printers began to produce more of them and with longer pressruns.
Early examples, like Das Seebuch, also included descriptions of the western front of Europe.
Le routier de la mer ascribed to Pierre Garcie was printed in Rouen between 1502 and 1510.
Jan Severszoon's De Kaert van der Zee of 1532 was followed by an enlarged version in 1541 and then a series of new editions through to 1588.
Columbus in the context of Portugese in Africa
During the 15th century Portugese sailors pioneered the routes down the Atlantic coast towards the Cape of Good Hope – led by Henry the Navigator, Fernão Gomes, Fernão do Pó., Diogo Cão and João Afonso d'Aveiros.
Finally, in 1488, Bartolomeu Dias and his pilot Pêro de Alenquer, turned a cape where they were caught by a storm, naming it Cape of Storms.
Afterwards the Portugese pushed on and made contact with Indians and Chinese, provoking Egypt and Venice.
Spain joined the race by sponsoring Columbus to seek a western passage to India.
Inter caetera was a papal bull issued by Pope Alexander VI on 4 May 1493 to resolve sovereignty issues.
Earlier Contact: Olmecs 1200 BC – 400 BC?
Located in Mexico (near Veracruz)
Grew corn beans and squash primarily
Vast trade networks, encompassing very diverse areas, but small territory relative to land available- no empire/political unification
Each center seems to have fallen due to a violent rebellion (defaced monuments)
Colossal mounds used in religious ceremonies, importance of animal motifs, calendar/writing
Clear social structure, elites controlled labor pool (increased food production), merchants
Olmec Colossal Heads
African features are regularly commented upon – indicating contact?
St Brendan
5th-6th century Irish saint.
Supposed to have found a land to the west as told in a Gaelic immram.
Popularised in medieval texts in German, through earlier contacts with Irish sources.
This is from a Dutch version (Des Reis van Sint Brandaen) dating to the 12th century which derives from an earlier (lost) German version of Navigatio Sancti Brendani.
The Vinland Sagas
We know the Vikings were there.
Helge Ingstad unearthed the ruins of an ancient Norse village near L’Anse aux Meadows on the north coast of Newfoundland, conclusively proving that the Vikings has established a settlement in North America 1000 years previously.
Henry Sinclair
Claimed to have led expeditions to Greenland and onwards to Nova Scotia in the late 14th century.
Based on letters and a map ascribed to the Venetian Zeno brothers and published in 1558, although their authenticity has not be established.
The letters describe a voyage taken by a ‘Zichmni’ around the year 1398 to Greenland that actually reached North America.
It is claimed that Zichmni is Henry Sinclair.
Basque Whalers
Claimed to have had knowledge of America through whale-fishing in the medieval period.
Known to have come to North America in 1517 and soon 2,000 Arrantzales are estimated to have set sail every year from Basque ports to the St. Lawrence River.
Longer term stations were set up (eg Saddle Island below).
João Vaz Corte Real
João Vaz Corte Real made a voyage of discovery (1472) to Greenland and Newfoundland with two Danish pilots named Pining and Pothorst.
Found Terra Nova do Bacalhau ‘New Isle of Codfish’ which was named on later maps.
Some claim it is modern Baccalieu Island off the Canadian coast.
Columbus and the “Enterprise of the Indies”
Columbus left Spain in 1492 to discover a trade route to the Orient.
Spanish Monarchs commissioned the trip as they sought to compete with Portuguese domination of the Oriental Spice Trade.
Columbus had, in fact, landed in the Caribbean and hadn’t realized what he had found even when he died.
This is a 1493 engraving showing King Ferdinand overseeing his journey to the New World.
Columbus
Believed to be Italian (but was only literate in Spanish).
Worked for Spain.
Landed in San Salvador on Oct. 12, 1492, with 3 ships & 87 men.
Had a very peaceful first encounter with the Indians and wrote “they invite you to share anything they posses & show as much love as if their hearts went with it….with 50 men, they could be subjugated & compelled to do anything one wishes!”
He left 40 men & returned to Spain with 12 Indians to give as presents to the King & Queen.
Columbus’ Second Trip
He brought 17 ships & 1200 Spaniards, but they were not greeted peacefully.
The Indians attacked & killed 10 Spaniards. Columbus retaliated by killing all the Indians, burning their villages & enslaved over 500 to sell in Spain. This damaged any peaceful meetings that may have happened.
Columbus made 4 trips to the New World before he died.
Cortés and the Aztec Empire
In 1519 explorer Hernan de Cortés landed on the Yucatan in search of gold.
Cortés' party was welcomed into the Aztec capitol Tenochtitlan, where he was believed to be the god Quetzalcoatl.
In time, the population of Tenochtitlan was devastated by smallpox, carried by the Spanish explorers, a disease to which the natives had no natural resistance.
Eventually, Cortés arrested the Aztec monarch Montezuma II and tried to assume power over Aztec lands and resources.
French Exploration: Jacques Cartier Explores the St. Lawrence River for France
In 1534, French explorers, led by Jacques Cartier, explored the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by ship. Finding economic promise in the region, Cartier returned the following year and sailed down the St. Lawrence as far as modern Montreal.
Unlike the Spanish, the French were far more interested in establishing trade networks and building sustainable colonies in the New World than in finding gold. The French were particularly interested in the harvesting the bountiful furs found in the area.
English Explorations
John Cabot – 1st to see North America. He represented England (he was from Venice). But England was too busy fighting with France to exploit his discovery.
Later, pirates & privateers from England, Holland, France, etc. were the biggest threat to the Spanish search for gold. John Hawkins & Sir Francis Drake were the most famous & were encouraged by Queen Elizabeth.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert – ½ brother to Sir Walter Raleigh, received a Royal Patent in 1578 to est. & hold land in America. After 2 delayed attempts to leave, he set sail in 1583 & landed in New Foundland. Set sail for England to escape the on set of winter & was never seen again.
Roanoke
Sir Walter Raleigh – 1584 – had the Queen put his brother’s patent in his name, then sent a scout ship to America. It landed at Roanoke Island, N.C. (good soil & the Indians were friendly)
1587 – Raleigh & 117 men, women & children, including Gov. John White set sail.
After a month on the island, Gov. White returned to England for supplies, his grand-daughter, Virginia Dare was born. The 1st English child born in the New World.
Gov. White returned in 1590 – no one from the group was ever found. Roanoke – the lost colony. The only clue was a word carved into a tree “Croatoan”.
1492 and Later: Aztecs
After 1492 AD
Set the stage for Indian policy for the next 500 years.
Hernando Cortes – (Spain) 1519 – landed in Vera Cruz with 600 Conquistadors & conquered the Aztec Empire.
Tricked his way into Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) took all of the gold & enslaved the Aztecs.
They rebelled & ran him out of the city. He later returned & destroyed the Aztec civilization.
Francisco Pizarro – (Spain) – a Lt. of Cortes, did the same thing to the Incas in South America as Cortes did to the Aztecs.
Europeans brought diseases, viruses, pests, vermin, etc. This decimated the Indian population.
Some scientists estimate that 80% of the Indian population of North & South America were killed during this period.
Aztecs
Originally named Mexica
Located in what is now central Mexico
The empire lasted during the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries AD
Aztecs
Tenochtitlan was the capital city and is located in what is now present day Mexico city
The Aztecs were ruled by a single emperor called the Huey Tlatoani which roughly translates to “The Great Speaker”
There was also a ruling counsel from the Calpulli, a group of extended families that controlled the use of local lands and performed other territorial and social functions
Government
Each urban settlement had a calpulli and four main leaders would be selected to a governing board the most powerful being named Tlatoani
The Tlatoani from the all over the emperor would then comprise the main ruling counsel in the capital city
The Aztecs grew rapidly by conquering nearby cities and would force them to pay tributes
These tributes would eventually result in the increased welfare of the common people
Art
The favored form of art in the Aztec empire was sculpture
Most Sculptures were made from limestone, which is still abundant in Mexico today
Aztec sculpture was like most other Mesoamerican cultures and was mostly directly related to religion
Art
The Aztecs also made other religious and non-religious artifacts such as jade masks
Clothing was also a popular art form and women from around the empire would use bead, flower, and metal decorations
These artifacts were sold in markets by visiting merchants
Architecture
There where several main types of architecture in the Aztec society: sacrificial temples, emperors temple, and shines of the gods
Social Structure and Religion
The Aztec society was divided into three socal classes: the macehualli (people) or peasantry, the pochteca or merchants and traders, and the pilli or nobility
Slaves or tlacotin consisted as a large part of the Aztec society
Though people were born into a certain class it was possible to move up the ranks within a life time
Main deity in the Aztec religion was Huitzilopochtli and was known as both the sun god and war god
Human sacrifice was practiced heavily in the Aztec religion
The Aztecs believed that by performing these sacrifices that it gave power to the gods which in turn would insure the survival of the Aztec universe
Tenochtitlan
When the Aztecs settled in the swampy Lake Texcoco and built Tenochtitlan, around the year 1350, the dominant tribe had been the Tepanecs. They controlled most of the shore of Lake Texcoco and forced the Aztecs and a number of other other tribes including the Texcoco, Tlateloco and Tlacopan to pay heavy tribute.
Agriculture
The comprehension of how irrigation can benefit agriculture is evident by the expansion into the highland areas.
They developed drainage systems and canals to expand their crop resources.
Potatoes, tomatoes, cotton, peanuts and coca were among the many crops grown by the Inca.
Llama were used for meat and transportation.
There was more than enough resources available for everyone.
Horse and cannon figure prominently in this Aztec drawing from the Florentine Codex
INCAS
Twantinsuyu:World of the Incas.
Recent arrivals on the political stage in America.
The term 'Incas' (or Inkas) is often used to refer to the people of the empire as a whole, whereas strictly it refers to the ruling aristocracy.
Incas
The beginning of the Inca rule started with the conquest of the Chimu Culture in Peru.
The original Inca tribe was a minor Andean tribe whose expansion began with a successful campaign against its more powerful neighbours, the Chancas, in the 1440s.
Leading them was Pachacuti a military strategist, statesman, and diplomat of enormous skill. Armies under Pachacuti and his son and successor, Topa Inca, conquered the entire mountainous area from Quito south past Lake Titicaca.
Topa Inca also subjugated the coastal kingdom of Chimor, and extended the Inca domain farther south, as well as east to the fringes of Amazonia.
Inca Conquest and Religion
"Split inheritance“ : Power to successor, Wealth, land to male descendants
Result is continual succession disputes and conquest
Religion
Sun god supreme and he is represented by ruler (Inca)
Temple of the Sun at Cuzco
Local gods survive
The Techniques of Inca Imperial Rule
Rules from Cuzco
Governors of four provinces with local rulers (curacas)
Unified by Quechua language and forced transfers of people
Military system of roads, way stations (tambos) and storehouses.
State had a redistributive economy and carried out building and irrigation projects
Gender cooperation, ideology of complementarity of sexes
Inca's senior wife links state to moon
Inca Cultural Achievements
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu
Architecture
The dominant stylistic form in Inca architecture is a simple, but elegantly proportioned trapezoid, which serves the dual ends of functionality and severely restrained decoration.
Trapezoidal doorways, windows, and wall niches are found in Inca constructions of all types, from the most finely wrought temples to crudely built walls in unimportant buildings.
The doorways and windows are obviously functional, and the niches probably served a variety of functions as yet unidentified by the archeologists.
Placement of these trapezoidal openings was primarily functional, but occasionally, esthetic arrangements might dominate the placement of the trapezoids, if there was no conflict with functionality.
Stone Work
Sacsayhuaman
Cuzco
The ancient Inca capital is said to have been founded around 1100 AD.
The Incas conceived their capital in the shape of a Puma with the river serving as the spine, Sacsayhuaman the head, and the main city center the body.
Almost every central street has remains of Inca walls, arches and doorways. Many streets are lined with Inca stonework, now serving as foundations for more modern buildings.
Khipu (Quipu)
A khipu consists, minimally, of a main cord from which pendant cords hang. (Pendants of pendants are called subsidiaries.)
Knots tied in the pendant cords and other modifications of the pendant are the commonest data-bearing or significant features.
Inka functionaries used cord records for censuses, inventories, tribute records, and documents about transactions; Spanish courts also accepted them as documents of record in early colonial times.
Inca Social Structure
The Incas had a very clear social structure.
The ruler, the Sapa Inca, and his wives, the Coyas, had supreme control over the empire.
The High Priest and the Army Commander in Chief were next.
Military
Then came the Four Apus, the regional army commanders.
Next came temple priests, architects, administrators and army generals.
Merchants and Middle Class
Next were artisans, musicians, army captains and the quipucamayoc, the Incan "accountants."
At the bottom were sorcerers, farmers, herding families and conscripts.
Inca Dynasty
About 1438, the ninth Inca, Pachacuti, set forth to conquer on a scale never before attempted in aboriginal America. Pachacuti and his son, Tupac Inca, the tenth Inca, forged an empire nearly as far reaching and well organized as Caesar's Rome. They Called it Tahuantinsuyu, Quechua for the " Four Quarters of the World".
Huayna Capac - Valiant Youth - surely visited Machu Picchu after he succeeded Tupac Inca in 1493, for he devoted years to a grand tour of his inherited Four Quarters of the World.
Dynasty
Huayna Capac settled down in Ecuador with his hundreds of wives and concubines, occupying a sumptuous palace of which no trace remains. Today natives, reminders of the brief lnca occupation of Ecuador are Quechua-speaking Indian communities of diverse tribal origins-some from distant Bolivia- found along the Pan American Highway.
The emperor's warrior son, Atahuallpa, became a favorite of the battle-tested armies that carried on the northern border campaigns. Meanwhile premonitions of doom haunted Huayna Capac.
About 1525 Huayna Capac was stricken possibly by smallpox introduced into the continent by Europeans probing its coastline. Before he could choose, he died. In Cuzco the high priest conferred the royal fringe on Huascar, a son of Huayna Capac and his sister wife the queen. But Atahuallpa, Huascar's half brother, governor of Quito, reportedly refused to accompany his father's mummy to Cuzco and render homage. His generals, veterans of Ecuadorean wars, backed his insurgency, and civil war flared.
Dynasty
Huascar sent a huge inexperienced army against Atahuallpa, but it perished in battle near Ambato, Ecuador.
The chronicler Cieza, who saw the skeleton-strewn battlefield twenty years later, wrote that the body count of 25 or 26 thousand was an underestimate.
Huascar conscripted army after army, including peasants from as far away as Argentina.
Thousands who had escaped the plague now fell under the northerner's onslaughts.
Perhaps 200,000 men fought in the final battle near Cuzco.
The unthinkable occurred: Atahuallpa's generals tumbled Huascar from his golden litter. Cuzco's defenders fled in terror. The Son of the Sun had fallen.
The generals dressed the emperor in women's clothes. They forced him to eat excrement in Cuzco's streets and watch the extermination of his multitudinous family and courtiers.
Atahuallpa
ATAHUALLPA had left Quito to make triumphal entry into Cuzco when he got word of his generals' victory. But at this moment coastal chiefs warned him of Pizarro's approach. A mere 62 cavalrymen and 106 foot soldiers, armed with Toledo blades and a few guns and crossbows, were winding slowly into the mountains of northern Peru.
Pizarro sent an interpreter and 15 riders under Hernando de Soto (who later discovered the Mississippi River) to offer his services in arms and to ask the emperor to dine next day. The seated Inca offered ceremonial chicha, accepted the invitation, and told his guests to occupy the town plaza.
Pizarro set a trap that the Inca had unwittingly provided him. In the great triangular plaza, with an entrance at its apex, he laid an ambush. He hid his forces inside buildings that had doorways, high enough for horse and rider, facing into the walled plaza.
Atahuallpa and Pizzaro
On Saturday, November 16, 1532, the Inca delayed his social call until sundown, supposing horses to be of no use after dark, and bemused by reports that the bearded men were hiding in fear. Then be capped his spate of bad decisions by going unarmed to sup and spend the night in town.
The Spaniards captured Atahuallpa and he ruled for eight months from a prison compound in the triangular plaza, keeping his lordly mien, his authority unquestioned by any subject of the empire.
To secure his release, Atahuallpa decreed that the realm be ransacked to fill a 18-by-22-foot room once with gold, as high as he could reach, and twice with silver. Totally unaware that Pizarro's men spearheaded a massive European invasion of the Tahuantinsuyu, he presumed the bearded ones would go away once they had received their booty.
By July 1533 more than 24 tons of exquisite treasure had been collected: idols and chalices, necklaces and nuggets, accumulated through centuries of placer mining. Though this was only a fraction of the plunder that awaited the Spaniards elsewhere in the Four Quarters of the World, Atahuallpa's ransom, as duly recorded in the Spanish archives, was worth at least 267 million dollars at today's bullion values for gold ($315 ounce-Nov/02/1997-) and silver.
Treason
But instead of freeing the Inca, they tried him for treason, and was sentenced to death for treason against the strangers within his own realm.
To avoid the horror of being burned alive as a heretic and thus deprived of mummification, Atahuallpa accepted Christian baptism and took Pizarro's Christian name: Francisco- Then the Spaniards garroted Francisco Atahuallpa, thirteenth Inca, and marched down the royal road to Cuzco.
Final Battle
The 40,000 member army of the Inca was destroyed by a 180 member Spanish conquistador army, which was commanded by Francisco Pizarro.
The warriors of the Inca were no match for the Spanish guns. By 1535, the Inca society was completely overthrown.
Mississippian
Large settlements, development of Chiefdoms & usage of kinship lines.
Use of the large Temple-Mound complexes, i.e. Ocmulgee, Etowah, etc. Large truncated, flat-top pyramids.
Extensive farming, use of corn as staple crop, along with beans, squash.
The main dish from this was called Succatash (the 3 Sisters) and provided energy from corn, protein from beans & vitamins from squash. This process saved on land, labor & fertilizer.
Food storage buildings, palisades surrounded villages, extensive warfare for land & food.
Religious influences from Mexico & South America, i.e. Spider Cult, Snake Cult, use of Charnel Houses, complex belief systems.
Mississippian Mounds
After 1492
Period just prior to the European invasion.
Warfare among the tribes & religious/cultural diversity caused the great temple complexes to lose power.
People began to break up into smaller villages & away from the great cities.
Less trade & contact with outside tribes. Isolation & development of a homogenous population.
Hernando de Soto – (Spain) 1539 – took 6oo Conquistadors through Fla., GA., S.C., N.C., Tenn., & Miss., destroying the Indians as they went.
Cataloged the plant & animal life & some of the Indians.
He was killed near Memphis in 1542. Over ½ of his men were killed on the expedition.
Epidemics in Mexico, 1520-1595
Epidemics in Central America 1520-1578
Plants
Farming, Food and Artefact Production
Cattle
Earliest detailed accounts in 7th-8th century law texts
Similar to Kerry cattle
Often black, but there are references to red, flame-red and brown cattle.
‘Brindled’ cow
White-backed cattle (also found in Kerry)
Long hair in winter – shed in spring
Most cattle had horns (which could be cut to indicate ownership)
No reference to hay-making
Oxen used for traction
Bulls could be owned by more than one person
Kerry Cattle
Breed closest in size and temperament to early medieval cattle.
Some colour variation.
Mixed colour cattle known.
Cattle
Calf in Book of Durrow
Cattle
Cattle consume grasses and other herbs, but are also partial to the leaves of most tree species, with the elm a particular favourite.
During spring and summer, grazing can be found in many areas, including rough ground and woodlands, with an implicit need for vigilance against predation, accidental loss and theft.
Controlled breeding would require the separation of bulls and cows. Over winter, a major pre-occupation on farms seems to be the provision of grazing for cattle.
There are references to the deliberate retention of ungrazed grasslands to provide winter grazing, and, allowing cattle access to the stubble of cereal-crops which appear to be harvested high up the stalk
There is evidence that holly and ivy were employed as winter fodder.
Cattle
In the early medieval period in Ireland, the optimum time for cattle to breed is suggested as 3¼ years, due to poor winter feeding.
Access to cow’s milk is facilitated by controlling contact between calves and their mothers, a task often assigned to childern, while the mothers hind legs were probably immobilised during milking.
Controlled mating of cattle can ensure a supply of lactating cows throughout the year, even through the winter.
The selective slaughtering and neutering of males can also provide a source of oxen.
Historically, the perceived value of cattle is indexed against age, gender, fertility and docility.
Apart from beef and milk products, cattle are also a source of hides, marrow, blood, tallow for candles, bone and horn as craft materials and dung as a fertilizer.
Cattle: management
Grazing Regime:
Spring: Rough ground, woodlands Summer: Rough ground, woodlands Autumn: Cereal stubble, ungrazed grasslands Winter: Ungrazed grasslands, holly, ivy
Controls Needed: Contact between calves and mothers; bulls and cows; neutering of young males for oxen. Predator threat is low, except for calves. Prior to over-wintering.
Products Beef; milk products; hides; marrow; blood; tallow for candles; bone; horn; dung.
Sheep
Sheep appear to have been mainly seen as lowland grazing livestock in early historical references in Ireland, possibly due to the threat of predation on more remote pasture.
It has been suggested that older slaughter ages for sheep reflect the manipulation of sheeps fleeces to produce wool from this date.
Sheep
Weaving materials have been uncovered at a number of sites of this period such as loom weights, spindle whorls and bone combs.
Spindle Whorls
Sheep
Lambs are typically born in March or April, with the majority of young males castrated and slaughtered in their first year, while ewes are expected to lamb by their third year.
It is likely that sheep were only sheared once a year, in mid-summer.
Sheep were also a potential source of meat, skins, horn, tallow and possibly milk.
Where data is available, it appears that up to a third of lambs, probably young males, were culled in their first year, while a small percentage survived to 3½ years and beyond.
Sheep: management
Grazing Regime:
Spring: Lowlands Summer: Lowlands Autumn: Lowlands Winter: Lowlands
Controls Needed: Threat from predators, particular when lambs are born. Mid-summer shearing. Prior to over-wintering.
Products: Meat; fleece; skins; horn; tallow; milk.
Soay Sheep
Pigs
Pigs are omnivorous and conveniently consume much of the households scraps, whether it is of animal or vegetable origin.
They also will eat some grasses and herbs, and have a tendency to dig up ground looking for roots.
Sources suggest that pigs were often fed on the acorn and hazelnut crop of September and October prior to selective culling, or as preparation for over-wintering.
Unlike sheep and cattle, pregnant sows often prepare a nest, even if enclosed in a sty, and produces litters of up to 9, although the runt often needs to be hand-reared if it is to survive.
Piglets are particularly dependent for the first weeks of their life.
During the weaning period, the sows are probably fed mainly on refuse from the habitation site so as to encourage them from straying too far from the site.
Wild boar males have a tendency to break in and mate with domesticated sows (e.g. see MAFF 1998).
Pigs
Appear to have been herded from late summer and taken to forage in woodlands and other areas, presumably, at a remove from crops and under constant supervision, given their innate destructiveness, although they can be used to root out weeds and manure newly prepared ground prior to planting.
Pig fat is considerably more palatable than cattle or sheep fat, and it appears that pigs were primarily reared for food products, the evidence from faunal assemblage suggests slaughter ages between 2 and 3½ years.
Pigs
Peniarth 28, f.25v
Pigs: management
Grazing Regime:
Spring: Habitation refuse; grass; roots. Summer: Woodlands and areas away from crops; grass; roots. Autumn: Acorns; hazelnuts; grass; roots. Winter: Habitation refuse; grass; roots.
Controls Needed: Protection of sows nest during littering; supervision around crops. Prior to over-wintering.
Products: Meat; blood; fat.
Other domesticates
Hens
Geese
Ducks
Doves
Peacocks (?)
Bees
Dogs
Livestock management (summary).
Spring: Habitation site contains pigs; sheep in immediate vicinity; cattle grazed outside immediate vicinity
Summer:Habitation site has sheep in immediate vicinity; cattle and pigs grazed outside immediate vicinity, beyond cultivated soils. Cattle visited or returned daily for milking.
Autumn: Habitation site has sheep in immediate vicinity; cattle and pigs grazed outside immediate vicinity and on former cultivated soils and in woodlands. Cattle visited or returned daily for milking.
Winter: Habitation site contains pigs; sheep in immediate vicinity; cattle grazed just outside immediate vicinity.
Animals and Disease
U700/701 Famine/pestilence
U709 pestilence
U748 Deep snow: mortality of cattle
U760 Famine
U764 Great snowfall and famine. U769 famine and leprosy
U777-9 and AI 779 cattle disease also smallpox in 779
U786 scamach
CS805 pestilence
U806 pestilence
CS814 great distress and severe illnesses
CS825 pestilence/famine
U825 pestilence/famine
U826 plague warning given
Food production
Obviously, much of what is produced by farming is converted to food.
Few traces of actual foodstuff survive (animal bone, bog butter, charred seeds).
Most of the archaeological evidence is in the form of the structures used to process food stuffs, including kilns, mills and burnt mounds.
Souterrains appear to have functioned as part of the storage regime in some areas, whilst burying food in peat bogs was employed in some other areas.
Bog Butter
Some finds appear to be adipose/tallow, others are definitely dairy butter and date to early medieval period.
Used the cool temperature in the depths of a bog to preserve the butter for longer.
Souterrains
Newtownbalregan, County Louth
Souterrains
Souterrains are underground complexes of passages and chambers
They are usually built of stone but can also be tunnelled into rock or compact clay or gravel, a small number built of wood area also known.
Souterrains are sometimes found apparently independent of any enclosure and are also found in Early Christian ecclesiastical enclosures.
Places suitable for storage (constant cool temperature) and probably refuge (concealed).
Souterrains
Distribution probably reflects agricultural production of perishables requiring additional storage facilities prior to trade.
Souterrain complex
Donaghmore, Co. Louth
Smaller Souterrain
Newrath Big Kells Co. Meath
Dating
Earliest dates are from 7th or 8th century AD
Latest dates are from the 13th or 14th century AD (such as finds of medieval pottery from construction material).
Wooden example
Coolcran, Co. Fermanagh
Wooden souterrain oaks found that were dated to 822+/-9 AD
Dunisky, Co. Cork Rock-cut souterrain
Crops
The parts of the landscape designated by the term faithche (basically lower ground) could contain tilled fields (gort).
Texts indicate that corn (ith), vegetables (lub) and orchards (aball) were known.
There was some hay (fer) but this may not have been fodder.
Also woad (glaisen) as a dye.
Achad and clúain refer to the fields used as pasture.
Corn-drying Kilns
The Irish climate is not suitable for drying cereals outdoors.
Long term storage is promoted by drying grains and cereals to prevent germination.
This is normally done in a drying-kiln, like this one from Derrysallagh 3 in Laois.
Drying kilns tend to have a hearth, flue and chamber.
Milling terms in early Irish texts
Milling terms in early Irish texts
Cup - hopper
Comla - sluice gate
Lind - dam
Oircel - chute
Bel in muillinn
- eye of the millstone
Lia - Upper millstone
Indeoin - Lower millstone
Fothach - wheelhouse
Sciatha - vanes
Milaire - pivot
Oirmtuid – gudgeon
Complex series of objects manufactured for mills.
Technology and Culture, Vol. 15, No. 2, Apr., 1974 The Horizontal Mills of Medieval Pistoia, pp. 194-225 John Muendel
Can parallel all of these in medieval Italian examples
Evidence for wooden objects
Paddles from the wheel often survive in the waterlogged undercroft of the mill.
Millstones
Amongst the largest stone objects manufactured during the early medieval period (certainly the largest secular objects)
Evidence of quarrying and selection for particular types of stone.
Cooking
The basic battery de cuisine involves the use of moist heat (boiling, blanching etc), direct heat (grilling in the flames) and indirect heat (roasting, baking etc).
Bread appears to made on the stones around a normal hearth.
Cooking
Roasting Pit – many such features are actually hard to identify!
Cooking
John Derricks woodcut (16th century)
Cooking: Giraldus Cambrensis
Cooking
We know some of the basics from illustrations such as the Book of Leinster (Feasting Hall at Tara).
Cooking equipment
Bir, Locht, Dabach and a Cant.
Cooking
Cooking spits are illustrated in a number of sources.
Burnt Mound v Fulacht Fiadh?
Cooking Spit
Cooking: Burnt Mounds
Spread of heat shattered stone.
Employ shallow fresh water wells to get water
Cherrywood, Site 3, County Dublin
What can they tell us?
Where the stones survive from the last use, we can gain some idea of how they were used…
Pit and spread of heat-shattered stone.
Killoran Site 26, Co. Tipperary.
Shows typical layout – shattered stone spread around the pit or trough.
Dates for Ireland
Plot showing the volume of stone required to raise the temperature of 1 litre of water by 1° C, relative to the temperature to which the stone was heated.
Production was not confined to cooking meat.
Cooking meat
Food production
The earliest dated text, is from the medieval Latin Life of St. Munnu.
The text dates to before the fifteenth century but is likely to derive from an early medieval tradition.
In a discussion of the ascetic lifestyle followed by the saint his diet is described as including unsieved flour, mixed in a basin with water, chaff and all, and cooked with fire-heated stones.
Keating’s account
'However, from Bealtaine until Samhain, the Fian were obliged to depend solely on the products of their hunting and of the chase … And it was their custom to send their attendants about noon with whatever they had killed in the morning's hunt to an appointed hill …
… and to kindle raging fires thereon, and put into them a large number of emery stones: and to dig two pits in the yellow clay of the moorland, and put some meat on spits to roast before the fire and to bind another portion of it with súgain in dry bundles, and set it to boil in the larger of the two pits, and keep plying them with the stones that were in the fire … until they were cooked. And these fires were so large that their sites are today in Ireland burnt to blackness, and these are now called Fulacht Fian by the peasantry.
Cooking in hides
A further recorded description is of how the 'meaner sort of people' on the Hebrides cook beef either in the hide, or in a water-filled dug-out trough to which hot stones are added (Burt 1754: 279).
Seething the flesh in the hide
In another episode, related by French, Irish soldiers on the continental mainland were using heated stones to cook in a water-filled bag as late as 1544.
This account may explain the reference in Spensers A View of the State of Ireland (from 1596) where he states that the northern Irish, like the Scythians, used to ‘seethe the flesh in the hide’. Fynes Morysons claim from his Itinerary, published in 1617, that the Irish ‘…seeth in a hollow tree, lapped in a raw cowes hide, and so set over a fier…’ may be a further, garbled, account of the same practice.
Tallow and grease
A further account, 'The Romance of Mis and Dubh Ruis', was written down in 1769, but is likely to be earlier in date.
As well as cooking, the tale of Mis and Dubh Ruis, mentions the use, or collection, of the grease from, boiling meat by this technique.
This process is also found among the Nunamiut and along the north-west coast of Canada.
Butter and cures
Butter production has been described as another potential function of hot stone technology. A modern account of an attempt to make soft cheese employing this technique is given in Wood (2000: 92), who dropped some heated stones into a pot of milk mixed with sour cream. Once this boiled the curds and whey separated and the mixture was sieved through rushes.
In his account of the use of the lapis hecticus, or white hectic stone, Martin Martin describes how the natives of Skye use these stones as a remedy by heating them and dropping them into milk and water which they then drink. He claims these drinks were a remedy against dysentery, diarrhoea and consumption.
In an account of a miracle by St. Senan, he is said to have taken hot stones from a kiln and dropped them into a drink as a curative. The use of stones to heat milk is also recorded on Cruit Island in Donegal in the late nineteenth century.
Brewing
In an account of the life of St. Lughiadh of Clonfert, he is described as brewing beer by immersing a red-hot iron in it. In 1906, the burnt mound process is recorded in use to manufacture Steinbier at Kärnten in Sweden.
Earliest detailed accounts in 7th-8th century law texts
Similar to Kerry cattle
Often black, but there are references to red, flame-red and brown cattle.
‘Brindled’ cow
White-backed cattle (also found in Kerry)
Long hair in winter – shed in spring
Most cattle had horns (which could be cut to indicate ownership)
No reference to hay-making
Oxen used for traction
Bulls could be owned by more than one person
Kerry Cattle
Breed closest in size and temperament to early medieval cattle.
Some colour variation.
Mixed colour cattle known.
Cattle
Calf in Book of Durrow
Cattle
Cattle consume grasses and other herbs, but are also partial to the leaves of most tree species, with the elm a particular favourite.
During spring and summer, grazing can be found in many areas, including rough ground and woodlands, with an implicit need for vigilance against predation, accidental loss and theft.
Controlled breeding would require the separation of bulls and cows. Over winter, a major pre-occupation on farms seems to be the provision of grazing for cattle.
There are references to the deliberate retention of ungrazed grasslands to provide winter grazing, and, allowing cattle access to the stubble of cereal-crops which appear to be harvested high up the stalk
There is evidence that holly and ivy were employed as winter fodder.
Cattle
In the early medieval period in Ireland, the optimum time for cattle to breed is suggested as 3¼ years, due to poor winter feeding.
Access to cow’s milk is facilitated by controlling contact between calves and their mothers, a task often assigned to childern, while the mothers hind legs were probably immobilised during milking.
Controlled mating of cattle can ensure a supply of lactating cows throughout the year, even through the winter.
The selective slaughtering and neutering of males can also provide a source of oxen.
Historically, the perceived value of cattle is indexed against age, gender, fertility and docility.
Apart from beef and milk products, cattle are also a source of hides, marrow, blood, tallow for candles, bone and horn as craft materials and dung as a fertilizer.
Cattle: management
Grazing Regime:
Spring: Rough ground, woodlands Summer: Rough ground, woodlands Autumn: Cereal stubble, ungrazed grasslands Winter: Ungrazed grasslands, holly, ivy
Controls Needed: Contact between calves and mothers; bulls and cows; neutering of young males for oxen. Predator threat is low, except for calves. Prior to over-wintering.
Products Beef; milk products; hides; marrow; blood; tallow for candles; bone; horn; dung.
Sheep
Sheep appear to have been mainly seen as lowland grazing livestock in early historical references in Ireland, possibly due to the threat of predation on more remote pasture.
It has been suggested that older slaughter ages for sheep reflect the manipulation of sheeps fleeces to produce wool from this date.
Sheep
Weaving materials have been uncovered at a number of sites of this period such as loom weights, spindle whorls and bone combs.
Spindle Whorls
Sheep
Lambs are typically born in March or April, with the majority of young males castrated and slaughtered in their first year, while ewes are expected to lamb by their third year.
It is likely that sheep were only sheared once a year, in mid-summer.
Sheep were also a potential source of meat, skins, horn, tallow and possibly milk.
Where data is available, it appears that up to a third of lambs, probably young males, were culled in their first year, while a small percentage survived to 3½ years and beyond.
Sheep: management
Grazing Regime:
Spring: Lowlands Summer: Lowlands Autumn: Lowlands Winter: Lowlands
Controls Needed: Threat from predators, particular when lambs are born. Mid-summer shearing. Prior to over-wintering.
Products: Meat; fleece; skins; horn; tallow; milk.
Soay Sheep
Pigs
Pigs are omnivorous and conveniently consume much of the households scraps, whether it is of animal or vegetable origin.
They also will eat some grasses and herbs, and have a tendency to dig up ground looking for roots.
Sources suggest that pigs were often fed on the acorn and hazelnut crop of September and October prior to selective culling, or as preparation for over-wintering.
Unlike sheep and cattle, pregnant sows often prepare a nest, even if enclosed in a sty, and produces litters of up to 9, although the runt often needs to be hand-reared if it is to survive.
Piglets are particularly dependent for the first weeks of their life.
During the weaning period, the sows are probably fed mainly on refuse from the habitation site so as to encourage them from straying too far from the site.
Wild boar males have a tendency to break in and mate with domesticated sows (e.g. see MAFF 1998).
Pigs
Appear to have been herded from late summer and taken to forage in woodlands and other areas, presumably, at a remove from crops and under constant supervision, given their innate destructiveness, although they can be used to root out weeds and manure newly prepared ground prior to planting.
Pig fat is considerably more palatable than cattle or sheep fat, and it appears that pigs were primarily reared for food products, the evidence from faunal assemblage suggests slaughter ages between 2 and 3½ years.
Pigs
Peniarth 28, f.25v
Pigs: management
Grazing Regime:
Spring: Habitation refuse; grass; roots. Summer: Woodlands and areas away from crops; grass; roots. Autumn: Acorns; hazelnuts; grass; roots. Winter: Habitation refuse; grass; roots.
Controls Needed: Protection of sows nest during littering; supervision around crops. Prior to over-wintering.
Products: Meat; blood; fat.
Other domesticates
Hens
Geese
Ducks
Doves
Peacocks (?)
Bees
Dogs
Livestock management (summary).
Spring: Habitation site contains pigs; sheep in immediate vicinity; cattle grazed outside immediate vicinity
Summer:Habitation site has sheep in immediate vicinity; cattle and pigs grazed outside immediate vicinity, beyond cultivated soils. Cattle visited or returned daily for milking.
Autumn: Habitation site has sheep in immediate vicinity; cattle and pigs grazed outside immediate vicinity and on former cultivated soils and in woodlands. Cattle visited or returned daily for milking.
Winter: Habitation site contains pigs; sheep in immediate vicinity; cattle grazed just outside immediate vicinity.
Animals and Disease
U700/701 Famine/pestilence
U709 pestilence
U748 Deep snow: mortality of cattle
U760 Famine
U764 Great snowfall and famine. U769 famine and leprosy
U777-9 and AI 779 cattle disease also smallpox in 779
U786 scamach
CS805 pestilence
U806 pestilence
CS814 great distress and severe illnesses
CS825 pestilence/famine
U825 pestilence/famine
U826 plague warning given
Food production
Obviously, much of what is produced by farming is converted to food.
Few traces of actual foodstuff survive (animal bone, bog butter, charred seeds).
Most of the archaeological evidence is in the form of the structures used to process food stuffs, including kilns, mills and burnt mounds.
Souterrains appear to have functioned as part of the storage regime in some areas, whilst burying food in peat bogs was employed in some other areas.
Bog Butter
Some finds appear to be adipose/tallow, others are definitely dairy butter and date to early medieval period.
Used the cool temperature in the depths of a bog to preserve the butter for longer.
Souterrains
Newtownbalregan, County Louth
Souterrains
Souterrains are underground complexes of passages and chambers
They are usually built of stone but can also be tunnelled into rock or compact clay or gravel, a small number built of wood area also known.
Souterrains are sometimes found apparently independent of any enclosure and are also found in Early Christian ecclesiastical enclosures.
Places suitable for storage (constant cool temperature) and probably refuge (concealed).
Souterrains
Distribution probably reflects agricultural production of perishables requiring additional storage facilities prior to trade.
Souterrain complex
Donaghmore, Co. Louth
Smaller Souterrain
Newrath Big Kells Co. Meath
Dating
Earliest dates are from 7th or 8th century AD
Latest dates are from the 13th or 14th century AD (such as finds of medieval pottery from construction material).
Wooden example
Coolcran, Co. Fermanagh
Wooden souterrain oaks found that were dated to 822+/-9 AD
Dunisky, Co. Cork Rock-cut souterrain
Crops
The parts of the landscape designated by the term faithche (basically lower ground) could contain tilled fields (gort).
Texts indicate that corn (ith), vegetables (lub) and orchards (aball) were known.
There was some hay (fer) but this may not have been fodder.
Also woad (glaisen) as a dye.
Achad and clúain refer to the fields used as pasture.
Corn-drying Kilns
The Irish climate is not suitable for drying cereals outdoors.
Long term storage is promoted by drying grains and cereals to prevent germination.
This is normally done in a drying-kiln, like this one from Derrysallagh 3 in Laois.
Drying kilns tend to have a hearth, flue and chamber.
Milling terms in early Irish texts
Milling terms in early Irish texts
Cup - hopper
Comla - sluice gate
Lind - dam
Oircel - chute
Bel in muillinn
- eye of the millstone
Lia - Upper millstone
Indeoin - Lower millstone
Fothach - wheelhouse
Sciatha - vanes
Milaire - pivot
Oirmtuid – gudgeon
Complex series of objects manufactured for mills.
Technology and Culture, Vol. 15, No. 2, Apr., 1974 The Horizontal Mills of Medieval Pistoia, pp. 194-225 John Muendel
Can parallel all of these in medieval Italian examples
Evidence for wooden objects
Paddles from the wheel often survive in the waterlogged undercroft of the mill.
Millstones
Amongst the largest stone objects manufactured during the early medieval period (certainly the largest secular objects)
Evidence of quarrying and selection for particular types of stone.
Cooking
The basic battery de cuisine involves the use of moist heat (boiling, blanching etc), direct heat (grilling in the flames) and indirect heat (roasting, baking etc).
Bread appears to made on the stones around a normal hearth.
Cooking
Roasting Pit – many such features are actually hard to identify!
Cooking
John Derricks woodcut (16th century)
Cooking: Giraldus Cambrensis
Cooking
We know some of the basics from illustrations such as the Book of Leinster (Feasting Hall at Tara).
Cooking equipment
Bir, Locht, Dabach and a Cant.
Cooking
Cooking spits are illustrated in a number of sources.
Burnt Mound v Fulacht Fiadh?
Cooking Spit
Cooking: Burnt Mounds
Spread of heat shattered stone.
Employ shallow fresh water wells to get water
Cherrywood, Site 3, County Dublin
What can they tell us?
Where the stones survive from the last use, we can gain some idea of how they were used…
Pit and spread of heat-shattered stone.
Killoran Site 26, Co. Tipperary.
Shows typical layout – shattered stone spread around the pit or trough.
Dates for Ireland
Plot showing the volume of stone required to raise the temperature of 1 litre of water by 1° C, relative to the temperature to which the stone was heated.
Production was not confined to cooking meat.
Cooking meat
Food production
The earliest dated text, is from the medieval Latin Life of St. Munnu.
The text dates to before the fifteenth century but is likely to derive from an early medieval tradition.
In a discussion of the ascetic lifestyle followed by the saint his diet is described as including unsieved flour, mixed in a basin with water, chaff and all, and cooked with fire-heated stones.
Keating’s account
'However, from Bealtaine until Samhain, the Fian were obliged to depend solely on the products of their hunting and of the chase … And it was their custom to send their attendants about noon with whatever they had killed in the morning's hunt to an appointed hill …
… and to kindle raging fires thereon, and put into them a large number of emery stones: and to dig two pits in the yellow clay of the moorland, and put some meat on spits to roast before the fire and to bind another portion of it with súgain in dry bundles, and set it to boil in the larger of the two pits, and keep plying them with the stones that were in the fire … until they were cooked. And these fires were so large that their sites are today in Ireland burnt to blackness, and these are now called Fulacht Fian by the peasantry.
Cooking in hides
A further recorded description is of how the 'meaner sort of people' on the Hebrides cook beef either in the hide, or in a water-filled dug-out trough to which hot stones are added (Burt 1754: 279).
Seething the flesh in the hide
In another episode, related by French, Irish soldiers on the continental mainland were using heated stones to cook in a water-filled bag as late as 1544.
This account may explain the reference in Spensers A View of the State of Ireland (from 1596) where he states that the northern Irish, like the Scythians, used to ‘seethe the flesh in the hide’. Fynes Morysons claim from his Itinerary, published in 1617, that the Irish ‘…seeth in a hollow tree, lapped in a raw cowes hide, and so set over a fier…’ may be a further, garbled, account of the same practice.
Tallow and grease
A further account, 'The Romance of Mis and Dubh Ruis', was written down in 1769, but is likely to be earlier in date.
As well as cooking, the tale of Mis and Dubh Ruis, mentions the use, or collection, of the grease from, boiling meat by this technique.
This process is also found among the Nunamiut and along the north-west coast of Canada.
Butter and cures
Butter production has been described as another potential function of hot stone technology. A modern account of an attempt to make soft cheese employing this technique is given in Wood (2000: 92), who dropped some heated stones into a pot of milk mixed with sour cream. Once this boiled the curds and whey separated and the mixture was sieved through rushes.
In his account of the use of the lapis hecticus, or white hectic stone, Martin Martin describes how the natives of Skye use these stones as a remedy by heating them and dropping them into milk and water which they then drink. He claims these drinks were a remedy against dysentery, diarrhoea and consumption.
In an account of a miracle by St. Senan, he is said to have taken hot stones from a kiln and dropped them into a drink as a curative. The use of stones to heat milk is also recorded on Cruit Island in Donegal in the late nineteenth century.
Brewing
In an account of the life of St. Lughiadh of Clonfert, he is described as brewing beer by immersing a red-hot iron in it. In 1906, the burnt mound process is recorded in use to manufacture Steinbier at Kärnten in Sweden.
Church, Reformation, Counter-reformation and Renaissance in Ireland
Abbeys and Monasticism
Originates in 4th century AD, although there some Christian Orders of widows and virgins are mentioned in the New Testament.
Many of the early communities were Eremitic – i.e. the retreated from society to live as hermits and devote their time to prayer.
Western monasticism really follows Benedict writing what became the Rules of St. Benedict (although he doesn’t seem to have consciously intended to establish a monastic order).
Benedict
Written at his monastery in Cassino (the image is the first page of a manuscript copy).
Benedict promoted prayer and work.
He suggested the day and its activities should be properly and routinely organised.
Crusading, Orders, Church
From the 11th century, religious orders took on a more significant role.
With the onset of crusading as a political, economic and social force, the influence of the church increased dramatically.
Secular power, national identities and religion became intertwined.
Religious orders (like the Dominicans and Franciscans) preached crusade doctrine.
By the 1270s (when the crusades effectively ended) all of the ‘West’ was divided into collecting zones for regular clerical taxes, redemptions, donations, alms and legacies.
Crusading and indulgences…
Aug 1198: Pope Innocent III called the Fourth Crusade
1199: Political Crusade against Markward of Anweiler
Nov 1202: Venetians and Crusaders sacked Zara, a Christian port on the Dalmatian Coast
Apr, 1204: Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople
1208: Pope Innocent III called the Albigensian Crusade
Jul 1212: King Alfonso VIII of Castile expanded the Reconquista; King Sancho VII of Navarre won the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
Crusading and indulgences…
Dec 1215: Pope Innocent III issued Ad liberandam calling the Fifth Crusade during the Fourth Lateran Council
Dec 1217: Fifth Crusaders attacked Mount Tabor
May 1218: Fifth Crusaders began the siege of Damietta
Aug 1221: Fifth Crusade, in the Nile Delta, surrendered
Jun 1228: Emperor Frederick II, King of Jerusalem through marriage to Isabell (Yolanda), sailed East on the Sixth Crusade
Feb 1229: Al-Kamil surrendered Jerusalem to Emperor Frederick II
1240s: Popes Gregory IX and Innocent IV called Political Crusades against Emperor Frederick II
1248: King Louis IX departed for the Holy Land on the Seventh Crusade
Jun, 1249: Louis reached Damietta
Apr, 1254: Louis departed the Holy Land
Crusading and indulgences…
1268: The Fall of Antioch
Jul, 1270: Louis IX's Last Crusade (Eighth Crusade); Louis died in Tunis
1271-2: Edward I on Ninth Crusade.
1289: The Fall of Tripoli
1291: The Fall of Acre
1302: Siege of Ruad
End of Outremer
Crusading and indulgences…
1147 – 15th century: German crusades
Oct 1307: King Philip IV supressed the Templars in France
1330-1523: Hospitallers continued crusade action from Rhodes
1334: Crusader navy defeated Turkish pirates in the Gulf of Edremit
1334-1402: Crusaders held the port of Smyrna
1365: Crusaders under Peter I of Cyprus sacked Alexandria
1396: Crusade of Nicopolis
1426: Egyptians gained control over Cyprus
Indulging…
Crusading continued to be a central feature of medieval society
Courtly gossip concerned possible crusade ventures
So did some academic and theological writing
Crusade taxes and sales of indulgences continued (even with actual crusades)
In England, 1444-1502, there 12 indulgence sales campaigns for crusades
One of the first printed documents – an indulgence form issues to Henry and Katherine Langley in 1476.
Orders set-up during the Crusades…
Cistercians (Cistercians of the Ancient Observance)- O.Cist./S.O.Cist (1098)
Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta (Order of Malta) - S.M.O.M. (1099)
Canons Regular Canons Regular of St. Augustine CRSA (1100)
Canons Regular of Premontre (Norbertines) (1121)
Teutonic Order (1190)
Trinitarians (Order of the Most Holy Trinity) - O.SS.T. (1194)
Camaldolese (Camaldolese Benedictines) - O.S.B. Cam. (1200s)
Hospital Sisters of the Mercy of Jesus (1200s)
Carmelites (Order of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel) - O.Carm., O.C.D., O.C.D.S. (1209)
Franciscan Friars (Order of Friars Minor) - O.F.M. (1209)
Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross (Crosiers) (1210)
Poor Clares (Nuns of the Order of St. Clare/(Order of Poor Ladies) - O.S.C. (1212)
Dominicans (Order of Friars Preachers) - O.P. (1216)
English Benedictine Congregation - O.S.B. (1216)
Mercedarians (Order of Our Lady of Mercy) - O. de M. (1218)
Adrian Dominican Sisters (1233)
Servites (Order of Friars, Servants of Mary) - O.S.M. (1233)
Celestines (defunct) (1244)
Pauline Fathers (Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit) - O.S.P.P.E. (1250)
Augustinians (Order of Saint Augustine) - O.S.A. (1256)
Later Orders…
Canons Regular of the Holy Cross OSC (1311)
Olivetans (Order of Our Lady of Mount Olivet) (1313)
Bridgettines (Order of Our Savior) - O.Ss.S. (1350)
Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular - T.O.R. (1447)
Alexians - C.F.A. (1469)
Oratorians (Oratory of St. Philip Neri) - C.O., Cong. Orat. (1500s)
Capuchins (Order of Friars Minor Capuchin) - O.F.M. Cap. (1520)
Theatines (Congregation of Clerics Regular) - C.R. (1524)
Barnabites (Clerics Regular of Saint Paul) - B., C.R.S.P. (1530)
Society of Jesus - S.J.or S.I. (1534)
Ursulines (Ursuline Nuns of the Roman Union) - O.S.U. (1535)
Angelic Sisters of St. Paul - A.S.S.P. (1535)
Capuchin Poor Clares (1538)
Adornos (Clerics Regular Minor) - C.R.M. (1563)
Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God (Order of Hospitallers) - O.H. (1572)
Discalced Augustinians - O.A.D. (1592)
Discalced Carmelites - O.C.D. (1593)
Jesuits (Society of Jesus) - S.J. (1540)
Religious Order: Cistercian example
Cistercians, Tintern, 1131.
Cistercians
The Order of Cistercian is sometimes called the White Monks (from the colour of the habit, over which a black scapular or apron is sometimes worn).
The first abbey founded by Robert of Molesme in 1098, at Cîteaux Abbey. Two others, Saint Alberic of Citeaux and Saint Stephen Harding, are considered co-founders, and Bernard of Clairvaux is associated with the fast spread of the order during the 12th century.
Santa Maria de Alcobaça
Founded 1178
Cistercians
Developed an organised system to selling their farm produce which contributed to the commercial progress of the countries of western Europe.
To the wool and cloth trade was especially fostered by them – led to Englands commercial prosperity.
Farming operations could not be carried out by the monks alone - lay brothers were introduced from the peasantry and were simple uneducated men, separate from the monks, but having their own fixed round of prayer and religious exercises.
It was by this system that the Cistercians disseminated their agricultural developments, playing their part in the progress of European civilisation.
Cistercians
According to Jean Gimpel, their high level of industrial technology facilitated the diffusion of new techniques: "Every monastery had a model factory, often as large as the church and only several feet away, and waterpower drove the machinery of the various industries located on its floor.“
Waterpower was used for crushing wheat, sieving flour, fulling cloth and tanning – a "level of technological achievement [that] could have been observed in practically all" of the Cistercian monasteries.
Nuestra Senora de Rueda (Our Lady of the Waterwheel
In Spain, one of the earliest surviving Cistercian houses – the Real Monasterio de Nuestra Senora de Rueda in the Aragon region – is a good example of early hydrologic engineering, using a large waterwheel for power and an elaborate hydrological circulation system for central heating.
Cistercians
Known to have been skilled metallurgists.
Their technological advances were transmitted by the order.
Became the leading iron producers in Champagne, from the mid-13th century to the 17th century, also using the phosphate-rich slag from their furnaces as an agricultural fertiliser.
Alain Erlande-Brandenburg claims that the quality of Cistercian architecture from the 1120s onwards is related directly to the Order's technological inventiveness. They placed importance on metal, both the extraction of the ore and its subsequent processing. At the abbey of Fontenay the forge is not outside, as one might expect, but inside the monastic enclosure: metalworking was thus part of the activity of the monks and not of the lay brothers. This spirit accounted for the progress that appeared in spheres other than building, and particularly in agriculture.
Fontenay
Founded by Bernard in 1118.
Included forge (see 19 and 20 on the plan).
Very wealthy in 12th and 13th century.
Medieval Dublin and Religious Orders
By the middle of the 11th century, the classical religious orders of Europe begin to appear in Ireland, such as the likely Benedictine foundation at Christchurch.
By this time, almost all of the orders favour urban locations.
In Ireland before this time, abbeys may even have had many of the functions of urban centres.
Dublin Abbeys and Priories
Benedictine house established by 1084, at an unknown site
St. Marys founded as a Savigniac house in 1139, became Cistercian in 1147
St. Mary de Hogges – Arroasian nuns, founded 1146
All Saints Priory founded 1162
Holy Trinity (Augustinians at Christchurch) – 1163
Kilmainham (Knights Hospitaller) – 1174
St. Thomas (Augustinians) – 1177
St. Saviours – Dominicans – 1218
Franciscans at Francis Street by 1233.
St. Marys Abbey (Chapterhouse)
Savigniac house in 1139, became Cistercian in 1147
St. Marys Abbey
In the early 1880s, seven feet beneath street level, the Chapter House of St Mary's Abbey was rediscovered under a bakery.
St Mary's was a large Cistercian Abbey founded by the Benedictines in 1139.
It was dissolved in the 1530s and then fell into disrepair.
After that the stones from the building were plundered for use elsewhere with stones being used in the construction of Essex Bridge.
St. Marys Abbey
The Chapter House is the sole remaining part of the complex and dates from 1190.
It used to be possible to lease it for meetings and it was here at a meeting of the Privy Council in 1534 that Silken Thomas Fitzgerald started his rebellion against the king. After hearing of his fathers execution, he flung down his sword of state and marched out to raise an army. Subsequently it transpired that his father had not been executed.
St. Marys Abbey
St. Marys Abbey
The Chapter House consists of a simple vaulted chamber with single light gothic windows in the west façade, now obscured by large clumsy light fittings mimicing windows.
In 1976, the stones of a section of cloister was excavated on a building site on Cook Street.
It is believed that they were removed there are the dissolution.
The section has been reassembled and can be seen above.
St. Marys Abbey
St. Marys Abbey
Reformation
1517 Johann Tetzel sold “indulgences” in Juterbog near Wittenberg
Martin Luther nailed “the 95 Thesis” on indulgences to the door of the castle-church in Wittenberg.
Symbolized the beginning of Reformation as a kind of “protest”
Reformation
Rise of Christian mystics and a parallel in the Christian humanists
The “inquisitions” against doctrinal heresy worsened the confrontation
Add in the issues of the church and money (e.g. indulgences) and attendant corruption
Dissatisfaction with the Church
And widespread discontent over political, economic and social charge
Reformation
Martin Luther educated at the University of Erfurt (his legal career was encouraged by his proud father)
Suddenly gave up and entered the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt
Obtained a Bachelor of Theology, Master of the Sentences, & licentiate in theology
Reformation
Martin Luther was summoned to Rome for a hearing, but his prince, Elector Frederick the Wise (Saxony), arranged for a hearing before a papal legate at Augsburg in 1518
Martin Luther tried to clarify his doctrines concerning indulgences
Reformation
1519 Dr. Johann Eck a Prof. of theology, debated the issues with Luther at Leipzig
He got him to state that the Bible was the sole authority in religious matter & that the papacy, the entire Church hierarchy, & even Church Councils were human & therefore, not infallible
Reformation
Published “Address to be Christian Nobility” (in German) widely read.
Argued a heretic should be overcome by arguments not fire. Reduced sacraments from 7 to 2 (the Lords’ supper & baptism)
Denied the doctrine of transubstantiation
April 18, 1521 Diet at Worms: “I cannot and will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. I cannot do otherwise, here I stand, may God help me, Amen.
Reformation in England
Henry VIII (b. 1491, r. 1509-47), in 1523, “Defender of Faith” claimed by the Pope but wished to ensure the continuation of the Tudor dynasty started by his father Henry VIII after the 30 year wars of the Roses.
1st wife was his deceased brother Arthurs’ wife, Catherine of Aragon
Anne Boleyn (mother of Elizabeth I), Jane Seymour (mother of Edward VI), Anne of Cleeves, Catherine Howard, Catherine Parr
Act of Supremacy 1534 declared King as "the only Supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England“
Treasons Act 1534 made it punishable by death, to refuse to acknowledge the King as such.
After excommunication, the Peter's Pence Act reiterated that England had "no superior under God, but only your Grace" and that Henry's "imperial crown" had been diminished by "the unreasonable and uncharitable usurpations and exactions" of the Pope.
Printing
Block printing method for printing on cloth, common by 1300.
Paper relatively easily available, around 1400
Small woodcut religious images and playing cards printed on paper, in very large numbers from about 1425 onwards.
Around the mid-century, block-books, woodcut books with both text and images, usually carved in the same block, emerged as a cheaper alternative to manuscripts and books printed with movable type. These were all short heavily illustrated works, the bestsellers of the day, repeated in many different block-book versions (Bibles).
Printing
Around 1450, Johannes Gutenberg introduced movable type to Europe, along with innovations in casting the type based on a matrix and hand mould.
Printing
Communal knowledge possible
Scientists could form distant communities
Page numbering and indexes invented and used
Standardization in form and spelling
Reading moves from communal to private activity
Printing
Authorship becomes more important and profitable.
Who wrote it becomes important
Early copyright and intellectual property laws established
Decline of Latin and move towards vernacular language use
Contributed to growing nationalism
Counter-Reformation
Ignatius of Loyola (1491? – 1556)
Army officer and Christian mystic
Spiritual soldier fighting for Mother Mary & Christ
1521, he was badly wounded & crippled for life
Jesuits – demanded strict education
+ complete suppression of all self-will,
+ absolute obedience to the General of the Order, & through him, to the Pope
1534 founded the Society of Jesus in Paris
1540 Pope Paul III constituted the Society of Jesus
Emphasis on education.
Council of Trent
From December 13, 1545, to December 4, 1563
Condemnations on what it defined as Protestant heresies
Defined Church teachings in the areas of Scripture and Tradition, Original Sin, Justification, Sacraments, the Eucharist in Holy Mass and the veneration of saints
Council of Trent: outcomes
Delegates addressed abuses
Reforms addressed corruption of clergy
Training of priests regulated
Financial abuses curbed
Sale of indulgences abolished
Rejected Protestants’ emphasis on self-discipline, individual faith
Argued church help believers achieve salvation using mystery, magnificent ceremonies to inspire faith
Practical Impact?
Council of Trent: outcomes
Flaithrí Ó Maolchonaire – wrote catechism based on Trent, including the pamphlet “De statu parvulorum sine baptismo decedentium ex hac vita juxta sensum beati Augustini”
Cillin
Renaissance: Why in Italy at this Time?
Revival of Commerce and Town Building was more intense in Italy
Feudalism had less of a grip on Italy
Two competing lords for control of Italy were losing influence
Presence of antiquity was stronger in Italy than elsewhere in Europe
European Economic Recovery
Dramatic recovery of European commerce
Important industries flourish in Northern Italy
The significance of printing and mining as new industries
The fifteenth-century banking empire of the Medici family in Florence
Renaissance Economics
Profit-making became more important than Church doctrine
To overcome guilt, profit-makers indulge in philanthropy
Influence of guilds declining
High profits led to economic diversification
Renaissance Economics
“Cottage Industry”
Art became the way to advertise economic success
Intensified commercial competition created the need to be efficient
Renaissance Society
Renaissance is an elitist historical phenomenon
Northern Italy was urban and commercial while Southern Italy mostly was not
Very family-oriented society
Marriages were frequently arranged to strengthen business ties
Renaissance Society
Father’s authority over his family
Some wealthy women played an important role in Italian city-states
--Isabella d’Este of Mantua
Concentration of wealth among great families
-- “populo grosso”
Renaissance Society
Extreme social stratification divided into factions around the wealthiest families
Poor increasingly attempting to improve their social status
--The Ciompi Revolt (1378)
-- “populo minuto”
“The Cult of the Individual”
Renaissance Society
Number of portraits painted during this era illustrates focus on the individual
A true nobleman
Growing humanism and secularism in a Christian context
Focus on man’s free will
Rewards for living excellently came in this life
Renaissance Politics
Same pattern and problems as those of the Greek city-states
Inter-city warfare led to new advances in diplomacy
-- “balance of power”
Northern Italian “communes”
The Peace of Lodi (1454)
Renaissance Politics
Rome, Venice, Milan, Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples
Renaissance Venice
Renaissance Florence
--Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-1492)
1300’s republicanism became 1400’s despotism—with the exception of Venice
Renaissance Politics
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)
-- “The Prince”
The goal of the prince must be power
Cynical view of human nature
Fear is a better motivator than affection
Politics as the art of deception
Renaissance Politics (cont)
Ancient and contemporary examples of effective political leaders
--Cesare Borgia
A new realism in political thought
1400’s “Civic” humanism
Leonardo Bruni’s The New Cicero
Henry VIII as a Renaissance prince
Renaissance Art and Architecture
The proliferation of portraiture and its significance
The depiction of nudes
Nudity in medieval art
Imitation of nature was a primary goal
Pagan scenes and themes such as classical mythology were popular subjects with no apologies to the Church
Renaissance Art and Architecture
Boticelli’s “Birth of Venus”
Giotto’s admiration for Saint Francis
Status of artist is elevated to cultural hero
Renaissance art stressed proportion, balance and harmony—and was not otherworldly
Artistic problems of perspective and composition addressed
Renaissance Art and Architecture
These problems were solved by emphasizing the mathematical side of painting
--Brunelleschi’s “linear perspective”
Innovations in Renaissance painting
- “chiaroscuro” (bold contrasts affecting a whole composition)
- “sfumato” (overlaying translucent layers of colour to create perceptions of depth, volume and form)
Renaissance Art and Architecture
Differences between Italian and Northern European painting
--Italian frescoes vs. Northern European altar pieces
Jan Van Eyck’s oil paintings
Rome became the center of the High Renaissance (1480-1520)
Renaissance Art and Architecture
Raphael (1483-1520)
Man of great sensitivity and kindness
Died at the age of 37
“The School of Athens”
Famous for frescoes in the Vatican Palace
Renaissance Art and Architecture
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)
True Renaissance Man
Scientist, inventor, engineer and naturalist
Dissected Corpses
Short attention span
Renaissance Art and Architecture
Michelangelo
Neo-Platonist
Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
Conflict with Pope Julius II
Incredible energy and endurance
“Mannerism”
Renaissance Education and Philosophy
Humanistic age
Various types of humanism
Great fervor displayed in finding and collecting old documents
Leads to critical examination of documents
--Lorenzo Valla
Education produces moral uplift
Renaissance Education and Philosophy
A true liberal education
Humanist education for women
Love for the study of history most of all
A Greek language fad after 1454
Petrarch (1304-1374): the Father of Italian Renaissance humanism
Focus on the individual and his dignity
Spread of Humanism to the Rest of Europe
Popular publications in the early days of the printing press
Thomas More
--Utopia
--Executed by Henry VIII in 1535
Erasmus—Dutch Christian Humanist
Allowed a pan-European movement to begin
Ireland in the Renaissance? Rus et Urbes
Ireland is generally represented as a blank spot on the map for the Renaissance.
Broadly speaking this period, from the 14th century to the 16th century is characterised as barbarous.
Is this to misunderstand some of the broader patterns in Irish society, best exemplified by the presence of the rural and urban residences known as Tower Houses.
Urban houses
Newcastle Lyons
Urban houses: Dalkey
Tradition has it that there were seven castles in Dalkey (recorded in 1770).
It was the unofficial port for Dublin from the late 14th century when the mouth of the Liffey silted up.
Urban houses: Dalkey
Dalkey had begun to prosper in the early 14th century, although it had been in existence on lands owned by the archbishop since at least the mid-13th century.
It was never given a charter.
Dalkey
There were already 39 burgesses in Dalkey in 1326.
A 1385 petition by the Dublin merchants stated that: For want of deep water in the harbour there never has been anchorage for large ships laden with wine, iron or other commodities. All such anchor at Dalkey within six leagues of Dublin.
Dalkey
Dalkey was an expensive stopover – carriage to Dublin by horse and cart was some 10% of the cost of the goods.
Some ships were merely lightened on their way to Dublin.
Dalkey
In 1482 the archbishop was granted a market and the it was claimed Dalkey could muster 200 men-at-arms.
There were gates at the ends of the main street.
Dalkey
There was also a town ditch.
Some traces of a 2 m high bank and a defensive ditch survived around the town.
Dalkey
The full circuit is not clear today.
Dalkey
Of the seven castles, only two are visible today while the location of up to four others are also known (in 1770, one was inhabited, two were pubs, one had a roof, one was a stable, one part of an old cabin and one was demolished).
Of the two surviving castles, one is now the town hall.
Goat Castle, Dalkey
Name derives from the crest of the Cheevers family which was a demi-goat, although the name itself comes from Norman French ‘chevre’ which means goat.
Goat Castle, Dalkey
Garderobe in north wall (opposite corner from door).
Storage area below arch of vault.
Wall walk at roof level where there are two turrets and battlements.
Two machicolations projecting slightly beyond the battlements.
Possibly 15th century in date.
Archbolds Castle, Dalkey
Archbolds Castle is on the opposite side of the street to Goat Castle.
May have been the subject of a grant to a John Dongan in 1585 but probably never owned by the Archbolds.
Archbolds Castle, Dalkey
Vaulted at ground floor level with a storage area like Goat Castle.
Access to upstairs via an inter-mural staircase.
There is a large fireplace in the third storey.
Archbolds Castle, Dalkey
Wall-walk at roof level.
There is a single surviving turret.
Machicolations from the battlements protect the door.
Dublin walls (1904 reconstruction map)
John Speeds map of Dublin 1610
Dublin walls
Mural towers appear to have been built for the Viking town defences as the re-built gatehouse at the west of the town became known as the Newgate in 1177.
Certainly by 1190 there were payments for the building of the city walls.
By 1225 there were murage grants for fortifying the city.
Genevel’s Tower
On Ross Road to the west of the castle.
Measures 11.60 m by 6.40 m wide. Survived to first floor level.
Mural tower from early to mid-13th century.
Genevels Tower
Isolde’s Tower
Part of late 13th century extension to the walls.
Up to 4.70 m internal diameter, with 3.90 m thick walls.
Isolde’s Tower
Isolde’s Tower
Perrots 1585 survey of the walls and tower provides us the names assigned to them at that date.
Isolde’s Tower
Stanihurst relates that it was a ‘castle of pleasure of the king to recreat themselves therein…’
Tristan came from Dublin to bring his lover Isolde back to Cornwall. She was already engaged and Tristan was injured in a duel with her betrothed. She nursed him back to health.
Isolde’s Tower
Rural houses
In 1429, a statute of Henry VI decreed that a grant of £10 would be available to every man in the Pale who built a castle of stone by 1439
This should measure 20 ft by 16 ft and 40 ft high
This appears to be the origin of tower houses
Tower houses
True tower houses continued to be built into the 16th century and 17th century in various forms
They may have a surrounding bawn or defended enclosure
They incorporate features such as helical (spiral) staircases and intra-mural passages
Bagenal’s Castle, Newry
Built by Nicholas Bagenal in 1570s
Plans survive in Crown Records Office in Kew London
Ground Floor
First Floor
Second Floor
Top Floor
Excavation showed the 1570s ground plan to have a number of inaccuracies.
The real ground plan (below) suggests a tower house like Ballug, Roodstown or Termonfeckin in Louth (right)
Originates in 4th century AD, although there some Christian Orders of widows and virgins are mentioned in the New Testament.
Many of the early communities were Eremitic – i.e. the retreated from society to live as hermits and devote their time to prayer.
Western monasticism really follows Benedict writing what became the Rules of St. Benedict (although he doesn’t seem to have consciously intended to establish a monastic order).
Benedict
Written at his monastery in Cassino (the image is the first page of a manuscript copy).
Benedict promoted prayer and work.
He suggested the day and its activities should be properly and routinely organised.
Crusading, Orders, Church
From the 11th century, religious orders took on a more significant role.
With the onset of crusading as a political, economic and social force, the influence of the church increased dramatically.
Secular power, national identities and religion became intertwined.
Religious orders (like the Dominicans and Franciscans) preached crusade doctrine.
By the 1270s (when the crusades effectively ended) all of the ‘West’ was divided into collecting zones for regular clerical taxes, redemptions, donations, alms and legacies.
Crusading and indulgences…
Aug 1198: Pope Innocent III called the Fourth Crusade
1199: Political Crusade against Markward of Anweiler
Nov 1202: Venetians and Crusaders sacked Zara, a Christian port on the Dalmatian Coast
Apr, 1204: Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople
1208: Pope Innocent III called the Albigensian Crusade
Jul 1212: King Alfonso VIII of Castile expanded the Reconquista; King Sancho VII of Navarre won the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
Crusading and indulgences…
Dec 1215: Pope Innocent III issued Ad liberandam calling the Fifth Crusade during the Fourth Lateran Council
Dec 1217: Fifth Crusaders attacked Mount Tabor
May 1218: Fifth Crusaders began the siege of Damietta
Aug 1221: Fifth Crusade, in the Nile Delta, surrendered
Jun 1228: Emperor Frederick II, King of Jerusalem through marriage to Isabell (Yolanda), sailed East on the Sixth Crusade
Feb 1229: Al-Kamil surrendered Jerusalem to Emperor Frederick II
1240s: Popes Gregory IX and Innocent IV called Political Crusades against Emperor Frederick II
1248: King Louis IX departed for the Holy Land on the Seventh Crusade
Jun, 1249: Louis reached Damietta
Apr, 1254: Louis departed the Holy Land
Crusading and indulgences…
1268: The Fall of Antioch
Jul, 1270: Louis IX's Last Crusade (Eighth Crusade); Louis died in Tunis
1271-2: Edward I on Ninth Crusade.
1289: The Fall of Tripoli
1291: The Fall of Acre
1302: Siege of Ruad
End of Outremer
Crusading and indulgences…
1147 – 15th century: German crusades
Oct 1307: King Philip IV supressed the Templars in France
1330-1523: Hospitallers continued crusade action from Rhodes
1334: Crusader navy defeated Turkish pirates in the Gulf of Edremit
1334-1402: Crusaders held the port of Smyrna
1365: Crusaders under Peter I of Cyprus sacked Alexandria
1396: Crusade of Nicopolis
1426: Egyptians gained control over Cyprus
Indulging…
Crusading continued to be a central feature of medieval society
Courtly gossip concerned possible crusade ventures
So did some academic and theological writing
Crusade taxes and sales of indulgences continued (even with actual crusades)
In England, 1444-1502, there 12 indulgence sales campaigns for crusades
One of the first printed documents – an indulgence form issues to Henry and Katherine Langley in 1476.
Orders set-up during the Crusades…
Cistercians (Cistercians of the Ancient Observance)- O.Cist./S.O.Cist (1098)
Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta (Order of Malta) - S.M.O.M. (1099)
Canons Regular Canons Regular of St. Augustine CRSA (1100)
Canons Regular of Premontre (Norbertines) (1121)
Teutonic Order (1190)
Trinitarians (Order of the Most Holy Trinity) - O.SS.T. (1194)
Camaldolese (Camaldolese Benedictines) - O.S.B. Cam. (1200s)
Hospital Sisters of the Mercy of Jesus (1200s)
Carmelites (Order of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel) - O.Carm., O.C.D., O.C.D.S. (1209)
Franciscan Friars (Order of Friars Minor) - O.F.M. (1209)
Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross (Crosiers) (1210)
Poor Clares (Nuns of the Order of St. Clare/(Order of Poor Ladies) - O.S.C. (1212)
Dominicans (Order of Friars Preachers) - O.P. (1216)
English Benedictine Congregation - O.S.B. (1216)
Mercedarians (Order of Our Lady of Mercy) - O. de M. (1218)
Adrian Dominican Sisters (1233)
Servites (Order of Friars, Servants of Mary) - O.S.M. (1233)
Celestines (defunct) (1244)
Pauline Fathers (Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit) - O.S.P.P.E. (1250)
Augustinians (Order of Saint Augustine) - O.S.A. (1256)
Later Orders…
Canons Regular of the Holy Cross OSC (1311)
Olivetans (Order of Our Lady of Mount Olivet) (1313)
Bridgettines (Order of Our Savior) - O.Ss.S. (1350)
Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular - T.O.R. (1447)
Alexians - C.F.A. (1469)
Oratorians (Oratory of St. Philip Neri) - C.O., Cong. Orat. (1500s)
Capuchins (Order of Friars Minor Capuchin) - O.F.M. Cap. (1520)
Theatines (Congregation of Clerics Regular) - C.R. (1524)
Barnabites (Clerics Regular of Saint Paul) - B., C.R.S.P. (1530)
Society of Jesus - S.J.or S.I. (1534)
Ursulines (Ursuline Nuns of the Roman Union) - O.S.U. (1535)
Angelic Sisters of St. Paul - A.S.S.P. (1535)
Capuchin Poor Clares (1538)
Adornos (Clerics Regular Minor) - C.R.M. (1563)
Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God (Order of Hospitallers) - O.H. (1572)
Discalced Augustinians - O.A.D. (1592)
Discalced Carmelites - O.C.D. (1593)
Jesuits (Society of Jesus) - S.J. (1540)
Religious Order: Cistercian example
Cistercians, Tintern, 1131.
Cistercians
The Order of Cistercian is sometimes called the White Monks (from the colour of the habit, over which a black scapular or apron is sometimes worn).
The first abbey founded by Robert of Molesme in 1098, at Cîteaux Abbey. Two others, Saint Alberic of Citeaux and Saint Stephen Harding, are considered co-founders, and Bernard of Clairvaux is associated with the fast spread of the order during the 12th century.
Santa Maria de Alcobaça
Founded 1178
Cistercians
Developed an organised system to selling their farm produce which contributed to the commercial progress of the countries of western Europe.
To the wool and cloth trade was especially fostered by them – led to Englands commercial prosperity.
Farming operations could not be carried out by the monks alone - lay brothers were introduced from the peasantry and were simple uneducated men, separate from the monks, but having their own fixed round of prayer and religious exercises.
It was by this system that the Cistercians disseminated their agricultural developments, playing their part in the progress of European civilisation.
Cistercians
According to Jean Gimpel, their high level of industrial technology facilitated the diffusion of new techniques: "Every monastery had a model factory, often as large as the church and only several feet away, and waterpower drove the machinery of the various industries located on its floor.“
Waterpower was used for crushing wheat, sieving flour, fulling cloth and tanning – a "level of technological achievement [that] could have been observed in practically all" of the Cistercian monasteries.
Nuestra Senora de Rueda (Our Lady of the Waterwheel
In Spain, one of the earliest surviving Cistercian houses – the Real Monasterio de Nuestra Senora de Rueda in the Aragon region – is a good example of early hydrologic engineering, using a large waterwheel for power and an elaborate hydrological circulation system for central heating.
Cistercians
Known to have been skilled metallurgists.
Their technological advances were transmitted by the order.
Became the leading iron producers in Champagne, from the mid-13th century to the 17th century, also using the phosphate-rich slag from their furnaces as an agricultural fertiliser.
Alain Erlande-Brandenburg claims that the quality of Cistercian architecture from the 1120s onwards is related directly to the Order's technological inventiveness. They placed importance on metal, both the extraction of the ore and its subsequent processing. At the abbey of Fontenay the forge is not outside, as one might expect, but inside the monastic enclosure: metalworking was thus part of the activity of the monks and not of the lay brothers. This spirit accounted for the progress that appeared in spheres other than building, and particularly in agriculture.
Fontenay
Founded by Bernard in 1118.
Included forge (see 19 and 20 on the plan).
Very wealthy in 12th and 13th century.
Medieval Dublin and Religious Orders
By the middle of the 11th century, the classical religious orders of Europe begin to appear in Ireland, such as the likely Benedictine foundation at Christchurch.
By this time, almost all of the orders favour urban locations.
In Ireland before this time, abbeys may even have had many of the functions of urban centres.
Dublin Abbeys and Priories
Benedictine house established by 1084, at an unknown site
St. Marys founded as a Savigniac house in 1139, became Cistercian in 1147
St. Mary de Hogges – Arroasian nuns, founded 1146
All Saints Priory founded 1162
Holy Trinity (Augustinians at Christchurch) – 1163
Kilmainham (Knights Hospitaller) – 1174
St. Thomas (Augustinians) – 1177
St. Saviours – Dominicans – 1218
Franciscans at Francis Street by 1233.
St. Marys Abbey (Chapterhouse)
Savigniac house in 1139, became Cistercian in 1147
St. Marys Abbey
In the early 1880s, seven feet beneath street level, the Chapter House of St Mary's Abbey was rediscovered under a bakery.
St Mary's was a large Cistercian Abbey founded by the Benedictines in 1139.
It was dissolved in the 1530s and then fell into disrepair.
After that the stones from the building were plundered for use elsewhere with stones being used in the construction of Essex Bridge.
St. Marys Abbey
The Chapter House is the sole remaining part of the complex and dates from 1190.
It used to be possible to lease it for meetings and it was here at a meeting of the Privy Council in 1534 that Silken Thomas Fitzgerald started his rebellion against the king. After hearing of his fathers execution, he flung down his sword of state and marched out to raise an army. Subsequently it transpired that his father had not been executed.
St. Marys Abbey
St. Marys Abbey
The Chapter House consists of a simple vaulted chamber with single light gothic windows in the west façade, now obscured by large clumsy light fittings mimicing windows.
In 1976, the stones of a section of cloister was excavated on a building site on Cook Street.
It is believed that they were removed there are the dissolution.
The section has been reassembled and can be seen above.
St. Marys Abbey
St. Marys Abbey
Reformation
1517 Johann Tetzel sold “indulgences” in Juterbog near Wittenberg
Martin Luther nailed “the 95 Thesis” on indulgences to the door of the castle-church in Wittenberg.
Symbolized the beginning of Reformation as a kind of “protest”
Reformation
Rise of Christian mystics and a parallel in the Christian humanists
The “inquisitions” against doctrinal heresy worsened the confrontation
Add in the issues of the church and money (e.g. indulgences) and attendant corruption
Dissatisfaction with the Church
And widespread discontent over political, economic and social charge
Reformation
Martin Luther educated at the University of Erfurt (his legal career was encouraged by his proud father)
Suddenly gave up and entered the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt
Obtained a Bachelor of Theology, Master of the Sentences, & licentiate in theology
Reformation
Martin Luther was summoned to Rome for a hearing, but his prince, Elector Frederick the Wise (Saxony), arranged for a hearing before a papal legate at Augsburg in 1518
Martin Luther tried to clarify his doctrines concerning indulgences
Reformation
1519 Dr. Johann Eck a Prof. of theology, debated the issues with Luther at Leipzig
He got him to state that the Bible was the sole authority in religious matter & that the papacy, the entire Church hierarchy, & even Church Councils were human & therefore, not infallible
Reformation
Published “Address to be Christian Nobility” (in German) widely read.
Argued a heretic should be overcome by arguments not fire. Reduced sacraments from 7 to 2 (the Lords’ supper & baptism)
Denied the doctrine of transubstantiation
April 18, 1521 Diet at Worms: “I cannot and will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. I cannot do otherwise, here I stand, may God help me, Amen.
Reformation in England
Henry VIII (b. 1491, r. 1509-47), in 1523, “Defender of Faith” claimed by the Pope but wished to ensure the continuation of the Tudor dynasty started by his father Henry VIII after the 30 year wars of the Roses.
1st wife was his deceased brother Arthurs’ wife, Catherine of Aragon
Anne Boleyn (mother of Elizabeth I), Jane Seymour (mother of Edward VI), Anne of Cleeves, Catherine Howard, Catherine Parr
Act of Supremacy 1534 declared King as "the only Supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England“
Treasons Act 1534 made it punishable by death, to refuse to acknowledge the King as such.
After excommunication, the Peter's Pence Act reiterated that England had "no superior under God, but only your Grace" and that Henry's "imperial crown" had been diminished by "the unreasonable and uncharitable usurpations and exactions" of the Pope.
Printing
Block printing method for printing on cloth, common by 1300.
Paper relatively easily available, around 1400
Small woodcut religious images and playing cards printed on paper, in very large numbers from about 1425 onwards.
Around the mid-century, block-books, woodcut books with both text and images, usually carved in the same block, emerged as a cheaper alternative to manuscripts and books printed with movable type. These were all short heavily illustrated works, the bestsellers of the day, repeated in many different block-book versions (Bibles).
Printing
Around 1450, Johannes Gutenberg introduced movable type to Europe, along with innovations in casting the type based on a matrix and hand mould.
Printing
Communal knowledge possible
Scientists could form distant communities
Page numbering and indexes invented and used
Standardization in form and spelling
Reading moves from communal to private activity
Printing
Authorship becomes more important and profitable.
Who wrote it becomes important
Early copyright and intellectual property laws established
Decline of Latin and move towards vernacular language use
Contributed to growing nationalism
Counter-Reformation
Ignatius of Loyola (1491? – 1556)
Army officer and Christian mystic
Spiritual soldier fighting for Mother Mary & Christ
1521, he was badly wounded & crippled for life
Jesuits – demanded strict education
+ complete suppression of all self-will,
+ absolute obedience to the General of the Order, & through him, to the Pope
1534 founded the Society of Jesus in Paris
1540 Pope Paul III constituted the Society of Jesus
Emphasis on education.
Council of Trent
From December 13, 1545, to December 4, 1563
Condemnations on what it defined as Protestant heresies
Defined Church teachings in the areas of Scripture and Tradition, Original Sin, Justification, Sacraments, the Eucharist in Holy Mass and the veneration of saints
Council of Trent: outcomes
Delegates addressed abuses
Reforms addressed corruption of clergy
Training of priests regulated
Financial abuses curbed
Sale of indulgences abolished
Rejected Protestants’ emphasis on self-discipline, individual faith
Argued church help believers achieve salvation using mystery, magnificent ceremonies to inspire faith
Practical Impact?
Council of Trent: outcomes
Flaithrí Ó Maolchonaire – wrote catechism based on Trent, including the pamphlet “De statu parvulorum sine baptismo decedentium ex hac vita juxta sensum beati Augustini”
Cillin
Renaissance: Why in Italy at this Time?
Revival of Commerce and Town Building was more intense in Italy
Feudalism had less of a grip on Italy
Two competing lords for control of Italy were losing influence
Presence of antiquity was stronger in Italy than elsewhere in Europe
European Economic Recovery
Dramatic recovery of European commerce
Important industries flourish in Northern Italy
The significance of printing and mining as new industries
The fifteenth-century banking empire of the Medici family in Florence
Renaissance Economics
Profit-making became more important than Church doctrine
To overcome guilt, profit-makers indulge in philanthropy
Influence of guilds declining
High profits led to economic diversification
Renaissance Economics
“Cottage Industry”
Art became the way to advertise economic success
Intensified commercial competition created the need to be efficient
Renaissance Society
Renaissance is an elitist historical phenomenon
Northern Italy was urban and commercial while Southern Italy mostly was not
Very family-oriented society
Marriages were frequently arranged to strengthen business ties
Renaissance Society
Father’s authority over his family
Some wealthy women played an important role in Italian city-states
--Isabella d’Este of Mantua
Concentration of wealth among great families
-- “populo grosso”
Renaissance Society
Extreme social stratification divided into factions around the wealthiest families
Poor increasingly attempting to improve their social status
--The Ciompi Revolt (1378)
-- “populo minuto”
“The Cult of the Individual”
Renaissance Society
Number of portraits painted during this era illustrates focus on the individual
A true nobleman
Growing humanism and secularism in a Christian context
Focus on man’s free will
Rewards for living excellently came in this life
Renaissance Politics
Same pattern and problems as those of the Greek city-states
Inter-city warfare led to new advances in diplomacy
-- “balance of power”
Northern Italian “communes”
The Peace of Lodi (1454)
Renaissance Politics
Rome, Venice, Milan, Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples
Renaissance Venice
Renaissance Florence
--Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-1492)
1300’s republicanism became 1400’s despotism—with the exception of Venice
Renaissance Politics
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)
-- “The Prince”
The goal of the prince must be power
Cynical view of human nature
Fear is a better motivator than affection
Politics as the art of deception
Renaissance Politics (cont)
Ancient and contemporary examples of effective political leaders
--Cesare Borgia
A new realism in political thought
1400’s “Civic” humanism
Leonardo Bruni’s The New Cicero
Henry VIII as a Renaissance prince
Renaissance Art and Architecture
The proliferation of portraiture and its significance
The depiction of nudes
Nudity in medieval art
Imitation of nature was a primary goal
Pagan scenes and themes such as classical mythology were popular subjects with no apologies to the Church
Renaissance Art and Architecture
Boticelli’s “Birth of Venus”
Giotto’s admiration for Saint Francis
Status of artist is elevated to cultural hero
Renaissance art stressed proportion, balance and harmony—and was not otherworldly
Artistic problems of perspective and composition addressed
Renaissance Art and Architecture
These problems were solved by emphasizing the mathematical side of painting
--Brunelleschi’s “linear perspective”
Innovations in Renaissance painting
- “chiaroscuro” (bold contrasts affecting a whole composition)
- “sfumato” (overlaying translucent layers of colour to create perceptions of depth, volume and form)
Renaissance Art and Architecture
Differences between Italian and Northern European painting
--Italian frescoes vs. Northern European altar pieces
Jan Van Eyck’s oil paintings
Rome became the center of the High Renaissance (1480-1520)
Renaissance Art and Architecture
Raphael (1483-1520)
Man of great sensitivity and kindness
Died at the age of 37
“The School of Athens”
Famous for frescoes in the Vatican Palace
Renaissance Art and Architecture
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)
True Renaissance Man
Scientist, inventor, engineer and naturalist
Dissected Corpses
Short attention span
Renaissance Art and Architecture
Michelangelo
Neo-Platonist
Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
Conflict with Pope Julius II
Incredible energy and endurance
“Mannerism”
Renaissance Education and Philosophy
Humanistic age
Various types of humanism
Great fervor displayed in finding and collecting old documents
Leads to critical examination of documents
--Lorenzo Valla
Education produces moral uplift
Renaissance Education and Philosophy
A true liberal education
Humanist education for women
Love for the study of history most of all
A Greek language fad after 1454
Petrarch (1304-1374): the Father of Italian Renaissance humanism
Focus on the individual and his dignity
Spread of Humanism to the Rest of Europe
Popular publications in the early days of the printing press
Thomas More
--Utopia
--Executed by Henry VIII in 1535
Erasmus—Dutch Christian Humanist
Allowed a pan-European movement to begin
Ireland in the Renaissance? Rus et Urbes
Ireland is generally represented as a blank spot on the map for the Renaissance.
Broadly speaking this period, from the 14th century to the 16th century is characterised as barbarous.
Is this to misunderstand some of the broader patterns in Irish society, best exemplified by the presence of the rural and urban residences known as Tower Houses.
Urban houses
Newcastle Lyons
Urban houses: Dalkey
Tradition has it that there were seven castles in Dalkey (recorded in 1770).
It was the unofficial port for Dublin from the late 14th century when the mouth of the Liffey silted up.
Urban houses: Dalkey
Dalkey had begun to prosper in the early 14th century, although it had been in existence on lands owned by the archbishop since at least the mid-13th century.
It was never given a charter.
Dalkey
There were already 39 burgesses in Dalkey in 1326.
A 1385 petition by the Dublin merchants stated that: For want of deep water in the harbour there never has been anchorage for large ships laden with wine, iron or other commodities. All such anchor at Dalkey within six leagues of Dublin.
Dalkey
Dalkey was an expensive stopover – carriage to Dublin by horse and cart was some 10% of the cost of the goods.
Some ships were merely lightened on their way to Dublin.
Dalkey
In 1482 the archbishop was granted a market and the it was claimed Dalkey could muster 200 men-at-arms.
There were gates at the ends of the main street.
Dalkey
There was also a town ditch.
Some traces of a 2 m high bank and a defensive ditch survived around the town.
Dalkey
The full circuit is not clear today.
Dalkey
Of the seven castles, only two are visible today while the location of up to four others are also known (in 1770, one was inhabited, two were pubs, one had a roof, one was a stable, one part of an old cabin and one was demolished).
Of the two surviving castles, one is now the town hall.
Goat Castle, Dalkey
Name derives from the crest of the Cheevers family which was a demi-goat, although the name itself comes from Norman French ‘chevre’ which means goat.
Goat Castle, Dalkey
Garderobe in north wall (opposite corner from door).
Storage area below arch of vault.
Wall walk at roof level where there are two turrets and battlements.
Two machicolations projecting slightly beyond the battlements.
Possibly 15th century in date.
Archbolds Castle, Dalkey
Archbolds Castle is on the opposite side of the street to Goat Castle.
May have been the subject of a grant to a John Dongan in 1585 but probably never owned by the Archbolds.
Archbolds Castle, Dalkey
Vaulted at ground floor level with a storage area like Goat Castle.
Access to upstairs via an inter-mural staircase.
There is a large fireplace in the third storey.
Archbolds Castle, Dalkey
Wall-walk at roof level.
There is a single surviving turret.
Machicolations from the battlements protect the door.
Dublin walls (1904 reconstruction map)
John Speeds map of Dublin 1610
Dublin walls
Mural towers appear to have been built for the Viking town defences as the re-built gatehouse at the west of the town became known as the Newgate in 1177.
Certainly by 1190 there were payments for the building of the city walls.
By 1225 there were murage grants for fortifying the city.
Genevel’s Tower
On Ross Road to the west of the castle.
Measures 11.60 m by 6.40 m wide. Survived to first floor level.
Mural tower from early to mid-13th century.
Genevels Tower
Isolde’s Tower
Part of late 13th century extension to the walls.
Up to 4.70 m internal diameter, with 3.90 m thick walls.
Isolde’s Tower
Isolde’s Tower
Perrots 1585 survey of the walls and tower provides us the names assigned to them at that date.
Isolde’s Tower
Stanihurst relates that it was a ‘castle of pleasure of the king to recreat themselves therein…’
Tristan came from Dublin to bring his lover Isolde back to Cornwall. She was already engaged and Tristan was injured in a duel with her betrothed. She nursed him back to health.
Isolde’s Tower
Rural houses
In 1429, a statute of Henry VI decreed that a grant of £10 would be available to every man in the Pale who built a castle of stone by 1439
This should measure 20 ft by 16 ft and 40 ft high
This appears to be the origin of tower houses
Tower houses
True tower houses continued to be built into the 16th century and 17th century in various forms
They may have a surrounding bawn or defended enclosure
They incorporate features such as helical (spiral) staircases and intra-mural passages
Bagenal’s Castle, Newry
Built by Nicholas Bagenal in 1570s
Plans survive in Crown Records Office in Kew London
Ground Floor
First Floor
Second Floor
Top Floor
Excavation showed the 1570s ground plan to have a number of inaccuracies.
The real ground plan (below) suggests a tower house like Ballug, Roodstown or Termonfeckin in Louth (right)
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