Sligo History
Project
Project
The Sligonian History of Ireland
The Cleric
Pre-Christian
Our understanding of pre-Christian (commonly called "Celtic") Irish literature and beliefs is reliant on these monks who first wrote down the old literature. Understanding their world is key to understanding what went before them.
When did Christianity arrive?
There was not one moment when this religion arrived, nor one person who brought it, but many, and over a long period of time.
the first monasteries were in Egypt
spread through the transport network of the Empire Meanwhile,
Christianity had reached the Atlantic coast by the 2nd Century. By the 3rd century and Ireland by the 4th century. Dates of persecutions until 320 and probable push to
cenobyytes and anchorites
sarabaites and gyrovagi
Regional differences in Ireland
Political differences in autonomuos provinces ruled by dynasties of families with their allies and subjects. some differences in influence with early influence in the south from the early British church.
In the north and west saw the development of the Columban network of monasteries linked to the Ui Neill and centred on Iona and later Kells.
Drumcliff and Screen were in
Barbarian Lands: Beyond the Empire
Ireland was never conquered by Rome. This continues to be of the greatest importance to the present day, and it is vital to understand how Christianity developed in Ireland. Rome is both central to the story, peripheral in the sense that Rome was always remote to the Irish.
Because it developed outside Roman authority it was of a different character to that which was to develop within the Empire.
Rome opposed Christianity for three centuries, until its sudden adoption by the Emperor Constantine in 312 AD. From the first century to the third Christians and members of other beliefs were fleeing the periodic persecutions to safety beyond the frontiers. Ireland was one such sanctuary, in fact the only one in western Europe.
Ireland therefore has much in common with other peoples that were both on the frontier or just beyond it, and that had Christian populations at this time. Ethiopia, Arabia, Egypt, Persia and Armenia.
Rome was not a missionary church.
Pagan Rome had regarded all outside her borders to be barbarian and expected all within to recognise the imperial cult. So it continued under Christianity.
Rome did not regard the conversion of barbarians as a priority and would not seek to convert people without bringing them within the Empire as they are now, in their minds, one and the same thing. For this reason, missionaries from Roman Christianity are not numerous.
When Palladius is sent to Ireland in 431, it is as Bishop to "those believing in Christ" not as a missionary to win new converts.In fact it is likely he was sent in order to combat the Pelagian beliefs and other unorthodox practices then prevalent in Ireland.
The parallel with Ethiopia outside but in contact with the Empire for many centuries the early arrival of monks and the survival into the present day of their ancient practices.
st frumentius
According to the 4th century historian Rufinus (x.9), who cites Frumentius' brother Edesius as his authority, as children (ca. 316) Frumentius and Edesius accompanied their uncle Meropius on a voyage to Ethiopia. When their ship stopped at one of the harbors of the Red Sea, people of the neighborhood massacred the whole crew, with the exception of the two boys, who were taken as slaves to the King of Axum. wikipedia
he believed Frumentius the most suitable person for the job and consecrated him as bishop, traditionally in the year 328, or according to others, between 340-346. Frumentius returned to Ethiopia, erected his episcopal see at Axum, baptized King Ezana, who had meanwhile succeeded to the throne, built many churches, and spread Christianity throughout Ethiopia.
A hierarchy of "Kidusan" (angelic messengers and saints) conveys the prayers of the faithful to God and carries out the divine will, so when an Ethiopian Christian is in difficulty, he or she appeals to these as well as to God. In more formal and regular rituals, priests communicate on behalf of the community, and only priests may enter the inner sanctum of the usually circular or octagonal church where the tabot ("ark") dedicated to the church's patron saint is housed.
On important religious holidays, the tabot is carried on the head of a priest and escorted in procession outside the church. It is the tabot, not the church, which is consecrated. Only those who feel pure, have fasted regularly, and have generally conducted themselves properly may enter the middle ring to receive communion. At many services, most parish members remain in the outer ring, where debteras sing hymns and dance.
Ethiopian Orthodox believers are strict Trinitarians,[13] maintaining the Orthodox teaching that God is united in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
An important religious requirement, however, is the keeping of fast days. All devout believers are to maintain the full schedule of fasts, comprising 250 days.
- Fast for Hudadi or Abiye Tsome (Lent), 56 days.
- Fast of the Apostles, 10–40 days, which the Apostles kept after they had received the Holy Spirit. It begins after Pentecost.
- The fast of Assumption, 16 days.
- The gahad of Christmas (on the eve of Christmas).
- The fast preceding Christmas, 40 days (Advent). It begins with Sibket on 15th Hedar and ends on Christmas Eve with the feast of Gena and the 28th of Tahsas.
- The fast of Nineveh, commemorating the preaching of Jonah. It comes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the third week before Lent.
- The gahad of Epiphany, fast on the eve of Epiphany.
In addition to standard holy days, most Christians observe many saint's days. A man might give a small feast on his personal saint's day. The local voluntary association (called the maheber) connected with each church honors its patron saint with a special service and a feast two or three times a year
Priests intervene and perform exorcisms on behalf of those believed to be afflicted by demons or buda.
canon
book of enoch in ethiopian canon It is not part of the biblical canon as used by Jews, apart from Beta Israel. It is regarded as canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Eritrean Orthodox Church, but no other Christian group.Classical Rabbinic literature is characterized by near silence concerning Enoch. It seems plausible that Rabbinic polemics against Enochic texts and traditions might have led to the loss of these books to Rabbinic Judaism
‘An apocryphal “Book of Enoch and Elias” as a possible source of the
Navigatio Sancti Brendani’, Celtica, 5 (1960), 192–206;
navigatio sancti brendani
- They find an island with a dog, mysterious hospitality (no people, but food left out), and an Ethiopian devil.
- One latecomer admits to having stolen from the mysterious island, Brendan exorcises the Ethiopian devil from the latecomer, latecomer dies and is buried.
Ethiopian Coptic Christian handwritten Bible Manuscript - Psalter. This Codex out of the pouch measures 6.25 inches long by 4.82 inches wide and is 2.34 inches thick. This Bible has two hand carved wooden covers on the front and back through which very fine holes are drilled and strung with string which goes through all the pages to make a very simple yet effective binding. This bible has been covered with embossed leather with the sign of the cross on the front and back. The pages are made of goat skin called vellum that has an amazing parchment like texture. The writting is in black and red paint or ink (red usually being reserved for the names of God, Saints and the Holy Family) made from plant juices and is in Ethiopic (Ge'ez) a language no longer used today except by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church for religious purposes.
It was the usual practice that, when a book was in too delicate a condition to be used for its original purpose any longer, it was sealed inside its shrine and given to a prominent family who would act as guardians and keepers of the holy object. Since the guardians usually had no use for literacy, they had no reason to break open the cumdachs and disturb the worn-out contents; and the shrines themselves came to have a certain utility, as we shall see. The families associated with the different cumdachs are: the Cathach - O'Donnell/ Magroarty; St. Caillen - O'Rourke; St. Mulling - Kavanagh; Dimma - O'Carroll Eli; Domnach Airgid - Maguire; Stowe Missal - O'Kennedy; the Misach - O'Morison; and the Soiscel Molaise - O'Meehan (Kelly 1994:286).
"It appears the manuscript's leather binding came from Egypt. The question is whether the papyrus came with the cover or if it was added.
"It is possible that the imperfections in the hide may allow us to confirm the leather is Egyptian.
Pray for Olan the Egyptian
In Latin the Ceili De Alcuin described as Pueri Egyptiaci “Egyptian boys”
the seven Egyptiaci, cross slabs, the Coptic wheel cross known to have existed in Egypt prior to its adoption in Ireland,
manuscript bindings and decoration of manuscripts with dot patterns.
The singing of Psalms, The Saltair found in a bog in 200 the liturgy to be sung by the monks,
the Ceile De were particuary associated with the musical aspects of worship and with medicine.
A similarity between Gaelic liturgical chanting and both Coptic and Ethiopian liturgy and ways of worship. The Copts shows much influence of Arab and Islamic singing
due to the similarity to Ethiopian music
To see this we must go to Scotland. By a twist of history preserves just such a form of singing.
The Gaelic psalm singing preserved only on the islands of Scotland by the reformed Protestant churches. This beautiful and strange music. These churches do us a favour Also it shows that this was the method of worship practiced in the Irish church until the 17th Century and we owe its survival to the split with Rome. If we had any doubt that the Roman church was hostile to this ancient form of worship. It is now extinct in Ireland where the Roman church has held sway for the last few centuries.
the Irish Church preached an Orthodox Christianity free of Roman legalism and was in effect a provincial form of the Orthodox Christianity
the forest of foclut
the greatest cities of the Empire at this time were Antioch and Alexandria from here transmitted to the western districts that still maintained some Roman culture mainly southwest France and Spain and to the Romanised British.
Spain and the destruction of the Jewish temple in 60 AD the Jewish diaspora provided communities sympathetic to Christian or quasi Christian beliefs Spain had a large Jewish population from this time on.
In 432 AD in 431 before the arrival of Patrick Palladius was sent as bishop to those believing in Christ.
Several holy men were active in the south prior to Patricks time. Declan mac Eircc, Ciaran of Saighir, Ailbe of Emly, Abban of Moyarney. Archaeological evidence also points to late third century Christian activity, particularly in the south of the country.
What was Christianity then?
The only certain thing is that it was not the western Roman Catholicism we see today, for this is projected back on this period
is anachronistic developed later from about 350 to 450 it began to but was interrupted by the invasion of German tribes from the East.
By 410 Rome was sacked and its court had fled. it has often been wondered why the Irish adopted the religion of those who regarded them as barbarians, but this did not happen
the eastern empire remained the most important far more diverse the monasteries were cosmopolitan aramaic hebrew coptic greek and latin was used in liturgy.
in the cultural maelstrom of the middle east where christianity first developed
buddhism zoroastrian jewish egyptian essenes nazarenes zealots manichaens we must also remember the classical schools of Greek philosophy were still in operation until the sixth century
Christianity as Resistance to Rome
most important the jewish traditions that rooted in the sadduccess and pharisees conflict between those who regarded themselves as broadly two forms that which paul adapted for gentiles and the other rooted in Jewish resistance to Rome.
jesus and the line of David and the John the Baptist was a Levite and therefore of the legitimate line of priests of the Jewish people his
for it is within the Empire that Christianity first develops as a movement against Rome.
Roman Christianity: Corporate Take Over?
In the year 312 AD Christianity was declared the official religion of the Empire.
Christianity within the Empire now began to develop a Roman church as part of, and modelled on, the civil service of the Empire and took on the trappings and procedures of its venerable institutions.
Began to enforce a centralised "orthodoxy" as it had done for centuries when the cult of the Emperor and traditional Roman beliefs were enforced by Roman might.
The Gallican Rite is a historical sub-grouping of the Roman Catholic liturgy in western Europe; it is not a single rite but actually a family of rites within the Western Rite which comprised the majority use of most of Christianity in western Europe for the greater part of the 1st millennium AD.
The rites were first developed in the early centuries as the Syriac-Greek rites of Jerusalem and Antioch and were first translated into Latin in various parts of the Roman West. By the 5th century, it was well established in Gaul.
Ireland too is known to have had a form of this Gallican Liturgy mixed with Celtic customs. The Mozarabic rite shares similarities with the Ambrosian rite and Gallican rite, and differs from the Roman rite.
The first is, of course, the Roman Rite, which, to encourage unity of faith and worship, generally replaced the Mozarabic in Iberia from about 1080.
The Mozarabic Rite may have emphasized the Blessed Virgin Mary's role even more than did the liturgy of Rome. It also exalts Mary by addressing her directly in prayer, which the Roman Rite does not do
Extensive use is made of responsories between the celebrant (priest) and faithful during the Mozarabic Mass,
Jewish rebellion and Diaspora
The Roman Empire was cosmopolitan. Legions from Syria and North Africa were stationed in the North of England.
From the first century onward, following the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem, there were Jews scattered all over the Empire, with substantial numbers far to the west in Spain. By the early third century there were Christians in southwest France, directly on the trade routes to Ireland. Ireland also had extensive contact with Romanised British in Wales and Cornwall as we see with the capture of Patrick in a slave raid.
We must not forget that many different religions spread along the excellent communications of the Empire.The worship of Mithras, the followers of Mani (of which St. Augustine was one). The Greek philosophical schools were still in operation.
Any and all of these beliefs may have turned up in Ireland at different times.
Jesus of Nazareth
Beyond the Frontier
The Centre
Rome
Jesus was Jewish
Remember that the first Christians were Jews, Jews who believed that Jesus was the Christ or Messiah who had been prophesied for years to deliver Israel from
there was much dissent with Roman Occupation and even more so with the Hellenization of Jewish society and religion. For centuries, holy men had taken to the wastes in protest at
Christianity spread quickly from its 1st century beginnings in Jerusalem, first to the major cities of the Empire such as Antioch in Syria and Alexandria in Egypt.
It also split early into different with St. Paul taking it upon himself to lead his mission to the Gentiles. diverse and fluid, the monasteries accomodated a wide variety of viewpoints.
Persecutions were occurring with varying intensity in the Roman Empire until 312 AD and many fled these persecutions.
They fled the cities and headed for the borders of the Empire where central authority was weak or intermittent. One such place was the Egyptian desert
In the west there was nowhere else to run. Ireland and Scotland were the only part of western Europe not under occupation.
the issues were ones that seem trivial to us now, but if we look behind them we can see why they were important. the boil down to issues that mean whether a centralised church was necessary or not. Obviously for Rome this was extremely important, but for many others this was beside the point, nothing to do with religion, or directly contrary to the original ethos of Christianity which
particular problem in Ireland because Rome had no power to enforce edicts and no historical claim on this country. Hence texts that were anathemizedand successfully suppressed elsewhere continued in use in Ireland, right up till the 12th century when the Norman invasion was launched, with Papal backing. But this was only a partial success and so the introduction of Continental orders Cistercians etc could not extirpate the older knowledge this now transferred to the secularised poetical schools that continued in Gaelic areas and so much survived until the 17th century. and the invasion of Cromwell. enough time for though we have lost much enough survives to
Heretics and Heresy
So the persecutions did not end, they switched instead to eradicating "heresy" or in other words, any interpretations of the faith that disagreed with Rome. In practice these were beliefs that rendered a centralised, beraucratic church unnecessary.
because Christianity at this time was fluid and diverse.
Augustine and the Pelagian heresy.
Pelagius
One controversy that raged at the close of the fourth century has become known as the Pelagian heresy. Pelagius was an Irish monk who taught that man has the capacity to seek God in and of himself apart from any movement of God or the Holy Spirit, and therefore that salvation is effected by man's own efforts.
Denying the existence of original sin, he taught that man is in himself and by nature capable of choosing good.
Now the reason Augustine was opposed so vehemently is that if one could achieve grace through ones own efforts, then this would logically negate the need for a Roman authoritarian church.
in each case of so called heresy interpretations were favoured by pro Roman church fathers such as St. Augustine that reinforced the need for a priesthood centred on Rome. Indeed Pelagius was shocked when he went to Rome at the pomp and lavishness that he witnessed there.
Men like Augustine were adept at using the executive and political machinery of the Roman Empire to enforce uniformity.
The Edge
Ireland, like Ethiopia, became Christian outside the Empire,
There were no martyrs of the Church, no organised persecutions as had occurred in Rome sporadically for three hundred years
Persecution of Christians and other cults drives them beyond the Edges of Empire from Syria to Armenia, cross slabs. Move beyond the reach of the Empire to waste or desert places.
The source of this monastic movement in the west was Egypt.
Ethiopia is never conquerd by Rome. In both cases Christianity is brought from outside and successfully integrated into traditional, albeit developed societies.
T760.6
The slaying of Echtigern, a bishop, by a priest at Brigit's altar. Hence from that time forward no priest performs mass at Kildare in the presence of a bishop.
T760.5 Warring Monasteries
A battle between the community of Clonmacnois and the community of Birr in Móin Coisse Blai the bog at the foot of the river Blai.
The Fringes of Empire
extracted text! orthodox church vladimir de beer author
A major divergence between Ireland and Rome lay in the former's older method of calculating the date of Easter, in which the Irish Church used a 84-year cycle based on the lunar calendar.
In contrast, the Roman Church, like the rest of the Universal Church, used the solar calendar and ensured that Easter never fell on the same day as the Jewish Passover. This aspect would eventually become the main bone of contention between Rome and the Celts, with Rome winning the conflict at the Synod of Whitby held in 664.
Different rites were employed by the Irish and Roman churches in the sacraments of baptism and episcopal confirmation. Also in the tonsuring of monks a divergence occurred:
St John
Old Irish customs such as storing water for the feast of the Epiphany (6 January) and lighting Easter fires to let them burn throughout the year (for example at Kildare) were unique.
on the early Irish crosses Christ is pictured as the conqueror of death rather than as crucified – another parallel with the Universal Orthodox practice of Old Rome and elsewhere, according to which the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ takes precedence over that of His death, with Easter Sunday (Pascha) as the main feast of the Church year. The practice only changed from the late eleventh century on, when heterodoxy began to portray 'the suffering Jesus' in his human nature as a victim, not as the Victor. In addition, the study of Greek was undertaken in Irish monasteries at least until the ninth century, together with that of Latin and Hebrew.
not only monks and nuns were to be found, but also married couples and families. This is a further parallel between Irish and Universal Orthodox practice, with married priests being the norm in the Orthodox Church to this day, without in any way diminishing the vital importance of the monastic vocation in the Church.
Another affinity that the Irish shared with the Orthodox practice was its own form of the liturgy. Over the centuries the Orthodox Church has maintained a variety of liturgies, all of ancient origin, such as the liturgies of St John Chrysostom, St James the Apostle and St Basil the Great.
Evidence of a pre-Roman liturgy of the Irish Church can be found in manuscripts such as the Antiphonary of Bangor, a collection of hymns and prayers dating from around 680. These texts radiate a Christian view of the world that echoes the Psalms in praise of God's creation, as in the writings of the Church Fathers. All of creation is viewed as a vast whole, without the dualism of spirit and matter that would become the dominant post-Patristic medieval Western heterodox cosmology. It is pertinent to note that the metaphysical system expounded by the Irish philosopher John Scottus Eriugena (see further on) would also reflect this awareness of the unity of all creation. This reinforces our view that Irish Christianity was a holistic, Patristic faith.
The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, first under Strongbow in 1170 and a year later under the Anglo-Norman King Henry II, was therefore encouraged by Pope Adrian IV, the first and only Englishman to occupy the pontifical throne, in order to bring the Irish Church into the Roman fold. Already in 1154 Adrian had issued a papal bull calling for a Norman invasion of Ireland, so that ‘the true Christian religion' (i.e. Roman Catholicism) could be planted in Ireland.
The first step in the Roman takeover of the Irish Church in its home base was taken when the Norman-imposed, Italian Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury claimed superiority over the Irish Church in 1072.
this beautiful silver purse was commissioned by Thomas de Bermingham, Baron of Athenry, in the 14th century. It was made to contain the tooth of Saint Patrick.
The shrine is richly decorated with settings of crystal, coloured glass and amber. The names of eight saints including Benon, Brigid, Patrick, Columcille and Brendan are legible on it. The shrine was mentioned as the most venerated relic if the province in a 17th century account of Connacht.
Fursa rested in Peronne in France.
- Fursa's father—a pure, bright saying
Was Lochín of Aradia.
This was the boy's mother,
Gelgéis, daughter of Connacht's king.
T664.3 An Earthquake in Britain
The death of Cernach the proud son of Diarmaid son of Aodh Sláine, and an earthquake in Britain, and Comgan son of Cuthaende and Berach abbot of Bangor.
T668.1 Journey to Spain
The journey of bishop Colmán with the relics of saints to the island of Vacca Alba, in which he founded a church, and the journey of the sons of Gartnaith to Spain with the people of Scith.
The Ó Dálaigh were the foremost practitioners of the exacting and difficult poetry form known as Dán Díreach throughout the Late Medieval period.
In theory the lands of Irish poets were held sacrosanct and could not be despoiled during warfare or raiding.
Tadg Og O' Huiginn
Book of O'Gara Duanaire
T680.8
A heavy leprosy in Ireland, which is called Bolgach.
Muireadhach Albanach Ó Dálaigh
A wel
Muireadhach, like his fellow Gaelic poet Gillebrìghde Albanach, went on the Fifth Crusade and travelled to Acre and Damietta (as well as other places, like Rome). In 1228 he was apparently allowed to re-enter Ireland.
Muiredach of Lissadell (fl. 1213) and the religious poet Donnchad Mór Ua Dálaig (d. 1244) are found in early thirteenth-century Connacht.
the Ua hUiginn school on, who addressed poems to the chieftains of Ulster and Connacht generally,The Mac Firbisig school of Lecan (County Sligo) could claim a continuous tradition since the early twelfth century, and accumulated an extensive family library.
Lebor na hUidre, the Book of the Dun Cow, a collection of Old Irish sagas transcribed about 1100 C.E. This ancient manuscript was handed over to the Ua Conchobair chief of Sligo in 1359 as ransom for the son of Ua Sgingin, a member of a Connacht ecclesiastical family serving as court historian to the Ua Domnaill (O’Donnell) chief of Tír Conaill (County Donegal). The faded writing was restored and re-inked at Ua Conchobair’s expense, but the manuscript was returned over a century later, as spoils of war to a victorious Ua Domnaill chieftain.
Fursa rested in Peronne in France.
- Fursa's father—a pure, bright saying
Was Lochín of Aradia.
This was the boy's mother,
Gelgéis, daughter of Connacht's king.
T664.3 An Earthquake in Britain
The death of Cernach the proud son of Diarmaid son of Aodh Sláine, and an earthquake in Britain, and Comgan son of Cuthaende and Berach abbot of Bangor.
T668.1 Journey to Spain
The journey of bishop Colmán with the relics of saints to the island of Vacca Alba, in which he founded a church, and the journey of the sons of Gartnaith to Spain with the people of Scith.
T988.2 The Third of Armagh
Laidhgnén son of Cearbhall, king of Farney, was killed in the midst of the Third of Armagh by Conaing's son and by the Kindred of Eoghan.
T986.4
The carrying-off of St Patrick's shrine by Maelseachnaill from Ardee to Áth Sighe, in consequence of the warfare of Cairellán's sons. Thereafter they made peace and the award of Patrick was performed by Maelseachnaill namely a visitation of the men of Meath, both ecclesiastics and laymen, a banquet for every fortress by Maelseachnaill besides seven cumals and awards in full besides.
T985.1
Maelseachnaill son of Domhnall harried Connacht and destroyed its artificial islands and killed its chieftains.
T984.2
Aodh Ó Dubhda, king of all the north of Connacht, died.
T975.2
Cinaeth Ó hArtacáin, chief poet of the northern half of Ireland, died.
T764.9
A flux of blood in all Spain.
T762.5
The battle of Caill Tuidbic, where the Luighne were flattened. The people of Cairpre received victory.
T758.2
The return of Slebine into Spain.
T757.9
Columcill's law enforced by Slébíne abbot of Iona.
T757.3
The burning of Cell Mór Dithrib the great church of the desert = Kilmore by the Uí Crimthainn.
T743.4
The battle of Lorg between the Uí Ailello and the Gailenga.
T737.6
The law of Patrick ruled Ireland.
T753.9
The slaying of the Uí Ailello by the Gregraige.
T727.4
The relics of Adomnán are transferred to Spain and the law is renewed.
T737.2
Failbe son of Guaire, i.e. the heir of Mael Rubai Apuircrosan, was drowned in a deep open sea with his sailors to the number of 22.
T753.4
The law of Columcill enforced by Domnall of Meath.
T752.5
The death of Dicuill son of Menaide, abbot of Inishmurray.
T751.5
The burning of (Lethairle) of Clonard in a bathroom.
T749.8
The sinking of the family of Iona.
T730.1
The return of the relics of Adomnan of Ireland in the month of October.
T730.2
The son of Onchú, scribe of Kildare, dies.
T730.3
The son of Cúcumbu, scribe of Clonmacnois, sleeps.
T735.6
A huge dragon was seen in the end of autumn with a great thunder after him.
T733.4
Flaithbeartach led the classem{?} of Dal Riada into Spain and great slaughter was made of them in the island of Oine, where these men were slaughtered: Conchobhar son of Lochene and Branchu son of Bran and many were drowned in the river called the Bann
T735.2
The battle of Faughard in the regions of Murthemne, between the race of Niall and the Ulaid, wherein Aodh Roin—he was taken into the oratory of Faughard to be killed—and Conchad son of Cuana king of Coba fell. Aodh Allan son of Fergal was victor.
T721.6 Cain Holy Laws
Inmesach the religious laid down a law with the peace of Christ over the island of Ireland i.e. in Campo Delenn.
T720.3
A great seaburst in the month of October.
Ternoc son of Ciarán dies.
Annal T717
T717.1
Dunchadh son of Cennfaeladh, abbot of Iona, dies.
T716.3
Easter is changed in the monastery of Iona.
T713.2
Failbe a bishop of the Gailenga of the Corann died.
T709.2
The battle of the Hunt in the Fortuatha of Leinster, wherein fell two sons of Cellach of Cualu, Fiachra and Fiannamail, and Luirigh with the Britons of Cellach, and after a little while Cairpre son of Cú Coluim was killed.
T707.2
Innrechtach king of the three Connachts died. king of Connacht Feargal son of Mael Dúin king of Cenél Eoghain king of Eireann, and Feargal son of Loingseach king of Cenél Conaill and Conall Menn king of Cenél Cairbre killed him.
T705.7
Ceallach son of Raghallach king of Connacht
after being a cleric died.
T704.3
Adamnan in the 70th year {folio 12a2} of his age, on the nones of the kalends of October, abbot of Iona, pausat.
T700.5 Cannibalism through Famine
Hunger and pestilence for three years in Ireland so that a man would eat a man.
T700.2
Rest of the anchorite Aodh of Sletty.
T700.1 Foot and Mouth?
A cow mortality lit up in Ireland on the kalends of February in the Magh Trego in Teffia.
T697.6
Britons and Ulstermen laid waste the field of Murthemne.
T697.3
Adomnan brought a law into Ireland this year.
T696.8
Muireadhach Muillethan king of Connacht dies.
T690.7
Gnathnad abbess of Kildare fell asleep.
T690.2
In this year Bede made a book De Natura Rerum and Temporibus et in pagín et in figell.
T689.5
Part of the sun is obscured.
T689.6
T687.5 Slaves
Adomnán brought 60 captives to Ireland.
T686.8
The death Banán, wise above everyone, lector of Kildare.
T686.4
The battle of Dún Nechtain was carried out on the twentieth day of the month of May, a Sunday, in which Ecfrith son of Osu, king of the Saxons, in the 15th year of his rule completed, with magna caterua of his soldiers was killed by Bruide son of Bile king of Fortriu.
T989.4
Conchobhar son of Domhnall, king of Luighne Connacht, died.
T685.1
A great wind and shift of land in the island of Ibernia.
T684.1 The Death of Children
The mortality of little ones.
T683.4
The battle of Corann in which fell Colgu son of Blaithmec and Fergus son of Maol Dúin, king of the Kindred of Cairbre.
T682.5 War Crimes
The Orcades were wiped out by Bruidhe.
T680.7
A battle in Badbgna, where Conall the Destroyer, king of the Kindred of Cairbre, fell.
T677.1
A comet star was seen alight in the month of September and October.
T673.3
The navigation of Failbe abbot of Iona into Spain.
T674.2
Clouds thin and shaky to the species of a heavenly arc, in the fourth vigil of night, the fifth day before Easter, from the east into the west appeared through a calm heaven. The moon was turned into blood.
T670.4
The people of Gartnait came from Ireland.
T1026.6
Maelruanaidh Ó Maoldoraidh, king of Cenél Conaill, went on his pilgrimage over sea.
T1027.5
Maelruanaidh Ó Maoldoraidh died in pilgrimage.
An Irish monk would pray facing first East with arms outstretched and turning to the right to face the four cardinal directions.
This bell ringing with hand bells we may propose was accompanied by the singing or chanting of psalms or other prayers as in Coptic ceremony. and we may get a picture that to our modern eye would remind us of an Islamic mosque, but one with multiple crosses painted in bright colours and a tower, perhaps whitewashed
Scholars have failed to establish a continental origin and so we may conjecture an origin in Irish journeys to the East.
The people allowed into the outer third.second third and the centre for monks only hence the Womens church at Inishmurray beyond the central precinct.
Widespread use of musical instruments by the clergy.
T1024.8
Cuan Ó Leochan, chief historian of Ireland and her chief sage, was killed in Teffia, and those that killed him became putrid in the same hour, and that is a poet's miracle.
T1023.10
A hosting by Tadhg son of Cathal son of Conchobhar, king of Connacht, in Uí Briúin, and therein Domhnall Ó hEaghra, king of the Luighne, was killed.
T1020.5
Armagh was burned on the 3d of the Kalends of May, with all its prayer houses, except only the library, and many houses were burned in the Thirds, and the great stone house and the belfry with its bells, and the stone house of togha and the stone house of the Barn and the pulpit and abundance of gold and silver and treasures besides.
T1020.1
Maelmuadh, grandson of Maelmuadh, king of the Fir Cell, was taken by force out of the stone house of Columcill's Durrow by Fogartach grandson of Cearnach and killed in Magh Line.
T1019.6
The son of Catharnach, son of Aodh, of the Uí Caisin, attacked Donnchadh son of Brian and gave him a swordblow on his head and over his right hand, so that he cut it off him. Donnchadh escaped after his wound, and the son of Catharnach was killed.
T1000.4
Ceallach Ó Maelcorgais, chief poet of Connacht, died.
T990.1
Urard son of Coisse, {folio 15b1}chief poet of the Gaels, died in penitence at ClonmacnoisLeabhar Mor Leacan
northern half of Tethbae around Granard in modern County Longford
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