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 leltic Collection 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 3aincs Morgan Hart 
 
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 Kife— J^>-'^ 
 
 "T^^'^JTr.TATj-^C: 
 
The Irish_ Element in 
 Medieval Culture 
 
 H. ZIMMER 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 JANE LORING EDMANDS 
 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 NEW YORK LONDON 
 
 37'WestTwent]r-thixdSt. 04 Bedford St., Strand 
 
 S^t ^nicktibaclut ^rus 
 1891 
 
 A 
 
h.Z%QZ.^<o 
 
 Copyright, 1891 
 
 BY 
 
 JANE LORING EDMANDS 
 
 Electrotyiwd. Printed, and Boond by 
 
 UI>e fcnfcfierboclicr f>rcs9, flew ^orft 
 G. P. Putnam's Sons 
 
TO THE LATE LAMENTED 
 
 JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY 
 
 WHOSE KEEN INTEREST IN THE SUBJECT OF THIS 
 
 ESSAY LED TO ITS PUBLICATION IN 
 
 AN ENGLISH FORM. BY THE 
 
 TRANSLATOR 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The importance of the work accom- 
 plished by the Irish monks in Central 
 Europe during the Middle Ages has 
 not been fully appreciated by Eng- 
 lish historians. It is not surprising, 
 therefore, to find an almost total ig- 
 norance of the subject on the part of 
 the general public. 
 
 The enthusiastic interest expressed 
 by the late Mr. John Boyle O'Reilly, 
 who himself offered to write an in- 
 troductory chapter to the English 
 translation of Zimmer's work, was 
 the principal incentive to the trans- 
 lator in undertaking it. It is to be 
 deeply regretted that Mr. O'Reilly's 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 sudden death prevented him from 
 carrying out his plan. 
 
 The essay originally appeared in 
 the Preussische Jahrbucher for Janu- 
 ary, 1887, and The Nation, in referring 
 to it, says : 
 
 " We should have called our 
 readers' attention long ago to this 
 remarkable paper v/hich treats of 
 the part played by the Irish ele- 
 ment in mediaeval culture. It deals 
 with known facts of ecclesiastical 
 history, and gives a most graphic 
 picture of the successive groups of 
 Irish missionary monks, their labors 
 in France, Italy, Switzerland and 
 Germany, their strength and their 
 weaknesses. 
 
 " The author's style is clearness 
 itself ; his grouping and illumination 
 of cardinal facts and features are 
 
Preface. vii 
 
 masterly. We cannot attempt to 
 condense what is already so con- 
 cise. 
 
 " We can only express the wish 
 that the paper may be translated 
 into English. 
 
 " Nowhere else will the reader find 
 such a trustworthy statement of what 
 the Irish accomplished for the early 
 Middle Ages." 
 
 I have inserted foot-notes compiled 
 from a variety of sources wherever I 
 thought they added to the interest 
 of the subject or illustrated the state- 
 ments of the author. 
 
 J. L. E. 
 
THE IRISH ELEMENT IN 
 MEDIEVAL CULTURE. 
 
 recent work on the 
 " History of Ireland 
 from the Reformation 
 up to the period of 
 its union with England"' 
 begins with these words : 
 " When a semi-barbarous or less cul- 
 tured nation becomes subject to one 
 more highly cultured, it generally re- 
 ceives as a compensation for the loss of 
 its independence all the advantages and 
 blessings naturally resulting from a 
 higher degree of civilization. But a 
 new condition of things was produced 
 in Ireland through English rule ; in- 
 stead of arousing in the Irish mind a 
 ' B7 Dr. Hassenkamp, L«ipsic. 
 
2 The Irish Element in 
 
 love and appreciation of English cul- 
 ture by the exercise of a moderate and 
 conciliatory policy, calculated to lead 
 up to a gradual and harmonious blend- 
 ing of the two races, victor and van- 
 quished, the English managed, through 
 a mistaken and blundering policy, as 
 well as by intentional oppression and 
 persecution, to bring about such a con- 
 dition of affairs in Ireland that, in the 
 first place, the social status of the 
 Celtic race sank lower and lower, 
 while, on the other hand, the tender 
 germ of native culture was nipped in 
 the bud, or failed of proper develop- 
 ment from want of nourishment, and 
 degenerated in quality." 
 
 These words explain the prevail- 
 ing views of the present so-called 
 cultivated circles of England ; they 
 hold that at the time of the conquest 
 of Ireland by England (1171), the 
 former was, according to the ideas 
 of the time, a half savage country in 
 its relations to and compared with 
 
MedicBval Ctdture. 3 
 
 its conquerors in point of culture, 
 and that its people obstinately set 
 themselves in opposition to the 
 blessings and advantages brought 
 them by their more highly civilized 
 rulers. Hence the hardest and cru- 
 ellest measures which were laid upon 
 Ireland and its people during the 
 ages of English domination receive 
 a sort of extenuation or justification. 
 But the very fact that such views as 
 these are entertained by England, 
 weighs more heavily upon Ireland 
 to-day than all her political and 
 social ills; she rebels because Eng- 
 land, not satisfied with stripping her 
 of every present benefit, would even 
 rob her of the consolation in her 
 existing wretchedness, to be derived 
 from looking back with pride over a 
 glorious past. Ireland can indeed 
 lay claim to a great past ; she can 
 not only boast of having been the 
 birthplace and abode of high culture 
 
4 The Irish Element in 
 
 in the fifth and sixth centuries, at a 
 time when the Roman Empire was 
 being undermined by the alliances 
 and inroads of German tribes, which 
 threatened to sink the whole conti- 
 nent into barbarism, but also of. hav- 
 ing made strenuous efforts in the 
 seventh and up to the tenth century 
 to spread her learning among the 
 German and Romance peoples, thus 
 forming the actual foundation of our 
 present continental civilization. 
 
 We live in a time when the civil- 
 ization of the Occident, although 
 drawing its origin from antiquity, 
 and building itself up from its ruins, 
 has established for itself a degree of 
 independence destined to increase 
 with every decade. However opin- 
 ions, may differ as to the degree of 
 real progress reached by our present 
 civilization, or as to its methods, or 
 in regard to the question of the 
 place which positive Christianity 
 
Mediezval Culture. 5 
 
 actually holds in it, — in respect to 
 the past, all thinking minds will 
 unanimously agree upon two points : 
 that in those centuries of the Mid- 
 dle Ages mentioned above, it was 
 Christianity that first carried civiliza- 
 tion into tribes of barbarians (even 
 according to Littr6, who is one of 
 the strongest adversaries of Chris- 
 tian philosophy of our age) ; and 
 that it was the monks who, during 
 that period, held firmly to the 
 Church, and were its pioneers and 
 defenders. Therefore we find that 
 it was at the time when Christian 
 civilization and ideas were com- 
 mingled with the ancient, with 
 deep respect for classical antiquity 
 as a standard, that mediaeval cul- 
 ture reached its highest perfection. 
 Hence a greater or lesser knowledge 
 of classical literature, particularly of 
 the Grecian, was considered as a 
 proof and measure of the culture of 
 
6 The Irish Element in 
 
 a single individual, as well as of the 
 entire age. 
 
 In order to clearly understand and 
 realize the significance of the Irish 
 element in mediaeval culture, and 
 the part which the Irish can posi- 
 tively claim towards the civilization 
 of German and Romance tribes, we 
 must dwell a little upon the condi- 
 tion of the West before this period. 
 
 In the middle of the second cen- 
 tury Christianity already formed an 
 element in Roman civilization, and 
 spread to the remotest provinces of 
 the Empire^ principally through 
 their increased intercourse with each 
 other, and especially by means of 
 the campaigns of the Roman legions, 
 even as far as the banks of the 
 Rhine and into Britain, in spite of 
 there being as yet no special mis- 
 sionaries to those countries. In the 
 course of the third century it spread 
 still farther, and in the beginning of 
 
Mediceval Culture. 7 
 
 the fourth it was decidedly flour- 
 ishing in Gaul and on the Rhine 
 and Danube, as well as in Britain, 
 bishoprics being founded at Co- 
 logne, Treves,, and Mayence. In 
 the second half of the fourth cen- 
 tury Ausonius, the greatest Roman 
 poet of the age, produced his en- 
 thusiastic description of the valley 
 of the Moselle, while Arbogast the 
 Younger, who had command of the 
 garrison at Treves during the incur- 
 sions of various wandering tribes, was 
 esteemed by Sidonius a model of 
 the highest Roman culture in that 
 region. 
 
 : The German tribes from the 
 Rhine and the Danube were now 
 being gradually brought under the 
 sway of Greek and Roman civiliza- 
 tion through the medium of Chris- 
 tianity. But the internal dissolu- 
 tion of the Roman Empire and 
 fresh incursions of savage tribes 
 
8 The Irish Element in 
 
 soon put a stop to all this. In the 
 year 406, hordes of Vandals from the 
 Upper Rhine invaded Gaul, ancient 
 Germany, and Burgundy, and set- 
 tled on the left bank of the Rhine, 
 while the Huns under Attila made 
 inroads upon these, and the Franks 
 from the Lower Rhine burst into 
 Gaul, making an end of Roman rule 
 in that country. The Angles and 
 Saxons had taken possession of Brit- 
 ain before this, and what remained 
 of Roman civilization in Upper Italy 
 under the Heruli and Ostrogoths 
 was destroyed by the Langobards 
 and their allies. The German bar- 
 barians thus ruined and blotted out 
 the work of several centuries. So 
 vanished in the sixth century the 
 last remains of Roman culture which 
 had lingered on at various points, 
 particularly in Southern Gaul. 
 
 In spite of what Christianity had 
 done for the Merovingian kingdom. 
 
Mediaval Culture. 9 
 
 wretched indeed was its moral con- 
 dition at the time of the death 
 of its famous historian, Gregory of 
 Tours, in 594. The disloyalty of 
 the Franks had become proverbial. 
 They had utterly repudiated Ro- 
 man culture, appropriating only 
 its accompaning vices. Gregory 
 of Tours gives a true idea of the 
 state of ignorance in the kingdom of 
 the Franks, while he graphically 
 sketches the depraved condition of 
 the people and their ruler; he de- 
 plores the falling off of all striving 
 after knowledge, and he himself, de- 
 scended from a Roman family, hav- 
 ing bishops among his ancestors, has 
 to confess that in writing in Latin, 
 he confounds the genders of certain 
 words, as well as the cases, and is 
 embarrassed by numerous other 
 grammatical difficulties. Merovin- 
 gian records are written in such bar- 
 barous Latin, that when we find one 
 
lo Tlie Irish Element in 
 
 written in tolerably correct Latin, 
 a suspicion of its genuineness is 
 aroused, as it may be a forgery of a 
 later date. 
 
 . In Northern and Central Italy the 
 standard of civilization at that time 
 was not much higher. Gregory the 
 Great, one of the most celebrated 
 of the popes, who greatly strength- 
 ened the foundation of the Roman 
 hierarchy, knew nothing of Greek, — 
 a most notable proof of the general 
 low standard of cultivation in the 
 West. 'Even two hundred years 
 later, the learned and gifted Span- 
 iard, Claudius, Bishop of Turin, when 
 expected to defend his views respect- 
 ing worship of images, of which he 
 disapproved, before the council of 
 Italian bishops, declared it to be a 
 council of asses {congregatio asino- 
 runi), and the Irish monk, Dungal, 
 was called upon to undertake the 
 defence of image-worship. These 
 
Mediceval Culture. 1 1 
 
 two learned adversaries, Claudius the 
 Spaniard, and Dungal the Irishman, 
 who met on the soil of Lombardy, 
 are the representatives of those two 
 countries, — the only ones which of- 
 fered an asylum to Greco-Roman 
 culture at the beginning of the sev- 
 enth century, when it had declined 
 in the West. Ireland was especially 
 conspicuous in introducing it anew 
 in the form of Christianity, princi- 
 pally into France, these efforts being 
 made there when civilization was at 
 its lowest ebb, and the country in its 
 most degraded condition.' 
 
 ' Dr. Reeves says of Ireland : " We must de- 
 plore the merciless rule of barbarism la this 
 country, whence was swept away all domestic 
 evidences of advanced learning, leaving scarcely 
 anything at home but legendary lore, and which 
 has compelled us to draw from foreign deposito- 
 ries the materials on which to rest the proof that 
 Ireland of old was really entitled to that literary 
 eminence which national feeling lays claim to. 
 Our real knowledge of the crowds of Irish teach- 
 ers and scribes who migrated to the Continent 
 
1 2 The Irish Element in 
 
 Ireland never became a Roman 
 province, and the hordes of wander- 
 ing tribes that overran Britain and 
 the mainland did not molest her. 
 We learn from the " Agricola," of 
 Tacitus, who gives us a minute ac- 
 count of the campaigns carried on by 
 that great Roman general under Ves- 
 pasian, Titus, and Domitian between 
 the years 78 and 86, that, although 
 those campaigns did not include Ire- 
 land, Agricola's curiosity was aroused 
 by his proximity to it when encamped 
 on the coast of Britain. Agricola 
 wrote home to Rome a description 
 of the country with what informa- 
 tion he could obtain in regard to it, 
 and stated it as his opinion, that Ire- 
 land could be conquered and held 
 
 and became foundeis of many monasteries abroad, 
 is derived from foreign chronicles, and their tes- 
 timony is borne out by the evidence of the 
 numerous Irish MSS. and other relics of the 
 eighth to the tenth century, occurring in libra- 
 ries throughout Europe." 
 
Medicsval Culture. 13 
 
 by one legion, being considerably 
 smaller than Britain, and declared it 
 would be a profitable acquisition for 
 Rome as held against the Britons.' 
 But the fact of Ireland never coming 
 under the dominion of Rome greatly 
 accounts for the Irish tribes and the 
 Pictish and Caledonian mountaineers 
 being the only portions of the Celtic 
 race which retained their indepen- 
 dence and social characteristics. 
 These unsubdued Celtic tribes were 
 reserved for a great purpose, — to in- 
 augurate the evangelization of Central 
 Europe. Following the nomadic in- 
 stincts of their race, they were des- 
 tined to be pioneers in the missionary 
 history of Europe, during the decay 
 of the Roman Empire, and while the 
 Teutonic tribes were as yet in a state 
 of semi-barbarism. 
 
 Alive as the Irish race was to 
 
 ' From Agricola we have the earliest notice of 
 Ireland in real history. 
 
1 4 The Irish Element in 
 
 religious impressions, Christianity, 
 which was preached among them by 
 British missionaries in the third and 
 fourth centuries, found in them re- 
 ceptive and appreciative pupils. In 
 430 Pope Celestine sent Palladius ' as 
 a Roman bishop to the converted 
 Scots, according to Bede's testimony 
 \cujus (sc. TJieodosii) anno imperii 
 octavo Palladius ad Scottos in Chris- 
 tum credentes a pontifice Romance 
 ecclesice Celestino primus miititur 
 episcoi>us. Beda,, Hist, gentis Angl., 
 i., 13]. The Scots mentioned in the 
 Middle Ages are synonymous with 
 the Celtic population of Ireland, and 
 were not to be distinguished from 
 that people that early wandered 
 through the northern part of Brit- 
 ain and settled in the Highlands.' 
 
 ' " Palladius was consecrated by the pope and 
 sent to those Scots (or Irish) believing in Christ 
 as their first bishop." 
 
 ° " Whenever, in the first three centuries, the 
 term Scot occurs it always means Irishman. 
 
MediiBval Culture. 15 
 
 While on the mainland and in 
 Britain budding Christianity and the 
 germs of Western culture, such as it 
 was, were effectually trodden under 
 foot by the various hordes of Van- 
 Daring the first seven centuries the Picts were 
 the inhabitants of modem Scotland. It was not 
 until the eleventh or twelfth century that the 
 term Scotland or Scotia was applied in its mod- 
 em sense." — Rev. G. T. Stokes' " Ireland and 
 the Celtic Church." 
 
 The author of " Early Christian Art in Ire- 
 land" thtis quotes from Reeves' " Adamnan" : 
 
 " The early Christian art of Ireland may well 
 be termed Scotic as well as Irish, just as the first 
 missionaries from Ireland to the Continent were 
 termed Scots, Ireland having borne the name of 
 Scotia for many centuries before it was trans- 
 ferred to North Britain, and foreign chroniclers 
 of the ninth century speak of ' Hibemia, island 
 of the Scots,' when referring to events in Ire- 
 land regarding which corresponding entries are 
 found in the annals of that country." 
 
 Again this author says : " From Ireland the 
 practice of the art of illumination spread side 
 by side with religion to lona, thence to Melrose 
 and Lindisfame ; and, distinct as its character is 
 from the art of the Teutonic nations, it was 
 
1 6 The Irish Element in 
 
 dais, Alemanni, Huns, Franks, Her- 
 uli, Langobards, Angles, and Saxons, 
 and the Merovingian kingdom sank 
 lower and lower, — when universal 
 crudeness and depravity seemed to 
 
 henceforward misnamed Anglo-Saxon in Eng- 
 land, while on the Continent it was termed 
 Anglo-Saxon or Scottish, The fact that Anglo- 
 Saxon MSS. exist in England with Irish decora- 
 tion led to the misnomer Anglo-Saxon for this 
 style until Waagen, who had su6Rcient knowl- 
 edge of both schools of illumination, drew the 
 dividing line between them. The mistake, 
 however, led to much confusion in the Continen- 
 tal libraries, where even manuscripts written as 
 well as illuminated by Irish scribes, were fre- 
 quently named Anglo-Saxon. It is only of late 
 that writers on the subject have learned that 
 North Britain was not termed Scotland till the 
 close of the ninth century, whereas the island of 
 Ireland had for so many centuries borne the 
 name of Scotia. The confusion of this Scotic 
 or Irish art with Anglo-Saxon naturally arose on 
 the Continent from the fact that MSS. written in 
 Anglo-Saxon were often illuminated either by 
 Irish artists or by monks who had learned their 
 art in Ireland. 
 
 " Art in general of this period attained a more 
 
MedicBval Culture. 17 
 
 have gained the upper hand, and the 
 entire West threatened to sink hope- 
 lessly into barbarism, the Irish estab- 
 lished several seminaries of learning 
 in their own country. Bangor and 
 
 beautiful result in Ireland than elsewhere, be- 
 cause in the hands of a people possessed of a fine 
 artistic instinct. But as regards the drawing of 
 the human face and figure in the pictures con- 
 tained in the otherwise beautiful books of the 
 Irish scribes, nothing more hideous or barbarous 
 can be well conceived. It seems impossible that 
 they could have been drawn from nature, but 
 rather seem reminiscences of some rude Byzan- 
 tine prototype. Thence we conclude that in the 
 Carlovingian MSS. of the ninth century we see 
 not only a mixture of styles, but that, in the in- 
 troduction of Irish decoration, we have examples 
 of the engrafting of an archaic style upon an- 
 other of later date ; a style that had died out of 
 Italy and Southern Gaul, but lived on in Ireland to 
 return there centuries later. In Ireland its char- 
 acter had been modified by absorbing whatever 
 designs prevailed in the country at the time of 
 the introduction of Christianity, and thus modi- 
 fied, it was spread throughout Europe again by 
 the Irish scribes, though it never prevailed out- 
 side their sphere, and finally died out with them. 
 
1 8 The Irish Element in 
 
 Armagh in Ulster, Clonmacnois, near 
 the boundaries of Leinster and Con- 
 naught, and Lismore in the South 
 were, at the end of the sixth century, 
 the most prominent and flourishing 
 
 To the designer of the present day, who strives 
 to adopt the ancient Irish forms to present uses, 
 nothing could be more helpful than the study of 
 those Carlovingian MSS., which are remarkably 
 beautiful. 
 
 " Interlaced patterns and knot-work, strongly 
 resembling Irish designs, are commonly met with 
 at Ravenna, in the older churches of Lombardy, 
 and at Sant' Abbondio, at Como, and not unfre- 
 quently appear in Byzantine MSS., while in the 
 carvings on the Syrian churches of the second 
 and third centuries, as well as the early churches 
 at Georgia, such interlaced ornament is con- 
 stantly used. 
 
 " The manuscripts wh"~h remain in Italy as 
 evidence of the labors Oi %& Irish monks in 
 that country, are to be seen in the Ambrosian 
 Library in Milan, in the University Library of 
 Turin, and in the Real Biblioteca Borbonica, 
 Naples. All these manuscripts are said to have 
 been brought originally from Bobio, a monastery 
 in Piedmont, founded by Columbanus in the 
 year 613." 
 
MedicBval Culture. 19 
 
 monasteries in Ireland. The stand- 
 ard of learning was much higher than 
 with Gregory the Great and his fol- 
 lowers. It was derived without inter- 
 ruption from the learning of the 
 fourth century, from men such as 
 Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine. 
 Here also were to be found such 
 specimens of classical literature as 
 Virgil's works among the ecclesi- 
 astical writings, and an acquaintance 
 with Greek authors as well, beside 
 the opportunity of free access to the 
 very first sources of Christianity. 
 
 At the beginning of the sixth 
 century these Irish Christians were 
 seized with an unconquerable im- 
 pulse to wander afar and preach 
 Christianity to the heathen. In 563 
 Columba, with t^velve confederates, 
 left Ireland and founded a monastery 
 on a small island off the coast of 
 Scotland (lona or Hy), through the 
 influence of which the Scots and 
 
20 The Irish Element in 
 
 Picts of Britain became converted 
 to Christianity, twenty-three mis- 
 sions among the Scots and eighteen 
 in the country of the Picts having 
 been established at the death of 
 Columba (597).' Under his third 
 successor the heathen Saxons were 
 converted ; Aedan, summoned by Os- 
 wald of Northumbria, having labored 
 aming them from 635 to 651 cis mis- 
 sionary, abbot, and bishop. His suc- 
 cessors. Finnan and Colman, worthily 
 carried on his work, and introduced 
 Christianity into other Anglo-Saxon 
 
 ' Columba and Columbanus, both bom in the 
 sixth century, have been confounded even by 
 eminent scholais. Columba was bom in Ulster, 
 and Columbanus in Leinster. The one in 521, 
 the other in 543. Columba was the apostle of 
 Scotland or Caledonia. Columbanus never set 
 foot in Scotland. He was the apostle of Bur- 
 gundy, Switzerland, and Italy. Columba spent 
 his life among the Pictish pagans of North 
 Britain ; Columbanus labored among the pagans 
 of Central Europe. — Stokes' " Ireland and the 
 Celtic Church," p. 132. 
 
Medieeval Culture. 2 1 
 
 kingdoms near East Anglia, Mercia, 
 and Essex. 
 
 One of the most celebrated monas- 
 teries of Ireland was founded at 
 Bangor in Ulster at the end of the 
 sixth century. From this monastery 
 at the time (S90) that Gregory of 
 Tours, the historian of the Franks, 
 brought out his denunciation of the 
 corruption of his people, an Irish- 
 man, a native of Leinster, bearing the 
 ecclesiastical and Latin name of Co- 
 lumbanus, set forth with twelve com- 
 panions and assistants to preach the 
 gospel to the heathen. He landed 
 in France, and finding Christianity in 
 a sinking condition, decided to settle 
 in the Vosges mountains and estab- 
 lish a mission there (Anagratum). 
 The number of converts increased 
 so fast that he was soon obliged to 
 found another upon the ruins of a 
 forsaken Roman bath establishment 
 at Luxovium (Luxeuil), which be- 
 
22 The Irish Element in 
 
 came in course of time a most fruit- 
 ful centre of ecclesiastical and monas- 
 tic life. In these two places, as well 
 as at Fontaines, a mission station 
 founded somewhat later on, Colum- 
 banus and his companions worked 
 successfully for more than ten years. 
 But the intrepidity with which he 
 approached and dealt with these 
 degenerate Merovingians drew upon 
 him the hatred of the Queen Regent 
 Brunhilde. Ecclesiastical differences 
 arose with the Gallic clergy ; he was 
 driven with his companions from this 
 field of their active labors and obliged 
 to flee to Ireland. Being detained by 
 contrary winds in the mouth of the 
 Loire, he interpreted this as a sign 
 from on high that it was his duty to 
 remain. So, in 6io, he wandered 
 into the country of the Alemanni, 
 where he labored as a missionary 
 under the patronage of Theudebert, 
 in Bregeriz, on Lake Constance. 
 
Mediesval Culture. 23 
 
 Thence, in 613, he went to seek the 
 patronage of the Langobard princess, 
 Theudelinde, and founded the Bobio 
 monastery at the foot of the Apen- 
 nines, between Genoa and Milan, 
 which throughout the Middle Ages 
 bore a high reputation as a seat of 
 learning and culture in the very 
 broadest sense. He died there in 61 5.' 
 
 ' Columbanus was, ia many respects, the 
 greatest, bravest, most thoroughly national, and 
 most representative of all the •warriors of the 
 cross sent forth from Irish shores. Bom in 
 Leinster, A.D. 543, he was educated first of all 
 on one of the islands of Lough Erne. Thence 
 he migrated to Bangor, which was then at the 
 height of its fame as a place where the great- 
 est attainments in learning and sanctity were 
 possible. We are apt to undervalue the studies 
 of these ancient monasteries, just as we, in 
 our intellectual conceit, are apt to undervalue 
 all mediaeval learning, because the men of those 
 times knew nothing of the daily press, pho- 
 tography, electricity, or gunpowder. In monas- 
 teries like Bangor, the range of studies was a 
 wide one, and it must have been a thoroughly 
 equipped and vigorous seat of learning in the 
 
24 The Irish Element in 
 
 The Irish monk Gallus (St. Gall) 
 with others had joined Columbanus 
 on his mission among the heathen, 
 sharing with him his trials and diffi- 
 culties like a faithful comrade, but 
 at the time of Columbanus' depart- 
 
 latter half of the sixth century, when it could 
 have despatched such a trained and even elegant 
 scholar as Columbanus to convert the pagans of 
 France. The proofs of his learning are evi- 
 dent to any student of his writings. The scholar- 
 ship of them is manifest. He wrote good Latin 
 verses, full of quaint, metrical conceits, both in 
 the classical and monkish rhyming style. Allu- 
 sions to pagan and Christian antiquity abound in 
 his poems. Where did he acquire this scholar- 
 ship? His life on the Continent was one of 
 rough, vigorous, all-absorbing, practical effort, 
 leaving no time for such studies. Even did time 
 or leisure permit, the opportunity was wanting, 
 for the Continent was at that time plunged in 
 utter darkness, literary as well as spiritual. 
 St. Columbanus, we therefore conclude, gained 
 his extensive knowledge and eloquent scholar- 
 ship at the abbeys of Bangor and Lough Erne. 
 
 France was, toward the end of the sixth cen- 
 tury, a bye-word throughout Euit)pe for immor- 
 ality and irreligion. When we think of the 
 
MedicBval Culture. 25 
 
 ure for Lombardy, was forced by 
 illness to remain behind with the 
 Alemanni, one of whom hospitably 
 cared for him until his health was 
 restored. Gallus then collected to- 
 gether twelve associates and set out 
 
 Gaul of that period, we must not think of it as 
 it was in the fourth and fifth centuries, the age 
 of Hilary of Poitiers, of a Martin of Tours, or a 
 Germanus of Auxerre. For a hundred years 
 back, it had been the prey of every invader. 
 Milman, in his " Latin Christianity," says : "It 
 is difficult to conceive a more dark and odious 
 state of society than that of France under her 
 Merovingian kings, the descendants of Clovis, 
 as described by Gregory of Tours. In the con- 
 flict of coalition of barbarism with Roman 
 Christianity, barbarism has introduced into 
 Christianity all its ferocity, with none of its 
 generosity or magnanimity. Its energy shows 
 itself in atrocity of cruelty, and even of sensual- 
 ity. Throughout, assa sanations, parricides, and 
 fratricides intermingle with adulteries and rapes. 
 That King Clotaire should bum alive his rebel- 
 lious son with his wife and daughter is fearful 
 enough, but we are astounded at the fact of a 
 bishop of Tours, even in these times, having 
 burned <t man alive, to obtain the deeds of an 
 
26 The Irish Element in 
 
 to seek a suitable spot for a new 
 mission. He founded one at Stein- 
 achthal, in a wild, retired spot, in 613, 
 where he died, between 627 and 646. 
 He had refused an appointment as 
 abbot of Luxeuil. Thus originated 
 
 estate which he coveted. Fredegonde, wife of 
 Chilperic I., one of the grandsons of Clovis, 
 sends two murderers to assassinate Childebert, 
 and these assassins are clergymen. She causes 
 the Archbishop of Rouen to be murdered while 
 chanting the service in church ; and in this crime 
 a bishop and an archdeacon are her accomplices. 
 Marriage was a bond contracted and broken on 
 the slightest occasion. 
 
 It was into a country where all the bonds 
 which bind society together were totally dissolved, 
 that St. Columbanus flung himself with all the 
 headlong courage of his race, to be the cham- 
 pion of morals, the apostle of civilization, the 
 fearless soldier of the cross of Christ. The two 
 languages used by him, the Celtic and the Latin, 
 would, of course, cany him everywhere ; and 
 the king eventually settled upon him the old 
 Roman castle of Annegray, where the first Irish 
 monastery ever planted on the Continent raised 
 its head. There he laid the foundations of his 
 system as he had learned it in Ireland. These 
 
MedicBval Culture. 27 
 
 the famous monastery of St. Gall, 
 which afterwards became so emi- 
 nently distinguished as the chief seat 
 of learning of ancient Germany. 
 
 In the seventh century many other 
 Irishmen followed in the footsteps of 
 
 foundations are plain, aye, the very plainest, 
 living, high thinking, and hard work. He lived 
 for weeks, according to his biographer, Jonas 
 of Bobio, without any other food than the herbs 
 of the field and the wild fruits yielded by the 
 forest around. We trace in him the same love of 
 nature and of natural objects which we find in 
 some of the beantiful stories told of St. Columba. 
 All nature seems to have obeyed his voice. The 
 birds came to receive his caresses. The squirrels 
 ran to him from the tree-tops to hide them- 
 selves in the folds of his cowl. One day, when 
 wandering in the depths of the woods, medi- 
 tating whether the ferocity of brutes, which 
 could not sin, was not better than the rage of 
 men, which destroyed their souls, he saw a 
 dozen wolves approach and surround him on 
 all sides. He remained motionless, repeating 
 the words, Deus in adjutorium. The wolves 
 touched his garment with their mouths, but 
 seeing him fearless, passed upon their way. 
 The example of a quiet Christian household. 
 
28 The Irish Element in 
 
 Columbanus and his associates, went 
 to France and established numerous 
 missionary stations, which sent forth 
 pupils, both Franks and Alemanni, 
 capable of carrying on the work of 
 their teachers. We have less particu- 
 lar information about these workers 
 than we have of Columbanus and 
 
 shedding the blessings of civilization, education, 
 and religion aU around, proved a very powerful 
 one, even upon men more ferocious than wolves. 
 Crowds flocked to the Irish teacher to learn the 
 secret of a pure and happy life, and the great 
 foundations of Luxeuil and Fontaines followed 
 one another in rapid succession. Among the 
 disciples of Columbanus were numbered by 
 hundreds the children of the noblest Franks and 
 Burgundians. For twenty years this great mis- 
 sionary thus labored, till the crisis of his life 
 came, and his activity was changed to <i new 
 direction. Having been driven from France 
 ovring to his quarrel with the wicked Queen 
 Brunhilde, his only chance of escape was by 
 the Rhine to Switzerland, whence, after success- 
 ful labors, he painfully crossed the Alps into 
 Italy, where he was received with great respect 
 and endowed vrith the church and territory of 
 Bobio. Columbanus undertook to restore the 
 
MedicBval Culture. 29 
 
 his influential envoys, as related by 
 the Abbot Jonas of Bobio. But so 
 much is known: that near the end 
 of the seventh century and at the 
 beginning of the eighth, a long series 
 of these missionary establishments 
 extended from the mouths of the 
 Meuse and Rhine to the Rhone and 
 
 old church of St. Peter's, which was in existence 
 there, and to add to it a monastery. Despite 
 his age, he shared the workmen's labors, and 
 bent his old shoulders under the weight of enor- 
 mous beams of fir-wood. This Abbey of Bobio 
 was, in one sense, his last stage. He made it a 
 citadel of orthodoxy against the Arians, lighting 
 there a lamp of knowledge and instruction which 
 long iUumined Northern Italy. The monastery 
 existed until suppressed by the French in 1803, 
 while the church still serves as a parish church. 
 But Columbanus ended life by seeking a soli- 
 tude more profound still. Upon the opposite 
 shore of Trebbia he discovered a cavern, which 
 he transformed into a chapel, and there, like 
 other Irish anchorites, he spent his last days " in 
 solitude," till God called His faithful and fear- 
 less servant home, on November 21, 615. 
 
 At Bobio the coffin, chalice, and holly-stick 
 or crosier of St. Columbanus are still preserved. 
 
30 The Irish EUtnent itt 
 
 the Alps, while many others founded 
 by Germans are the offspring of 
 Irish monks, and throughout the 
 chronicles and " Lives of the Saints," 
 names purely Irish are constantly 
 found : Caidor, Furseus, FuUan, Ultan, 
 Foillan, Goban, Deicolus, and Livin 
 are among the best authenticated 
 names. The Merovingian king, Dago- 
 bert, retired in 656 to one of the 
 cloisters founded by the Irish; and 
 the so-called "Annals of Lorsch," 
 record the dates of the deaths of a 
 whole line of Irish abbots: Canan 
 (704), Domnan (705), Cellan (706), 
 Dubdecras (726), Macflathei (729), 
 from the different monasteries. 
 
 Alcuin, the great author and the 
 pride of Charlemagne's court, had 
 undoubtedly these same Irish apos- 
 tles in mind, when in a letter written 
 to an Irish monk at the beginning of 
 the eighth century he mentions the 
 fact that in old times {antiquo tetn- 
 
MedicBval Culture. 3 1 
 
 pore) the most learned instructors of 
 Britain, Gaul, and Upper Italy were 
 from Ireland. 
 
 But the Irish missions had spread 
 even to the other side of the Rhine, 
 as well as the most eastern of the 
 Frank settlements, and even into 
 Bavaria, then independent of the 
 Franks. According to the testimony 
 of the Abbot Jonas of Bobio, con- 
 temporary of St. Columbanus, and 
 at one time a monk in his Italian 
 convent, as well as his biographer, 
 about six hundred and twenty mis- 
 sionaries went from Luxeuil, the 
 headquarters of Columbanus' mis- 
 sionary work, into Bavaria ; and tow- 
 ard the end of that century, the 
 Irish monk Kilian, together with his 
 associates. Bishops Colman and Tot- 
 man, suffered martyrdom at Wurz- 
 burg, near the boundary of Thuringia 
 and the country of the eastern 
 Franks. 
 
32 The Irish Element in 
 
 Ireland even shared indirectly in 
 attempts to convert the Frieslanders 
 and Saxons.' Those energetic mis- 
 sionaries, at the end of the seventh 
 century, Victberct, Hewald, and Wili- 
 brord, although Anglo-Saxons by 
 birth, all received their theological 
 training in Ireland. Bede's Historia 
 Gentis Anglorum, book v, ix, x. 
 Alcuin relates of Wilibrord, the 
 Apostle to Friesland, that he spent 
 twelve years in Ireland under the 
 most distinguished teachers of the- 
 ology. " Britain gave him birth, but 
 Ireland reared and educated him." 
 {Quern tibi iatn genuit fecunda Brit- 
 
 ' Dr. Reeves notices tlie acliievements of the 
 following Irish missionaries : SS. Cataldus, Fia- 
 cra, Fridolin, Colman, and Kilian, none of 
 whom find place in English annals. St. Cataldus 
 labored in Southern Italy ; St. Fiacra, in France ; 
 St. Colman is patron Saint of Lower Austria ; 
 Kilian taught in Franconia ; Fridolin, at Glarus, 
 where his figure finds place in the cantonal arms 
 and banner. 
 
Medicsval Ctdture, 33 
 
 tania tnater doctaque nutrivit studiis 
 sed Hibernia sacris.) 
 
 From the biography of Colum- 
 banus we can get a true picture of 
 the personal appearance of the Irish 
 missionaries, and of their mode of 
 procedure in their work. In groups 
 of twelve under a leader (the abbot 
 of the future settlement, who was 
 generally its chieftain also), carrying 
 long staves, leathern knapsacks, and 
 flasks and writing tablets,' they trav- 
 elled through the land of the Franks, 
 with long, flowing locks and painted 
 eyelids. They appeared thus among 
 the Franks and Alemanni, exhorting 
 them with fiery eloquence, at first 
 through an interpreter, and after- 
 wards in the language of the country, 
 which many acquired, like Gallus (St. 
 
 ■ Their long, narrow tablets of wood were 
 often mistaken by the unlettered natives for 
 swords, and supposed to be in reality constructed 
 of iron, and intended to shed blood. 
 
34 The Irish Element in 
 
 Gall). Wherever they settled down, 
 they erected within a large enclosure 
 little wooden huts and a chapel. 
 They supported life by cultivating 
 the land and by fishing, and sought 
 to influence the people of the sur- 
 rounding country by exhortation, 
 precept, and example. Both Franks 
 and Romans joined them, and similar 
 colonies were formed far and near 
 from this first one as a starting-point. 
 There is no trace of any attempt hav- 
 ing been made here by these Irish 
 missionaries or their German pupils 
 to draw the heathen into the lap of 
 Christianity by means of the external 
 ceremony of baptism. 
 
 It is difificult for us to realize what 
 the pagan life really was which these 
 early Celtic missionaries had to con- 
 front, or the effect produced by their 
 contrasted Hfe of purity and self- 
 denial upon the surrounding pagan 
 masses, whose respect they com- 
 
Mediaeval Culture. 35 
 
 pelled. When the Anglo-Saxon Win- 
 frid, surnamed Boniface, appeared in 
 the kingdom of the Franks as a pa- 
 pal legate in 723, to romanize the 
 existing Church of the time, not one 
 of the German tribes (Franks, Thu- 
 ringians, Alemanni) or the Bavarians 
 could be considered as pagans. What 
 Irish missionaries and their foreign 
 pupils had implanted for more than 
 a century quite independently of 
 Rome, Winfrid organized and estab- 
 lished under Roman authority, partly 
 by force of arms. 
 
 Considering the attitude of the 
 Irish monks in the seventh cen- 
 tury toward the Anglo-Saxons and 
 Franks, it is quite easy to compre- 
 hend in what way and how earnest 
 was the desire for knowledge awak- 
 ened in their converts, and why it 
 became a necessity for these to group 
 themselves around their revered in- 
 structors and to follow in their lead. 
 
36 TTie Irish Element in 
 
 Thereupon Anglo-Saxons flocked to 
 Ireland in large numbers to complete 
 their education, both religious and 
 classical, in Irish monjisteries. Many 
 such instances are quoted by Bede 
 (672-735) in his "History of the 
 Anglo-Saxons." He informs us that 
 in 654, many nobles among the 
 Angles went to Irelzmd to pursue 
 theological studies, and were warmly 
 welcomed by the Irish, who furnished 
 them with board, instruction, eind 
 even the necessary manuscripts quite 
 free of expense. He gives the names 
 of two of the most conspicuous of 
 these Angles, Edilhun and Ecgberct, 
 as well as a brother of the former, 
 who, after completing his studies in 
 Ireland, returned home to conduct a 
 bishopric. In another part of his 
 book, Bede speaks of Victberct 
 (above mentioned) as the pupil of 
 Ecgberct, and quotes him as a most 
 distinguished theologian (doctrime 
 
MedicBvcd Culture. 37 
 
 scientia insignis), adding in paren- 
 thesis, by way of explanation evi- 
 dently, that he had passed many 
 years in Ireland. 
 
 But the most eloquent testimony 
 to Ireland's fame as a seat of learn- 
 ing in the seventh century is furnished 
 us by the Anglo-Saxon Aldhelm. 
 Bom in 850, of a noble race, he en- 
 joyed the privilege of the instruction 
 of Hadrian, an abbot of Kent, who 
 came from Tarsos with Theodore, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, and who 
 was considered an accomplished 
 Latin and Greek scholar. Aldhelm 
 then went to the monastery of 
 Malmsbury, founded by the Irish, 
 where he continued his studies with 
 great zeal. It is related of him that 
 he mastered Latin thoroughly, and 
 understood Greek equally well, be- 
 side Anglo-Saxon. Thus was the 
 school at Malmsbury, originally 
 founded by an Irish monk (Mael- 
 
38 The Irish Element in 
 
 dun or Maelduf), raised by Aldhelm 
 to become one of the noblest institu- 
 tions of learning in England. 
 
 About this time, the middle of the 
 seventh century, the Irish Church 
 assumed a somewhat independent 
 position toward Rome. A number 
 of innovations had found their way 
 from Rome into the Christian Church 
 of the West, such as changes in the 
 basis of calculation regarding the 
 correct time for the celebration of 
 Easter, questions as to the mode of 
 wearing the tonsure,' the uncondi- 
 
 ' The Greek tonsure, styled St. Paul's, was 
 total ; the Roman, styled St. Peter's, was coro- 
 nal. The Celtic tonsure, on the other hand, 
 was from ear to ear ; that is, the anterior half of 
 the head was made bare, but the middle part 
 was untouched. Thus it was as different from 
 the Eastern as it was from the Roman tonsure, 
 and clearly had grown up among the Celtic 
 Christians without any copying of other churches. 
 Eastern or Western. — Haddan's "Remains," 
 p. 239. 
 
MedicBval Culture.. . 39 
 
 tional celibacy of the higher orders 
 of the priesthood, etc' 
 
 These were all new to the Irish 
 Church and to the communities 
 founded by her missionaries. Greg- 
 ory the Great and his immediate 
 
 ' " The feast of Easter has been a subject of 
 controversy since the second century. The 
 churches of Asia followed the Jewish method of 
 computation, while all other churches observed 
 the Christian style. The earliest Easter cycle of 
 the Christian Church was naturally identical with 
 that used by the Jews. It was called the eighty- 
 four year cycle. During the debates of the 
 second century, this cycle was discovered to be 
 faulty, and Rome determined to have a reform 
 of the calendar. 
 
 " But the Irish Church had received with St. 
 Patrick and its first teachers the old Jewish and 
 Roman cycle of eighty-four years. Barbarian 
 invasions and wars and distance separated the 
 Irish teachers from Rome and its new fashions. 
 They knew nothing of the new cycle of 532 
 years. Their whole energy was concentrated in 
 study and missionary effort, and so they con- 
 tinued faithful to the practices of their fore- 
 fathers. \Vhen St. Augustine and the Roman 
 mission came to Canterbury, about the year 6cx), 
 
40 The Irish Element in 
 
 successors took infinite pains to es- 
 tablish outward uniformity in church 
 matters, and on Saxon soil, where 
 the Irish missionaries from the north 
 met the Romish from the south, 
 these differences became sharply de- 
 fined. The Irish were obliged out- 
 it -was found that Rome and Ireland differed very 
 considerably about this important question." 
 
 The Roman Church laid the penalty of exclu- 
 sion from Christian communion upon all those 
 who would not conform themselves to her calcu- 
 lations, regarding them as Jews, and thus origi- 
 nated a most bitter and prolonged strife in the 
 history of the Church. 
 
 The Celtic Church finally yielded to the See 
 of Rome in this matter by the beginning of the 
 eighth century, but this consent involved no 
 submission in regard to other matters, so that 
 the Celtic Church continued to differ from Rome 
 on very important questions, even dovra to the 
 twelfth century. 
 
 The supremacy of Rome over Ireland would 
 doubtless have been established much sooner but 
 for the Danish invasions. Those pagan Danes 
 cut Ireland off from the Continent Just as, three 
 centuries earlier, the Saxon irruption completely 
 isolated the British Islands. 
 
Mediceval Culture. 41 
 
 wardly to yield their opinions on 
 Saxon ground, and Colman was 
 forced to leave Northumbria. It 
 can be readily understood how fa- 
 natical partisans of Rome, such as 
 Aldhelm, frowned upon the fact that 
 large numbers of young Anglo-Sax- 
 ons were now congregating in Ire- 
 land, and sorely feared they would 
 return imbued with heretical views. 
 In such a mood and under the influ- 
 ence of such views, Aldhelm writes 
 from England to one of three young 
 men just returned from Ireland : 
 
 Why does Ireland pride herself upon 
 a sort of priority, in that such numbers 
 of students flock there from England, 
 as if here upon this fruitful soil there 
 were not an abundance of Argive or 
 Roman masters to be found, fully 
 capable of solving the deepest problems 
 of religion and satisfying the most am- 
 bitious of students. 
 
42 The Irish Element in 
 
 But Aldhelm's reluctance to ac- 
 knowledge the supremacy of the 
 Irish monsisteries is merely an ad- 
 ditional testimony to the high degree 
 of culture attained by them in the 
 seventh century/ 
 
 But not by Anglo-Saxons alone was 
 Ireland looked upon as the highest 
 seminary of learning; the Franks 
 were also at this time strongly at- 
 tracted by her great fame. Bede 
 
 ■ "After the seventh century, the missionary 
 activity of the Irish Church was no longer the 
 one absorbing national thought and passion. 
 Other interests had arisen. The Roman contro- 
 versy about Easter, and the ever-increasing 
 claims of the Roman See, helped to distract 
 attention. 
 
 " Controversy then, as now, led men's minds 
 from practical work, and hindered the advance 
 of the Gospel. The incursions of the Danes, 
 too, deprived the Irish Church of that internal 
 tranquillity needful for missionary enterprise. 
 The boldest spirits, which used to seek the post 
 of danger and the crown of martyrdom in foreign 
 missions, could now find that position much 
 nearer home." 
 
Medieeval Culture. 43 
 
 mentions a Frank named Agilberct, 
 who spent several years in the study 
 of theology in Ireland, and on leav- 
 ing that country was persuaded to 
 remain for a time in England. On 
 his return to his own country, he was 
 made bishop of Paris, where he died 
 at an advanced age. But more strik- 
 ing than are these individual in- 
 stances is the indisputable fact that 
 the Irish were destined to become 
 the instructors of the Germans, 
 Franks, and Alemanni in every 
 known department of knowledge of 
 that time. 
 
 As is well known, in 752 the last of 
 the degenerate Merovingian kings 
 retired to a cloister, and Pepin's en- 
 ergetic son Charlemagne (768-814) 
 greatly encouraged education among 
 his Frankish subjects and the Ger- 
 man tribes he governed. His chief 
 architect and private secretary, Ein- 
 hard or Eginhard, who wrote his 
 
44 The Irish ElemerU in 
 
 biography, tells us that such was 
 Charlemagne's desire to perfect him- 
 self in the art of writing, that he 
 kept a writing tablet constantly by 
 him, and even put it under his pil- 
 low, that his right hand, grown sti£f 
 with the exercise of warlike arms, 
 might accustom itself to form the 
 letters.' 
 
 To Irish scholars France now of- 
 fered a fruitful field, and Charle- 
 magne received them with open arms. 
 The most illustrious foreigner at- 
 tached to his court was Alcuin, an 
 Anglo-Saxon monk, and a very learn- 
 
 • "Charlemagne was, to a great extent, the 
 founder of our modem European system of 
 civilization. To him are largely due all our 
 modem institutions, political, religious, and so- 
 cial. Art, learning, and literature are under the 
 profoundest obligations to a prince who, though 
 he could scarcely sign his name, and was in 
 many respects a rude barbarian at heart, yet 
 always displayed the keenest interest in, and 
 sjrmpathy with, subjects of which he was pro- 
 foundly ignorant." 
 
Medieevcd Culture. 45 
 
 ed man, who became Charlemagne's 
 chaplain and chief counsellor ; but in 
 looking back over the latter half of 
 his reign, and those of his immediate 
 successors, we find the names of nu- 
 merous Irish scholars. As in the 
 early part of the seventh century, 
 the Merovingian kings welcomed the 
 Irish apostles who spread Christianity 
 and the first elements of culture 
 among the German tribes, so now in 
 the ninth century, in schools and 
 monasteries all over France, the 
 Carlovingian kings employed Irish 
 monks as teachers of writing, and 
 tutors in grammar, logic, rhetoric, 
 astronomy, and arithmetic' 
 
 ' The commercial intercourse between France 
 under the Merovingian kings and Ireland was 
 very important indeed. Dagobert Second was 
 sent to Ireland for his education. Innumerable 
 foreign ecclesiastics came to Ireland in that age 
 to improve themselves in the study of Scripture, 
 then so extensively cultivated there. 
 
 From one author of Charlemagne's time we 
 
46 The Irish Element in 
 
 A friend of Alcuin, one Joseph 
 (Scotusgenere), an Irishman by birth, 
 went to France with him before 790. 
 All that we know of him is that he 
 was employed there as a teacher, and 
 died before Alcuin (804). Among 
 
 learn that even Orientals sought the shelter of 
 this island, driven thither by the intolerance of 
 the Eastern emperors. 
 
 From the close and direct correspondence be- 
 tween the French court at that age and the lead- 
 ing -Irish monasteries, there is no difficulty in 
 accounting for the transmission from Gaul to 
 Ireland of a type of architecture resulting in the 
 round towers, which have excited such interest 
 among archaeologists, — a type eminently suited 
 to the. troublous times of the Danish invasion. 
 These towers, the object of much debate, are now 
 pronounced to be of Christian and ecclesiastical 
 origin, and were erected at various periods be- 
 tween the fifth and thirteenth centuries. They 
 were undoubtedly designed to answer a twofold 
 use ; namely, to serve as belfries, and as keeps 
 or places of strength, in which the sacred uten- 
 sils, books, relics, and other valuables were de- 
 posited, and into which the ecclesiastics to whom 
 they belonged could retire for security in case of 
 sudden predatory attack. They were also prob- 
 
Meditevcd Culture. 47 
 
 the scholars of Charlemagne's court, 
 we read in the writings of Theodulf, 
 a Spaniard, of a certain Irish monk 
 who lived in constant enmity with 
 Theodulf, Angilbert, and Einhard. 
 Theodulf attacks him with the great- 
 
 ably used when occasion reqaired as beacons and 
 watch-towers. The very ancient Irish churches 
 had no bell-towers apart from the round tower. 
 The date of the earliest is somewhat disputed 
 by different authorities, but all agree that it 
 precedes the invasion of the Danes. It may be 
 argued, if the type were originally imported from 
 France, why are such detached church towers 
 not to be seen there still, when they are so com- 
 mon in Ireland ? The answer to that is, that the 
 Continental church-towers of the Carlovingian 
 age have been almost wholly destroyed, and 
 generally replaced by towers of a later and more 
 beautiful type, while they have been left to stand 
 in Ireland. 
 
 The invention of towers and steeples is traced 
 directly back to Syria. The earliest churches 
 were simple basilicas. The basilica was the 
 Roman modification of the Greek temple and of 
 Greek architecture. The Greeks knew nothing 
 of the principle of the arch. This was the 
 Roman contribution to the science of architec- 
 
48 The Irish Element in 
 
 est virulence and contempt, and by 
 leaving out one letter of his name, 
 makes of Scotus either Sottus or 
 Cottus. 
 
 To some Irishman, whose name is 
 unknown, also patronized by Charle- 
 magne, is attributed an epic poem, 
 
 tuie. Neither the Greek temple nor the Roman 
 basilica had anything like a tower attached to it. 
 It is a fact of noteworthy importance that this 
 style of architecture came from the very same 
 quarter whence came many other peculiarities of 
 the early Celtic Church. 
 
 To the Eastern researches instituted by Napo- 
 leon Third we owe these interesting facts. 
 
 Another account says : " These lofty towers, 
 undoubtedly the keeps of the monasteries, were 
 a protection to their churches, compelled by the 
 attempted colonization of Ireland by a pagan 
 invader resolved to extirpate the Christianity he 
 found there. Various towers on the Continent 
 which bear resemblance to those of Ireland are, 
 without doubt, of contemporary date. Such 
 were the eleven round towers of Ravenna, of 
 which six still remain ; that of San Nicolo of 
 Pisa, San Paternian at Venice, Schness in Switz- 
 erland, St. Thomas in Strasburg, Gemrode in 
 the Hartz, two at Nivelles in Belgium, one at 
 
3fedicsval Culture. 49 
 
 written in 787 to celebrate Charle- 
 magne's victory over Thassilo, Grand 
 Duke of Bavaria. The same " Irish 
 exile " (Hibernicus exul), as he calls 
 himiself, addressed several poems to 
 Charlemagne as " Kaiser," by which 
 we judge that the " Irish exile " must 
 
 St. Maurice Epinal, one at St. Gennain des 
 Pres, one at Worms in Hesse-Darmstadt, and 
 two at Notre Dame de Maestricht in Belgium. 
 The isolated position of Ireland on the outskirts 
 of Europe alone accounts for the remarkable 
 preservation of these towers from attacks of bar- 
 barians which desolated the Continent. 
 
 " They may all be said to derive their origin 
 from an influx of Byzantine workmen into the 
 north of Italy and to the court of Charlemagne, 
 and the circular tower may be a reminiscence of 
 the Eastern cylindrical pillar. Unfortunately, 
 in France, according to Viollet le Due, nothing 
 but the lower stories of such towers are left, 
 which must have existed during the Carlovingian 
 age. The absence of such upon the Continent 
 has led to great difficulty and obscurity in pro- 
 nouncing with certainty upon the age and use of 
 the Irish towers. Dr. Petrie, however, by his 
 investigations brought their date down from a 
 pre-Christian time to a period ranging from the 
 
50 The Irish Element in 
 
 have been the sobriquet of a well- 
 known and distinguished personage 
 at court. 
 
 Another Irish scholar, named Cle- 
 mens, is mentioned by a monk of 
 St. Gall as arriving at Charlemagne's 
 court near the end of the ninth 
 century, and innumerable anecdotes 
 are related concerning the rich and 
 indolent pupils of his school, as weU 
 
 sixth to the thirteenth centuiy, and firmly estab- 
 lished their ecclesiastical character. 
 
 " The inscriptions upon the high crosses of 
 Ireland, of which there are forty-five still re- 
 maining, show that they were commemorative, 
 as, for instance, those dedicated to the memory 
 of Patrick and Columba. There is no evidence 
 whatever to prove that such sculpture as we find 
 upon these was executed before the tenth cen- 
 tury, but the ornamentation npon various sepul- 
 chral slabs is incised (that upon the high crosses 
 being in relief), which shows a knowledge of the 
 art of modelling the human figure, and acquaint- 
 ance with the early Christian Art of the Byzan- 
 tine and Roman schools, and their systems of 
 iconography. These sepulchral slabs date from 
 
Medieeval Culture. 5 1 
 
 as the poor and diligent ones. Cle- 
 mens was tutor to the future Emperor 
 Lothaire, and continued his labors 
 in the court seminary after Charle- 
 magne's death. His fame was so 
 great that the Abbot Ratgar of 
 Fulda sent Modestus and some of 
 the best pupils from the monastery 
 of Fulda to study grammar under 
 the Irish monk. Clemens died in 
 Wiirzburg in 826, after having made 
 a pious pilgrimage to the grave of 
 
 the seventh to the tenth century. The study of 
 the iconography of the British Isles is of para- 
 mount interest as bearing evidence to the gradual 
 entrance of their inhabitants into the current of 
 European thought and culture, and their iJtimate 
 assimilation with the larger, fuller life of Conti- 
 nental Europe. 
 
 "Christian subjects, similar to those on the 
 Irish stones, are found upon sarcophagi at Aries, 
 at Ravenna, and at Velletri. 
 
 " This art of sculpture, which spread through- 
 out Britain in the ninth and tenth centuries, 
 attained there more beautiful results than else- 
 where, owing to the fine, artistic instincts of the 
 Celtic mind." 
 
52 The Irish Element in 
 
 his fellow-countryman, the sainted 
 Kilian. In the court records he was 
 called " Instructor to the Imperial 
 Court " (magister palatinus). 
 
 Dungal was another Irish savant 
 who was employed by Charlemagne 
 and his successors. He probably 
 went to France at the same time 
 with Clemens, and seems to have 
 enjoyed a high reputation as an 
 astronomer, having, at Charlemagne's 
 suggestion, written a scientific report 
 upon two solar eclipses which had 
 taken plaice during the preceding 
 year. He laments in the reports the 
 want of reference books, particularly 
 the work of Pliny the Younger, and 
 declares it impossible to pronounce 
 definitely upon all phases of the sub- 
 ject as he would wish to. During 
 the early part of his stay in France, 
 he lived at St. Denis ; afterwards we 
 find him in Upper Italy at the Mon- 
 astery of St. Augustine, in Pavia. 
 
Medicsval Ctdture. 53 
 
 where he was directed by Charle- 
 magne to form and superintend a 
 class of ambitious young students. 
 By a bull, issued by Lothair the First 
 in 823, he was appointed to a high 
 position in the Academy at Pavia, to 
 which pupils from Milan, Brescia, 
 Lodi, Bergamo, Vercelli, Genoa, and 
 Como were sent. Here in Lombardy 
 he engaged in a controversy with 
 Claudius (whom we have referred to 
 above) upon questions pertaining to 
 Church matters, and we learn, more- 
 over, that Dungal was not only inti- 
 mate with the older Christian poets 
 such as Prudentius and Fortunatus, 
 but also greatly esteemed Virgil and 
 Priscian, the famous Roman gram- 
 marian. He ended his life in the 
 monastery of Bobio, not far from 
 Pavia, founded by his famous com- 
 patriot, Columbanus. This monas- 
 tery was situated in a retired gorge 
 in the Apennines, and its school and 
 
54 The Irish Element in 
 
 library rank among the most cele- 
 brated of the Middle Ages. Its 
 manuscripts prove the high scholar- 
 ship and deep research of the Irish 
 missionaries. Even modern learning 
 owes something to this library. We 
 have seen a catalogue made in the. 
 tenth century of the manuscripts 
 belonging to this monastery, forty of 
 which are mentioned as " presented 
 to the monastery of St. Columbanus 
 by the distinguished Irish scholar, 
 Dungal " ; and at the present day 
 some of these are to be seen in the 
 Ambrosiana, at Milan, dedicated in 
 Dungal's own handwriting, and in 
 which he speaks of himself as " be- 
 longing to " the monastery of Bobio. 
 Another Irish scholar, Dicuil, lived 
 at the Carlovingian court at the same 
 time with Dungal, and undoubtedly 
 filled a position in the same institu- 
 tion. Through his works we know 
 him as a grammarian and metrician, 
 
MedicBval Culture. 55 
 
 as well as an astronomer and geog- 
 rapher. In 814-816, he produced an 
 entirely new treatise upon astronomy, 
 and in 825, at an advanced age, a 
 well-known text-book of geography, 
 for some scientific facts of which he 
 was indebted to contemporary trav- 
 ellers. This book gave the first 
 authentic information about the 
 Faroe Islands, which had been vis- 
 ited by Irish hermits more than a 
 hundred years before, but were in 
 his time forsaken, on account of the 
 incursions of Norman pirates. He 
 mentions the fact of the Irish having 
 escaped by sail-boats. Moreover, he 
 has the first reliable information in 
 regard to Iceland, knowledge which 
 he obtained thirty years before from 
 Irish priests, who remained there 
 from February to August. The 
 truth of these interesting accounts 
 is proved in two ways : in the first 
 place, the tolerably exact statements 
 
56 The Irish Element in 
 
 as to the length and shortness of the 
 days could only have been deter- 
 mined by a resident in the place ; 
 then from Northern and independent 
 sources we know that the first Nor- 
 wegian settlers, who were, of course, 
 pagans, found Christians there whom 
 they called Papar^ and who left Irish 
 books, croziers, bells, and other things 
 behind them when they went away. 
 When we recall the Irish missions 
 established on the Continent, and the 
 fact that St. Kataldus,- the patron 
 saint of Tarento, in Southern Italy, 
 was an Irish pilgrim of the seventh 
 century, and that Irishmen went to 
 the Faroe Islands at the same time, 
 
 • The Irish anchorites found in Iceland by the 
 heathen colonists were called Papar, itoia papa, 
 meaning priest or pope. This derivation, how- 
 ever, may be considered as somewhat doubtful, 
 for their whole history is involved in obscurity. 
 The islands of Papey on the southern coast of 
 Iceland, also Papey in Orkney and other places, 
 are supposed to be named after them. 
 
MedicBval Culture. 57 
 
 and to Iceland in the eighth century, 
 we can realize the extent and strength 
 of the nomadic instinct or impulse 
 which drove those Irish Christians 
 out into the unknown world to open 
 its eyes to the light of Christianity. 
 How strongly the Alemanni of the 
 ninth century, who never left their 
 own country, were impressed by this 
 trait of the Irish, is perceived by the 
 well-known remark of Walahfrid 
 Strabo (849), when, in allusion to 
 them, he says : " The habit of ram- 
 bling to distant lands has become a 
 second nature to this people." 
 
 Equal to Dicuil as to the extent 
 of his general knowledge, but far 
 surpassing him in originality of 
 thought, was his compatriot Johan- 
 nes Scotus Erigena. The greatest 
 thinker of his age, his philosophical 
 works mark an epoch in the world's 
 literature, in the opinion of many 
 modern critics. Of the particulars 
 
58 The Irish Element in 
 
 of his career, we know scarcely more 
 than that he was living in the king- 
 dom of the Franks in 840, and re- 
 ceived a position in the court school, 
 under that generous patron of science, 
 Charles the Bald ; that he in time be- 
 came principal of the school, and was 
 still living in 877. He is distinguish- 
 ed both from his predecessors and 
 from those who came after him, by 
 not having taken orders; and, al- 
 though educated in a monastery, was 
 the first layman who had excelled 
 in scholarship for a long period. In 
 his knowledge of Greek, particularly 
 of the Greek fathers and philoso- 
 phers, he far surpassed all other 
 scholars. He was ordered by Charles 
 the Bald to translate into Latin the 
 works of Dionysius Areopagita, in 
 which a sort of Neoplatonism, modi- 
 fied by Christianity, is expounded. 
 His clief-d^ ceuvre is, however, his 
 "System of Philosophy" produced 
 
MedicBval Culture. 59 
 
 before 865 (nsfh (pvaeooi f^epiajxov, 
 id est, De divisione natures), in which 
 he had the hardihood to present 
 philosophy as an independent science, 
 and of equal importance with the- 
 ology, which, as he affirmed, is sup- 
 ported by authority, as philosophy 
 by reason. Authority (or Holy Writ) 
 is to theology what nature is to rea- 
 son. Where the two come in col- 
 lision, reason must take the lead ; for 
 it needs not the support of authority. 
 These aphorisms of Erigena's were 
 so astounding for that time that it is 
 not to be wondered at that he, £ls a lay- 
 man, was considered as encroaching 
 upon the subject of predestination, 
 then being contested in the Church, 
 and that his writings were condemned 
 on all sides. He became involved 
 in dogmatic controversies, and was 
 cried down on every side as a here- 
 tic Pope Nicholas I. demanded of 
 Charles the Bald Erigena's presence 
 
6o The Irish Eletnent in 
 
 in Rome, that he might vindicate 
 himself; but Charles the Bald es- 
 teemed the philosopher too highly 
 to let him go, and he remained un- 
 molested. Erigena's work was, how- 
 ever, condemned by several church 
 councils and finally at Rome in 1059. 
 Beside a commentary on Marcianus 
 Capella, he wrote a number of occa- 
 sional poems, dedicated to his royal 
 patron on certain festal days, as well 
 as several in the Greek language. 
 
 Contemporary with Johannes Sco- 
 tus Erigena, we find another able 
 Irish scholar working in France — 
 Sedulius Scotus. As we learn from 
 one of his poems, he reached the 
 cathedral chapter house, at Liege, 
 one intensely cold day, through deep 
 snow drifts, exhausted by hunger 
 and fatigue, and was warmly wel- 
 comed on account of his classical 
 attainments. He was employed there 
 as teacher from 840 to 860, and soon 
 
MedicBval Culture. 6i 
 
 after died at Milan. He was pro- 
 ficient in mythology and ancient his- 
 tory, a finished Latin scholar, and 
 familiar with Greek. Beside com- 
 mentaries on the Holy Scriptures 
 and grammatical treatises, which 
 were a necessary part of the educa- 
 tion of every scholar of that time, 
 he composed numerous poems, for 
 special occasions, addressed to Charles 
 the Bald, whose praises he sang when 
 that monarch visited Lifege, drawn 
 thither by the literary fame of its 
 monastery. A comic poem is also 
 attributed to Sedulius. A bishop 
 had presented him with a sheep. A 
 thief stole it, and, being chased by 
 dogs, dropped his prey, which natu- 
 rally was seized upon by the dogs. 
 The victim's heroic resistance against 
 terrible odds is graphically described 
 by the bard. From the poems of 
 Sedulius, we learn that many of his 
 countrymen, " learned grammarians," 
 
62 The Irish Element in 
 
 were also at Li^ge, one of whom, 
 Cruindmel, left behind him a gram- 
 matical treatise of importance.' 
 
 But Irish scholars were also labor- 
 ing among the Eastern Franks, the 
 Bavarians and Alemanni. One of 
 them, named Virgil, was bishop of 
 Salzburg from 743 to 784. He had 
 been abbot of Aghaboe in Ireland, 
 but, on going to France, was recom- 
 mended, by Pepin, to Odilo, Grand 
 Duke of Bavaria, to fill the See of 
 Salzburg. In the year 740, the papal 
 legate, Bonifatius, denounced him at 
 Rome for promulgating false doc- 
 trines, as he maintained that the sun 
 and moon passed underneath the 
 earth, and that there must be inhabi- 
 tants on the other side. This accu- 
 sation shows that Virgil must have 
 been conversant with Greek litera- 
 
 • " At Vienna there is a copy of the ' Life of St. 
 Columha,' being a manuscript of Sedulius, writ- 
 ten in double columns, with red initial letters." 
 
Mediceval Culture. 63 
 
 ture, and probably familiar with the 
 doctrine of Eudoxus and Eratos- 
 thenes, as to the spherical form of 
 the earth. Irish annals give him the 
 surname of the " geometrician." 
 
 Dobda, or Dobdagrecus, a compa- 
 triot of Virgil, possibly so called from 
 his knowledge of Greek, was also 
 a teacher at Salzburg, but Dobda- 
 grecus is probably a Latin form of 
 the word Dubdachrich, a name often 
 quoted in Irish annals of the time, 
 as having distinguished himself in 
 Bavaria as a teacher. 
 
 In the German monastery of Rhei- 
 nau, a few miles beyond Schaff- 
 hausen, we find, in the ninth century, 
 an account of an illustrious Irish- 
 man, Findan, who, though no repre- 
 sentative of Irish scholarship, may 
 be cited here as a famous character 
 of mediaeval times. He was a na- 
 tive of Leinster, and in 840 went 
 with several companions on pilgrim- 
 
64 The Irish Element in 
 
 ages through Gaul, Alemannia, and 
 Lombardy. After being a priest for 
 four years among the Alemanni, he 
 retired in 851 to the Rheinau mon- 
 astery, and died there in 878. For 
 the last twenty-two years of his re- 
 tirement at Rheinau, he, of his own 
 free will, endured the severest pen- 
 ances and privations, which greatly 
 added to the monastery's renown. 
 His voluntary sacrifices were at first 
 beyond his power of endurance ; the 
 spirit was too weak to resist the 
 cravings of a devouring hunger. 
 Then he had recourse to prayer; he 
 saw visions and heard celestial voices, 
 which counselled and exhorted him 
 in an ancient Irish dialect, although 
 he was in the far distant land of the 
 Alemanni. Now the oldest of the 
 manuscripts, which give us those 
 Irish phrases uttered by heavenly 
 voices, date only from the tenth cen- 
 tury, and must have been noted 
 
MeditBval Culture. 65 
 
 down directly after Findan's death, 
 and in the handwriting of one of his 
 fellow-countrymen. The voices ex- 
 horted him to patience, whereupon 
 his temptation passed from him. The 
 picture of an Irish pilgrim in Ale- 
 mannia, wrestling with earthly long- 
 ings, and supported by voices from 
 heaven, which spoke in the ancient 
 Irish tongue, is certainly an original 
 one. Since the Vita could evidently 
 only have been written out by some 
 one familiar with the Irish language, 
 it is proved that near Findan's time, 
 as well as later, Irish promoters of 
 learning were settled on that island 
 in the Rhine. 
 
 In the neighboring monastery of 
 Reichenau (augia major), on an 
 island in Lake Constance, we find 
 traces of Irish culture, if not of Irish 
 monks themselves. In alluding to 
 the German abbot, Erlebald, of 
 noble birth (822-838), his successor, 
 
66 The Irish Element in 
 
 Walahfrid Strabo (849), says that 
 the former was first instructed in 
 theology at Reichenau, by Heito, 
 and afterwards was sent with a 
 companion to some learned Irish 
 instructor, to enjoy the privilege of 
 his training in secular branches of 
 science and the arts. We find that 
 at the same time, Ratgar of Fulda 
 sent scholarly monks for the same 
 object to the Irish Clemens, the 
 director of the school, which makes 
 it quite probable that Clemens was 
 also the instructor of Erlebald. 
 While Erlebald was abbot, a cata- 
 logue of the library at Reichenau 
 was made. It consisted of 415 
 manuscripts, 30 of which were writ- 
 ten in the cloister in Erlebald's time 
 (822-838). Seven of these volumes 
 were presented by him from his own 
 private library. 
 
 Considering that Irish monks were 
 at Rheinau in the ninth century, and 
 
MedicBval Culture. 67 
 
 had, as we find, much intercourse 
 with those of St. Gall, it is strange 
 that we have no positive proof of 
 their presence in Reichenau, it being 
 situated on one of the most fre- 
 quented and direct routes to Rome. 
 This fact is the more remarkable, in- 
 asmuch as we have at the present 
 day a large quantity of manuscripts, 
 dating from the end of the eighth 
 into the ninth century, from the 
 library of Reichenau, which were 
 undoubtedly written by Irish sa- 
 vants, as for example : at St Paul, in 
 Lavanthale (Steyermark), there is a 
 manuscript full of extracts written by 
 some Irish monk, and brought from 
 St. Blasien one hundred years ago, 
 which contains Irish poems dating 
 from the end of the eighth cen- 
 tury, Latin hymns, the commence- 
 ment of a commentary on Virgil, a 
 treatise on astronomy, Greek decli- 
 nations and paradigms, as well as a 
 
68 The Irish Element in 
 
 short Greek vocabulary. In Carls- 
 ruhe, there is a manuscript from 
 Reichenau, together with several 
 works of Bede, dating from the first 
 half of the ninth century, which 
 must have been written in Ireland, 
 chronological notes and explana- 
 tions of the text being the work of 
 three different Irishmen and one 
 German. There is also in Carlsruhe 
 a manuscript of Priscian, of the same 
 date as the above, which not only 
 gives the so-called Irish recension of 
 this author, but contains Irish com- 
 ments as well. 
 
 Now the question arises how these 
 manuscripts and others written by 
 Irishmen, could have been found at 
 Reichenau. Ekkehard the Younger, 
 the chronicler of St. Gall, informs us 
 that at the time of the Magyar in- 
 vasion of 925, the books from the 
 monastery of St. Gall were trans- 
 ported to Reichenau for safety, and 
 
MedicBval Culture. 69 
 
 that when all danger was over the 
 same number were returned, but not 
 the same manuscripts. Unless we 
 have recourse to the highly improb- 
 able assumption that all the manu- 
 scripts at Reichenau of Irish origin 
 are owing to that interchange, it fol- 
 lows that we must concede the fact 
 that there must have been Irish 
 teachers there in the ninth century. 
 Among the books added to the 
 library at Reichenau under Erlebald 
 (823-838), is mentioned a Prisciani 
 de arte grammaticce liber unus quem 
 Uragrat presbyter dedit; this must be 
 the noted Irish version of Priscian. 
 St. Gall' was the most celebrated 
 monastery in Germany at that time, 
 and for more than three hundred 
 years it was looked upon as the 
 
 • The quadrangular bell of St. Gallus is pre- 
 served in the monastery of St. Gall. There is 
 also a silver book-shrine (in the museum) of 
 Irish workmanship. Gallus was the favorite 
 and most honored disciple of Columbanus. 
 
7© The Irish Element in 
 
 chief nursery of learning of the 
 whole kingdom. It owes its reputa- 
 tion greatly to its connections with 
 Ireland and the work of learned Irish 
 monks in its university. For Irish 
 travellers to that region, it must al- 
 ways be an attractive spot, as having 
 been founded in 613 by their com- 
 patriot, the learned monk Gallus. 
 Although the annals of this monas- 
 tery, absorbed apparently with ac- 
 counts of its external prosperity, 
 make -no mention of these relations 
 with Ireland until the early part of 
 the ninth century, so much the more 
 striking become other more genuine 
 proofs. In Ireland, during the sixth 
 and seventh centuries, a considerable 
 change is perceptible in the writing 
 of the Latin manuscripts, as to the 
 form of several letters and otherwise, 
 showing a marked difference to the 
 Latin of the Continent, particularly 
 that of France and Italy. Now the 
 
Mediceval Culture. 71 
 
 so-called Vocabularius S. Galli was 
 written in 780, in the Irish method 
 of writing Latin, a sure proof of the 
 presence of learned Irish monks in 
 St. Gall at that time. There is still 
 to be seen there a written catalogue 
 compiled in the first half of the ninth 
 century, reporting not less than 
 twenty volumes (volumina), two 
 smaller ones (codicilli), and nine other 
 manuscripts in the Irish Latin, — a 
 testimony which speaks louder than 
 the ordinary, insufficient chronicle of 
 a monastery. In one of the manu- 
 scripts the removal of the bones of 
 St. Gall to the new church is nar- 
 rated (83 s) ; there were, therefore, 
 Irish eye-witnesses to that event in 
 the monastery at the time, and the 
 catalogue is of a later date. 
 
 We find other external proofs of 
 the residence of Irish monks at St. 
 Gall and of the efficiency of their 
 instruction there. Walahfrid Strabo, 
 
72 TTie Irish Element in 
 
 in his revision of Gozbert's account 
 of the miracles of St. Gall, mentions 
 the miraculous cure of a sick Irish- 
 man left behind by his travelling 
 companions, who was still living in 
 the monastery after his recovery, in 
 the writer's day, — a furthur proof of 
 Irish visitors and residents at St. Gall 
 in the first half of the ninth century. 
 At about the same time that Jo- 
 hannes Scotus Erigena was direct- 
 ing the school at Paris, Sedulius 
 Gcotus devoting himself to teach- 
 ing in the cathedral school at Li^ge, 
 and Findan at the monastery of 
 Rheinau, there came to St. Gall, on 
 their return from Rome, an Irish 
 bishop named Marcus and his 
 nephew, Moengal, with a number of 
 compatriots. Moengal, afterwards 
 in the monastery called Marcellus, 
 or " the little Marcus," seems "to 
 have made a powerful impres- 
 sion upon the monks by his great 
 
MedicBvcd Culture. 73 
 
 learning, both in theology and the 
 secular sciences, (erat in divinis et hu- 
 tnanis eriiditissimus). They prevailed 
 upon Marcus and his nephew to re- 
 main with them, with a part of their 
 company. The rest went home laden 
 with gifts, but their manuscripts 
 were kept back by Marcus for his 
 own use and for that of the monas- 
 tery. Moengal must have labored 
 for more than ten years in the school, 
 as we have seen documents of his, 
 bearing various dates, and he is men- 
 tioned as still living in the year 865. 
 Ekkehard writes enthusiastically of 
 the " great prosperity of the monas- 
 tery under such favorable auspices." 
 What Moengal achieved there can 
 hardly indeed be overrated. The 
 three scholars, Notker, Ratpert, and 
 Tuotilo, were put under his instruc- 
 tion, after having been tutored in 
 theology by Iso. Moengal excelled 
 in theology as well as in every other 
 
74 The Irish Element in 
 
 branch of knowledge, and trained his 
 pupils thoroughly in music. Under 
 his teaching St. Gall was at the 
 height of its fame. Ratpert tells us 
 that under Abbot Grimald, 854-872, 
 the library acquired seventy addi- 
 tional manuscripts, besides Grimald's 
 gift of thirty-five more from his own 
 private library. Moengal's residence 
 at St. Gall produced an unwonted 
 impetus to composition among the 
 inmates of the monastery. 
 
 During that century, the Irish par- 
 ticularly excelled in two of the arts : 
 calligraphy and music. With the 
 first, miniature painting and sculp- 
 ture were closely allied. In these 
 the Irish show a lack of taste in 
 representing figurative designs, com- 
 bined with a high degree of technique, 
 and in the art of coloring they were 
 quite unapproachable. But the great 
 proficiency of the Irish in calligra- 
 phy, miniature painting, and sculp- 
 
Medieeval Culture. 75 
 
 ture is so universally acknowledged, 
 that further mention of the fact is 
 superfluous. 
 
 Is it by pure accident that St. Gall 
 is so celebrated for the beauty of its 
 penmanship, its miniatures and carv- 
 ings? Was it by chance that the 
 two most conspicuous students of 
 these sister arts, Sintram and Tuo- 
 tilo, whose fame spread beyond the 
 land of the Alemanni to Metz and 
 Fulda, became pupils of Moengal? 
 We have proofs that the Irish have 
 been highly cultivated in music from 
 the early mediaeval times up to our 
 own. Sedulius Scotus, teacher at the 
 cathedral school at Li^ge, compares 
 himself to Orpheus, and calls Cal- 
 liope his consort.' Moengal gave 
 
 ' The arts in which Christian Ireland excelled 
 before the thirteenth century were the writing 
 and ornamentation of MSS., metal-work, stone- 
 cutting, and building. The first art, that of the 
 scribe, was indeed carried to marvellous perfec- 
 tion in Ireland ; and although, owing to the 
 
76 TJie Irish Element in 
 
 music the highest place among the 
 arts, and the music school of St. 
 Gall certainly reached its fullest 
 perfection under his three students, 
 Ratpert, Notker, and Tuotilo. 
 
 In my opinion there were very few- 
 men who, in the middle of the ninth 
 
 invention of printing, this is no longer an hon- 
 ored handicraft, yet the story of the circle of 
 Giotto shows how important technical skill was 
 considered in the days of great religious art. 
 "When the messenger of Pope Benedict IX. 
 came to Florence, he requested Giotto to give 
 him a drawing to send to his Holiness as a sam- 
 ple of his powers. Giotto, who was very cour- 
 teous, took a sheet of paper and a pencil dipped 
 in a red color ; then, resting his elbow on his 
 side, with one turn of his hand he drew a circle, 
 so perfect and exact that it was a marvel to 
 behold." To draw a perfect circle, unaided by 
 the compasses, is a feat only to be accomplished 
 by an eye and hand in perfect training and obedi- 
 ence to the artist's will. Such circles are to be 
 seen in every page of the famous " Book of 
 Kells," the finest amo' g the MSS. of the Gos- 
 pels. The church of Kells, in which this book 
 was used, was founded by Columba. There is 
 no instance of a letter O, in the large round 
 
MedicBval Culture. jj 
 
 century exerted such a beneficent 
 influence upon the German mind in 
 the cultivation of the higher arts and 
 sciences as Moengal and his follow- 
 ers. I need hardly point out how 
 little Scheflel's picture corresponds 
 with the historic Moengal. 
 
 lettering of this book, in which the slightest sign 
 of a swerving hand is perceptible. 
 
 " Writing," says Dr. Reeves, " formed a most 
 important part of the monastic occupations." 
 Besides the supply of service-books for the nu- 
 merous churches that sprang into existence, and 
 which probably were without embellishment, 
 great labor was bestowed upon the ornamenta- 
 tion of some manuscripts, epecially the sacred 
 writings ; these are wonderful monuments of the 
 conceptions, skill, and patience of the scribes of 
 the seventh century. The penmanship of the 
 Irish scribes is known to have exercised a con- 
 siderable influence on that of the Continent from 
 the time of its first introduction by the Irish 
 missionaries, and this continued to prevail till the 
 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The Irish 
 monks instructed their disciples in the technicali- 
 ties of this art, such as the manner of holding 
 the pen, the preparation of ink, and indeed the 
 whole process of writing, the results of which 
 
78 The Irish Element in 
 
 For more than a century after 
 Moengal's time, various Irish schol- 
 ars established themselves at St. 
 Gall, as is proved by the records of 
 deaths, which comprise very many 
 
 are of exquisite beauty. The writing apparatus 
 consisted of taiula or waxen tablets, graphia or 
 styles, calami or pens, made either of goose- 
 quills or crow-quills, and the ink used was 
 carbonaceous, not mineral. The parchment, as 
 compared with that made use of in France from 
 the seventh till the tenth century, was for the 
 most part much thicker. It is often finely pol- 
 ished, but sometimes homy and dirty. On the 
 whole, these scribes do not appear to have at- 
 tained much perfection in the preparation of the 
 skins, with which they were supplied by their 
 goats, sheep, and calves. The thick ink in use 
 is remarkable for its blackness and durability. 
 The scarlet ink was particularly brilliant and 
 pernianeut ; it was made from cockles, " a most 
 beautiful color, which never fades with the heat 
 of the sun or the washing of the rain, but the 
 older it is, the more beautiful it becomes," ac- 
 cording to Bede. He also notes that such virtue 
 lay in the books of the Irish missionaries that the 
 mere ' ' scrapings of their leaves that were brought 
 out of Ireland, if put into water and swallowed. 
 
Medicsval Culture. 79 
 
 genuine Irish names. The tenth cen- 
 tury was an unfortunate one for St. 
 Gall, not to mention the seizure of 
 the monastery by the Magyars in 
 925, at the time of their disastrous 
 
 were an antidote to the poison of serpents.'' 
 The extraordinary neatness of the handwriting, 
 and its firm character, have led several English 
 antiquaries to express opinions as to the writing 
 instruments which were used by the Irish monks. 
 The notion that they employed extremely sharp 
 metallic pens is quite untenable. That these 
 were made from neither reeds nor metal, but of 
 the quills of swans, geese, crows, and other birds, 
 is proved by several pictures in Irish manu- 
 scripts, where the Evangelist, engaged in writ- 
 ing his Gospel, holds in his hand a pen, the 
 feather of which can be clearly perceived. The 
 ink-stand is also represented as a simple, slen- 
 der, conical cup, fastened either to the arm of 
 the chair, or upon a small stick on the ground. 
 
 Sixty-one remarkable scribes are mentioned as 
 having flourished in Ireland before the year goo, 
 forty of whom lived between A.d. 700 and 800. 
 
 Diligence in writing was one characteristic of 
 St. Columba as well as of his successor at lona, 
 and the title of scribe is frequently used to 
 enhance the dignity of a bishop. 
 
8o The Irish Element in 
 
 incursions in the Rhine valley. About 
 the year looo began the " Silver 
 Age " of St. Gall, according to one 
 of its historians, but many names 
 which greatly contributed to its 
 glory and reputation are in the list 
 of those who fell victims to the 
 plague in 1022 (Notker, Rudpert, 
 Amo, Erimbert). 
 
 The fame of the old monastery 
 was so increased by the briUiancy of 
 its native scholars who, in time, far 
 outstripped their Irish teachers, that 
 it is hardly to be wondered at that 
 the former began gradually to look 
 down with a degree . of contempt, 
 possibly tinged with jealousy, upon 
 the Irish scholars, who continued, 
 however, to come there from time to 
 time, the native students being in- 
 clined to forget to whom they owed 
 the foundation of their institution. 
 Dubwin, the Irish savant, bitterly 
 complains of his German brethren. 
 
MedicBval Culture. 8i 
 
 reproaching them not only for appro- 
 priating to themselves the harvest 
 sown by others, but for assuming all 
 the credit of it. 
 
 It seems hardly necessary to accu- 
 mulate any further testimony on the 
 subject, after studying this long list of 
 Irish scholars who labored in France 
 under Charlemagne, his son and 
 grandson, to implant on German soil 
 a knowledge of Christian and secular 
 science, emanating at that time from 
 Ireland alone of the whole Western 
 world, and establishing itself at so 
 many different points : Clemens, 
 Dicuil, and Johannes Scotus Eri- 
 gena at the court school ; Dungal 
 at Pavia ; Sedulius Scotus at Lifege ; 
 Virgil at Salzburg; and Moengal 
 at St. Gall. However, two more most 
 convincing proofs may be mentioned. 
 
 Hieric, in his biography of St. 
 Germanus, a bishop of Roman Gaul, 
 a work finished in the year 876, takes 
 
82 T7ie Irish Element in 
 
 occasion in his dedication of it, to 
 laud the emperor, Charles the Bald, 
 as the protector of Johannes Scotus 
 Erigena against the pope, and as a 
 promoter of general literature and 
 of philosophical studies. After cit- 
 ing the fact that the emperor even 
 summoned Greeks to his court, he 
 exclaims : 
 
 " Need I remind Ireland that she 
 sent troops of philosophers over land 
 and sea to our distant shores, that 
 her most learned sons offered their 
 gifts of wisdom, of their own free will, 
 in the service of our learned King, 
 our Solomon ! " One more testi- 
 mony. A distinguished writer, still 
 living, in a work on the literature of 
 the Carlovingian period, speaks of the 
 famous philosopher, Johannes Scotus 
 Erigena, as having been appreciated 
 on account of his Irish birth and 
 education, and notably for his knowl- 
 edge of Greek. The mere fact that 
 
MedicBvcd Culture. 83 
 
 a scholar was living in France in the 
 middle of the ninth century, who 
 understood Greek, and other general 
 literature as well, was enough to 
 arouse the idea that he must have 
 enjoyed the privilege of Irish train- 
 ing, and is no insignificant testimony 
 to Irish culture. 
 
 I have endeavored to give a de- 
 tailed sketch of those Irish mission- 
 aries who came into the Merovingian 
 kingdom of the Franks, at the begin- 
 ning of the seventh century, to in- 
 troduce Christianity to the German 
 races. Some of the monks of St. 
 Gall present quite a different picture 
 of the Irish scholars who appeared in 
 the Carlovingian kingdom toward 
 the end of the eighth and in the 
 ninth centuries. But their accounts 
 contain many false statements as 
 well as anachronisms, and show oc- 
 casionally a spirit of jealousy and 
 exaggeration, especially in regard to 
 
84 The Irish Element in 
 
 the Irish scholars' estimate of them- 
 selves and the abilities of their Ger- 
 man pupils. However highly we 
 estimate the work of the Irish monks 
 in the Carlovingian period, and their 
 claim to having been the means of 
 introducing spiritual culture among 
 the German and Roman peoples, we 
 can hardly wonder that their con- 
 temporaries often expressed different 
 opinions from ours. In many in- 
 stances these foreigners were rivals 
 of the native scholars, even if superi- 
 or to them ; this would weigh heav- 
 ily against them, and, moreover, they 
 cannot be charged with an overween- 
 ing modesty. We even hear of 
 bitter enmities between the rival 
 scholars of different nationalities in 
 Charlemagne's court, and we read 
 complaints of the Irish monk, Dub- 
 win, in the eleventh century, who 
 accuses the Prankish monks of look- 
 ing down upon his fellow-laborers. 
 
MedicBval Culture. 85 
 
 We have certain proofs of open hos- 
 tilities within the cloisters. Marianus 
 Scotus, who lived from 1056 to 1082 
 in various monasteries, Cologne, 
 Fulda, and Mayence, alludes to them 
 in his " Chronicles of the World," 
 which can be seen in the Vatican 
 library at Rome, being aqjong the 
 manuscripts stolen from the Heidel- 
 berg library. Another manuscript, 
 written in a mixture of Irish and 
 Latin by some other Irish student in 
 Mayence, gives numerous foot-notes 
 on personal matters and every-day 
 incidents of cloister life. 
 
 Ireland's mission on the Continent, 
 at least in all her important fields 
 of labor, was completed in the 
 eleventh century. But Irish monks 
 continued to wander through the 
 Rhine valley for a hundred years 
 afterward, no longer, however, as 
 apostles and teachers to the Germans. 
 Their innate love of wandering drove 
 
86 The Irish Element in 
 
 them into foreign lands to end their 
 lives as anchorites in various cloisters. 
 We read of another Irish Colum- 
 banus at Ghent in 957 ; in Cologne, 
 in 975, the monastery of St. Martin 
 was given up to Irish monks, 
 and, for a time, that of St. Panta- 
 leon was also directed by a Scotch 
 abbot. At about the same time 
 Irish monks come into posses- 
 sion of a monastery at Metz, where 
 Fingan became abbot, and where he 
 died in 1003 ; the hermit, Animchad, 
 died at Fulda in 1043, ^"d an Irish 
 recluse named Paternus was buried 
 at Paderbom in 1058. In 1056, 
 Marianus Scotus left Ireland for Co- 
 logne, then went to Paderbom and 
 Fulda, and made a pilgrimage to 
 Wurzburg, the resting - place of 
 Kilian's remains. He afterwards 
 lived in the monastery of Fulda as 
 an anchorite for ten years, then went 
 to Mayence, where he died in 1082, 
 
Mediesval Culture. 87 
 
 after completing his great " Chronicle 
 of the World" (before mentioned). 
 The Irish savant, David, directed the 
 cathedral school in Wiirzburg tow- 
 ard the end of the century, and be- 
 came chaplain and court historian 
 to the Emperor Henry V., whom he 
 accompanied to Rome in 1 1 10, then 
 returned to Ireland to occupy a 
 bishopric there.' 
 
 At the very time that traces of 
 Irish missionary work became less 
 and less marked in those localities 
 which had been the scenes of their 
 
 ' At WiiTzburg we find a remarkable monu- 
 ment of early Irish occupation in the copy of 
 the Pauline Epistles, with the interlinear glosses. 
 Here also is preserved the Latin Bible, which 
 was found in Kilian's tomb in the year 743, 
 Kilian having been interred in 687. This book 
 is still exposed upon the altar of the cathedral 
 church on St. Kilian's festive day. A curious 
 representation of the crucifixion appears in this 
 manuscript, where cherubim are ministering to 
 the penitent thief, whilst ill-omened birds are 
 pecking at the impenitent sinner. 
 
88 The Irish Element in 
 
 most active labors from the seventh 
 to the tenth century, some Irish 
 monks succeeded in establishing 
 themselves in another part of Ger- 
 many, where they founded an insti- 
 tution that became the mother of 
 numerous lesser monasteries which 
 flourished for more than a century.' 
 
 ■ One of the most celebrated Irish scholars 
 and writers of the Middle Ages was Marianus 
 Scotus of Ratisbon. He was an enclosed anchor- 
 ite, and tells us himself that he daily said mass 
 standing on the grave of his predecessor, and 
 with his own grave open beside him. The insti- 
 tution of anchorites flourished to such an extent 
 that a rule was drawn out for them, which gives 
 the details of their existence. " An anchorite's 
 cell should be built of stone, twelve feet long, 
 and twelve broad. It should have three win- 
 dows, one facing the choir, through which he 
 may receive his food, and a third for light. The 
 window for food should be secured by a bolt and 
 have a glazed lattice, to be opened and shut, be- 
 cause no one should be able to look in except as 
 far as glass will allow ; nor should the anchorite 
 have a view out. He should be provided with 
 three articles, a jar, a towel, and a cup. After 
 
MeduBval Culture. 89 
 
 In 1067 Muiredach Mac Robertaig, 
 generally called by his Latin name 
 
 tierce he is to lay the jar and cup ontside the 
 window and then close it. About noon he is to 
 come over and see" if his dinner is there. If it 
 be, he is to sit at the window and eat and drink. 
 When he has done, whatever remains is to be 
 left outside for any one who may choose to re- 
 move it, and he is to take no thought for the 
 morrow. But if it should happen that he has 
 nothing for his dinner he is not to omit his 
 accustomed thanks to God, though he is to re- 
 main without food tiU the following day. His 
 garments are to be a gown and cap which he is 
 to wear waking and sleeping. In winter he may, 
 if the weather be severe, wear a woolly cloak, 
 because he is not allowed to have any fire save 
 what his candle produces." 
 
 It is only of late years that facts have come to 
 light which alone will explain many Oriental 
 ideas, the existence of which in the West has 
 puzzled historical students. These facts explain 
 some peculiarities of the Celtic Church and of 
 Celtic monasticism. In Gaul, Syrian and Eastern 
 monasticism was flourishing when Christianity 
 passed over to Ireland. In Irish monasticism 
 we should therefore expect to find traces of 
 Syrian and Oriental practices in the constitution, 
 the customs, the learning, the art, and the archi- 
 
go The Irish Element in 
 
 of Marianus Scotus, started with two 
 associates from the north of Ireland 
 
 lecture of the early Celtic Chnrcli. Some pecul- 
 iarities of Irish monasticism, for instance, can 
 only be explained by a reference to Syrian ideas 
 and customs. Now this anchorite institution was 
 a peculiar mark of Eastern monasticism. In the 
 West, it took a more practical turn, the monks 
 being the great civilizers of the Middle Ages. 
 But in Ireland we find the enclosed anchorite 
 flourishing side by side with the agricultural or 
 learned and artistic monk. Anchorites of this 
 kind were imported from Syria to Gaul and 
 thence to Ireland, where this institution flour- 
 ished in greatest vigor, because it just fell in with 
 that tendency to extremes which ever marks the 
 Celtic race. The type of the early Celtic mon- 
 astery is to be sought not among the Latins, but 
 among the Greeks and Orientals. 
 
 Modem investigation has conclusively proved 
 that the Celtic race is endowed with a mar\'ellous 
 tenacity, its race customs, its tribal organizations, 
 its tribes and traditions all embodying ideas 
 brought from the most distant East. 
 
 Another account says : " The most important 
 Irish settlement in Bavaria was at Ratisbon ; a 
 monastery founded there dedicated to St. James 
 was the parent of many Scotic monasteries. The 
 ' Life of the Holy Marianus Scotus of Donegal ' 
 
Medieval Culture. 91 
 
 on a pilgrimage to Rome. After 
 long sojourns at various points, they 
 
 is preserved here, also his ' Commentary on the 
 Psalms of David.' On reaching Ratisbon, Mari- 
 anas and his companions were received into the 
 convent of ObermOnster, where Marianus was 
 employed by the Abbess Emma in the transcrip- 
 tion of books. He wrote some missals and a 
 number of other religious books, his companions 
 preparing the membranes for his use. After 
 some time he was minded to continue his original 
 journey; but a brother Irishman, called Mur- 
 tagh, who was then living as a recluse at the 
 ObermOnster, urged him to let it be determined 
 by Divine guidance whether he should proceed 
 on his way or settle for life at Ratisbcn. He 
 passed the night in Murtagh's cell, and in the 
 hours of darkness it was intimated to him that 
 wherever on the next day he should first behold 
 the rising sun, he should remain and fix his 
 abode. Starting before day he entered St. Peter's 
 Church, outside the walls, to implore the Divine 
 blessing on his journey. But scarcely had he 
 come forth, when he beheld the sun stealing 
 above the horizon. ' Here, then,' said he, ' I 
 shall rest, and here shall be my resurrection.' 
 His determination was hailed with joy by the 
 whole population." 
 
 It is further recorded of Marianus that " this 
 
92 The Irish Element in 
 
 reached Ratisbon, where they re- 
 ceived a hospitable welcome at the 
 
 holy man wrote from beginning to end, with his 
 own hand, the Old and New Testament, with 
 explanatory comments on the same books, and 
 that not once or twice, but over and over again, 
 with a view to the eternal reward, all the while 
 clad in snowy garb, living on slender diet, 
 attendfed and aided by his brethren, who pre- 
 pared the parchments for his use ; he wrote 
 also many smaller books and manuals, psalters 
 for distressed widows and poor clerics of the 
 same city, towards the health of his soul, without 
 any prospect of earthly gain. Furthermore, 
 through the grace of God, many congregations 
 of the monastic order, which in faith and charity 
 and imitation of the blessed Marianus, are de- 
 rived from the aforesaid Ireland, and inhabit 
 Bavaria and Franconia, are sustained by the 
 writings of the blessed Marianus." He died on 
 the gth of February, 1088. Aventinus, the Ba- 
 varian annalist, styles him : Poeta et Theoh- 
 gus iTisignis, nuHique sua seculo secu7idus. A 
 copy of the Epistles of St. Paul, written by 
 Marianus " for his pUgiim brethren," is pre- 
 served in the Imperial library of Vienna. At 
 the end of the MS. are these words : In honore 
 Individua Trinitatis, Marianus Scottis scripsit 
 kunc librum suis fratribus peregrinis. Anima, 
 
Medicsval Culture. 93 
 
 Obermunster nunnery.' They de- 
 cided to settle at Ratisbon, and 
 founded an Irish monastery in the 
 year 1076. Tidings of this, accord- 
 ing to the statement of Marianus' 
 biographer, reached Ireland, where- 
 upon many of his countrymen left 
 kith and kin to follow Marianus, 
 seven of whose immediate successors 
 to the dignity of abbot were natives 
 of the north of Ireland. The old 
 
 ejus requUscai in pace, propler Deum devote 
 diciie Amen, 
 
 An old chronicle says : " Now be it known, 
 that neither before nor since was there a more 
 noble monastery, such magnificent towers, walls, 
 pillars, and roofs, so rapidly erected, so perfectly 
 finished, as in this monastery, because of the 
 wealth and money sent by the king and princess 
 of Ireland." 
 
 " The richly decorated portal of the church 
 escaped fire and stood out firmly against every 
 assault." 
 
 ' The abbesses of the nunnery of Obermflnster 
 held the rank of princesses of the Empire, and 
 occupied seats in the Diet. 
 
94 The Irish Element in 
 
 monastery soon became insufficient 
 for them, and they founded another, 
 the monastery of St. James, the 
 church of which was consecrated 
 in 1 1 II. 
 
 But Ratisbon was by no means 
 the goal of these Irish monks, im- 
 pelled as they were by the rambling 
 instincts of their race. Johannes, 
 one of Marianus' associates, went to 
 Gottweich,' in Austria, where he 
 died as anchorite ; the other went to 
 Jerusalem. Another of Marianus' 
 followers went with some Ratisbon 
 merchants to Kief, whence they re- 
 turned to the monastery, laden with 
 costly gifts of skins and furs. From 
 the proceeds of the sale of these 
 
 ' The celebrated Benedictine monastery of 
 Gottweich, in Lower Austria, about forty miles 
 west of Vienna, was founded in 1072. It was 
 situated upon a steep hill, and was richly en- 
 dowed. The buildings were destroyed by fire 
 in 1718, and afterwards rebuilt. It now belongs 
 to the diocese of the archbishopric of Vienna. 
 
MedicBval Culture. 95 
 
 goods the monastery of St. James 
 Wcis erected, and the church already- 
 built was furnished with a new roof. 
 On Frederick Barbarossa's return 
 from his crusade in 11 89 through the 
 country which is now Bulgaria, he 
 found at Skribentium a monastery 
 governed by an Irish abbot. Letters 
 written by Irish abbots in Ratisbon 
 in 1090 petition King Wratislaw ' of 
 Bohemia for an escort for their mes- 
 sengers through that country to Po- 
 land. Whence it is no matter of 
 wonderment that there arose in the 
 twelfth century, more or less directly 
 inspired by this influential monastery 
 of St. James of Ratisbon,' a long list 
 
 1 Duke Wratislaw of Bohemia was crowned 
 king for his services to the Empire, and par- 
 ticularly for having sustained the Emperor Hen- 
 ry rv. against Rudolph, his competitor. He 
 was rewarded with the title of king in 1086, and 
 the hand of the emperor's daughter Julia, beside 
 the sovereignty of Lusace. He died in 1092. 
 
 ' St. James of Ratisbon was the last remaining 
 
96 The Irish Element in 
 
 of Irish monasteries, as follows : one 
 at Wurzburg, in 1 134; at Nuremberg, 
 in 1 140 ; at Constance, in 1 1 42 ; St. 
 George at Vienna, in 1155 ; at Eich- 
 stadt, in 1183 ; and that of St. Mary 
 at Vienna, in 1200. 
 
 At the Lateran Council, in 1215, 
 the twelve existing Irish monasteries 
 of Germany were formally placed 
 under the authority of that of St. 
 James at Ratisbon, which received 
 in 1225, through the favor of the 
 Roman king, Henry, the privilege 
 of bearing the imperial half-eagle on 
 its escutcheon. The Abbot of St. 
 
 of the Irish-Scotch monasteries in Germany. It 
 ■was closed in i860, for want of funds to support 
 the small number of resident monks and students. 
 The church was built in 1 100. The singular 
 projecting north porch dates from the thirteenth 
 century, its large circular arch (pure Norman) is 
 supported by pillars with lions at their bases, and 
 curiously ornamented with quaint carvings of 
 crocodiles and other monsters, supposed to repre- 
 sent the triumph of Christianity over heathenism 
 (see frontispiece). 
 
Mediaval Cidture. 97 
 
 James of Ratisbon, at this, the time 
 of that monastery's greatest pros- 
 perity, controlled the Irish monas- 
 teries of Oels in Silesia, Erfurt in 
 Thuringia, Wurzburg, Nuremberg, 
 Eichstadt in Franconia,' Memmin- 
 gen and Constance in Swabia, and 
 Vienna in Austria. 
 
 The Irish monks who, from the 
 eleventh to the thirteenth centuries 
 quitted the north of Ireland to make 
 pilgrimages to this part of Germany, 
 were worthy successors of those apos- 
 tles and scholars we find in France 
 from the seventh to the tenth cen- 
 turies — full of zccd, piety, sobriety, 
 and a genuine love for learning. The 
 hospitable reception which Marianus 
 
 ' Francoiiia, which lay in early times on both 
 sides of the Rhine (kingdom of the Franks), 
 is now situated south of Thuringia. The MSS. 
 discovered and acquired from this region were 
 but a small installment in discharge of the old 
 debt Franconia owed to Ireland for her mis- 
 sionary services. 
 
98 The Irish Element in 
 
 Scotus found at the nunnery at Ra- 
 tisbon gives evidence that he must 
 have made himself very useful there 
 in transcribing breviaries and other 
 pious documents ; in fact, Aventinus ' 
 makes mention of a psalter he him- 
 self saw at Ratisbon, which was 
 written by Marianus for the Abbess 
 Matilda, in the year 1074. More- 
 over, a chronicle of the monastery 
 of Ratisbon, written in 1185, states 
 that the greater portion of all the 
 
 ■ Aventinus (1460), a celebrated philologist of 
 Bavaria, and professor of languages at Vienna 
 and Cracow, was made tutor to the children of 
 the Duke of Bavaria, and wrote the " Annals of 
 Bavaria." He was imprisoned in 1529, on sus- 
 picion of heresy, but no charge was made against 
 him, and he was released by his patron. At the 
 age of sixty-four, he first began to contemplate 
 marriage. He consulted his Bible, and deter- 
 mined to marry the first woman he met, which 
 proved to be his own maid-servant, who was 
 deformed, poor, and ill-tempered. He died in 
 I534i aged sixty-eight, and was buried in the 
 church of St. Emmeran, at Ratisbon. 
 
MedicBval Culture. 99 
 
 existing documents belonging to the 
 different Irish monasteries, which 
 sprang from that of St. James of 
 Ratisbon, were written by Marianus. 
 A specimen of his beautiful script 
 and a proof of the remarkable rapid- 
 ity of his work may be seen at the 
 court library at Vienna, where is 
 preserved a copy of the Epistles of 
 St. Paul (Codex 1247) ; it consists 
 of 160 sheets, and was written by 
 him between the 23d of March and 
 the 17th of May, 1079, as is proved 
 by numerous foot-notes of his own. 
 Very many of the monks coming 
 directly from monasteries in Ireland 
 brought books with them, which they 
 presented to the German monasteries. 
 These men (Malachias, Patricius, 
 Maclan, Finnian) and others (1190 
 to 1240) were well known to the 
 Irish monks in Vienna, as well as 
 the books themselves. 
 
 In a manuscript to be found at 
 
lOO The Irish Element in 
 
 Dublin, written in the Irish dialect 
 in iioo, it is stated that a manu- 
 script belonging to the celebrated 
 monastery of Monasterboice, in 
 Ulster, which had been in its pos- 
 session so late as the year 1050, 
 was missing, a student of the mon- 
 astery having carried it away with 
 him to the Continent. It was from 
 that part of Ireland that those com- 
 patriots of Marianus Scotus came, 
 who followed him to Ratisbon after 
 1076. 
 
 The chronicles of the Ratisbon 
 monastery state that the first Irish 
 abbot of Wurzburg, Macarius (Mc- 
 Carthy ?) was remarkably learned in 
 the science of theology and renowned 
 throughout Ireland for his exhaust- 
 ive study of the liberal arts. His 
 second successor, Carus, became chap- 
 lain to Conrad III. and first abbot of 
 the Irish monastery at Nuremberg. 
 The next one, Declan, was chaplain 
 
Mediaval Culture. loi 
 
 both to Conrad III. and Frederic 
 Barbarossa. 
 
 The twelfth century, that in which 
 the basilica of St. James of Ratisbon 
 was erected, was the most flourishing 
 period of the Irish monks in Ger- 
 many. The decline of their influ- 
 ence began about the middle of the 
 thirteenth century, and is easily ex- 
 plained. We should make a marked 
 distinction between these Irish monks 
 of the eleventh, twelfth, and thir- 
 teenth centuries and those apostles 
 sent forth from Ireland during the 
 four previous centuries. 
 
 Columbanus and his successors set 
 forth to preach the gospel to heathen 
 Germany ; they founded missionary 
 stations there, and made every effort 
 to attract the people into their midst. 
 Their highest aim was so thoroughly 
 to educate their pupils, both Franks 
 and Alemanni, in the principles of 
 Christianity, that'their own presence 
 
I02 The Irish Element in 
 
 should become superfluous ; so that, 
 in many instances, the second gen- 
 eration of monks in one of these 
 institutions would be wholly German, 
 and governed by a German abbot. 
 It was quite otherwise with Marianus 
 and his successors. They founded 
 Benedictine monasteries, which were 
 entirely closed to Germans, and con- 
 tinually strengthened by reinforce- 
 ments from abroad. What they 
 accomplished was neither more nor 
 less than what any of the monasteries 
 of German origin did. 
 
 Still less can they be compared 
 with those champions of the Irish 
 culture in the Carlovingian period in 
 France. Dungal, Johannes Scotus 
 Erigena, Clemens, Sedulius Scotus, 
 and Moengal are representatives of 
 a higher culture than was then to be 
 found on the Continent : a purely 
 Christian training and severely simple 
 habit of mind, joined to the highest 
 
MedicBval Culture, 103 
 
 theoretical attainments based upon 
 a thorough knowledge of the best 
 standards of clcissical antiquity. 
 These Irishmen had a high mission 
 entrusted to them, and they faithfully 
 accomplished their task. Marianus 
 Scotus, and the most learned of his 
 followers and compatriots were 
 merely Benedictine monks in Ger- 
 many, like all others on the Con- 
 tinent. They perhaps devoted them- 
 selves with more fervor to the work 
 of transcribing the lives of the 
 saints, and other pious books, than 
 did their German brethren, and if 
 some few of them quitted their own 
 cloisters to enter a German mon- 
 astery, they invariably isettled down 
 to a secluded and contemplative 
 life. 
 
 In the thirteenth century a general 
 and perceptible deterioration took 
 place in all monastic life. Why 
 should these foreigners whose insti- 
 
I04 The Irish Element in 
 
 tutions at this, the time of their 
 highest prosperity, were already 
 governed by the most rigid asceti- 
 cism, and who were perfectly con- 
 scious of living as strangers in the 
 land (and for this very reason of less 
 importance as educators in Germany 
 than the contemporary German 
 monasteries), be expected to escape 
 the universal degeneracy ? But there 
 is cm additional cause to account for 
 the more rapid decline of the Irish 
 monasteries than of the German ones 
 of that part of the country. 
 
 Toward the end of the twelfth 
 century (i 171), began the subjugation 
 of Ireland by the English. It is a 
 well-known fact that in 11 54, Pope 
 Hadrian IV. issued a bull presenting 
 Ireland to the King of England, in 
 consideration of the payment of a 
 certain sum of tribute money, because 
 the slight degree of independence 
 assumed and maintained by the 
 
Medicsval Culture. 105 
 
 Irish Church in regard to the Church 
 of Rome was to the latter a thorn 
 in the flesh, and not to be endured. 
 The conquest of Ireland by the 
 English, together with the existence 
 of certain social evils, destroyed the 
 real independence of its people, 
 and, as a consequence, of the Irish 
 Church.' The monks who now 
 sought an abiding-place on the Con- 
 tinent — ^the aftergrowth of the old 
 movement — no longer forsook their 
 native land, as did Columbanus, to 
 carry Christianity to the heathen; 
 
 ' "It was a remarkable feature in the early 
 evangelization of the Celtic race that it was origi- 
 nally far more independent of the influence of 
 Rome than any of the German tribes were. In 
 England the influence of the Irish and Scotch 
 missions, though greatly thwarted by the preten- 
 sions of Rome, predominated in the north ; 
 while the authority of Rome was acknowledged 
 in southern England. The Roman power 
 gained the ascendancy only after a long struggle ; 
 bnt in Ireland especially, it was long before it 
 was entirely established." 
 
io6 The Irish Element in 
 
 or, like Dungal, to instruct youth 
 eager for scientific knowledge ; or 
 again, like Marianus and his col- 
 leagues, to exchange the transitory 
 for the eternal by means of a holy 
 life, far from home and kindred, but 
 to live in material comfort and 
 abundance, to be able to lead a life 
 of worldly freedom. (Propter abun- 
 dantiam et propter liberam. voluntatem 
 Vivendi.) 
 
 Intemperance is, even at the pres- 
 ent day, Ireland's besetting sin. 
 Sedulius Scotus himself, when in- 
 structor at Lifege, acknowledges his 
 love for the cup, in his invocations 
 to the Muses, and among his poetical 
 panegyrics is one addressed to a cer- 
 tain Robertus, who, rich in the pos- 
 session of extensive vineyards, well 
 understood, according to Sedulius, 
 how to " awaken genius through the 
 inspiration of the heavenly dew." 
 Intemperance came to be, in fact. 
 
MedicBvcd CultuVe. 107 
 
 the most prominent vice of the 
 Irish monks of the numerous Ger- 
 man monasteries. A satirical poem 
 of the thirteenth century, by Nicolaus 
 von Bibera, describes the orgies of 
 some Irish monks of Erfurt, who 
 boasted that Brendan was the brother 
 of Christ, and St. Brigit his mother, 
 drawing their logical conclusions 
 thereto from the Holy Scriptures 
 themselves, and in such a way as to 
 show conclusively that they had in- 
 dulged too freely in the "heavenly 
 dew." 
 
 At the end of the thirteenth cen- 
 tury, and later, these Irish monks, at 
 a certain tavern in Nuremberg, held 
 frequent and disgraceful orgies, 
 drinking to such excess that they 
 were often quite incapable of read- 
 ing mass the next morning. In 
 Vienna, they openly kept up their 
 revels, pawned their chalices and 
 vestments, as well as their chapel 
 
io8 The Irish Element in 
 
 bells. Those who engaged in any 
 occupation at all, took up trading in 
 furs and other goods, so that the 
 term " Irish monk " (Scoti) became 
 synonymous with that of trader or 
 pedlar. 
 
 The fate of their institutions was 
 sealed. Some of them, like that of 
 Oels, for example, came to an end 
 through their own inherent weak- 
 ness; others, like those of Vienna, 
 Wurzburg, and Eichstadt were made 
 over to German monks, and in the 
 Reformation lost, like that of Nurem- 
 berg, their monastic character. The 
 mother monastery of St. James of 
 Ratisbon underwent a most extra- 
 ordinary transformation. During the 
 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the 
 truth was not understood, that, by 
 the Irish or "Scots" were meant, 
 from the earliest mediaeval times, 
 that nation alone which inhabited 
 Ireland, and of which only a small 
 
Medieeval Culture. 109 
 
 portion had wandered to the north- 
 western part of Britain, with which 
 nation they became really incorpo- 
 rated, being now called Scotchmen, 
 and their country being considered 
 as thoroughly anglicized. The 
 Scotch taking advantage of this, 
 maintained on the ground of the 
 designation (monasterium Scotorum) 
 that the Scotch were the real found- 
 ers of these institutions, and that 
 the Irish had gradually and unlaw- 
 fully intruded themselves into those 
 monasteries, — Whence their downfall. 
 So in 1 5 15, St. James was given to 
 the Scotch by Leo. X., and all the 
 Irish monks still living there were 
 driven out. 
 
 This monastery, at the time of the 
 Reformation, made a desperate effort 
 in opposition to it, by assembling 
 within its walls many able Scotch- 
 men who were known to be inimical 
 to the movement. But the charac- 
 
no The Irish Element in 
 
 teristics of those later monks that 
 lived here in the eighteenth century 
 are often alluded to in the accounts 
 of another Benedictine monastery of 
 that time. In the year 171 1 , a Scotch 
 Benedictine monk from the mon- 
 astery of St. James of Ratisbon, 
 by the name of Ambrosius Rosius, 
 visited the monastery of Rheinau, 
 and enjoyed its hospitality for a 
 sojourn of several weeks. In this 
 same monastery of Rheinau, where 
 Findan had lived as an anchorite from 
 856 to 878, was preserved a copy of 
 the Vita of Findan, before alluded 
 to, with those celestial communica- 
 tions in the ancient Scotch, that is to 
 say Irish, dialect. It is easily under- 
 stood why the inmates of Rheinau 
 should warmly welcome a guest who 
 could unravel to them the meaning 
 of those supernatural responses. 
 These monks had as little under- 
 standing as any of that time, of 
 
MedicBval Culture. in 
 
 the very slight connection between 
 these Scoti of Ratisbon and those 
 monks and apostles of the seventh, 
 eighth, and ninth centuries men- 
 tioned in the manuscripts of that 
 time as Scoti. Ambrosius Rosius 
 probably spoke the language of 
 Ramsay and Bums, that is the 
 Scotch dialect of the English, which 
 corresponded about as fully with 
 that of Findan's voices from heaven, 
 as that of the Isle de France of the 
 early part of the eighteenth century 
 resembled the language in which the 
 " Gospel Harmonies " of Otfried 
 von Weissenburg' were written. 
 However, the Scotch brother from 
 Ratisbon showed his gratitude to the 
 monks of Rheinau for the generous 
 hospitality he had received by de- 
 ceiving them in the most shameless 
 
 ' Otfried von Weissenburg, the Alsatian poet 
 and author, was educated at Fulda, and produced 
 his " Gospel Harmonies" in the year 868. 
 
112 The Irish Element in 
 
 fashion. He informed them that 
 those ancient communications really 
 signified : ego debeo deo obtemperare 
 et non tentationibus ■maligni spiritus. 
 
 St. James of Ratisbon was secular- 
 ized in i860. 
 
 Although in the first century of 
 the existence of this Scotch mon- 
 astery, a few able men are to be 
 found as inmates of it, the institu- 
 tion exercised no influence worth 
 mentioning upon the general culti- 
 vation of the German people of that 
 region, and may be considered as 
 but a small contributor toward medi- 
 aeval culture in general ; for the only 
 share that the Scotch monks can 
 really claim in a monument like that 
 of the church of St. James of Ratis- 
 bon, is the fact of their having col- 
 lected the gold for its erection from 
 the pockets of the Germans. 
 
 In comparison with these, how 
 noble appear to us those apostles 
 
MedicBval Culture. 113 
 
 from Ireland, of whom we find so 
 many traces in different parts of the 
 kingdom of the Franks, from the 
 beginning of the seventh to the 
 end of the tenth century. We 
 must go back to them for a few 
 moments,. in order to gauge them, or 
 rather the culture which they repre- 
 sent, according to the acknowledged 
 standards of our present civilization. 
 The two monasteries which we 
 should consider as the true represen- 
 tatives of Irish culture on the Conti- 
 nent, even though the non-Irish ele- 
 ment may be found to have been 
 predominant in both, are Bobio, Col- 
 umbanus' institution in Lombardy, 
 and St. Gall, founded by his colleague 
 Gallus in the country of the Ale- 
 manni. We are so fortunate as to 
 be enabled to judge of the actual 
 value of the libraries of both insti- 
 tutions at the close of the tenth 
 century from old book-catalogues 
 
114 The Irish Element in 
 
 of both which have survived, and 
 which were made in the ninth and 
 tenth centuries. In .Bobio the gen- 
 eral library of the monastery at 
 the end of the tenth, consisted of 
 700 volumes, comprising about 460 
 manuscripts of which the donor's 
 name is not stated ; and over 220 
 volumes presented to the monastery 
 by different scholars of the ninth 
 century, 40 of them being the gift of 
 Dungal. 
 
 St. Gall possessed in the first half 
 of the ninth century 428 volumes, to 
 which 70 more were added under 
 the Abbot Grimald, besides 35 pre- 
 sented by him (841-872) ; so at the 
 end of the ninth century there were 
 533 volumes, 9 of them being palimp- 
 sests. When, in these days, large 
 private libraries are incorporated into 
 public ones, they are either catalogued 
 and numbered differently from the 
 rest, or a label or slip is pasted 
 
Medicevcd Culture. 1 1 5 
 
 inside the covers of the odd volumes 
 giving the name of the donor and 
 former owner. Now, when it is 
 known that the catalogue of Bobio 
 enumerates 40, volumes given by 
 Dungal, 32 by the presbyter Theo- 
 dore, and 4 by Brother Adelbert, 
 and that St. Gall possesses 35 manu- 
 scripts which the Abbot Grimald gave 
 from his own private library, it fol- 
 lows that the most learned of the 
 monks possessed, as a matter of 
 course, their own private collections 
 of choice works, which many of them 
 bequeathed to the general library of 
 the monastery. • 
 
 With this wealth of manuscripts, 
 the relative value of the contents of 
 the, two libraries may be considered 
 about equal. Both these monasteries 
 possess whatever was treasured and 
 preserved of those writings, both 
 religious and secular, of the most 
 prominent scholars of the ninth and 
 
1 1 6 The Irish Element in 
 
 tenth centuries. Beside theology 
 taken in its broadest sense, the secu- 
 lar sciences were cultivated, as, for 
 instance, grammar, metrics, astrono- 
 my, and medicine, as well as the best 
 models of classical literature. In the 
 library at Bobio we find copies of 
 Horace, Virgil, Ovid, Juvenal, Mar- 
 tial, Persius, ' Terence, Cicero, De- 
 mosthenes, and Aristotle. 
 
 It is a well-known fact that when 
 the holy fathers went to the Council 
 of Constance taking no manuscripts 
 with them, they had recourse to 
 what the rich library of St. Gall 
 could furnish them, and that when 
 the council broke up (141 8), very 
 many of these pious men omitted 
 or neglected to return those valuable 
 old theological works in Latin and 
 Greek. Not less serious was the ad- 
 
 ' Persius (Flaccus), was bom in 34 and died 
 in 62 A.D. He was mostly distinguished as a 
 satirist. 
 
Medieevcd Culture. 117 
 
 ditional loss sustained by the library 
 of St. Gall in another direction. In 
 the summer of 1416, Poggio, the 
 Florentine, and two scholarly friends, 
 who had been, engaged with the 
 council, left Constance for St. Gall, 
 where, having a season of leisure, 
 they undertook a thorough search 
 for some missing volumes of Cicero, 
 Livy, and others. Their expecta- 
 tions were not disappointed, accord- 
 ing to the letters they wrote to learn- 
 ed friends in Italy. Among others 
 there were the well-known "Argo- 
 nauticon " of Flaccus, copies of eight 
 of Cicero's orations with commenta- 
 ries by Asconius Pedianus, ' works of 
 the famous Roman architect Vitru- 
 vius, who lived in the reign of Au- 
 gustus, 30 B.C., of Priscian, Quinc- 
 
 ' Asconius Pedianus, the learned grammarian 
 of Padua (30-60 A.D.), died during the reign of 
 Comitian. His commentaries on Cicero are of 
 much value. 
 
1 18 The Irish Element in 
 
 tilian, Lucretius, and other great 
 scholars. With the connivance of 
 the abbot those precious manuscripts 
 of classical literature were slipped 
 into two wagons, carried to Con- 
 stance, and from there into Italy, 
 whence none of them were ever re- 
 turned to St. Gall. And yet, in spite 
 of all these losses, St. Gall still pos- 
 sesses a wealth of manuscripts, dat- 
 ing from the seventh to the eleventh 
 century, in the way of works upon 
 patristic theology, and of both classi- 
 cal and German antiquity. 
 
 It is no more true that the inmates 
 of these two monasteries were, from 
 the eighth to the twelfth century, 
 exclusively Irish, or even that the 
 Irish element greatly predominated 
 in them, than that those invaluable 
 manuscripts were all written by 
 Irishmen, which they certainly were 
 not. Still the works serve to repre- 
 sent the degree of culture attained 
 
Mediaeval Ctdture. 119 
 
 by the Irish monks on the Continent 
 during that period. 
 
 One circumstance must not be lost 
 sight of in estimating the actual claim 
 of the Irish monks as contributors to 
 the literary treasures possessed by 
 Bobio, St. Gall, Reichenau, and other 
 monasteries. The Latin alphabet 
 in use in Ireland in those times differs 
 in many particulars from that in 
 common use on the Continent, so 
 that, as we have before observed, a 
 Latin manuscript written by an Irish 
 scholar; can be easily distinguished 
 from one written by a continental 
 hand. It is evident that those writ- 
 ten by the Irish monks would pre- 
 sent difficulties to the ordinary stu- 
 dent on the Continent, and be an 
 obstacle to a rapid comprehension 
 of the same. This circumstance 
 had important results. Those Irish 
 monks who studied in the continen- 
 tal monasteries naturally tried, as far 
 
1 20 The Irish Element in 
 
 as possible, to accustom themselves 
 to the forms of the letters most 
 generally used on the Continent ; of 
 this we have the strongest evidence. 
 The whole mass of documents that 
 we have seen, which were written by 
 Moengal at St. Gall between 853 
 and 860, are undoubtedly originals 
 and in the customary dialect and 
 handwriting used in the middle por- 
 tion of the ninth century, without the 
 slightest traces of the so-called Scot- 
 tish script ; and those copies of the 
 Epistles of St. Paul, (Codex 1247) to 
 be seen at Vienna, which Marianus 
 Scotus wrote in Ratisbon between 
 the 23d of March and the 17th of 
 May, 1079, are written, as I can state 
 upon the authority of my own eyes, 
 in the minuscule, the small handwrit- 
 ing peculiar to the Franks of that 
 period, while his foot-notes and com- 
 ments are written in the Irish way. 
 Marianus used the Irish characters 
 
Mediceval Culture. 121 
 
 without doubt merely for his own 
 private accommodation. This fact 
 shows that very many of the manu- 
 scripts, ostensibly the work of con- 
 tinental scholars, may have been 
 transcribed by Irish monks; and, 
 regarding the manuscripts written in 
 the genuine Irish manner, there is 
 great probability of their having been 
 brought with them from Ireland, 
 there being no positive proof what- 
 ever of their having been of conti- 
 nental origin. 
 
 Moreover, those documents which 
 were written in Ireland and carried 
 to the Continent fell into disuse just 
 as soon as they had been copied in 
 any continental monastery. The 
 fact seems to me in this connection 
 not without significance, that in the 
 old catalogue of St. Gall, drawn up 
 in the ninth century, are enumerated 
 30 volumes in Irish script (libri scot- 
 tice scripti), and then is added, " A 
 
122 TJie Irish Element in 
 
 short list of the books belonging to 
 the monastery of St. Gall (breviarium 
 librorum de ccenobio sancti Galli con- 
 fessoris Christi) "; by this we assume 
 that the former are undoubtedly veri- 
 fied as being those not in general use. 
 In after times, when not only every 
 connection between the monasteries 
 of St. Gall, Reichenau, and Bobio 
 with Ireland was severed, but also 
 because by reason of the general 
 degeneracy of monastic life, real in- 
 terest in and desire for the former 
 peaceful life of the cloister had quite 
 died out with the monks of these 
 monasteries, the books written in 
 Irish met with a still more disastrous 
 fate. At St. Gall, at least, their value 
 seems to have been estimated chiefly 
 according to the condition of the 
 parchment they were written upon ; 
 and in the fourteenth and fifteenth 
 centuries the oldest manuscripts, in- 
 cluding of course those written by 
 
Medi(zval Culture. 123 
 
 the Irish, found their way into the 
 workshops of the bookbinders. At 
 St. Gall, early in the present century, 
 six volumes of extracts were collect- 
 ed together, consisting of fragments 
 and stray sheets from older manu- 
 scripts. Of the thirty volumes vwitten 
 by the Irish monks in the middle of 
 the ninth century, -only one remains, 
 and but four of those of later date, 
 while there are ten fragments or 
 single leaves of manuscripts in the 
 Irish character to be found at St. 
 Gall. 
 
 In other places the books written 
 by the Irish apparently met with a 
 similar fate, for in this century such 
 fragments have been occasionally met 
 with in the various libraries on the 
 Continent, and single stray leaves 
 from volumes dating from the four- 
 teenth and fifteenth centuries. Libri 
 scottice scripti, both in the last and 
 in the present century, have been 
 
1 24 The Irish Element in 
 
 brought to England, having been 
 purchased or accidentally brought 
 to light in some other way, as may 
 possibly occur in rare instances. 
 
 It would be most interesting to 
 know, after all these losses, what speci- 
 mens may still be found on the Conti- 
 nent of those Irish manuscripts dating 
 from the seventh to the eleventh cen- 
 tury. The result of such a search 
 would necessarily be somewhat un- 
 satisfactory ; still, from what I have 
 myself seen of the Irish manuscripts, 
 extracts, arid single leaves of that 
 time, which are undoubtedly authen- 
 tic, and from all that I can learn 
 about them, I am led to the suppo- 
 sition that there must be at least two 
 hundred of them in existence, and 
 among these there are thirty-three 
 which contain more or less important 
 articles of varying length, written in 
 the Irish language exclusively, which 
 actually date from that period. The 
 
Mediceval Culture. 125 
 
 contents of the scanty remnants of 
 earlier manuscripts possess also con- 
 siderable value, not to mention the 
 fact that Zeuss ' gleaned from them 
 the materials for his grammar of the 
 ancient Irish language and laid the 
 foundation of Celtic philology. 
 
 In the department of Biblical lit- 
 erature I will recall but two important 
 examples: the Gospel Codex at St. 
 Gall, written in Greek with a trans- 
 lation in Latin, and the Codex Boer- 
 nerianus, now to be found in Dres- 
 den, which contains the Epistles of 
 St. Paul in Greek, together with an 
 interlinear Latin version of the same. 
 Both of these works date from as early 
 a period as the ninth century, and 
 
 'Johann Kaspar Zeuss, the famous historian 
 and philologist, was born in 1806. In 1839 he 
 became Professor of History at Spires, and in 
 1847 Professor of the Lyceum at Bamberg, where 
 he produced his ckef-d'ceuvre " Grammatica 
 Celtica " (1853), published at Leipsic. He died 
 in 1856. 
 
1 26 The Irish Element in 
 
 the last contains a passage in the 
 ancient Irish dialect which expresses 
 the harshest possible sentence upon 
 Rome at that time : 
 
 A pilgrimage to Rome demands 
 strenuous effort, with but meagre ad- 
 vantage. If thou findest not the Heav- 
 enly King thou seekest, in thine own 
 country, or carry Him not with thee, 
 thou wilt never find him there (Rome). 
 It is all folly, madness, delusion, frenzy : 
 to go on a pilgrimage to Rome is to 
 court death and destruction, and to 
 draw down upon thee the wrath of the 
 Lord. 
 
 Among other Irish manuscripts of 
 interest and value to the classical 
 philologist there is now to be found 
 in Berne one precious volume, written 
 in Ireland at the end of the eighth or 
 beginning of the ninth century, which 
 contains commentaries and annota- 
 
Medieevcd Cidture. 127 
 
 tions on Virgil, Horace, and Ovid, 
 beside rhetorical disquisitions and 
 one of Bede's works. This volume 
 was most probably carried to the 
 Continent by Dungal, and was used 
 in Pavia as a text-book. Of the 
 grammarian Priscian we have seen 
 three specimens — at St. Gall, Ley- 
 den, and Carlsruhe (earlier at Reich- 
 enau), and one fragment at Milan, 
 from Bobio, as well as an authentic 
 Irish recension of them. All these 
 manuscripts, quite independent of 
 each other, and yet of common ori- 
 gin, were produced in Ireland in the 
 first half of the ninth centuiy, and 
 finally appeared on the Continent.' 
 
 In conclusion, we can form, in fact, 
 from the preceding sketches, a com- 
 
 ' At Basle there are three manuscripts in the 
 town library, one of them being a beautiful Irish 
 psalter, with a hymn in praise of Bridget and 
 Patrick. 
 
128 The Irish Element in 
 
 plete representation of Ireland's part 
 in the development of general cul- 
 ture, from the seventh to the eleventh 
 century. 
 
 The German tribes combining to- 
 gether had finally succeeded, after 
 many vain onslaughts, in undermin- 
 ing the Roman Empire by mere brute 
 force. The conquerors willingly 
 accepted what ancient culture they 
 found established in the lands 
 they had become masters of, but not 
 being capable of carrying it on, they 
 dragged those vanquished Roman 
 provinces down with them into the 
 quagmires of barbarism into which, 
 at the end of the sixth century, the 
 whole West seems to have been 
 hopelessly sunk. 
 
 Only on the " Emerald Isle " had 
 ancient culture found a secure foot- 
 ing and an asylum ; here bloomed 
 and flourished a Christianity which 
 swayed the hearts and minds of the 
 
Medicsval Culture. 129 
 
 people, — a Christianity which was 
 not consciously in opposition to that 
 of Rome, but at the same time was 
 quite independent of the Roman 
 hierarchy and of Roman intolerance ; 
 and the supporters of this religion, 
 the priestly leaders of the people, 
 held firmly to the doctrines of the 
 great fathers of the Church, Ambro- 
 sius and Augustine, with equal rev- 
 erence for the ancient classics. 
 
 Such was the country which sent 
 forth numerous apostles at the end 
 of the sixth century and at the be- 
 ginning of the seventh, to settle in the 
 Merovingian kingdom of the Franks 
 and among other German tribes, to 
 establish missionary stations in which 
 the noblest secular culture was fos- 
 tered in conjunction with Christian- 
 ity. The Carlovingian kingdom was 
 fully converted from heathenism at 
 the time that these Irish scholars 
 came there and labored strenuously 
 
130 The Irish Element in 
 
 to spread among the various Ger- 
 man and Roman peoples the most 
 precious treasures of classical learn- 
 ing, in the spirit of an enlightened 
 Christianity. 
 
 The opinion of the most able 
 writer on the Carlovingian period, in 
 regard to one representative of that 
 time (Dummler's article on Alcuin in 
 the " General German Biography "), 
 may, with some modifications, be 
 held, concerning all these men — viz. : 
 that, among them all, not one was 
 distinguished for remarkable origi- 
 nality, with the single exception of 
 Johannes Scotus Erigena, and that 
 the reputation of having opened up 
 strictly new paths to knowledge can- 
 not certainly be claimed for them. 
 However, they were instructors in 
 every known branch of science and 
 learning of the time, possessors and 
 bearers of a higher culture than was 
 at that period to be found anywhere 
 
Medicsval Culture. 131 
 
 on the Continent, and can surely 
 claim to have been the pioneers, — to 
 have laid the corner-stone of Western 
 culture on the Continent, the rich 
 results of which Germany shares and 
 enjoys to-day, in common with all 
 other civilized nations. 
 
Index. 
 
 Aedan, So 
 
 Agilberct, 43 
 
 Agricola on the conquest of Ireland, 12 
 
 Alcuin, 44 ; on Irish monks, 30, 32 
 
 Aldhelm, 37, 41 
 
 Anagratum, or Annegray, 21, 26 «. 
 
 Anchorites, 88 k. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon art confounded with Irish, 16 «. 
 
 Anglo-Saxons frequent Irish monasteries, 36, 41 
 
 Animcliad, 86 
 
 Arbogast the Younger, 7 
 
 Ausonins, 7 
 
 Aventinus, 98 «. 
 
 Bangor, monastery of, 21, 23 «, 
 
 Baptism, 34 
 
 Basilicas, 47 n. 
 
 Bavaria, Irish monks in, 31 
 
 Bobio, monasteiy of, 18 k., 53 ; founded by 
 
 Columbanus, 23, 28 n. ; its library, 1 14 
 Boniface or Winfrid, 35 
 Bregenz, 22 
 
 133 
 
1 34 Index. 
 
 Cams, abbot at Nuremberg, lOO 
 
 Cataldus, St., 32 «. 
 
 Charlemagne, the patron of learning, 43 ; the 
 Irish scholars in his court, 44 
 
 Christianity, the debt of civilization to, 4 ; its 
 history in the second to fourth centuries, 6 
 
 Claudius, Bishop of Turin, 10 
 
 Clemens, an Irish scholar, 50 
 
 Colman, 20, 31, 32 «., 41 
 
 Columba founds the monastery on lona, 19 ; his 
 life by Sedulius, 62 «. / his diligence in 
 writing, 79 «. 
 
 Columbanus, 20 «. / his labors in the Vosges, 
 21 ; difficulties with the Gallic clergy, 22 ; 
 at Bregenz and Bobio, 23, 28 ». / his learn- 
 ing and life, 24 «. / his death, 29 «. / his 
 objects, 101 
 
 Crosses in Ireland, 50 n. 
 
 Cruindmel, 62 
 
 D 
 
 Dagobert, 30 
 
 David, 87 
 
 Declan, Irish abbot in Nuremberg, 100 
 
 Dicuil, 54 
 
 Dobda, 63 
 
 Dubdachrich, 63 
 
 Dubwin, 84 
 
 Dungal, 10, 52, 114, 127 
 
 Easter controversy, 38 ». 
 Ecgberct, 36 
 
Index. 135 
 
 Edilhun, 36 
 
 Eichstadt, 108 
 
 Erfurt, 107 
 
 Erigena, Johannes Scotus, 57, 59, 82 
 
 Erlebald, abbot of Reichenau, 65 
 
 Faroe Islands mentioned by Dicuil, 55 
 
 Fiacra, St., 32 ». 
 
 Findan, 63, 113 
 
 Fingan, abbot of Metz, 86 
 
 Finnan, 20 
 
 Fontaines, 22, 28 n. 
 
 France in the sixth century, 24 «. 
 
 Franks, their kingdom in the sixth century, 
 
 attracted to Ireland by her learning, 42 
 Fredegonde, 26 «. 
 Fridolin, 32 
 Frieslanders, Irish influence upon, 32 
 
 Gallus (St. Gall), his missionary work, 24 
 Gettweich, monastery of, 94 
 Gregory the Great, Pope, 10 
 Gregory of Tours, 9 
 
 H 
 
 Hassenkamp, on early Ireland, i 
 Hewald, 32 
 
 Iceland, mentioned by Dicuil, 55 ; Irish monks 
 in, 56 
 
136 
 
 Index. 
 
 lUumination of Irish manuscripts, 16 «., 75 «., 
 87 «. 
 
 lona, Ig 
 
 Ireland, mistaken view of Hassenkamp and of 
 English writers on its eariy history, I ; its 
 glorious past, 3 ; Dr. Reeves on its early 
 importance, 11 n. ; its conquest recom- 
 mended by Agricola, 12 ; its unsubdued 
 Celtic tribes the pioneers of missionary 
 effort, 13 ; the inhabitants called Scots, 14 ; 
 
 Irish art confounded with Anglo-Saxon art, 16 «./ 
 its sources and history, 17 ». 
 
 Irish church, its independent position, 38 ; dis- 
 pleasing to Rome, 104 
 
 Irish illumination, 16 «., 74, 75 «., 87 n. 
 
 Irish manuscripts, 99 ; distinguished from Con- 
 tinental, 119 ; their fate, 122 
 
 Irish monasteries, the early establishments, 17 ; 
 their culture and learning, 19 ; the mission- 
 ary impulse, 19, 56 ; the foundations on 
 the Continent, 2g ; frequented by Anglo- 
 Saxons, 36 ; and by Franks, 42 ; Oriental 
 origin of Irish monasticism, 89 n. 
 
 Irish monks and missionaries, their persona] 
 appearance and manner of life, 33 ; their 
 decline after the seventh century, 42 «. ; in 
 Iceland, 56 ; at St. Gall, 70 ; in the ninth 
 century, 83 ; in the eleventh and twelfth 
 centuries, 85 ; in Germany in the eleventh 
 to thirteenth centuries, 97 ; distinguished 
 from their predecessors, loi ; their decline, 
 104 ; their intemperance, 106 ; of seventh 
 to tenth centuries among the Franks, 113 
 
 Irish music, 75 
 
 Irish scholars welcomed in France, 45 
 
 Irish sculpture, 50 «. 
 
 Italy in the sixth century, 10 
 
Index. 137 
 
 J 
 
 Johannes Scotus Erigena, 57, 59, 82 
 
 Jonas of Bobio, 31 
 
 Joseph, a friend of Alcuin's, 46 
 
 K 
 
 Kataldus, St., 56 
 Kilian, 31, 32 «., 87 «. 
 
 L 
 Luxovium, orLuxeuil, 21, 28 »., 31 
 
 M 
 
 Macarius, abbot of Wiirzburg, 100 
 
 Malmsbuiy, monastery of, 37 
 
 Marcellus, or Moengal, 72, 120 
 
 Marcus, Irish bishop, 72 
 
 Marianus Scotus, 85, 86, 88 «., 90, 120 ; his 
 
 manuscripts, 92 »., 98 
 Moengal or Marcellus, 72, 120 
 Monastidsm, its decline, 103 
 
 N 
 
 Notker, 73 
 Nuremberg, 100 
 
 Oels, Irish monastery a, 108 
 Otfried von Weissenburg, in 
 
138 Index. 
 
 V 
 
 Palladius sent by Rome to the Scots (Irish), 14 
 
 Pantaleon, St., 86 
 
 Papar, the Irish anchorites in Iceland, 56 n. 
 
 Patemus, 86 
 
 Poggio at St. Gall, 117 
 
 R 
 
 Ratgar of Fulda, 51, 66 
 
 Ratisbon, Marianus Scotus and his followers in, 
 92 ; other monasteries the outgrowth of, 94 ; 
 the monastery of St. James made over to 
 the Scotch, 108 
 
 Ratpert, 73 
 
 Reeves, £)r. , on Ireland, 11 11.; on Irish mis- 
 sionaries, 32 n. 
 
 Reichenau, monastery of, 65 
 
 Rheinau, monastery of, 64 ; visit of Ambrosius 
 Rosius to, no 
 
 Roman Empire, decline of, 7 
 
 Rosius, Ambrosius, of Ratisbon, no 
 
 Round towers, 46 «. 
 
 S 
 
 St. Gall, monastery of, foundation, 26 ; its books 
 transferred to Reichenau, 68 ; its connection 
 with Ireland, 70 ; its library, 114 ; its cata- 
 logue, 121 
 
 Saxons, Irish influence upon, 32 
 
 Scots of the Middle Ages, Irishmen, 14 n. 
 
 Sedulius Scotus, 60, 75, 106 
 
 Sintram, 75 
 
Index. 1 39 
 
 Skribentium, 95 
 Steinacthal, 26 
 
 TheoduU, 47 
 Tonsure, 40 n. 
 Totman, 31 
 Tuotilo, 73, 75 
 
 V 
 
 Victberct, 32, 36 
 
 Vienna, Irish monastery in, 107, 108 
 
 Virgil, bishop of Salzburg, 62 
 
 W 
 
 Wilibrord, apostie of Friesland, 32 
 Winfrid or Boniface, papal legate, 35 
 Wratislaw, king of Bohemia, 95 «. 
 WOrzburg, icxj, 108