A fully documented history of Ireland and the Irish from the fifth to the ninth centuries.

Tells the story of human settlement in Ireland from its beginnings 10,000 years ago to St Patrick's Christianizing mission in the 5th century AD. This is interwoven with accounts of major excavations at sites such as Carrowmore, Rathgall and Navan Fort.

The cultural developments of Early Christian Ireland have long been recognised and described. There have, however, been few attempts to date to explain why the flowering of culture should happen at the time and in the way that it did. First published in 1992, The Origins of Early Christian Ireland (now with a new preface by the author) explains changes in the period up to AD 800 in Ireland. External stimuli, most notably from Irish settlers in western Britain acted as catalysts which transformed a relatively moribund Iron Age culture into one of extraordinary vigour. All aspects of the culture changed radically, and changes in each had knock-on effects on others. Beliefs were revolutionised by Christianity; society was transformed by the church as an institution and the rise of the individual; agriculture was expanded by more advanced technology and the entrepreneurial flair of individual decision-making; craft production became more widespread and offered a vehicle for the display of personal wealth and status. Long-distance trade and ecclesiastical contacts integrated Ireland with the rest of Europe more effectively than ever before. The book has two distinctive features, which means that it relates to two forms of academic market, each of which can be defined. Firstly, it deals with a particular culture-historical period, that of Early Christian Ireland, and presents an explanation of its origins and development to AD 800. This appeals to archaeologists and historians of Ireland, Britain and, indeed, Europe. Secondly, it takes a specific theoretical position and develops it using primarily archaeological but also extensive historical information. This is the most detailed application of processualist theory yet undertaken for a historic period in Europe. This appeals to archaeologists and anthropologists in Britain, and also North America where the processualist approach is the most popular theoretical position.

Ireland has long been regarded as a 'land of saints and scholars'. Yet the Irish experience of Christianity has never been simple or uncomplicated. The Rise and Fall of Christian Ireland describes the emergence, long dominance, sudden division, and recent decline of Ireland's most important religion, as a way of telling the history of the island and its peoples. Throughout its long history, Christianity in Ireland has lurched from crisis to crisis. Surviving the hostility of earlier religious cultures and the depredations of Vikings, evolving in the face of Gregorian reformation in the 11th and 12th centuries and more radical protestant renewal from the 16th century, Christianity has shaped in foundational ways how the Irish have understood themselves and their place in the world. And the Irish have shaped Christianity, too. Their churches have staffed some of the religion's most important institutions and developed some of its most popular ideas. But the Irish church, like the island, is divided. After 1922, a border marked out two jurisdictions with competing religious politics. The southern state turned to the Catholic church to shape its social mores, until it emerged from an experience of sudden-onset secularization to become one of the most progressive nations in Europe. The northern state moved more slowly beyond the protestant culture of its principal institutions, but in a similar direction of travel. In 2021, fifteen hundred years on from the birth of Saint Columba, Christian Ireland appears to be vanishing. But its critics need not relax any more than believers ought to despair. After the failure of several varieties of religious nationalism, what looks like irredeemable failure might actually be a second chance. In the ruins of the church, new Columbas and Patricks shape the rise of another Christian Ireland.

The monastic sites of early Christian Ireland have always been an attraction to visitors. Now issued in a new edition, this book is intended for use by those who wish to understand the religious and secular life of early Ireland. The authors have used the site remains and historical source material to reconstruct the life of Irish monks and laymen from the fifth to the twelfth centuries. Here the reader will find treatments of the function of monasteries in early Ireland, the daily life of their inhabitants, and the significance of their art and sculpture. The appendices include a county-by-county guide to the most interesting early Christian sites.

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Attempts to explain why there was such a flowering of culture in the period up to AD 800 in Ireland. Mytum takes a theoretical position on his subject-matter, and applies it in detail using archaeological and also extensive historical information.

Attempts to explain why there was such a flowering of culture in the period up to AD 800 in Ireland. Mytum takes a theoretical position on his subject-matter, and applies it in detail using archaeological and also extensive historical information.

A History of Settlement in Ireland provides a stimulating and thought-provoking overview of the settlement history of Ireland from prehistory to the present day. Particular attention is paid to the issues of settlement change and distribution within the contexts of: * environment * demography * culture. The collection goes further by setting the agenda for future research in this rapidly expanding area of academic interest. This volume will be essential reading for all those with an interest in the archaeology, history and social geography of Ireland.