Detailed Information
St. Patrick, Bringer of Christianity to Ireland – fake news?
In 431, Palladius was sent by Pope Celestine to the Irish believing in Christ. How does the story of Patrick fit into the fact that there were already Christians in Ireland before the traditional date of his arrival? In this course we will uncover the story of how, for the first time, a bishop came to be sent to a Christian community outside the Roman world – a seismic moment in the history of Christianity and how this extraordinary event was overtaken by the story of the conversion of the Irish by Patrick.
What was the background to this amazing reinvention of history and how was it achieved? We will look at the story, real and mythological, of early missionaries to Ireland, Patrick included. We will consider the impact on Irish society of this new way of viewing the world, bringing with it a new language, laws and membership of an international organisation.
8 Tuesdays
Time: 11.00 - 13.00
Dates: Jan 31, Feb 07, 14, 21, 28, Mar 07, 14, 21
Location: Online
Propaganda, early Christianity, missionaries, monasteries
- Edel Bhreathnach, Ireland in the medieval world AD 400–1000: landscape, kingship and religion (Dublin, 2014).
- Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, Early medieval Ireland 400-1200 (London and New York, 1995).
Dr Linda Doran FSA lectures in medieval history at UCD. She carried out a study of the medieval settlement along the valleys of the Barrow, Nore and Suir rivers funded by the Heritage Council of Ireland. She has published numerous papers on settlement and communication routes, is editor of the New Ross section of the Royal Irish Academy’s Irish Historic Towns Atlas and has edited books on medieval lordship (with Dr James Lyttleton) and Glendalough: City Of God (with Charlie Doherty and Mary Kelly). She is a former honorary general secretary of Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland and the Group for the Study of Historic Settlement and is a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.