Prehistory
Main article: Prehistoric IrelandThere is no evidence of human habitation in Ireland before the last Ice Age. Mesolithic hunter-gatherers settled between 8000 and 7000 BC. Farming, and the proliferation of megalithic monuments, began in the neolithic, beginning c. 4500 BC. The bronze age began around 2500 BC, and the iron age around 700 BC.
Protohistory
Main article: Protohistory of IrelandIreland can be said to have had a protohistorical period, when, in prehistory, the literate cultures of Greece and Rome began to take notice of it. The most detailed Classical information on Ireland is in Ptolemy's Geography , written in the 2nd century AD, which includes the names of sixteen population groups, and plots the latitude and longitude of six promontories, fifteen river mouths, ten settlements and nine islands. There followed a further proto-literate period of ogham epigraphy, before the early historical period began in the 5th century. Attempts have been made to reconstruct the political developments of this period by reference to early medieval Irish genealogical texts.
Early Christian history
True Irish history begins with the introduction of Christianity and Latin literacy, beginning in the 5th century or slightly before. When compared to neighbouring Insular societies, early Christian Ireland is extremely well documented, but these sources are not easy to interpret. Many questions remain unanswered and the study of early Christian Ireland continues to produce new theories and new discoveries. Since the later 19th century, when scholars such as Kuno Meyer and Whitley Stokes applied an increasingly rigorous approach to the study of written sources, a great deal of new information has been extracted from the written material. New fields, such as paleobotany, have contributed to the debate, while the volume of archaeological evidence has increased.
Ecclesiastical history
Main article: Celtic ChristianityThe first reliable historical event in Irish history, recorded in the Chronicle of Prosper of Aquitaine, is the ordination by Pope Celestine I of Palladius as the first bishop to Irish Christians in 431. Prosper says in his Contra Collatorem that by this act Celestine "made the barbarian island Christian", although it is clear the Christianisation of the island was a longer and more gradual process. The mission of Saint Patrick is traditionally dated around the same time – the earliest date for his arrival in Ireland in the Irish annals is 432 – although Patrick's own writings contain nothing securely dateable. It is likely that Palladius' activities were in the south of Ireland, perhaps associated with Cashel, while Patrick's were later, in the north, and associated with Armagh. By the early 6th century the church had developed separate dioceses, with bishops as the most senior ecclesiastical figures, but the country was still predominantly pagan. The monastic movement, headed by abbots, took hold in the mid 6th century, and by 700 Ireland was at least nominally a Christian country, with the church fully part of Irish society. The status of ecclesiastics was regulated by secular law, and many leading ecclesiastics came from aristocratic Irish families. Monasteries in the 8th century even went to war with each other.
From the 7th century on, Irish churchmen such as Columbanus and Columba were active in Gaul, in Scotland and in Anglo-Saxon England. The mixing of Irish, Pictish and Anglo-Saxon styles created the Insular style of art, represented by the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells. Ireland's reputation for scholarship was such that many scholars travelled from Britain and the European mainland to study in Irish schools.
Political history
Eoin MacNeill identified the "oldest certain fact in the political history of Ireland" as the existence in late prehistory of a pentarchy, probably consisting of the cóiceda or "fifths" of the Ulaid (Ulster), the Connachta (Connacht), the Laigin (Leinster), Mumu (Munster) and Mide (Meath), although some accounts discount Mide and split Mumu in two. However, by the dawn of history this pentarchy no longer existed. The rise of new dynasties, notably the Uí Néill in the north and midlands and the Eóganachta in the south-west, changed the political landscape. The Uí Néill, or their parent group the Connachta, reduced the former fifth of the Ulaid to counties Down and Antrim in the 4th of 5th century, establishing the tributary kingdom of the Airgíalla in the centre and the Uí Néill kingdom of Ailech in the west of the old province. Early Irish annals also show regular warfare between the Uí Néill and the Laigin in the midlands, with the Uí Néill conquering as far south as the Kildare/Offaly border, and claiming the kingship of Tara, beginning to be conceptualised as the High Kingship of Ireland. This lead to a new division of the country into two halves, Leth Cuinn , "Conn's half" after Conn Cétchathach, supposed ancestor of the Uí Néill and Connachta, in the north, and Leth Moga , "Mug's half", after Mug Nuadat, supposed ancestor of the Eoganachta, in the south. Dynastic propaganda claimed this was a traditional division dating back to the 2nd century, but it probably originated in the 8th, at the height of Uí Néill power.
Culture and society
Main article: Gaelic IrelandLiterature
Main articles: Early Irish literature and Insular scriptWritten Irish literature is during this period mostly tended by monks and it is overwhelmingly religious. Many books are exquisite works of art on parchment like "Book of Kells". Apart from this written literature there is the oral literature which is remembered and retold by bards. Both are utilized for educational purposes, for instance “Book of Joshua” in the Bible contains a lot about warfare. The Bible also has the advantage that it is permanent, standardized and holy, in other words well suited as a source of law.
Bards tell epic stories about the background for current state of affairs, the words are fixated by rhymes. They are, like the Bible, important sources for precedences for law, but they are not so fixed that it is impossible for a bard to amend the stanzas to fit with political desires of someone willing to pay well for it, to give him an advantage in controversies of the day. This jurisprudential aspect of the ancient sagas of Ireland makes them dreary and tedious to read for a modern audience, and they often dabble in gruesome detail to demonstrate humiliation and exaltation of somebody.
On the other hand, in the opening chapters of some of them there is a lot preserved about pagan mythology and Irish relations before St. Patrick. These were preserved from oblivion for reasons of law precedence, much like Norse mythology in the main has been preserved, because Scandinavian poets needed to know the allusions to mythology if they were to compose poems that gained respect.
Occasions for celebration
Main articles: Celtic calendar, Irish calendar, and Christianised calendarThe religious holidays are self evident, some of them are pre-Christian in a thin disguise.
The rule of thumb is that all occasions when the laws are at work are occasions for festivity, whether secular or spiritual. Baptism is a de jure declaration that a lawful offspring has been sired, with the priest as head witness. The First Communion (catholic Confirmation) is a de jure declaration that this offspring now is formally adult and has been given the due rights to inheritance, sealed by the priest. Marriage is an alliance with a different clan or kingdom, rights to inheritance is exchanged in return for political support. Marriage without religious ceremony does occur, it is called “secular marriage” and is regarded as a cohabitation registered by law and can take place even if both parts are legally married otherwise, even more than one at the time. Mistresses of this kind mostly come from a lower social class than the man and they rank in status below the wife wed by the church. The arrangement can be called a semi-polygamy, but children born to such unions are socially the equals of their brothers. The central point about marriage is not mutual faith and love between him and her but juridical contracts about alliance and cooperation.
An enthronement is a completely secular affair arranged like a secular marriage with the land itself. The priest will, at most, pronounce a divine blessing over the now enthroned. It always takes place at a public assembly, with the bard as master of ceremony. He initiates the ceremony by announcing that the king is either dead or has shown himself unfit for his dignity. Then the brehon will recite the laws of inheritance and explains what they imply at this opportunity. It is then for the population present to decide among the lawful candidates of each preference category. When the vote is ready the bard takes over; he commands the royal elect to mount the top of the royal stone or heap. The chain of royal predecessors back to the Celtic colonization of Ireland is then recited, and the speech ends with an exhortation about what suits a good king. Then the royal elect is handed his royal cane, and that is the starting point of a merry celebration with good food and strong beer, exciting music, solemn poetic recitation and humoristic storytelling,
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