HIBERNO-LATIN LITERATURE (Medieval Ireland)

Hiberno-Latin literature is the name given to a vast body of literature written in Ireland or by Irishmen abroad between the fifth and twelfth centuries. In some cases, this category includes material with a Welsh, Scottish, or Western European background. But if it can be shown that this material appears in manuscripts exhibiting insular paleographical features, or otherwise has content, style, or language characteristic of texts of known Hiberno-Latin provenance, then that also may be included in the category. The great bulk of Hiberno-Latin literature has not been preserved, either in Ireland or in Irish manuscripts; so that it has been rightly said by Mario Esposito, one of the pioneers in the field, that "a just appreciation of the nature and extent of Latin learning in medieval Ireland can only be obtained by a critical study of the Latin literature produced either in that country, or by Irishmen who had emigrated to Britain and the continent" (Esposito 1929). The survival of these texts in Anglo-Saxon or Continental manuscripts, often in copies made centuries after their original composition, testifies to the influence of Hiberno-Latin literature throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. Controversy still surrounds the authorship, provenance, and date of some of them.

The study of rhetoric, as part of the first stage of the monastic curriculum of grammar, rhetoric and dialectic, led to the cultivation of various kinds of composition—more elaborate, ornate composition for the epistolary style, of which the earliest examples are the letters of Columbanus, and for the rhetorical introductions to commentaries, treatises, and hagiographical compositions. A plainer Latin style was used for texts which were not meant to be read as literature, but as legal or instructional documents, such as monastic rules, penitentials, and canon texts.

The great period of literary activity began in the seventh century, from which about fifty original works survive. But the greatest period of productivity was among the Irish peregrini (those living abroad) in the eighth and ninth centuries, so that the quantity of literature from the entire period is consequently too numerous to be listed. Many texts are still in manuscript or have yet to be properly edited and studied. Only a handful of works survive from the sixth century.

Grammar

No grammar textbooks survive from before the mid-seventh century, but some from the later period show evidence of having been based upon seventh century originals. Perhaps the earliest are the Ars Asporii, a Christian adaptation of Donatus’s Ars Minor, the Anonymus ad Cuimnanum and the commentary on Virgil compiled perhaps by Adomnan. Numerous other grammar texts, glossaries, and short tracts also survive.

Hagiography

The earliest Latin life of an Irish saint is possibly Jonas of Bobbio’s Life of Columbanus, which, although written under the influence of the Irish educational system on the continent circa 639 to 643, is not Hiberno-Latin. The earliest Irish hagiographical composition is Cogitosus’ Vita Brigitae, the Life of Brigit of Kildare, written circa 650. The next are Muirchu and Tfrechan’s lives of Patrick, dating between 661 and 700. Adomnan’s Vita Columbae was completed circa 700, but perhaps as early as 692. It is based in part upon living tradition transmitted to Adomnan by people who had known Columba (Colum Cille). Cogitosus’ Life of Brigit is fantastic and is little more than a catalogue of miracles and stories of the marvellous, whereas Muirchu’s Life of Patrick is an attempt to form a consecutive narrative out of the disparate traditions relating to Patrick. There are fragments also of an early life of Brigit called the Vita Prima, which may have been written by Aileran of Clonard (d. 665), a biblical scholar. Some of the later Irish Vitae may be based on earlier material.

Monastic Rules

The earliest now surviving is that of Columbanus of Luxeuil (d. 615), a very strict Rule modeled upon that written for the early foundation of Bangor, County Down, by Comgall (d. 602). The Rule of Comgall itself does not survive, but it is listed among other Irish monastic rules in a ninth-century catalogue of manuscripts from the medieval library of Fulda. Some documents from the British church may be even earlier than these. The anonymous Rule known as Regula cuiusdam patris ad monachos (The rule of a certain father for his monks) was written on the Continent sometime in the late seventh century by an Irishman. Both it and the lengthy Regula Magistri, as has been recently suggested, are Continental-Irish adaptations of the Colum-banian rule to the milder rule of Benedict of Nursia.

Penitentials

Penitentials are booklets prescribing certain penances for various categories of sins, both for monks and laymen. The penitentials for laymen were both for monastic tenants (manaigh) or ordinary lay persons being ministered to by monastic clergy. The earliest penitential is that of Finnian of Clonard, which dates to the first half of the sixth century. Columbanus’ penitential is next and then the great penitential of Cummian the Tall, dating from the mid-seventh century. There are many others, including a short collection of canons attributed to Adomnan, and also a number in Old Irish penitentials based upon Latin originals.

Canon Law

Canon law texts include the so-called First and the Second Synods of Patrick. The First Synod is a very early document ascribed to Patrick, Auxilius, and Isserninus. Though it survives in the form in which it was used during the Romani reform, it may be based upon an original from the fifth or sixth century. The Second Synod is an interesting collection of decisions upon various matters, specifically of the Romani reform movement of the seventh century. The early-eighth-century compilation of Irish canon law known as the Collectio canonum Hibernensis, put together for the use of an Irish church unified after the divisions of the Paschal controversy, is one of the earliest systematic canon collections. Other miscellaneous canonical documents also survive.

Theological Literature

There are several interesting theological and Scriptural treatises surviving from before 700, including the earliest treatises on the Catholic Epistles from the Latin church, and a commentary on Mark. The earliest datable text, composed in 655, is De mirabilibus Sacrae Scrip-turae (Wonders of the Holy Scripures), by an author using the name of Augustinus. In the naively rationalistic spirit of the Middle Ages, it attempts to give a physical explanation for the miracles in the Bible—for example, the sun standing still at Joshua’s command, Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea dry-shod, and an interesting explanation of tidal flow. The most widely diffused text, of which there are many hundreds of manuscripts and vernacular translations, is a description of the twelve sources of moral evil in the world and their remedy, De XII abusivis, written between 630 and 660. Some of the other interesting compositions of the period are Adomnan’s tract on the Holy Places of Palestine (De locis sanctis), the Pseudo-Isidorian theological-cosmological treatise De ordine creaturarum and Dicuil’s De mensura orbis terrae.

Epistolography

Quite a number of letters, both open and private, survive. These include the famous letters of Columbanus; the letter written in 632 and 633 to abbot Segene of Iona, probably by Cummian the Tall, relating to the Easter question; and that known as Colman’s Letter to Feradach on the textual emendation of the poet Caelius Sedulius and other texts.

The Computus

The calculation of the Easter term, or computus, was of great importance throughout Christendom and of particular interest to the insular churches from earliest times. The foundation of the insular computus was the tract known as De ratione Paschali, for long described as "an insular forgery," but now known to be a fourth-century Latin translation of a treatise written by Ana-tolius, the third-century bishop of Laodicea. Other important tracts are the seventh-century De ratione computandi and Cummian’s epistle. A considerable amount of this material survives only in manuscript. Bede and the Anglo-Saxons drew much of their computational knowledge from the Irish.

Liturgical

A great mass of hymns and other liturgical pieces survive from the earliest period up to the eleventh century. One of the earliest manuscripts is the Antipho-nary of Bangor, written from 680 to 691. There are some palimpsested Continental codices and fragments and later Irish martyrologies, missals, sacramentaries, hymnals, and so forth. They show the eclectic range of sources from which the Irish and Welsh churches drew their liturgy—from Rome, Gaul, Moorish Spain, and Antioch.

Scholastic Texts

There are also some scholastic texts, including the pseudo-grammatical treatises and letters of Virgilius Maro, who may have been Irish, and pieces written in an extravagant Latin style known as Hisperic, such as the Hisperica Famina, and some amulet poems or loricae.

Charters

There are no surviving seventh-century charters, but the evidence of the Patrician dossier, which refers to early church and monastic foundation documents, indicates that there might once have been. Unlike Francia and Anglo-Saxon England, Ireland has only about twelve pre-twelfth-century charters, nine of which were copied into the Book of Kells.

Poetry

There exists a very large body of poetry in Latin— lyrical, liturgical, hagiographical, and technical— some of which may date to the fifth century, which cannot easily be summarized in content or character. Much of it is skilfully and beautifully composed and still rewards study.