Module 1: transformation from pre-Norman monasticism to the introduction of the religious orders into Ireland in the twelfth century
Dr Edel Bhreathnach worked with Dr Elaine Pereira Farrell (RA) to the end of August and is now working with Dr Miriam Clyne (PD) on this module. Primary source research has been undertaken concentrating on five foundations: three island monasteries (Devenish, Co. Fermanagh, Iniscleraun, Co. Longford and Inis Celtra, Co. Clare) and two larger, proto-urban monastic settlements (Kilmacduagh, Co. Galway and Ferns, Co. Wexford).
With the exception of Inis Celtra, the monasteries studied were transformed to varying degrees into Augustinian foundations. The sources consulted include all annalistic sources from AD1000-1500, the Calendar of Papal Letters, State Documents of Ireland and hagiographical texts. Certain trends are emerging in relation to these monasteries which are beginning to clarify the nature of pre-Norman monasticism in Ireland and the extent of transformation with the intrusion of the Augustinians. The most significant issues include the continuity of power structures, especially the control of hereditary ecclesiastical families or local lords, the foundations’ sources of wealth in their ownership and acquisition of estates, their relations with local bishops and the papacy including attempted reforms, and the veneration of local saints as a means of retaining popular devotion.
The singular landscape of island monasteries remains a particular study and this is now concentrating on Devenish, Iniscleraun and Inis Celtra. The co-existence of a number of different communities on these islands (e.g. an Augustinian community, a Céli Dé community and a parish church) is apparent from the sources, and the next step is to seek physical evidence in the landscape. As Devenish has been subject to a recent detailed survey, and occurs frequently in the sources, it will form the core of the island study, looking at how the different churches reflect the different communities on the island, the imprint of various chronological horizons in the landscape e.g. the early enclosure(s), the so-called ‘collegiate church’ and its relation with the fifteenth-century Augustinian foundation and Devenish’s estates and their distribution in the wider landscape.
Primary research has identified areas for geophysical survey at Ferns Co. Wexford and Kilmacduagh Co. Galway to address questions relating to a greater understanding of the layout and extent of the inner monastic sites e.g. through the detection of an enclosure or enclosures, the probable original location of crosses and the existence and location of any other pre-Norman sculptures or buildings.
The relationship between the multiple church buildings on the sites will also be examined, together with broader questions relating to the extents of monastic estates, and the continuity or otherwise of these holdings, and the development and longevity, in some cases into the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, of pilgrimage and cultic rituals associated with these early settlements.