Page 74 - Demo

74 Stephen Dunford: The Journey of The IrIsh
An era remarkable for its religious fervor followed the death of Patrick.
Numerous churches, hermitages and monastic schools were founded throughout the land in the aftermath of Patrick’s death and it is maintained that by about the year 500, al- most the entire population of Ireland had been converted to Christianity. In fact, the almost 400 years of religious activity that succeeded his death earned for Ireland the title of “Island of Saints” or alternatively Insula Sacra –The Sacred Island. From these religious foundations, pious men and women often set forth and sought out islands and other remote places in which they might spend their lives in prayer, meditation and fasting. Moreover, many zeal- ous Irish missionaries also journeyed from Ireland’s shores to Britain and the continent of Europe and beyond, this time to preach the new Christian Gospel.
Soon to be famous schools grew up around the religious houses, especially the monas- teries, and by the year 700, the Irish had become so celebrated for their learning that they secured for their country the added title “Ireland of Scholars”. Hence Ireland was known far and wide as Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum-‘The Island of Saints and Scholars.’ In fact, at the time influential individuals in many lands held the belief that Ireland was the Axis Mundi-the celestial pole between Heaven and Earth, the very centre of the spiritual world.
The country, moreover, was comparatively peaceful and prosperous during this period, and in the context of this particular text, for now, there are only two events worth mention- ing in the political history of the time. One is The Battle of Ocha which took place, near Tara, probably in the year 482 and which is frequently referred to in our chronicles as one of the great landmarks in early Irish history, because it fixed the high kingship in one family, to the exclusion of all rivals, so effectively, that for over four centuries, no outsider laid claim to the authority of the High King. The other is the colonization of present day Argyll in Scotland by Feargus, the sub-king of a tuath called Dalriada in Ulster. Feargus gave his new kingdom the same name-Dalriada, and from this little corner of Scotland, the Irish colonists gradually spread over the country, until at last all of Scotland was ruled by kings of the line of Dalriada. We will be returning to these events and dealing with them in more detail in the next chapter.
Because there is little of war or conquest in the history of Ireland during this period, it is often referred to as “Ireland’s Golden Age”, a period denoted by primordial peace, har- mony, stability and prosperity. A period described by William Copeland Borlase in his Age of Saints, as a time when “Ireland was the centre of all the religious and literary life of the north”.
fffff