medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>From: Phyllis Jestice <[log in to unmask]>
>Bede reports that Popes Honorius and John sent letters to
>the Irish, correcting them over the date of Easter, especially arguing that
>the Irish should not consider themselves wiser than the rest of the
>churches on the earth, since they were, after all, on the extreme edge of
>the world.
It's difficult to be certain what the Irish position was because most of the
reports that have survived come from the opposition. However, while Rome's
position seems to have heavily emphasized issues of authority and unformity,
the Irish side emphasized authenticity, historical precedent, and
theological justification. Essentially, the Irish felt that their method was
the one handed down from the earliest sources. Also, there were, for them,
theological issues regarding the position of the moon--details of which,
frankly, elude me (calendars--math--anxiety--aaargh!). But there was
something about the Roman method that allowed for the possibility that
Easter could be celebrated when there was no moon (meaning no visible moon)
and the Irish position was that such a bright feast as the Resurrection of
Jesus should never coincide with a time of such darkness (no moon).
Something like that, anyway.
Marina Smyth says that the Irish were in the seventh century acknowledged as
the leading minds on matters of calculating astronomical stuff, so they had
at least some credibility on these matters.
As far as the Synod of Whitby goes, uniformity does seem to have been the
biggest issue, or at least that's the way Bede presents it. I wonder if that
was what the Irish monks thought they were coming to discuss. The issues
that Bede emphasized were Easter and tonsure style--the Irish monasteries
had their own style which the Roman and Saxon churches abused as
"druidical." As with Easter, it was probably the remnant of an earlier
tradition that died out on the Continent but persisted in Ireland. I don't
know of any sources claiming that the druids shaved their heads a certain
way (though it's possible--the Irish appear to have had distinctive
hairstyles by rank for warriors though it's not clear how early that
practice was). I think the "druidical" label, though, may tell us that there
was a widespread image of the Irish differences as linked to pre-Christian
practices and ideas. There may be some truth in this, but I think there was
also a good deal of bias. The bias didn't start at Whitby nor did it end
there. The fifth-century charges against Pelagius, especially those by
Jerome, are worse than vitriolic--Pelagius is condemned not just for his
ideas but for being from Britain, for eating porridge. Jerome could have
given lessons to some of the modern orators of Orange vitriole, and the
fifth century writers seem to have had as much trouble separating Irish from
British as one finds today. This was the long-standing mindset and ingrained
bias with which the Irish monks had to deal when they arrived at Whitby two
hundred years after Pelagius. The bias was still active five hundred years
after Whitby when the Normans arrived in Ireland.
The final confrontation with the issue by the family of Columcille (meaning
the Iona federation) was of great concern to Adomna/n, then their abbot. He
was persuaded to adopt the Roman view himself, but he was unable to persuade
his community at Iona to comply for some time (which tells you that abbatial
rule at Irish monasteries must not have been autocratic) and his influence
in Ireland (where the rest of the federation houses were) was also limited
in effect. (See Sharpe's introduction to his translation of the Life of
Adomna/n.)
Francine Nicholson. M.A.
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