medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>From: Phyllis Jestice <[log in to unmask]>
Finnian of Moville (d. 579) The Irish Finnian, of royal blood, was
educated at St. Ninian's monastery of Whithorn (Scotland). He then
returned to Ireland, where he founded monasteries at Moville and Dromin.
Finnian became a famous teacher; his students included Columcille.
A point about "royal blood" in medieval Irish contexts: this did not have
the same significance that it did in other cultures. Every
tu/ath--territorial group--had a ri/--translated as king. Ancestry was only
one factor in determining who became ri/ and it was interpreted broadly: all
male descendants whose great-grandfather had been king were eligible. Thus,
at the death of a king, there was a pool of possible successors, spanning
three generations, each with equal claim by ancestry. While descent to some
extent limited the pool of candidates, the deciding factor was support among
the leaders of the kin-groups that made up the tu/ath. As a rule, the one
who was chosen king was the person with the most support among the leaders
of the kin-groups. Thus, quite a few Irish saints could have theoretically
claimed the kingship of their territory/people if they had had sufficient
support.
Claims to the abbacy of some monasteries also apparently were evaluated on
the basis of relationship to the people of the founder. Thus, for several
hundred years at least, the leaders of Iona all belonged to the Cenel
Conaill, the primary kin-group among the Northern Ui/ Ne/ill, and were all
cousins of the founder, Colum cille, who had been eligible to the kingship
himself.
Francine Nicholson
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