> From: Madeleine Gray [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>
> Publication details: Oxford: Oxbow Books, 1992
> She really puts the boot into ideas of a 'Celtic' church as an
> organizational structure. This is a preoccupation of hers and crops up
> also
> in her *Wales in the Eatly Middle Ages*. On the other hand, Oliver Davies
> from lampeter has argued (in *Celtic Christianity in Early Medieval
> Wales*)
> for a common tradition of spirituality, at least between Ireland, Wales
> and
> Britanny.
>
Put Scotland in here, too, given the degree of activity and
influence from Iona, though keeping in mind that it was essentially an Irish
outpost and the monks settled back in Ireland after the Viking raids began.
At this point, too, Cornwall still had its own institutions and identity and
there was little distinction made between British living in Cornwall and
those living in Armorica (later Brittany). In fact, some nobles governed
"kingdoms" that straddled both Cornwall and Armorica.
> But I think he would give the primacy to Wales ... Francine may
> not agree here!
>
It's extremely difficult to evaluate who was most influential in
this period, especially since all the evidence was recorded or composed by
people who assumed it was their side!
I think to some extent the question comes down to the degree that
Christianity survived on the island of Britain after the introduction during
the Roman period. If the survival was fairly widespread and active, then the
churches in Wales would have been far more independent from those in
Ireland. It also depends on where one thinks the source of Irish
Christianity was: Britain, the Continent, the Mideast. I don't think the
evidence is conclusive one way or the other, but at this point, I think it
tilts toward the Irish being the more active force, at least before Whitby,
on the basis of what their scriptoria were putting out. On the other hand,
there was a lot of coming and going between British and Irish settlements.
Francine Nicholson
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