Church, Apostle and People in Early Ireland

Abstract

There is abundant evidence for the existence of the Irish nation as a concept in the early medi eval period. A variety of texts, in both Latin and the vernacular, depict the people of Ireland as a community of birth, language, law, religion and, sometimes, politics. The creation and re-creation of ethnic and national identities elsewhere in late-antique and early medieval Europe, sometimes called ethnogenesis, has become a key concern of historians of this period in recent decades. This study of ethnogenesis prioritises interaction with the Roman Empire and political unity as precursors to the development of common identity among barbarian peoples. This model does not appear appropriate to explain developments in Ireland, where political fragmentation and divisions among the learned classes mitigated against the evolution of a common identity inclusive of all Irishmen. That such an identity emerged by the close of the sixth century, and gained popularity during the seventh, is discussed here in light of developments within the Irish Church, including the controversy around the Easter debate and attempts on behalf of Armagh to claim ecclesiastical primacy within Ireland. The process is elucidated through comparison with identity-formation in Anglo-Saxon England, as it can be observed primarily through the work of Bede. The result is to highlight the signifi cance among early medieval ecclesiastical scholars of the perceived role of national apostles in establishing national churches. Ultimately rooted in their understanding of the Bible, these ideas could be deployed in both Ireland and England in support of the claims of specific churches to ecclesiastical authority.