Hiberno-Latin Saints’ ‘Lives’ in the Seventh Century : : Writing Early Ireland / / John Higgins.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DG Plus DeG Package 2024 Part 1
• VerfasserIn: Higgins, John,
• Place / Publishing House: Kalamazoo, MI : : Medieval Institute Publications, , [2024]; ©2024
• Year of Publication: 2024
• Language: English
• Series: Monastic Life and Venerated Spaces
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (XIV, 203 p.)

As part of the historicizing corpus of seventh-century Irish writing, the Lives framed the narrative of the early saints as an effective weapon in contemporary political and ecclesiastical conflicts. Cogitosus’s Life of Brigit, Muirchú’s and Tírechán’s accounts of Saint Patrick, and Adomnán’s Life of Columba created the understanding of the history of early Ireland that has endured to this day. How did the writers accomplish this through their literary choices? The authors of Irish saints’ Lives used the literary form of hagiography (Christian biography), miracle stories, and an elaborate rhetorical style to present the words and actions of their subjects. These Lives created a narrative of early Irish history that supported the political/ecclesiastical elites by showing that their power derived from the actions of their patron saints.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Notes on the Main Texts -- List of Abbreviations -- Preface “Semen Eius Serviet In Sempiternum”: The Power of the Saint -- Chapter 1. Irish Lives and the Irish Past -- Chapter 2. The Lives: A Response to Seventh-Century Ireland -- Chapter 3. Creating a Past: Palladius, the “Past,” and Historical Dossiers -- Chapter 4. The Lives in Hiberno-Latin Literature -- Chapter 5. Getting a Life: Saints’ Lives and the Historical Dossier -- Chapter 6. Saints’ Lives and Miracle Stories -- Chapter 7. Angels in the Details: A Close Reading of the Lives -- Chapter 8. Making History in the Seventh Century -- Bibliography -- General Index -- Index Locorum