In the Early Middle Ages, how did the Irish save the civilization?

Answer 1

It is quite true that early medieval monks played an important in role in the preservation of classical manuscripts and learning.

BUT the specific crediting of IRISH monks with being single-handedly responsible, popularized by Thomas Cahill of in his popular book, *How the Irish Saved Civilization*, is overblown.

Now it is true that the Irish monasteries made an important contribution --especially in the late sixth and seventh centuries-- and that the monks who headed from there to work in other parts of Europe were top-caliber. And we should appreciate their influence on the Venerable Bede (c. 735) and on Alcuin, who was a major force in the "Carolingian Renaissance".
http://history-world.org/churchmiddleages.htm
http://historymedren.about.com/od/cwho/p/who_charlemagne.htm
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~johnsorh/MedievalLatin/Norberg/carol.html


But they did not stand alone.

For starters, we should give a lot of credit to the MANY groups of Benedictine monks all across Europe from the sixth century on.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02443a.htm

Consider also men like:

* Sixth-century Roman scholar Boethius, who translated Aristotle's treatises on logic into Latin.

* Cassiodorus, a contemporary of Boethius, who devoted most of his life to collecting and preserving classical manuscripts. He has been credited with convincing monks to copy valuable manuscripts, and thus to have helped turn monasteries into important centers of learning, and esp. in their establishment of "scriptoria" (devoted to the copying manuscripts).
http://history-world.org/churchmiddleages.htm


And, at the very same time Irish monks were copying manuscripts, there were OTHER persons and places involved in preserving the classical legacy:

* Byzantium in the East, which did NOT fall when the Western Roman Empire did.
"we owe the preservation of Classical literature largely to the Byzantine intelligentsia. Despite the outcry of the fanatical clergy against the ancient world, the scribes in the monasteries worked hard to enrich the libraries of the Palace, the Patriarchate, the bishoprics and others with classical texts"
http://www.elia.org.gr/pages.fds?pagecode=14.04.01&langid=2

* There were also 'early Christian heretics' (such as the Nestorians) who fled eastward into Syria and Persia, taking classical knowledge with them. Islamic societies in the East also long preserved classical knowledge gained from those they conquered.
http://www.cie.org/pdfs/RU_p89-93.pdf

* Isidore of Seville [Spain] (560-636), exercised an ENORMOUS influence on medieval education. Living during a time of upheaval (from the Goths) and himself trained in a 'cathedral school', he acted both to make Seville an educational center and to SPREAD such educational institutions.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08186a.htm

Answer 2

After the fall of the Roman Empire, an indigenous form of Christianity developed in the British Isles which was regarded by Rome with great mistrust. It celebrated the divine spirit in all living creatures and plants as well as in the human soul. Its legendary figures were hermits who lived in the forests, befriending the animals and birds, and pilgrims who travelled into remote areas to spread the gospel.

http://www.skell.org/explore/celtch.htm

It can be argued that the Celtic Church in the early Middle Ages was a bastion of civilisation against the ecclesiastical barbarism that was flowing out from Rome.

The Celtic Church preserved much of the old pagan learning and traditions. Celtic law was very different from Roman law - in some ways more "modern". Women, for example, had a more equal status, both educationally, ecclesiastically and in civil law. Mutual divorce, for example, was allowed. The religious, monks and nuns, were able to marry and still pursue the religious life and were able to live together in the same institutions.

For a brief history of the Celtic Church see:

http://www.irishchristian.com/History/index.html

For a very good fictionalised account of the Church and Irish history and society of that time read the Sister Fidelma books of Peter Tremayne:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/philipg/detectives/fidelma.html

Answer 3

They say the Irish saved civilisation because the Irish monks kept writing and reading alive in the Medieval times where such things were forbidden to all but the richest and most powerful. And without reading and writing, there can be no advancement technologically and intillectually.

Answer 4

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