Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum Part 48

A little later in the same seventh century, the celebrated St. Willibrord, afterwards Archbishop of Utrecht, was a student in our Irish schools, and most probably, we should say, at Mayo of the Saxons. His father Wilgils, was also of the English n.o.bility, but after the birth of his son he retired from the world, and built himself a cell at the mouth of the Humber, where he led a life of the most austere virtue. Willibrord in his youth was trained in the great school of St. Wilfrid at York; but about the age of twenty, in order to finish his education, like most of his countrymen at the time, he pa.s.sed over to Ireland. This much we know from Bede, who also adds that whilst yet only a priest in Ireland, he led therein the life of a pilgrim--forsaking his earthly country through love of his heavenly country. Willibrord also testified to Bishop Acca and Bishop Wilfrid, that once on a time, when he was in Ireland, the plague overtook a certain student of the Scottish, that is the Irish, race. This young man, though well skilled in literature, had been rather heedless about the welfare of his soul. When he fell sick he at once sent for Willibrord, and telling him how much he feared to die on account of his sins, he besought him, if he had any relics of the good King Oswald, to apply them for his benefit.

Then Willibrord said that he had a portion of the stake on which the pagans fixed the head of the martyred king; and "blessing some water he put into it a chip of the aforesaid oaken stake, and gave it to the sick man to drink. He presently found ease, and recovering from his sickness he lived a long time after; and being entirely converted to G.o.d in heart and actions, wherever he came, he spoke of the goodness of his merciful Creator, and the honour of his faithful servant."[439]

It was the holy Egbert, who sent Willibrord with twelve companions to preach the gospel to the Frisians. And shortly after two other priests of the English nation, who had long lived as pilgrims in Ireland, following their example, went to preach in Saxony, where they gained the crown of martyrdom within a few years. This is not the place to narrate at length the apostolic labours of Willibrord and his a.s.sociates--how he was consecrated by Pope Sergius in Rome, and was commissioned to preach to the Frisians; how completely he succeeded where others had failed; how he laboured there for fifty years in all--during thirty-six of which he was Archbishop of Utrecht. These things are told at length by Alcuin in his beautiful _Life of St. Willibrord_, which also describes the saintly end of the long and laborious career of this venerable servant of G.o.d.

It is surely a credit to our Irish schools to have trained up so many learned and apostolic men, like Egbert and Willibrord. It was in Ireland they were trained in divine studies, as Bede testifies; it was in Ireland they learned the continent and self-denying life of all true apostles; and it was from Ireland they went forth to preach the Gospel to the fierce pagan tribes of Germany, where so many of them were privileged to meet a martyr's death.

Another Irish student at this period was Agilbert, afterwards Bishop of Paris. He was, says Bede, a Frank by birth, who came from that country to Ireland, "and lived a long time there for the purpose of studying the Scriptures." Bede seems to imply that he was a bishop before he came to Ireland,[440] for he describes him as a 'Pontifex natione Gallus.' This shows in what high esteem our Irish schools must have been held at this period, when even bishops came from France to study divinity in their halls. Agilbert afterwards pa.s.sed over to England, and for a time held the See of Dorchester or Winchester. He was present at the Conference of Whitby, and took the side of Wilfrid, but finally returning to his native country he was made Bishop of Paris. The year of his death is not known.

It was probably about A.D. 680.

CHAPTER XXIV.

GAEDHLIC SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARS OF ANCIENT ERIN.

"The Gaedhlic tongue! the Gaedhlic tongue! why should its voice be still, When all its magic tones with old and golden glories thrill-- When, like an aged bard, it sings departed warriors' might-- When it was heard in kingly halls, where thronged the brave and bright; When oft its glowing tales of war made dauntless hearts beat high-- When oft its tales of hapless love drew tears from beauty's eye?"

--_Anonymous._

Hitherto we have spoken chiefly of the monastic schools, and the clerical scholars of ancient Erin. We are not to a.s.sume, however, that the Gaedhlic tongue was not cultivated in those schools, and that the eminent saints of ancient Erin were not excellent Gaedhlic scholars. We know for certain that the contrary was the fact. Several of them, like Columcille, were eminent Gaedhlic poets; many of them, like St. Carthach of Lismore, even wrote their monastic Rules in Gaedhlic; and, of course, even scholars, like Ad.a.m.nan, who wrote learned treatises in the Latin tongue, must have preached the Gospel, and taught the people in the vernacular language. St.

Patrick himself, who was a Briton, found it necessary to do so, and, as far as we can judge, he must have been an accomplished speaker in the ancient Gaedhlic tongue.

Still the monastic schools were more given to the cultivation of the cla.s.sical languages than to the study of the Gaedhlic; and when their great scholars wished to deal with theological or scientific subjects, they wrote in the Latin language. Even some of our Annalists, when they wished to give special prominence to their entries, wrote in the Latin rather than in the Gaedhlic.

At the same time, we are not to suppose that during this period there were no Gaedhlic schools in the sense in which we now speak of English as opposed to Cla.s.sical schools--that is, academies in which the Gaedhlic language, and literature, and history were the subjects chiefly, if not exclusively, taught. On the contrary, we have abundant evidence that there were several schools of this character, in which the vernacular language was cultivated with great success, and not merely the language, but also the history, the antiquities, the laws, and the literature of the nation.

We are even inclined to think that in Celtic Ireland the vernacular language was more carefully cultivated during this period, and that laymen generally had better opportunities of obtaining what would now be called a university education, than they had in any other country of western Europe. This statement is, in our opinion, capable of clear proof from existing monuments; but for the present we need not go beyond the admitted facts that both clerics and laymen from the Continent came to the schools of Erin in large numbers, to acquire the culture of our Celtic schools; whilst on the other hand, when our Irish scholars went abroad during the ninth and tenth centuries, they were at once entrusted with the highest offices in the Continental schools, and proved themselves to be, not only amongst the ablest theologians of the time, but also the first men of that age in Greek and Latin Literature. The history of men like Virgilius, and Dungal, and John Scotus Erigena, proves the truth of this statement beyond denial or controversy.

The Lives of the Saints furnish materials for the history of our monastic schools; but our lay scholars, having no such records of their lives and learning, are forgotten, except in so far as some treatise, or fragment of a treatise, of their composition may have survived the wreck of time.

We find, however, from references in the Brehon Laws, that lay Schools and lay Professors occupied a recognised and honourable position in the social polity of the time.

I.--ORGANIZATION OF THE GAEDHLIC PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS.

In the Sequel, or Second Part, of the _Crith Gabhlach_ the legal rights and social position of the Professors of the Liberal Arts are set down with a considerable degree of fulness and accuracy. We are aware that it has been said[441] that these, and some other portions of the _Crith Gabhlach_ "are the fantastic production of an antiquarian lawyer of a strong ecclesiastical bias." It is hardly necessary to question the competency of this writer to p.r.o.nounce such an opinion. He appears to have been wholly unacquainted with the Irish language, and obviously has only a lawyer's knowledge of our ancient Annals. For those very things, regarding the orders, rights, and privileges of the Church, which he so coolly describes as the fantastic production of a lawyer with an ecclesiastical bias, are shown in every page of our Annals to be amongst the recognised inst.i.tutions of the Celtic tribes in Erin. It is, in fact, quite clear that he admits only as authentic laws those which seem to harmonise with his own pre-conceived notions of ecclesiastical polity; but those which do not fit in with these pre-conceived views, he rejects as fantastic! Such is the critical faculty of some of those to whom the publication of the Brehon Laws has been entrusted.

In this Sequel to the _Crith Gabhlach_,[442] 'profession' is set down as one of the things which give social status in Erin. And, as in the Church, and amongst the land-owning cla.s.ses, there were several grades, so there were also amongst the professional cla.s.ses. These grades are set down as seven; but it is not easy for us to realise the degrees of gradation between them, since that state of society has totally pa.s.sed away; as surely it would be difficult in similar circ.u.mstances to discriminate between the various grades in the learned professions that exist amongst ourselves to-day. It would not be easy for us to explain for the Maoris how those ent.i.tled to write after their names A.B., or M.A., or LL.D.

differ amongst themselves; or in what the Q.C. is superior to the Stuff Gown; and the same difficulty will be found to exist in all the degrees, whether academical or professional, on which men set so much value at present.

In like manner, in ancient Erin, the 'seven grades of wisdom' are carefully distinguished by law, although it is not easy for us in every case to perceive the point of the distinction.

There was a High-professor (_rosai_), and a simple Professor (_sai_); there was an _anruth_ and a _sruth_, that is, a 'n.o.ble stream' and a 'stream,' which, in our opinion, have not been at all explained; there was an 'ill.u.s.trator,' and an 'interrogator,' and a 'pupil'--or, as we should now call them, a grinder, and a tutor, and an undergraduate. The High-professor was also called an _ollamh_ and a _sai litre_, that is in modern parlance a LL.D. (speaking of laymen), and a Doctor of Literature.

The most important point is that the Ollave was ent.i.tled to sit at the king's table as an honoured guest. In point of knowledge he was qualified to answer all questions in the four great departments of learning--that is, in poetry, literature, history, and, like a LL.D., in canon and civil law.

He was ent.i.tled to bring four-and-twenty persons in his retinue, or peripatetic school; and neither he nor they could be denied food without incurring a severe penalty--one-seventh of his death-eric. One of his functions and rights was to be 'in the bosom of his disciples,' always imparting knowledge to them on all suitable occasions.

The _anruth_, or 'n.o.ble stream,' was only ent.i.tled to half this company, but in other respects he was supposed to be a junior Ollave or Fellow--in the number of his intellectual gifts, in the eloquence of his language, the greatness of his knowledge, and the n.o.bility of his teaching--but he had not yet reached the 'pinnacle' of knowledge, like the full-blown Ollave.

We cannot now discuss at greater length the various other sub-divisions, both amongst masters and pupils, which were almost as numerous as in the Intermediate Schools and Royal University--all put together, including the Senators, Fellows, Teaching-Examiners, and Graduates.

The learned professions were, in like manner, carefully discriminated and sub-divided. Leaving out the Church, it seems that there were at this period three great lay professions--Poetry, Law, and History. Poetry (_filidecht_), generally gets precedence; and the Ollave-poet seems to have been at the very top of the learned professions. The 'bard' at this period is distinguished from the 'poet.' The former is described as a man "without lawful learning but his own intellect;"[443] that is a man who had from nature the gift of music and of song, but who was never regularly trained, and never graduated in the School of Poetry. Not so the _file_ or poet. He was trained in all the mysteries of the various kinds of Gaedhlic verse; he could compose _extempore_ or in writing; he knew the legal number of recognised poems and tales, and was p.r.o.nounced qualified to recite them before kings and chieftains, whether in the banquet hall, or on the battle-march. He could eulogise, too, and satirise; and he and all his company were ent.i.tled both to fees and refection.

The course in poetry extended over 'twelve years of hard work;'[444] and besides the knowledge of the seven kinds of verse, in each of which the Ollave-poet was supposed to be able to compose extemporaneously, he was also required to know seven times fifty tales by heart for public recitation. These tales were of a wild and romantic character, but for that very reason were highly popular with all cla.s.ses in ancient Erin.

They included tales of Battles, Voyages, Cattle-spoils, Sieges, Sorrows, Slaughters, and so on, through the lost list of the legendary poems of Erin. Fortunately many of them still survive in ma.n.u.script, and a few have been published; which even in faulty translations are found to be exceedingly interesting and amusing. It was, doubtless, the popular and entertaining character of these romantic stories that placed the Ollave-poet at the head of the learned professions, even on an equality with kings and bishops in point of social dignity. There were seven grades or degrees in this great fraternity, from the _fochloc_, or scholar-poet, up to the great Ollave himself, who was the head of the school, or band of twenty-four that formed his train.

In like manner with the Brehons, there was an Ollave-Brehon who corresponded with a judge of the High Court in our own times; and then there were seven grades of inferior brehonship, descending from this high official to the raw law student, who was just beginning to take out his lectures and eat his dinners--for, in ancient, as in modern Erin, the lawyers made eating an essential part of their professional career. The fees of the Brehon were fixed by law, and to withhold them was a grave offence, for which a distress might be levied after an interval of three days.[445]

Whoever looks over, even in a cursory way, the four large volumes of the ancient Brehon code already published, will readily admit that to be an accomplished lawyer in ancient Erin required long and careful study under competent masters. At length the system grew so intricate and complicated that the Brehonship was confined to a few families, who transmitted from generation to generation the key to the interpretation both of the written and customary law. Every _righ_ was ent.i.tled to have his own Brehon, who sat on stated days, generally in the open air, for the adjudication of all the causes arising in the tribe. The litigants might, of course, have their own advocates, but they were generally young Brehons of inferior degree belonging to the school of the chief Brehon. Amongst these legal families the MacEgans of Duniry in Galway, and Ormond in Tipperary, became the most celebrated, so that members of that family were employed as judges by most of the kinglets beyond the Shannon.

The Historical Poets or Chroniclers seem to have const.i.tuted a separate professional cla.s.s in Ireland during this period. O'Donnell, in a pa.s.sage from the Irish Life of St. Columba, clearly defines their duties, and he must have known them well, for the O'Clerys, his own hereditary Chroniclers, were the most ill.u.s.trious members of that profession that ever appeared in Erin. It was their duty to record--(_a_) the achievements, wars, and triumphs of the kings, princes, and chiefs; (_b_) to preserve the genealogies and define the rights of n.o.ble families; (_c_) to ascertain and set forth the limits and extent of the sub-kingdoms and territories ruled over by the princes and chiefs. There is no statement in the Brehon Code as to the duties of the Chronicler so definite as this, because the code supposes that these things were perfectly well known to all the Feni, from their own daily experience.

In the earlier periods of our history these important duties were discharged by the Bards; but by degrees it was found more convenient to confine them to a separate cla.s.s, which afterwards, like the Brehons, came to be hereditary. As the _righ_ was ent.i.tled to have his Bard and Brehon, so also he was ent.i.tled to have his Chronicler to discharge those duties to which we have referred above. Up to the eleventh century the Chronicles were written in verse, but after that period they began to be written in prose; and in many cases they are written both in prose and verse--the verse being nearly always the older form of the Chronicle.

Many of these Rhyming Chroniclers record merely the local history of their own chieftains; but in other cases the poet-historian took a wider scope, and gave a narrative not only of Irish history, but of universal history, in a brief way, down to the time of St. Patrick. Most of these Chroniclers were laymen, although several of the most distinguished amongst them were monks or priests in some of the great monastic schools.

It is quite clear from various references both in our Annals, and in the Brehon Code, that these three professions were kept quite distinct from the sixth to the twelfth century, that they were taught by different professors, and in different schools--these professors being generally but not always laymen.

Perhaps the earliest school of this character to which we find any definite reference is the School of Tuaim Drecain. It is doubtless only one of many similar inst.i.tutions that flourished in ancient Ireland, but as we have more accurate information, although incidental, concerning this establishment, we propose to give an account of this typical seminary in a separate section.

II.--THE SCHOOL OF TUAIM DRECAIN.

St. Bricin's School of Tuaim Drecain is one of those mentioned in O'Curry's catalogue of celebrated schools in ancient Ireland. Moreover, although its founder and rector was a saint, whose festival is found marked in our martyrologies, it seems to have been a lay school of general literature, or, as we should say, a school of arts rather than of scripture or theology. It has besides produced one very distinguished Irish poet, some sc.r.a.ps of whose writings have come down to us, and therefore deserves a special notice at our hands.

Its founder is described in the _Martyrology of Donegal_ (5th Sept.) as "Bricin of Tuaim Drecain, in Breifne of Connaught; but it is in Breifne Ui Raghallaigh it is, and he was of the race of Tadhg, son of Cian, son of Ollioll Olum." We find off-shoots of that race of Tadhg, son of Cian, in Bregia, and in Leyney, county Sligo, and elsewhere also, but to which branch of the race he belonged we are not informed.

Tuaim Drecain is now called Tomregan, which very nearly represents the p.r.o.nunciation of the Irish word. It is a parish situated partly in three baronies and in the two counties of Cavan and Fermanagh, where the Woodford river, after draining several of the Leitrim lakes, flows on to join the river Erne, near Belturbet. The name signifies the tomb or grave of Drecan, some ancient warrior of whom nothing is known. It would, however, be interesting to know if there is any tumulus, or stone circle, in the parish which might help to explain the origin of the name. We know from the _Annals of the Four Masters_ that Eochaidh Faebhar-glas, King of Ireland, from A.M. 3707 to 3727, fought a battle at Tuaim Drecon; and it was probably from the tumulus raised over Drecon on this occasion that the place got its name.

St. Bricin flourished during the early years of the seventh century, and, besides his other scholarly acquirements, it seems he had also some knowledge of medicine. Amongst his pupils the most celebrated was Cennfaeladh the 'learned,' who in his youth had been a distinguished soldier, and took part in the great battle of Magh Rath (now Moira, co.

Down), which was fought in the year A.D. 634. On that fatal field he received a very dangerous wound in the head, which was very near bringing his learned career to a premature close. He was, however, carried off from the battle field, and taken to Armagh, whence Senach the Primate, sent him to Tomregan, that he might have the benefit of the surgical skill of Bricin. The saint succeeded in healing the wound in the poet's head, although he had actually lost through the wound a small portion of the brain. This, however, in his case only added to his powers of memory and general intelligence, which goes to show that in some cases the skull is really too thick, and is the better of being trepanned.

At this time St. Bricin was the head of a great lay college at Tuaim Drecain, which consisted of three distinct schools carried on in different buildings, each having its own professor--one a School of the Brehon Law (Feinechas), another a School of Poetry and History, and the third a School of Cla.s.sical Learning. These schools were, it appears for convenience sake, located at the junction of three streets, so that the pupils could, when necessary, easily pa.s.s from one to another.

Now, as soon as Cennfaeladh's wound began to heal, he employed his leisure in attending the lectures delivered in these various schools; and his head having been specially opened, he acquired, and what is more, he retained all the lectures delivered in the different schools, so that he afterwards opened a similar academy himself, and was able to instruct his pupils in all these various branches of knowledge. Poetry, it seems, he made the vehicle of communicating his information, which was quite the usual practice in those early days; and it had this one great advantage when books were so scarce--it greatly helped the memory, thus rendering it much easier for the master to teach, and for the pupil to learn.

Some of the treatises thus composed by Cennfaeladh for the use of his schools have fortunately survived the ravages of time. O'Curry thinks it probable that he was the author of an entire Grammatical Tract which has been preserved in the _Book of Leacan_ and the _Book of Ballymote_.

This Tract, O'Curry tells us, is divided into four books. The authorship of the First Book is ascribed to Fenius Farsaidh, or Fenius the Antiquarian, an ancestor of Milesius, who may be regarded as a mythical personage, his name being introduced to lend an air of antiquity to the work. The Second Book is, for a similar reason, ascribed to Amergin, a son of Milesius. The Third Book is attributed to Ferceirtne the Poet, who flourished in the time of Conor Mac Nessa; but the Fourth Book is clearly the work of Cennfaeladh himself, who, if he did not compose, certainly revised the entire treatise. Cennfaeladh died about A.D. 678; and O'Curry thinks the work was retouched after his death by later scholars--most likely by Cormac Mac Cullinan, or some of his pupils, towards the close of the ninth century.

This most interesting work is unfortunately hitherto unpublished, for few scholars are qualified to undertake the task of its publication. It not only deals with the principles of the Irish grammatical construction, but compares the Gaedhlic forms with the Latin of Priscian, Donatus, and other authors then familiar to Irish scholars; and even to some extent it compares the Irish inflections with those of the Greek and Hebrew languages.

Cennfaeladh also compiled a Law Tract which has been published by the Brehon Law Commissioners; and moreover, he was the author of several historical poems, fragments of which are still extant. His poem on the Migrations of Milesius from Scythia to Spain is complete; but we possess only a fragment of another equally interesting one on the Death of the Ultonian Heroes of the Red Branch. To him also O'Reilly attributes the authorship of the poem on the Teach Midhchuarta, which describes all the furniture and arrangements of the great Mead-Circling House of Tara. So that it may be truly said that few schools in Ireland produced a more distinguished scholar than Bricin's Academy at Tomregan in Breifne.[446]

III.--CORMAC MAC CULLINAN.