CHRISTIAN IRELAND AND THE
ROMAN WORLD.
The earliest account of Christianity in Ireland is given by the monks of the monastery of St. Martin of Tours (France) in 431AD.
·
There
was probably more than one St. Patrick.
·
According
to legend Patrick lived in Wales at a time after the Romans had left Britain
and the country was being invaded by the Angles and Saxons from Holland &
Germany and by the Picts from Scotland.
·
The
Irish were also raiding the coast of Britain and were taking booty and slaves.
·
Patrick
was one of thes slaves.
·
He
was bought by a man named ‘ Milchu’ and spent his time herding sheep on
‘Slemish’ in Co. Antrim.
·
He
escaped after 6 years and studied for the priesthood.
·
He
was made a Bishop while living somewhere in Europe (Probably France).
·
He
returned to Ireland having had derams in which the people of Ireland were
calling him back.
·
He
travelled throughout the country converting the peoprl to Christianity.
·
He
used the shamrock to explain the idea of the ‘Holy Trinity’.
·
His
conversion method was to convert the local chiefs and Ris (Kings) because he
knew that if they converted that the people would follow them.
·
When
converting the Irish he often took local pagan customs and Christianised them.
·
He
also identified the pagan gods with saints so that the old religion was
absorbed into the new one.
v St. Patrick’s Purgatory,
Lough Derg.
v Croagh Patrick.
v Patrick’s Well.
v Banishing the snakes.
v Conversion of Oisin on his
return from Tir na nOg.
Monasteries:
The early Irish church was not like it is today. Instead of Diocese and parishes it was organised around monasteries.
Some of the early monasteries were in
populated areas such as Kildare, Durrow and Derry.
Others were built in very isolated
places such as Glendalough, Skellig Micheal (a small rocky island off the coast
of Kerry) etc.
Irish
Saints:
There were many famous Irish saints who founded
monasteries and were often also great travellers.
Some Saints:-
§ St. Kevin , the founder of
Glendalough monastery.
§ St. Finbarr, the founder of
Gougane Barra and of a school and monastery in what is now Cork City.
§ St. Brendan who was famous
for his travels (perhaps he even went to America??). He founded monasteries including that in Iona, Scotland.
Monasteries usually had a circular stone wall surrounding them. Inside the wall were:-
· A church and / or an oratory.
· Small cells or beehive huts for each of the monks.
· A scriptorium, where sacred books were copied (e.g. The Book of Kells).
· Refectory (dining room).
· An Infirmary (hospital).
· Later they also had Round Towers which acted as store rooms and placed to escape from the Vikings.
Monks lived very hard lives of constant work
and prayer. They usually got up very
early in the morning for prayers.
Many of the monasteries only allowed their monks
one meal a day.
Monks were very skilled farmers, blacksmiths,
goldsmiths, stone masons, millers etc. and were also very learned.
Monks made such famous pieces of work as The
High Crosses, The cross of Cong and The Ardagh Chalice etc.
As well as copying the Bible etc. the also were
the first to write down the great Irish legends such as that of Finn Mc Cool
etc.
After the collapse of the
Roman Empire, Irish monks travelled to Europe and converted the pagan barbarian
tribes such as The Franks to Christianity.
At this time Ireland was known as The Island of Saints and Scholars.
v St. Columcille who converted
Scotland and founded Iona monastery.
v St Columbanus, who founded
monasteries at Luxeuil (France) and
Bobbio in Italy.
v St. Gaul who founded a
monastery in Switzerland in St.Galen.
THE ROMAN WORLD.
i.
There
are many written account of life in ancient Rome in the works of Roman writers
such as Livy, Cicero, Julius Caesar, and Pliny.
ii.
There
are many Roman ruins still left such as The Forum, The Colosseum.
iii.
Many
artefacts such as weapons, pottery, sculptures etc. have been found.
iv.
The
excavation of the city of Pompeii.
This town, near the shores of the Bay of Naples was totally covered by Ash and Lava as a result of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius (a volcano).
The entire city, including
some of its people, was preserved under the ash, so that when it was excavated
the archaeologists (led by Fiorelli) could see exactly how the Romans
lived.
A large part of the city is
still buried.
Romulus and Remus,
decendants of the Trojan Hero Aneas founded the city on the 7 hills near
the river Tiber.
Originally it was ruled by
kings, 7 in all, the last of whom was Tarquin The Proud,
Tarquin was deposed and a
Republic was set up.
In fact Rome was never a
democracy because it was ruled by The Senate which was made up of
members elected from and by the noble (Patrician) families.
The ordinary people were
called the Plebians (Plebs).
Women had few rights.
A father ruled over his
entire family.
In its last years, the Republic was actually ruled by the Generals, such as Pompey and Caesar. After the assassination of Caesar, Rome became an empire ruled over by Agustus, the first of the Roman Emperors.
SOMEOTHER EMPERORS.
Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, Trajan, Cominus (of Gladiator fame).
i. All Roman citizens were expected to serve in the army.
ii.
The
army was organised into Cohorts (companies) Centuries (100 men) and Legions
(battalions).
iii.
The
infantry was the main part of a Roman army.
iv.
Weapons
and armour included a large rectangular shield, a Pilum (javelin), Gladius(short
stabbing sword) and a helmet.
v.
Later
Roman armies included large numbers of Auxiliary troops which were usually
drawn from allies or were mercenaries (fought for pay). Many of these were
specialised troops e.g. The Numidian cavalry, Cretan archers etc.
vi.
After
every days march, the Roman army built a fortified camp for the night. In important places, these camps were made
permanent and later developed into towns (e.g. Chester and York in England).
From its foundation, Rome was almost continuously at
war. At first the conquered their
neighbours such as the Etruscans and Sabines.
Then having conquered Italy they began to conquer North Africa by
defeating Carthage in the Punic wars (N.B. Hannibal and
his elephants nearly defeated Rome). The general, Pompey made his name
by conquering Spain, Greece and a lot of the middle east (Palestine, Turkey
etc.). While Julius Caesar made his name in what is now France where he
conquered the Helvetii (Swiss), the Gauls and even invaded Britain.
The centre of Rome was the Forum, here was
the main market and meeting place.
In the forum were built all of the main temples to
the gods and public buildings such as the Senate House.
The city was built on the 7 hills of Rome, each of
which was named (e.g. Capitoline Hill, Palatine Hill etc.).
The City was enclosed by a defensive wall and so
land was quite scarce in the city.
Because of this only the wealthy could afford private houses
(domus).
Most of the ordinary people lived in Insulae (blocks
of flats) made up of tiny apartments (one room per family usually). The poorest
lived on the top floors, which had to be reached by means of ladders.
i.
Atrium;
The central courtyard around which were built the various reception rooms of
the house. A pond in the atrium was
used to catch rainwater.
ii.
Peristyle; A back garden (small) which was
usually surrounded by the bedrooms.
iii.
Roman
houses had central heating which used hot air vents in the
floor. The hot air was supplied from a
fire in the basement.
iv.
Walls were decorated with paintings (murals) and
mosaics.
v.
A domus would have many slaves to do all of the
work.
Rome had a sewerage system and had a public water
supply which brought water to the city by a series of Aqueducts. The water was distributed to public
fountains and private houses by means of lead plumbing.
Rome was a very busy, crowded busy city and had
major traffic problems.
Clothing:-
Men and boys wore a Tunica (A
long shirt) tied at the waist. The Toga
was the business suit of the wealthy Romans.
Only the Patricians could wear Purple (The dye was very expensive).
Women wore a long dress called a Stola
and cloak called a Palla.
All wore sandals.
Most Romans ate a small
breakfast (bread and wine) or got a quick bite on the way to work at one of the
many fast food shops along the streets.
Lunch was usually a light meal also.
Dinner, in the evening was
the main meal. In Patrician families
these dinners were often very large and often included entertainments. Romans loved to party. A big feasts they often forced themselves to
vomit so that they could eat more.
The patricians were either involved in government (the Senate)
of as judges in the law courts. Many
did very little work. Their wives
occupied themselves ordering the slaves to do the housework, entertaining
friends, visiting friends or doing needlework etc. Girls were taught the duties of a wife by their mothers
and did not go to school after the age of 12.
Boys attended school. They wrote on wax tablets with a stylus.
Sometimes they wrote on Papyrus with a Quill but papyrus was expensive. The learned most of their lessons by heart
and discipline was very harsh (flogging was the favourite form).
Subjects were Latin, Grammar, Greek,
Maths, History, rethoric (public speaking).
The teachers were often
Greek Slaves because the GREEKS WERE
CONSIDERED BETTER EDUCATED THAN THE ROMANS.
The better off Plebians worked in trades (blacksmiths, shoemakers, masons etc) or shopkeepers. The poorer ones worked as labourers and carters etc.
Slaves:- Rome had over 300,000
slaves. Many of these were captives
from wars.
Most slaves did the hardest, dirtiest,
most dangerous jobs in Rome. But,
a few slaves, who were very well educated became very important
officials in government and business.
All Romans loved leisure and here are some of the ways that they took their ease.
i.
The
Baths. There were over 1,000 public
baths in Rome, some small some very large (The Baths of Diocletian) and
everybody went to the baths every afternoon.
ii.
Baths
were meeting places as well as places for washing.
iii.
There
were 3 separate sections in the baths:-
a.
The
Tepidarium (warm pool)
b.
The
Hypocausts (hot room / steam room).
c.
Frigidarium
(cold pool).
Many bigger baths also had a Palaesta (gym)
where people could practice boxing, wrestilng etc.
Holidays:
There were many public holidays in Rome and after the Empire was established the Emperors often used these holidays to keep the Romans happy.
The great spectacles took
place in the Colosseum (Gladiator fights, wilds animal fights etc.) and The
Circus Maximus (Chariot racing).
The Romans loved violent
spectacles and both the games and races were very bloody indeed.
The Romans were Pantheists
(they worshipped many gods).
Aside from the major gods
such as Jupiter (Father of the gods), Mars (god of war), Neptune (god of the
sea) etc., each household also had its own gods called the Lares and the
Penates who protected the household.
Later the Emperors became gods
(e.g. Agustus).
Because there were many Gods
there were many priests. Some of these
priests were Augurs (they advised on whether any affair of state, war or
business should be undertaken on a particular day based on their reading of the
signs in the guts of the animal(s) they had sacrificed that morning.
Others were Oracles (these
could tell the future).
Some were women e.g. The
Vestal Virgins.
Each of the major gods had
his / her own temple and the Pantheon was a special temple to all the
gods, known or unknown. This was
required because the Romans began to worship the gods of many of the peoples
they had conquered also (e.g. Isis (Egypt), Lug (Gaul) etc.).
The chief priest was called
the Pontifex Maximus. This is
the title given to the Popes of today.
Began
in Judea (Israel – Palestine) around 30 A.D. and spread to Rome.
The Christian ideal was very
popular with slaves and the poorer citizens of Rome. Many of the wealthy intellectuals also converted to it.
At first the Emperor took
little notice of the Christians but as they became more numerous they began to
be seen as a threat to the state.
At this point the
persecution of the Christians began and following the burning of Rome, in the
reign of Emperor Nero, the persecution became really fierce.
The Christians were put to
death if they were caught. (Thrown to the lions, crucified etc). For a long time they were forced to hide
their worship in the old underground graveyard called the Catacombs.
Freedom for Christians:
The Emperor Constantine
(founder of the Eastern or Byzantine Empire, Capital, Constantinople (Now
Istanbul) )ended the persecution of the Christians in the 4th
century.
By the end of the 5th. Century, the
Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the State Religion of the
Empire.
The Fall of The Roman Empire:-
As time went on the empire
became more difficult to rule.
Problems:
·
The
size of the empire.
·
The
Barbarian tribes of Germany were being forced to move Westwards by other
tribes which were moving from the East (Russia & Asia).
·
The
Roman army was not a citizen army any longer as the rich Romans paid
mercenaries to fight for them. Many of
these mercenaries later returned to their own peoples and used what they had
learned about the Roman army to lead their people against the Romans.
The tribes which invaded the western half of the
empire included, The Goths, The Vandals and the Huns.
The solution:
I. The emperor Constantine
decided to divide the empire into East and West. (The East was the richer half
of the Roman Empire).
II. A new capital city was built
and was calles Constantinople.
III. Constantinople’s name was
later changed to Byzantium and following the conquest of the Eastern or
Byzantine Empire by the Turks in 1453 it was renamed Istanbul.
IV. The western empire was left
to its own devices and was overrun by the barbarian tribes. This began The Dark Ages.
V. The Christian religion and
Roman learning all but disappeared from the West. (The monks of Ireland re
converted Europe and re introduced learning to the new nations of Europe such
as the Kingdom of the Franks).