1. EARLY CHRISTIAN IRELAND 1 ST YR

2. Christianity arrives Arrived in 5 th C – 400’s! St. Patrick came in 432 AD Spread Christianity Celts converted Druids lost their power But pagan and catholic rituals existed together

3. Monasteries Set up from 6 th C First monastery set up Monasteries at first were in remote places Monks wanted isolation to focus on god Skellig Michael off Kerry

4. monks Strict lives of work, prayer and fasting Uncomfortable habit of coarse cloth Celibate Tonsure

5. Larger monasteries Got bigger – closer to other people Built beside rivers E.g. Clomnacnoise on the Shannon Or near homes of kings Wanted to convert people

6. Monastery buildings Church Refectory – Where they ate Guest house for visitors Scriptorium Beehive huts Fruit and veg garden Round tower

7. Round towers

8. Glendalough in Wicklow Used as belfries to call monks to prayer Storage for valuable items – manuscripts and chalices Safe hiding place when attacked Door high above ground Pulled up rope after them Vikings started attacking

9. Life in monastery Self sufficient Monks farmed the land around them Provided food, clothes, raw materials for manuscript Some monks were stone masons Others scribes Head of monastery – Abbot

10. Services provided by monastery Centres of prayer and religion Some monks skilled in herbal medicine – so provided care for sick Gave alms (food etc.) to poor Hospitality and shelter for travelers Provided education for boys in religion and Latin

11. Manuscripts (1) Monks – only people who could read or write Worked in scriptorium Scribes copied manuscripts The Gospels or annals Used quills

12. Manuscripts (2) Wrote on vellum (calfskin) of parchment (sheepskin) Illuminated manuscripts Bright inks from crushed berries Famous manuscripts – Book of Kells The Cathach – Ireland’s oldest manuscript

13. Stone crosses Some monks carved stone crosses Pictures from bible carved on cross – why? People couldn’t read Told them stories from the bible Stone circle joined arms of cross Helped support it from breaking

14. Metalwork Some monks made beautiful metal objects Chalices, reliquaries, book shrines Ardagh Chalice Silver with glass studs Engraved writing on metal in Celtic design…..is called filigree

15. Spread the word of god to other countries Irish monks – famous missionaries Set up monasteries Columcille – monastery in Iona, Scotland Aiden – Lindisfarne in England

16. Dark ages After fall of Roman Empire… …Dark ages began in Europe Little civilization anywhere But the monasteries became great learning centres People travelled to them Period called the Golden Age of Irish Learning ‘Island of Saints and Scholars’

17. Revision (1) Christianity 5 th C Druids decline Pagan and Christian rituals mix Isolated monasteries Beehive huts Tonsure Illuminated manuscripts Round towers

18. Revision (2) Refectory Alms Scriptorium Vellum Stone crosses Metalwork Filigree Missionaries