![]() ![]() However, the making of new manuscripts required significant resources, including a repository of books from which to make copies and access to writing materials like vellum, parchment and pigments. ![]() The reproduction of books was needed for general religious study but also for the services in the choir and readings in the refectory. As a result, ordinary monks in monastic complexes throughout Ireland had the monopoly of education, quickly developing important schools and luring students from Britain and continental Europe. The growth of the Church meant that there was a constant need to copy bibles and other religious books that were brought to Ireland by Christian missionaries. The mechanisms by which these artistic skills were transmitted, however, were not divine. The painstaking attention to detail that defines this art form is almost Herculean in its mastery. This is hardly surprising, given the exquisite precision and extreme delicacy with which these manuscripts were executed. Veneration for their work was often expressed in supernatural terms, describing it as the work of “angels” rather than mere mortals. The revered illuminators are even believed to have received divine aid in the creation of these manuscripts. These embody the zenith of Ireland’s insular artistic history and demonstrate the skill and artistry of the scribes who created them. Though the early Irish literary tradition is represented by a large corpus of manuscripts and books, the most celebrated are the Illuminated manuscripts from the period between the seventh and early twelfth centuries. The insular style evolved from the fifth century, but reached its pinnacle during the ninth century, continuing in Ireland into the twelfth century. The most characteristic features of this art form are rooted in the late Iron Age La Tène tradition of Celtic art and include interlace decoration, formal patterns of spirals, plant ornament, naturalistic animals, bird and human figures. Another distinguishing trait of insular art is the fusion of figurative and ornamental decoration, with some elements so stylised that they appear almost abstract. Its dense and intricate decoration embodied a pivotal moment in the development of early Christian art. This style, in which numerous books and manuscripts were produced, was essentially a blending of Celtic, Classical and, later, Germanic artistic traditions. In doing so, they transmitted a new style of art throughout north-western Europe, called insular art. In this period, Ireland retained a cohesive society characterised by rural monastic settlements, from which Irish missionaries spread Christianity, bringing strongholds of Irish Christian influence to Britain and continental Europe. This was the beginning of a vibrant literate culture that led to a remarkable flourishing of literature in Ireland in manuscript form. But what developed from around the seventh century was an interaction between Latin, the Irish language and the ancient oral traditions and practices of poetry, satire and mythology that encouraged literature and the arts to blossom in the burgeoning monastic complexes. This early form of Irish writing belongs to the period after the introduction of Christianity to Ireland in fact, many of the early texts were produced specifically to aid in the process of conversion. These are found in the margins of Latin manuscripts, most of them preserved in monasteries in continental Europe, having been brought there by early Irish missionaries. This writing predates the earliest extant examples of Old Irish proper. It is generally believed that a form of archaic Irish found in Ogham inscriptions, mostly on stone and dated to the fourth century, constitutes not only the earliest written examples of the Irish language, but some of the oldest vernacular literature in western Europe. ![]() One of the most substantial accomplishments in the Irish tradition of education was the introduction of the written word. ![]()
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