CHAPTER II.
IRELAND--NORTHUMBRIA.
The knowledge of books might almost have disappeared in the seventh
century, when the cloud of ignorance was darkest, but for a new and
remarkable development of learning in the Irish monasteries.
This development is of special interest to ourselves from the fact that
the church of Northumbria was long dependent on the Irish settlement at
Iona. The Anglians taught by Paulinus very soon relapsed into paganism,
and the second conversion of the North was due to the missionaries of the
school of St. Columba. The power of Rome was established at the Council
of Whitby; but in the days when Aidan preached at Lindisfarne the
Northumbrians were still in obedience to an Irish rule, and were
instructed and edified by the acts and lives of St. Patrick, of St.
Brigit, and the mighty Columba.
We shall quote some of the incidents recorded about the Irish books, a
few legends of Patrick and dim traditions from the days of Columba,
before noticing the rise of the English school.
The first mention of the Irish books seems to be contained in a passage
of AEthicus. The cosmography ascribed to that name has been traced to
very early times. It was long believed to have been written by St.
Jerome; but in its present form, at least, the work contains entries of a
much later date. The passage in which Ireland is mentioned may be even as
late as the age of Columbanus, when Irish monks set up their churches at
Wuerzburg and on the shores of the Lake of Constance, or illuminated their
manuscripts at Bobbio under the protection of Theodolind and her
successors in Lombardy.
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