Search Results: Early irish monasteries

The Dissolution of the Monasteries was a policy introduced in 1536 CE by Henry VIII of England (r. 1509-1547 CE) to close down and confiscate the lands and wealth of all monasteries in England and Wales. The plan was designed as a lucrative...

Early medieval Irish book art is both beautiful and fascinating. It reflects a flourishing monastic culture which played a key role in the cultural development of Europe from the 6th to 9th centuries CE. Nowhere is this more clearly illustrated...

In early Medieval Europe, a prime subject of frightening tales-come-true were the famously marauding and pillaging Vikings, spilling out of their dragon-headed longships in a state of bloodlust, thirsting for gold. With their menacing presence...

Monasticism, that is individuals devoting themselves to an ascetic life in a monastery for devotional purposes, was an ever-present feature of the Byzantine empire. Monasteries became powerful landowners and a voice to be listened to in imperial...

A map of the monasteries on the Mount Athos peninsula, northern Greece. The first monastery was founded probably in the 9th century CE.

A medieval monastery was an enclosed and sometimes remote community of monks led by an abbot who shunned worldly goods to live a simple life of prayer and devotion. Christian monasteries first developed in the 4th century in Egypt and Syria...

Grace O'Malley (l. c. 1530-1603) was an Irish chieftain and seafarer who became famous as a pirate and rebel during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England (1558-1603) who was trying to increase her control of Irish lands. O'Malley's exploits...

Bardr mac Imair (c. 873-881 CE, also known as Barid mac Imair, Barith, Baraid) was a Viking king of Dublin, son of the Viking king Imair (Imar, Ivan) who founded the Ui Imair Dynasty in Ireland. Bardr became king in Dublin after Imair's death...

An illustration by Maia Kobabe showing an Irish missionary of the early Middle Ages. From the novel The Jericho River by David Tollen.

This Isidor fragment from the middle of the 7th century CE shows how the Irish introduced capital letters at the beginnings of paragraphs, the separation of words from each other, and interpunction into writing; all innovations we still use...