“Brian Boru” © 1987, Jim Fitzpatrick.

"With the advent of Christianity, the history of Ireland began to come into sharper focus. No longer the province of oral tradition, with its distressing tendency to glorify the past in order to make it more “entertaining”, history finally became the province of true historians, whose medium was no longer the capricious oral folktale, but the reliable written word. And with its history now literally written down in black and white, Ireland began to awake from its long, dark dream of myth to a new dawn of rationalism, where reason ruled over emotion, and the Word triumphed over the image."

Over time, the advent of Christianity in Ireland had the effect of waking it from its chaotic pagan dream and uniting the island under one system of monotheistic belief. Whereas up to that time control of the island had been contested by various warring tribes of Celtic peoples who had no sense of nationalism, only loyalty to their tribe, Christianity had provided for the first time a true sense of national unity, one island with one people worshiping one God. And it was from this unifying effect that the island of destiny first became known as "Ireland", or Eiru's land, so named by the Christian monks who sought to organize the island so as to more easily administer it. It was this unity of belief that led to the eventual political unification of the entire island under one man, Brian Boru.

Unfortunately this unity was not to last, and after Brian's death the island soon fell back into chaos. Later, a series of disastrous political decisions led to an English invasion that led to centuries of war and misery that has only recently started to ease. Ireland today, however, has become a positive and peaceful place, with a booming economy and a positive outlook for well into the new millennium.

< ANCIENT IRISH CULTURE | IRELAND TODAY >

BUY THE BOOK | DOWNLOAD SAMPLE PDF | SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTER