Medieval Ireland

The Medieval Era, or Middle Ages
Early Middle Ages, or Dark Ages
475 A.D. – 1000 A.D.
High Middle Ages
1000 A.D. – 1300 A.D.
Late Middle Ages
1300 A.D. – 1500 A.D.

Most historians date the end of the Dark Ages, or the Early Middle Ages, at 1000 A.D. The Italian poet and writer Petrarch (1304-1374) conceptualized the Early Medieval Era as the “dark ages.” Right : Portrait of Francesco Petrarca by Andrea di Bartolo di Bargilla. Petrach is considered the “father of humanism,” representing Renaissance humanism in Italy.

Characteristics of the Dark Ages
Rise in mortality rates and falling fertility
Collapse of centralized forms of government
Abandonment of rule by codified law
Disappearance of monumental architecture
Reduced literacy, and loss of knowledge
Smaller settlement size
Simplification of representational art
Abandonment of earlier religious forms
Increase in intra-group violence
Reduced inter-regional trade

Medieval Architecture
Romanesque Architecture
800 A.D. – 1200 A.D.
Gothic Architecture
1200 A.D. – 1500 A.D.

Romanesque Cathedrals

Romanesque Architectural Style
Rounded Arches.
Barrel vaults.
Thick walls.
Darker, simplistic interiors.
Small windows, usually at the top of the wall.
Right: Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio, Spain

Gothic Architectural Style
Pointed arches.
High, narrow vaults.
Thinner walls.
Flying buttresses.
Elaborate, ornate, airier interiors.
Stained-glass windows.
“ Flying” Buttresses

Gothic Cathedrals

Charlemagne (c. 742/747 – 814) , or Carolus Magnus , Charles the Great, ruled over the first secular kingdom in the West after the fall of Rome in 476 A.D. Charlemagne ruled over the Carolignian, or Frankish Empire, from 768 to his death in 814.

Roland swears his fealty oath to Charlemagne in this depiction from a chanson de geste, or songs of heroic deeds (epic poems). The earliest chanson de geste date to the Eleventh and Twelfth centuries.

Carolignian Renaissance: Charlemagne’s Chapel at Aachen. Charlemagne was crowned by Pope Leo III as the first Holy Roman Emperor at Christmas Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome on December 25, 800 A.D. He was granted the title: Imperator Romanorum.

William the Conqueror, also known as William the Bastard, led the Norman invasion of England. The Anglo-Saxons were defeated at the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066.

Norman Rulers in England invaded Ireland in 1169 A.D. laying the foundation for the modern British Empire. The Norman King John I of England became the first Lord of Ireland (1185-1216).

Roslea Castle, Easkey, County Sligo, Ireland is a good example of Norman fortification architecture. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Roslea Castle in Easkey, County Sligo, Ireland on the Atlantic Coast was built in 1207 A.D. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Dublin Castle, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath , Republic of Ireland. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Dublin Castle Plan

Dublin Castle was ordered to be constructed as a defensive fortification in 1204 A.D. by John I, King of England and Lord of Ireland. Right: Record Tower (c. 1228), the only tower at Dublin Castle surviving from the Medieval Period. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Dublin Castle was mostly completed in 1230 A.D. and typifies Norman court architecture. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Medieval towns, or cities, were surrounded by walls as a defensive barrier and security measure to repel or keep out invaders. Dublin Castle Gate (c. Carson May, 2007)

Dublin Castle garden and gate entrance. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Dublin Castle Upper Yard (c.CARSON May, 2007)

Bedford Clock Tower, Dublin Castle, was constructed in the 18 th c. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Bedford Clock Tower, Dublin Castle, is an Eighteenth-century structure. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Chapel, West Side, Dublin Castle (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Doors leading to the Chapel, West Side, Dublin Castle (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Dublin Castle (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Dublin Castle (c .CARSON May, 2007)

Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Republic of Ireland: After 1170 A.D. and beginning in the reign of King Henry II, Christ Church Cathedral was rebuilt under patronage of Anglo-Norman nobles. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Christ Church Cathedral is one of Dublin's oldest and most magnificent features. The site dates from around 1030 AD, and has seen a long succession of enhancements which reflect the history of Dublin itself. The church's history begins when the first bishop of Dublin, Dúnán, was appointed by its founder: Sitric Silkenbeard, the Hiberno-Norse King of Dublin between 989 and 1036. Dublin was captured by Norman's in 1172 and soon afterwards, at the instigation of Norman knight Richard 'Strongbow' de Clare, the cathedral was re-built to resemble its present form. The grand Romanesque building, including the vast crypt (the oldest remaining structure in Dublin), was completed in 1240. Strongbow's tomb is on display in the cathedral.

After Henry II attended Christmas Mass there in 1171, Richard de Clare, 2 nd Earl of Pembroke, also called Strongbow, took the lead in the rebuilding of Christ Church Cathedral. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

On April 13, 1742, the choirs of Christ Church and St. Patrick’s Cathedrals joined together to perform the world premiere of Georg Frederic Handel’s oratorio the Messiah in the nearby Music Hall on Fishamble Street, Dublin. The Messiah was controversial because it was staged for theater and directly quoted the Bible which some thought sacrilegious. Shown: Christ Church Cathedral (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Georg Frederic Handel’s Messiah debuted in public at the Music Hall in Dublin on April 13, 1742.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, formerly known as the National Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St. Patrick was established in 1191 A.D. by issuance of a papal bull by Pope Celestine III. John Comyn was appointed the first Anglo-Norman Archbishop of Dublin. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, is the gravesite of writer and satirist Jonathan Swift who served as Dean of the Cathedral from 1713 to 1745. Swift is the author of Gulliver’s Travels . (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral

In Ireland as elsewhere in the Early Medieval Era, Round Towers were used for both refuge and fortification as well as serving as bell towers. Round Towers are associated with ecclesiastical sites. Right : Round Tower, Killala, County Mayo, Ireland. The Killala Round Tower is about 84 feet high and the doorway is 11 feet off the ground for security reasons. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Steps leading up to Round Tower, Killala, County Mayo, Ireland (c. CARSON May, 2007)

St. Colmcille founded a monastery at Drumcliffe, County Sligo Ireland in the shadow of Ben Bulben Mountain in 574 A.D. (c. CARSON c. May, 2007)

Round Tower at Drumcliffe, County Sligo, Ireland: This round tower served as a bell tower and a refuge against plundering Vikings and local Gaelic Chieftains. According to legend: the tower will fall down when the wisest man passes under it. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Celtic High Cross, Drumcliffe Monastery (c. 574 A.D.) County Sligo, Ireland: carvings on the cross depict Biblical scenes such as Adam and Eve, Daniel in the Lion’s Den, the Crucifixion, and Christ on the Day of Judgement. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Boyle Cistercian Abbey, County Ros Comain, Ireland (c. Carson May, 2007)

Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon, Ireland is a Cistercian Monastery established in the Twelfth Century under the patronage of the local ruling family, the MacDermots. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

The Cistercian Order was founded by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Burgundy, France in 1098 A.D. St. Bernard established the order to enact more stringent (Cistercian) monastic rules and practices in reaction to what he viewed as monastic leniency by other orders. Below: Boyle Abbey (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), Burgundy, was the founder of the Cistercian Order.

According to the Annals of Ireland, the Church of Boyle Abbey, County Ros Comain, was consecrated in 1218 A.D. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon, is an excellent example of a Twelfth-Century Cistercian Abbey, demonstrating the transition from Romanesque to Gothic architectural styles in Ireland. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Boyle Abbey, County Ros Comain, Ireland is a Twelfth-Century Cistercian monastery badly damaged in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries when it was used as a military garrison by British troops. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Archaeological excavation and painstaking restoration work is being performed on Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon, Ireland in order to preserve the monastery from deterioration. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Architectural ornamentation details, Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon, Ireland. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Architectural feature, Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon, Ireland. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Bas relief detail. Boyle Abbey, Ros Comain, Eire. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Interior roof. Boyle Abbey County Roscommon, Ireland. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Interior. Boyle Abbey, County Ros Comain, Eire. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Archways, Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon, Ireland. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Tower wall. Boyle Abbey, County Ros Comain, Eire. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Arch detail. Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon, Ireland. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon, Ireland. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Sligo Abbey as it is known locally, or the Convent of the Holy Cross, was actually a Dominican Friary built approximately between 1252 and 1253 A.D. by the Norman Baron and leading Geraldine of the era, Maurice Fitzgerald. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Sligo Abbey, County Sligo, Ireland, was built in 1253 A.D. by order of Maurice Fitzgerald, the Baron of Offaly. The friary was destroyed by fire in 1414, ravaged by the Tyrone War in 1595 and the Ulster uprising in 1641. The Dominican friars relocated to another location in 1760, and the Abbey was restored by Lord Palmerston beginning in the 1850s. (c. Carson May, 2007)

Sligo Abbey (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Sligo Abbey, County Sligo, Ireland. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

French cloisters, or a roofed, or vaulted-ceiling passageway, also called a covered Arcade. Sligo Abbey, County Sligo, Ireland. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

The Dominican Friary at Sligo. A friary is where priests live. Often they invite the public to worship in their church whereas monks live cloistered in an abbey and generally confine their vocation to worship through private prayer and meditation. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

The Dominican Friary at Sligo was established in the Mid-Thirteenth Century. The site contains a great wealth of beautiful carvings and sculpture. There are fine examples of Gothic and Renaissance tomb sculpture, well-preserved cloisters, and the only sculpted Fifteenth-Century high altar to survive in any Irish monastic church. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Gothic windows, Sligo Abbey, County Sligo, Ireland. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Tomb, Sligo Abbey. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

The O’Craian canopied tomb (1506) built into a niche of the north wall of the nave. Sligo Abbey, County Sligo, Ireland. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Interior nave, Sligo Abbey. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Nave and presbytery, Sligo Abbey. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Sligo Abbey (c. CARSON May, 2007)

Sligo Abbey. (c. CARSON May, 2007)

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Medieval Ireland

by Keith Carson

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