The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1963, Blaðsíða 18

16
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
SUMMER 1963
seem to have constituted a separate
professional class in Ireland during
this period. It was their duty to (a) re-
cord the achievements, wars and
triumphs of kings, princes and chiefs;
(b) preserve the genealogies and define
the rights of the noble families; (c) as-
certain and set forth the limits and
extent of the sub-kingdoms and ter-
ritories ruled over by the princes and
chiefs.
It may be of interest to quote a few
names of great personalities who have
studied under Irish teachers. St. Os-
wald (d. 642), King of Bernicia,
Northumberland studied ait the Irish
school in Iona Island. He brought
monks with hint from Iona and
christianized his subjects. He ruled
from 605 to 641. His close alliance
with the Celtic church is the character-
istic feature of his reign. He assigned
to St. Aidan, Lindisfarne as his See.
Aldfrith, king of Northumberland near
the end of the seventh century, studied
in Ireland. Archbishop Egbert, one of
the fathers of die Anglo-Saxon church,
also studied in Ireland at the time he
lived in the Irish Cloister of Rathmel-
sigi, or Milford, in the county of
Louth. St. Dunstan (909-988) Arch-
bishop of Canterbury and reformer of
monastic life, king in all but name in
the reign of Edred, was educated by
the Irish monks of Glastonbury, Eng-
land. St. Dunstan was one of the most
highly educated men in England. Be-
sides the usual education acquired by
noblemen, he was proficient in paint-
ing, calligraphy, making musical in-
struments, bellfounding and as a com-
poser of music. Dagbert II, afterwards
king of Austria, sought and obtained
education at Slane in Ireland for many
years previous .to his call to the throne.
Gertrude, the Abbess of Nivelles in
Belgium, in the seventh century is said
to have sent to Ireland for books and
to have had the Irish Saints, Faillan
and Ultan as her advisers. Alcuin, an
Englishman, who was renowned in his
age for learning, was the confidant,
instructor and adviser of Charlemagne.
He was the head of the court school
which Charlemagne established in
Aachen. He studied under Colgu in
Ireland as well as under Archbishop
Egbert in England.
Many Irish scholars were famous for
their knowledge and literary achieve-
ments. Cummian, Abbot and bishop,
combated .the errors about the pascal
computations with an extent of learn-
ing and wealth of knowledge amazing
in a monk of the seventh century. Di-
cuil, who wrote the best universal geo-
graphy in the ninth century was edu-
cated at Clonmacnois; while Fargal,
the Abbot of Aghaboe, was even in
those far off days teaching that the
earth is round, centuries ahead of
Copernicus (1473-1543), the Polish-
German.
The First Wave of Emigration
from Norway to the West
The Northmen commenced their
raids in England and Ireland in 795
A.D. The waters which had been Ire-
land’s protection for centuries, now be-
came the highroads of the invaders.
It seems certain .that the Norsemen
had taken possession of the Scottish
Islands before that date. Gradually
they took possession of coastal places
in Ireland, which first were only ports
of call and markets, but later became
stockaded enclosures. These places
gradually grew into towns, the first
towns in Ireland. Several times the
Norsemen were driven away by the
Irish, only to return again to establish
a firm hold on the coastal towns. The
first of the permanent places occupied
by the Norsemen was Dublin (Dubh-