J 1 - Comhaltas Archive

letters is totally different to that of the
Latin or any other alphabet. The letters
were formed by combinations of short
lines on and at both sides of a middle
or stem line called a 'flesc'. Points or dots
were sometimes used instead of lines. The
groups of lines and points generally ran
along the adjacent sides of the stone,
with the angle for the flesc.
Irish poetry was widely recited long
before writing became generally practised
and it was developed altogether in the lay
schools. It had a very complicated
prosody - certain laws or rules - with
numerous technical terms, all native Irish;
It exhibits no trace of Latin or
ecclesiastical influence, though the
Christian Irish writers continued to use it
when writing in the Irish language . All
this shows that the Irish prosodial rules
and of course Irish poetry in general were
brought to their state of completeness
before the introduction of Christianity.
In very early times, not only poetry
proper, but histories, biographies, laws,
genealogies and such like were often
written in verse as an aid to the memory.
The prosodial rules which the poets had
to observe in the construction of their
verse had as it's main object harmony of
numbers. The classification and the laws
of Irish versification were probably the
most complicated that were ever
invented ; indicating that the Irish people
had a delicate appreciation of harmonious
combinations of sounds. The "dan
direach" or 'direct metre', most generally
used verse structure, required the strict
observance of such rules as , :- (1) each
stanza to consist of four lines making
complete sense; (2) each line to be of
seven syllables; (3) alliteration in at least
two principal words of each line ; (4)
the lines to rhyme , the rhymes being
greatly varied and occurring very often;
(5) the last word of the second line to
have one syllable more than the last word
of the first line and a like relation
between the last words of the fourth and
third lines.
The rhymes were very frequent in all
stypes of Irish poetry, occurring, not only
at the ends of the lines, but also within
them, once, twice, or even three times.
The rhymes were either between vowels
i.e. assonances ,or between
consonants. For this latter purpose the
consonnants were scientifically divided
into six classes ; 'soft', 'hard', 'rought',
'strong', 'light' and the 'queen: - i.e.
the letter "s" - which formed the sixth
class; the letters of each of the first five
corresponding and rhyming with each
other, but not with those of any other
class. One syllable, two syllable and
three syllable rhymes were used with
equal facility.
After the introduction of Christianity,
those of the Irish poets - whether clerical
or lay - who learned to write Latin,
imported many of the Irish prosodial
rules into their Latin poetry, using accent
instead of quantity, so as to imitate
exactly the metres, assonantal rhymes,
alli terations, consonantan harmonies and
all the other ornaments common in Irish
poetry.
The schools and colleges of ancient
Ireland were of two classes, Ecclesiastical
and Lay. The ecclesiastical or monastic
schools were introduced with Christianity
and conducted by monks, the Second
Order of Irish saints. The First Order
were all Bishops, beginning with St.
Patrick himself, missionaries and all
founders of churches. The Third Order
were hermits, mostly priests, who lived in
desert places, refusing to possess private
property, subsisting on herbs and water
and on the alms of the faithful. In the
monastic institutions the Abbot had
charge of both the monastery and school
or college. He deputed his authority in
special directions and it became the
custom to appoint a head professor to
preside over, and be responsble to the
Abbot for the educational functions
of the college. He was called "Fear­
Leighinn" , or Chief Lector.
The School of Armagh appears to have
been the oldest of the ancient
schools of Ireland, dating back to the
foundation of the See of Armagh by St.
Patrick. From it's foundation onwards,
'the growth of the monastic schools really
flourished with the cenobite, or second
order of saints, influence of the late
fifth and early sixth centures. The most
notable of these earlier institutions were
Aran founded by Saint Enda, Clonard by
Saint Finian and Clonrnacnoise by Saint
Ciaran. In a short time the Irish monastic
schools were celebrated all over Europe.
Luxeuil, in France, founded by Saint
Columban, late sixth century, was one of
the great early Irish monastic foundations
' on the continent, and from which many
others were later established.
When this great monastic movement
began there was a rapid growth of schools
and colleges all over the country. Almost
every large monastery had a school
attached and it often happened that a
school rose up around some scholar of
exceptional eminence where it was not
intended. Secular as well as ecclesiastical
learning was carefully attended to in
these schools, for besides divinity, the
study of the Scriptures and classics, for
those intended for the church, the
students were instructed in general
literature and science. Accordingly, a
large proportion of the sons of kings and
chiefs - intended, not for the church,
but for ordinary civil or military life, who
attended to get a goodgeneral education.
The lay or secular schools existed
from a period of unknown antiquity and
in pagan times were taught by the druids.
These men, white robed with cut tonsure,
were a numerous and important class and
the sole possessors of whatever learning
was then known. They combined in
themselves all the learned professions.
They were not only druids, but judges,
prophets, historians, poets and even
physicians. The ancient Irish had
druidesses also and references to their
existence are made in several of the old
writings.
The druids had the reputation of being
great magicians and in this character they
figure more frequently and conspicuously
than in any other, both in ecclesiastical
and lay literature. They were the intermediaries
of the fairies and with the
invisible world in general, which they
could influence for good or evil. They
were employed by kings and chiefs to
educate their children and the chief druid
was the king's confidential adviser on
important affairs.
The conversion of Ireland to
Christianity and the ending ' of pagan
druidism marked the beginning of a new
era in learning and education. The
facilities available for secular learning in
the monastic schools influenced and
encouraged the establishment of many
lay schools. Nearly all the professional
physicians, poets, lawyers, builders and
historians were laymen, as were many of
those distinguished in art and general
literature. Lay tutors were often
employed to teach princes and, in fact,
laymen played a very important part in
the diffusion of knowledge and in
building up that character for learning
that rendered Ireland so famous in former
times.
The Bardic schools were the least'
technical of the lay schools anti young
men not intended for professions
attended them. Subjects of poetry, hi
history, general literature and law were
taught in them. Most of these lay schools
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