HIBERNO-NORMAN (LATIN)Poetry
There exists a very large body of poetry in Latin—
lyrical, liturgical, hagiographical, and technical—
some of which may date to the fifth century, which
cannot easily be summarized in content or character.
Much of it is skilfully and beautifully composed and
still rewards study.
AIDAN BREEN
References and Further Reading
Bieler, L. The Irish Penitentials.Dublin: Dublin Institute for
Advanced Studies, 1963.
Dunn, M. The Emergence of Monasticism: From the Desert
Fathers to the early Middle Ages. Oxford: Blackwell, 2000.
Esposito, M. “Notes on Latin Learning and Literature in Medi-
aeval Ireland.” Hermathena20, no. 45 (1929).
Flint, V. “The Career of H.A. Some Fresh Evidence.” Revue
Benedictine82 (1972): 63–86.
Garrigues, M. O. “L’oeuvre d’Honorius Augustodunensis:
Inventaire critique.” Abhandlungen der Braunschweigischen
Wissentschaftlichen Gesellschaft38 (1986): 7–136; 39
(1987): 123–228.
Kenney, J. F. The Sources for the Early History of Ireland: I
Ecclesiastical.New York: Columbia University Press, 1966
[1929]; Reprint Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1992.
Lapidge, M., and R. Sharpe. A Bibliography of Celtic-Latin
Literature, 400–1200.Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1985.
McCarthy, D. P., and A. Breen. The Ante-Nicene Christian
Pasch: De Ratione Paschali: The Paschal Tract of Anatolius,
Bishop of Laodicea.Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2003.
Ó Cróinín, D. Early Medieval Ireland 400–1200. (London and
New York: Longman, 1995).
Picard, J.- M. “Structural Patterns in Early Hiberno-Latin
Hagiography.” Peritia4 (1985): 67–82.
Reynolds, R. “Further Evidence for the Irish Origin of Honorius
Augustodunensis.” Vivarium7 (1969): 1–7.
Sharpe, R. “An Irish Textual Critic and the Carmen Paschale of
Sedulius: Colmán’s Letter to Feradach.” Journal of Medieval
Latin2 (1992): 44–54.
Walsh, M., and D. Ó Cróinín, eds. Cummian’s Letter “De con-
troversia paschali,” Together with a Related Irish Compu-
tistical Tract, “De ratione conputandi.” Toronto: Pontifical
Institute of Mediæval Studies, 1988.
See alsoBiblical and Church Fathers; Canon Law;
Charters and Chartularies; Columbanus;
Devotional and Liturgical; Hagiography and
Martyrologies; Penitentials; Sciences
HIBERNO-NORMAN (LATIN)
In Anglo-Norman Ireland, as in all of medieval Europe,
Latin, apart from being the language of the liturgy, was
the principal language of record-keeping and written
communication. Almost all ecclesiastical records were
in Latin and from an early date Anglo-Irish clerics
produced Latin chronicles and annals. Clerics used
their knowledge of Latin, initially gained in the service
of the liturgy, for secular administrative purposes.
Thus, the great majority of records of central and local
administration were rendered in Latin. Latin was taught,
resulting in a great variation of expertise, and this is
reflected in surviving manuscripts. Individual writers
produced errors, which often crept into common usage.
Latin changed principally, however, because the people
who wrote it spoke their own vernacular language in
their daily lives. The construction and arrangement of
their own languages influenced their Latin and there-
fore, inevitably, local variations arose. Local vernacular
words were absorbed into Latin, reflecting the environ-
ment in which they were produced. New words were
also created to describe items for which there was no
known Latin word; developments in farming, weaponry
and other areas of scientific advancement demanded
words not available in Classical Latin. In wills or inven-
tories, when new terminology was needed, the Latin-
trained clerk, seeking an appropriate word, would often
simply Latinize the word in common parlance. In 1186,
when describing the death of Hugh de Lacy, the scribe
states that he was killed with an iron tool, “namely a
pykays.” The Latin used in Ireland was essentially that
in use in England—in effect Anglo-Norman Latin—but
it was also influenced by the origin of the individual
clerk that produced it. He might be a newcomer from
England or Anglo-Irish by birth. In either case, the
scribe had the problem of dealing with the Irish lan-
guage and usually made a valiant attempt to produce
phonetically an approximation of the Irish name. A
similar difficulty arose with regard to place names. The
scribes in the administration in Dublin complained that
they found difficulty in recording Irish names in doc-
uments. Irish names were rendered in the closest
approximation to the English vernacular and then
sometimes Latinized; for example, instead of the pat-
ronymics Ua or Mac, the word filius might be followed
by the genitive of the surname. The Anglo-Irish author
of the Annals of Multyfarnham, writing in the 1270s,
had difficulty with Irish names and his attempt to
reproduce the names in phonetic form gave rise to
Macohelan for Maelsechlainn Mac Cochláin and
Makemahon for Eachmharcach Ua hAnluain. With
standard documents, like wills and land transfers, there
were well established formulae, and scribes could
hardly go wrong. Formulaic Latin was also used to
record other legal transactions and court depositions.
Very idiosyncratic Latin and peculiar spellings can
sometimes be found in witness reports, which may be
simple mistakes or may represent local pronunciations;
a name can be found spelled differently on the same
page—this is easily understandable if the subject matter
was being dictated in a local accent. Knowledge of
early pronunciation, spelling, syntax, and vocabulary
of the local vernacular is useful in determining the word
intended by the scribe.