That a more-than-adequate education in Latin was
available in Ireland is evidenced by theItinerarium
Symonis Semeonis ab Hybernia ad Terram Sanctam.
Latin books of sermons have survived, although the
best-known, the Liber Exemplorum, was in fact written
by an English Franciscan living in Ireland about 1275.
The actual sermon would be rendered in the vernacular
for preaching to the laity. A thirteenth-century Latin
manuscript collection of sermons in Trinity College,
Dublin, includes a few short sentences in Middle
English and has occasional interjections such as loc
welandlo lac welthat call attention to certain pas-
sages. There was a greater understanding of Latin
among the general public than might be imagined. It
can be assumed that the layperson knew at least
enough Latin to protect his ownership of property, and
many knew more. During the Alice Kyteler witchcraft
trial of 1324, William Outlaw, Alice’s son, was suffi-
ciently expert in Latin to be able to forge a writ against
Bishop Ledrede; during the same trial, the bishop
insisted that English, French, and Latin, be used in
order to ensure that his case was understood by all.
BERNADETTE WILLIAMS
References and Further Reading
Emmison, F. G. Archives and Local History. London: 1966.
Gooder, Eileen. Latin for Local History: An Introduction.
London: 1961.
Latham, R. E. Revised Medieval Latin Word List from British
and Irish Sources. London: 1994.
Lewis and Short. A Latin Dictionary. Oxford: 1984.
Mantello, F. A. C., and A. G. Rigg, editors. Medieval Latin: An
Introduction and Biographical Guide. Washington: 1966.
Trice Martin, Charles. The Record Interpreter. Sussex: 1982.
Thoyts, E. E. How to Read Old Documents. London: 1980.
See alsoAnglo-Irish; Annals; Geraldus
Cambrensis; Hugh de Lacy; Mellifont;
Placenames; Charters and Chartularies; Wills and
Testaments; Records, Administrative; Records,
Ecclesiastical; Courts; Agriculture; Personal
names; Weapons and weaponry;
HIGH CROSSES
The Irish words for “High Cross” are first encountered
in the year 957, when The Annals of the Four Masters
mention the burning of Clonmacnoise “from the High
Cross to the Shannon” (ó chrois aird co Sionnaind),
and the same source refers to the “Cross of the Scrip-
tures” (ó chrois na screaptra) also at Clonmacnoise,
under the year 1060. Other rare references to crosses
are neither descriptive nor helpful in identifying them
with any surviving examples, of which there are—
depending upon definition—more than two hundred. In
the absence of historical sources to provide explanations,
only observation, comparison, and art historical
research can shed light on the nature, date, develop-
ment, and purpose of these crosses—topics that have
evinced much debate for more than a century, while
still leaving many questions unanswered.
The crosses earn their description by reaching a
height of more than 21 feet, including base (e.g., the
Tall Cross at Monasterboice), and have the shape of a
Latin cross, with arms usually more than two-thirds
the way up the shaft. The bases, normally in the form
of a truncated pyramid, are always separate, while the
actual crosses can be made up of one or two separate
blocks, sometimes with an additional roof stone on
top. The preferred material was that which was avail-
able locally—limestone west of the Shannon, granite
in the Barrow valley and County Down, and sandstone
(the easiest to carve) in the remainder of the north,
east, and midlands. Munster has few crosses, and Cork
and Limerick have none. With the possible exception
of the Drumbane grit that went into the making of
St. Patrick’s Cross on the Rock of Cashel, no quarry
has been reliably proven to have been the source of
the stone of any one particular cross.
The awesome height of the crosses show how the
early Irish monks began to appreciate the monumental
power of stone in the period after 800, when the Viking
raids caused much else that remained in the monaster-
ies to be reduced to ashes. Almost all crosses are found
on ecclesiastical sites, though ignorance about the
location of contemporary wooden churches and
domestic buildings makes it difficult to realize how the
crosses related to space and structures within the eccle-
siastical compound—a problem further exacerbated byEast face of the North Cross, Castledermot, Co. Kildare.
©Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local
Government, Dublin.HIBERNO-NORMAN (LATIN)