———.Irish Art in the Romanesque Period 1020—1200.
London, 1970.
Ó Floinn, Raghnall. “Schools of Metal Working in Eleventh-
and Twelfth-Century Ireland.” In Ireland and Insular ArtA.D.
500 – 1200 , edited by M. Ryan, pp. 179–187. Dublin, 1987.
Organ, Robert M. “Examination of the Ardagh Chalice—A
Case History.” In Application of Science in Examination
of Works of Art, edited by W. J. Young, pp. 238–271.
Boston, 1973.
Ryan, Michael, ed. Ireland and Insular Art. Dublin, 1987.
———.Studies in Medieval Irish Metalwork. London, 2000.
Smith, Reginald A. “Irish Brooches of Five Centuries.” Archae-
ologia65 (1914): 223–250.
Stevenson, R. B. K. “The Hunterston Brooch and its Signifi-
cance.” Medieval Archaeology 18 (1974): 16–42.
Whitfield, Niamh. “The ‘Tara’ Brooch an Irish emblem of Status
in its European Context.” In From Ireland Coming: Irish Art
from the Early Christian to the Late Gothic Period and its
European Context, edited by Colum Hourihane, pp.
210–247. Princeton, 2001.
Youngs, S., ed. The Work of Angels: Masterpieces of Celtic
Metalwork 6th–9th Centuries A.D.London, 1989.
See alsoJewelry and Personal Ornament; Weapons
and Weaponry
METRICS
Four major metrical systems are attested, which follow
each other in a roughly chronological sequence from
the sixth to the seventeenth century, though with some
overlap. The first is found in an archaic stratum of Irish
poetry containing legal aphorisms, gnomes, genealogies,
and the heightened language of prophecy embedded in
prose sagas. Metrically, this poetry was characterized
by a fixed number of syllables per line (most commonly
seven), loosely accentual in the first part but with a fixed
end-of-line cadence following a caesura. Take, for
example,to-combacht selb soertellug, “landed property
has been recovered by means of high occupation,” in
which a first unit of four syllables with variable stress
and marked with a caesura after selb(xxx
x|) is fol-
lowed by a unit of three syllables with a fixed cadence
(`xxx). Close parallels with the meters of certain other
languages, notably Sanskrit, Greek, and Slavic, argue
for its ultimate origins in a shared Indo-European heri-
tage. This meter was used by the filid, the preeminent
learned class of early Ireland (see Áes Dána), no doubt
long before the introduction of Christianity.
During the seventh century, a new metrical system
appeared. Known collectively as the nuachrutha(“new
forms, meters”), it held sway until the late twelfth
century. It was characterized by a fixed number of
syllables per line (commonly seven), by a caesura after
the fourth syllable, by end-rhyme, and by a stanzaic
structure. These features are generally attributed by
scholars to a conscious imitation of similar features in
late Latin poetry, especially Latin hymns, though some
would argue that the nuachruthawere a natural devel-
opment from the earliest meters. During the Old and
Middle Irish periods, the nuachrothawere the sole
verse medium of the poets, secular and ecclesiastical.
The third metrical system, the dán díreach, (“strict
meter”), came to the fore in the late twelfth century.
Basically, it was a reworking of the previous nuachro-
tha, which were severely reduced in number and
adapted to the twelfth-century phonology of Irish. Its
practitioners were the so-called bardic poets who dom-
inated the literary scene for the next four centuries.
Their primary concern was metrical ornaments such
as alliteration and rhyme. These ornaments, which had
been used sparingly by early practitioners of the
nuachrotha, now became widespread, their use pre-
scribed with elaborate rules. The collapse of the Gaelic
order in the seventeenth century spelled the end of the
bardic schools and the demise of dán díreach.
Already by the sixteenth century another type of
meter was appearing, the amhránor song poem,
though it probably had a much earlier history among
the common people. Metrically, it was characterized
by strophic structure (quatrains in the earliest exam-
ples); regular rhythm based on the interplay of
accented (usually four to six per line) and unaccented
syllables both within and between lines; and by sys-
tematic use of ornamental assonance. It was also meant
to be sung to a particular tune. This meter, foreign in
origin and popular in usage, eventually became the
dominant form for the next three centuries.
PÁDRAIGÓ NÉILL
References and Further Reading
De Brún, Pádraig et al. Nua-Dhuanaire, pt. 1. Dublin: School
of Celtic Studies, Institute for Advanced Studies, 1971.
Greene, David and Fergus Kelly. Irish Bardic Poetry. Dublin:
The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1970.
Murphy, Gerard. Early Irish Metrics. Dublin: Royal Irish Acad-
emy, 1961.
Watkins, Calvert. “Indo-European Metrics and Archaic Irish
Verse.” Celtica6 (1963): 194–249.
See alsoÁes Dána; Bardic Schools, Learned
Families; Hiberno-Latin; Poetry, Irish
MICHAEL OF KILDARE
SeeHiberbo-English Literature
MIDE (MEATH)
Mide, meaning the “Middle Territory,” was originally
the district around the hill of Uisnech (Usnagh, County
Westmeath); Uisnech was considered to be the center
of Ireland. Twelfth-century king-lists styled the kings
of Mide as ríg Uisnig (kings of Uisnech). This district
MIDE (MEATH)