MORTIMERin Ireland, the writings of John Cassian not only
formed the basis of instruction, but provided the the-
oretical basis for all on-going formation. This instruc-
tion took several forms, penitentials and rules (there
was no dominant Western monastic rule before the
ninth century) being the most obvious, and examples
survive from Ireland in both Latin and Irish. It also
took narrative forms—inspired by Gregory the Great’s
Dialogi—whereby an ideal monk is praised for his
holy life (e.g., Adomnán’s Vita Columbae) or an ideal
monastery is envisaged (e.g., the Navigatio sancti
Brendani). However, it also took the form of the “con-
ference” (a lecture or sermon to the community), the
outstanding example of which is the collection of
Instructiones by Columbanus (whose authenticity was
often doubted prior to 1997).
Sermons
Sermons were, in all likelihood, the means by which
most instruction was delivered, and certainly the activ-
ity of preaching is one that is praised formally and
offered as good example in our sources. However,
sermons, as such, do not survive. So when we have a
sermon text we are already removed from the actual
instruction and seeing something that was either a
model of a good sermon (does this mean that without
such models the preaching was inept or simply that
these were what an individual teacher thought a ser-
mon should be?) or a skeleton around which an actual
sermon could be composed: in either case the sort of
person who would compose such a sermon is different
from the average cleric delivering the sermon. We have
extant examples of both full sermons and skeleton
sermons in both Latin and Irish; and, on the whole,
they are remarkably similar to sermons from the same
period from elsewhere in the Latin world. With regard
to this particular literary genre, we should note that
while some texts are obviously sermons (e.g., the
“Cambrai Homily”), and texts found in homily collec-
tions are equally obviously so (e.g., the so-called
Catechesis Celtica), there are many other sermon texts
that have been cataloged under other headings (e.g.,
Christmas sermons which contain apocryphal themes
and so are studied under the heading “apocrypha”
rather than as instructional materials), and a full listing
of all such texts is desirable as a benchmark in advanc-
ing our understanding of preaching in medieval Ireland.
THOMASO’LOUGHLIN
References and Further Reading
Adomnán,De locis sanctis. In Scriptores Latini Hiberniae,
vol. 3, edited and translated by D. Meehan and L. Bieler.
Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1958.
Ailerán,Interpretatio mystica et moralis progenitorum Domini
Iesu Christi. Edited and translated by A. Breen. Dublin: Four
Courts Press, 1995.
Columbanus.Sancti Columbani Opera. Edited and translated
by G. S. M. Walker. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced
Studies, 1957. Reprint, 1970.
Fletcher, Alan J. “Preaching in Late-Medieval Ireland: The
English and the Latin Tradition.” In Irish Preaching:
700–1700, edited by Alan J. Fletcher and Raymond
Gillespie, pp. 56–80. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2001.
Kelly, Joseph F. “A Catalogue of Early Medieval Hiberno-Latin
Biblical Commentaries.” Traditio44 (1988): 537–571; and
45 (1989): 393–434.
Kenney, James F. The Sources for the Early History of Ireland:
Ecclesiastical—An Introduction and Guide. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1929. New edition, Dublin: Pád-
raig Ó Táilliúir, 1979.
Lapidge, Michael, and Richard Sharpe. A Bibliography of
Celtic–Latin Literature 400–1200.Dublin: Royal Irish
Academy, 1985.
Murdock, Brian. “Preaching in Medieval Ireland: The Irish Tra-
dition.” In Irish Preaching: 700–1700, edited by Alan J.
Fletcher and Raymond Gillespie, pp. 40–55. Dublin: Four
Courts Press, 2001.
O’Loughlin, Thomas. Celtic Theology: Humanity, World and
God in Early Irish Writings. London: Continuum, 2000.
O’Loughlin, Thomas. “Irish Preaching before the End of the
Ninth Century: Assessing the Extent of our Evidence.” In
Irish Preaching: 700–1700, edited by Alan J. Fletcher and
Raymond Gillespie, pp. 18–39. Dublin: Four Courts Press,
2001.
O’Loughlin, Thomas, ed. The Scriptures and Early Medieval
Ireland. Turnhout: Brepols, 1979.
Stancliffe, Clare. “The Thirteen Sermons Attributed to
Columbanus and the Question of their Authorship.” In
Columbanus: Studies in the Latin Writings, edited by
Michael Lapidge, pp. 93–202. Woodbridge: Boydell and
Brewer, 1997.See alsoAdomnán; Biblical and Church
Fathers; Canon Law; Columbanus;
Conversion to Christianity; Devotional
and Liturgical Literature; Ériugena
(John Scottus); Grammatical Treatises;
Paschal Controversy; Penetentials; ScriptoriaMORTIMER
The Mortimers were among the most influential
absentee families in later medieval Ireland. Calcu-
lated marriage alliances, military endeavor, and per-
sonal service to the crown brought the Mortimer earls
of March lordship across broad swathes of Ireland.
Earls of Ulster and lords of Clare, Connacht, Kilkenny,
and Meath (Mide), they gave frequent personal atten-
tion to their Irish lands at a time when English land-
holding in Ireland was waning. Such focus was
required as the defense of their interests became
increasingly problematic, three Mortimer earls,
indeed, dying in Ireland, victims of the nature of
their estates.