It was here that Ireland became ``Europe's publisher,'' as other warrior-monks followed Columcille's example and began to colonize barbarized Europe. Columcille, a great lover of books who became embroiled in a war and, as penance, exiled himself to the island of Iona, off Scotland. Patrick, who hated slavery and loved scholarship. Next came a taming of the land with the help of St.
Celts who had traversed Europe, Irish warriors and their women were primitive and blatantly sexual. But this book is more than the story of monks preserving manuscripts it is an irreverent look back at how Ireland came to be.
With the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, Ireland, according to the author, ``had one moment of unblemished glory''-when Irish monks copied almost all of Western classical poetry, history, oratory, philosophy and commentary. But it conveys its knowledge with a winking wit that aptly captures the sensibility of the unsung Irish who relaunched civilization. In the tradition of Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror, How The Irish Saved Civilization reconstructs an era that few know about but which is central to understanding our past and our cultural heritage. When the seeds of culture were replanted on the European continent, it was from Ireland that they were germinated. Not only did Irish monks and scribes maintain the very record of Western civilization - copying manuscripts of Greek and Latin writers, both pagan and Christian, while libraries and learning on the continent were forever lost-they brought their uniquely Irish world-view to the task.Īs Cahill delightfully illustrates, so much of the liveliness we associate with medieval culture has its roots in Ireland. Without Ireland, the transition could not have taken place. In this entertaining and compelling narrative, Thomas Cahill tells the story of how Europe evolved from the classical age of Rome to the medieval era.
Not only did he bring Christianity to Ireland, he instilled a sense of literacy and learning that would create the conditions that allowed Ireland to become "the isle of saints and scholars"-and thus preserve Western culture while Europe was being overrun by barbarians. Patrick was on the subsequent history of civilization. Patrick's Day, but they may not be aware of how great an influence St. Įvery year millions of Americans celebrate St.
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