How the Irish Saved Civilization (Hinges of History)
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Bringing readers to the Ireland of St. Patrick and the Book of Kells, a historical examination of Ireland's role in the rise of medieval Europe cites the work of countless monks and scribes in the preservation of the West's written treasury. Reprint. Tour. K. AB.
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Summary: Cahill Offers Fascinating Glimpse at Snapshot of History
Comment: In How the Irish Saved Civilization, Thomas Cahill recounts a fascinating piece of European history regarding how Europe transitioned from the fall of the Roman Empire to medieval times. This brief period of time, known as the Dark Ages, is often overlooked and misunderstood by historians. I once even had a college history professor of mine tell me that the Dark Ages were the Middle Ages! Nothing could be further from the truth. Rather, the Dark Ages was a relatively brief period of time preceding the Middle Ages and after the fall of the Roman Empire when uneducated Germanic tribes overran Europe.
During this time cities were ransacked, priceless art was destroyed and libraries were burned to the ground. Indeed, Cahill writes, if not for a significant contribution made by Irish monks during this time some of the world's greatest literary works might have been lost forever, including works by Plato, Aristotle, Cicero and Socrates.
In the book Cahill quickly details the events that led to the fall of the Roman Empire. He does not mince words as he describes the many failures, including a vast bureaucracy and an insatiable appetite for taxes, that marked the Roman way of life in the years leading up to the sack of Rome by the Visigoths in the year 410. Cahill writes:
By the fifth century, in the years before the complete collapse of Roman government, the imperial approach to taxation had produced a caste as hopeless as any in history. Their rapacious exactions, taken whenever and wherever they could, were the direct result of their desperation about their own increasingly unpayable tax bills. As these nerved-up outcasts commenced to prey on whoever was weaker than they, the rich became even richer. The great landowners ate up the little ones, the tax base shrank still further, and the middle classes, never encouraged by the Roman state, began to disappear from the face of the earth. Nor would they return till the appearance of the Italian mercantile families of the high Middle Ages.
After discussing the many shortcomings and misdeeds of Rome, why it had ultimately failed and fallen to barbarian hordes, Cahill pauses and asks a fascinating question: "What was lost when the Roman Empire fell?" He continues, "What died, when no one any longer had the leisure to pass on the essentials of the classical tradition, when the barbarians burned the libraries and the books turned to dust, when the stones remaining were reassembled into rural outhouses?"
For an answer, he turns to the last great Roman philosopher and thinker and "very nearly the first medieval man:" Augustine of Hippo. Having recently read an exhaustive work on Augustine, I was pleased to read Cahill's brief bio and interesting take on the African bishop. Recounting Augustine's literary and intellectual contributions to society, Cahill concludes that it would be impossible for a society without modes of education and learning to produce such men. To answer his original question, what was lost when Rome fell, Cahill writes:
A world in chaos is not a world in which books are copied and libraries maintained. It is not a world where learned men have the leisure to become more learned. It is not a world for which the grammaticus schedules regular classes of young scholars and knowledge is dutifully transmitted year by placid year.
In other words, as the last vestiges of the Roman Empire fell away, learning was lost. As the libraries and books went up in smoke, the ancient world's literature, science, math, technology and order quickly followed.
Cahill then neatly segues into the essence of the book: how the Irish saved civilization. Detailing the missionary work of Patrick, the first Christian to evangelize outside the reach and influence of the Roman Empire, Cahill shows the remarkable transformation of Irish culture after Christianity was introduced on the island. In savage and raw detail, Cahill describes pre-Christian Irish culture before Patrick arrived with the Christian gospel as barbaric - where blood was routinely shed, wars waged without second thoughts, traditional marriages did not exist and sexual perversions were the norm. For instance, in one Irish tribe, on the day of his coronation, the new king was forced to copulate with a horse. In Cahill's own words, it "was an illiterate, aristocratic, seminomadic, Iron age warrior culture; its wealth based on animal husbandry and slavery."
As the Irish began to convert to Christianity at an astonishing rate, Irish culture was transformed. Cahill says Patrick "succeeded beyond measure." He continues:
Within his lifetime or soon after his death, the Irish slave trade came to a halt, and other forms of violence, such as murder and intertribal warfare, decreased. In reforming Irish sexual mores, he was rather less successful, though he established indigenous monasteries and convents, whose inmates by their way of life reminded the Irish that the virtues of lifelong faithfulness, courage, and generosity were actually attainable by ordinary human beings and that the sword was not the only instrument for structuring a society.
Later Cahill adds, Christianity "transformed Ireland into Something New, something never seen before- a Christian culture, where slavery and human sacrifice became unthinkable, and warfare, though impossible for humans to eradicate, diminished markedly."
After Patrick died, his spiritual descendants began to plant monasteries around the island. The introduction of Christianity also brought education and literacy to Ireland and the first Irish monks showed a remarkable aptitude for learning. Within a generation, Cahill states, "the Irish had mastered Latin and even Greek, and, as best they could, were picking up some Hebrew." The Irish monasteries became centers of learning and soon began to reproduce at a breathless pace. As the barbarians continued their now unopposed march across Europe, many monks from the continent fled to Ireland bringing valuables books and scrolls with them. These the Irish faithfully read and copied. While the rest of Europe was burning and regressing, Ireland was finally blossoming under the influence of newfound religion and education.
In the years that followed, Cahill writes, these monasteries populated the Irish countryside. Looking to spread their wealth of knowledge and monastic way of life, they began to travel and plant similar monasteries in foreign places. Beginning in Britain, the Irish monks eventually established monasteries across modern day France, Germany, Italy and even Eastern Europe. These monasteries brought back the Greek, Roman and other ancient writings and teachings that had been so tragically lost after the fall of Rome.
Unfortunately, Ireland's time of prosperity and education unfortunately proved to be short-lived as the Vikings' reign of terror brought death and destruction to a countless numbers of Irish monks and monasteries. Fortunately, by that time, the Irish had already reintroduced classic thought and literature throughout the European continent.
What to like: The most fascinating thing about this book is its subject. Rare is a development in history so pivotal yet so obscure. I have taken several European history classes on Western Civilization and never have I heard this significant contribution made by the Irish - even in passing.
Those who read history regularly know there are two types of history writers: those who bring history alive in fresh and exciting ways and those who duly record the facts in a dry and technical manner. Cahill is definitely an example of the former; his writing resonates with the reader and the book reads much more like a page-turning novel than an obscure history lesson.
Another nice feature of the book is the inclusion of glossy black and white photographs of historic places in Ireland and ancient Irish artifacts. The subjects of the photos are all discussed within the book so seeing actual pictures helps the reader follow Cahill's narrative.
Would western civilization been preserved without the work of the Irish monks? Probably. Let us not forget that some libraries were preserved in mainland Europe and the Byzantine Empire continued to thrive for centuries after Rome fell. That being said, there is no question that the input of the Irish monks and missionaries greatly aided the restoration of Europe's past with their excursions to the European mainland. Even with the Irish's contributions important works of antiquity were still lost forever. Cahill does a great job of bringing a little-known history lesson, one of western civilization's pivotal moments at that, to life for millions of reader.
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Summary: Christian History
Comment: Anyone interested in the human history or in the basis and through understanding of the Christian faith should read these books: Starting with "How the Irish Saved civillization" then, "The Gifts of the Jews," ending with the "Desire of the Disant Hills," all by Thomas Cahill, will find the effort richly rewarded.
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Summary: How the Irish Saved Civilization
Comment: This book came highly recommended by a couple of people. I'm not sure why. It was interesting if you're a history buff, but expect the reading to feel more like you're in school again and have to read something for a paper coming up. It could have been more engaging. I wouldn't recommend it, but I did learn some interesting facts about the Irish.
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Summary: I had avoided this book for 13 years
Comment: This book came out in 1995. And I've avoided it since then.
I was wrong.
I'd been told the book is superficial. It is: any book of this length that tries to cover a subject of the length and breadth here is sure to be superficial.
And perhaps superficial is too harsh. "A good overview" might be a better way of describing it.
But this is an engaging, entertaining read. I found myself drawn into a subject I knew little about, the history, people, culture and faith of Ireland and the Celts. For those wanting more background, Cahill provides a useful bibliography at the end. Those wishing for more than this overview can find years of study in the books recommended in the bibliography.
An overview gets us started. It's not where we should stop, but it provides a means of seeing the big picture, and understanding how to fit in the necessary minutiae of history. This book is that good beginning for understand how the Irish were the bookmeisters at the end of the Roman empire.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Always on time
Comment: I purchased this book for my husband for his birthday. It arrived right on time and he loved it.
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