Taboos and Penitence: Christian Conversion and Popular Religion in Early Medieval Ireland

Résumé

Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of History and Archives, College of Arts and Celtic Studies, University College Dublin, November, 2012. Thesis supervised by Dr. Elva Johnston.

This is a study of the so-called Irish Penitentials. The documents which compose this documental corpus were either produced in Ireland, or influenced the production of Irish documents, between the sixth and the eighth centuries. The penitential literature most likely originated in Britain, was further developed in Ireland, and spread from those areas to the European continent. The Irish penitentials have been accessed by scholars in support of various research investigations, but quite often in conjunction with later penitential texts produced elsewhere. When these documents are considered for studies specifically about Ireland, usually they are studied in conjunction with, and simply as mere support to other sources. Consequently, there is no recent major work contextualizing them and studying their social and cultural relevance or their impact in Ireland at the time of their production.