Athassel priory and the cult of St Edmund in medieval Ireland
By: Francis Young
Publisher: Four Courts Press
Published: 2020
Place of publication: Dublin, Ireland
Language: eng
Number of pages: 189
ISBN-13: 9781846828461
Subjects: Cult; Christian saints; History; Monasticism and religious orders; Church history; Religious life and customs; Athassel Augustinian Priory
Description: "The English royal saint Edmund, king and martyr (d. 869), was venerated in Ireland from at least the twelfth century. Athassel priory in Co. Tipperary was the centre of a cult focussed on a miraculous statue of the saint. This book argues that the veneration of St Edmund and other English saints in Ireland is essential to understanding the complex identity of the 'English of Ireland,' the descendants of the Anglo-Norman invaders. The history of Athassel priory, a nominally 'English' monastery patronized by the Burke dynasty, reflected the changing fortunes of Englishness in late medieval Ireland. Although apparent attempts to make St Edmund an additional patron saint of Ireland in the late Middle Ages proved unsuccessful, the spread of the name Eamon (a gaelicized form of Edmund) in Gaelic Ireland in the fifteenth century has left a lasting legacy of this unusual cult of an English saint in Ireland."--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 166-179) and index.
Table of contents: title: Saints and identity in Anglo-Norman Ireland; title: The cult of St. Edmund in the medieval pale; title: The cult of St. Edmund and the founding of Athassel priory, c.1200-1315; title: The decline of Athassel priory, 1315-1541; title: The legacy of Athassel priory and the Irish cult of St. Edmund.