Journal: Ireland Poets
-------------------------------------------Mood: The Usual
"The poets, filid, were a guild, making their own special laws, and exercising discipline upon their own members (2193). They claimed and used the right to quarter themselves and their retinue upon society (2221), and they exacted a fixed sum for their poetic compositions. In general this was cheerfully paid; the means for enforcing unwilling payment was satire." - AURAICEPT NA N-ÉCES THE SCHOLARS’ PRIMER
http://www.nordic-life.org/nmh/AuraiceptEngOriginal.htm
(I think the satire thing is still feared today, especially where it has the potential to rewrite history.)
To continue:
"The first part of this statement relating to the Huns is taken from Jordanis, who wrote about A.D. 550, and fixes approximately the date of the depopulation of the empire and the rush of learned men into Ireland. We may assume that the migration had already continued for a time before this account was written. The intercourse between Ireland and the continent was certainly kept up. Three centuries later we have this testimony respecting the
Natio Scottorum quibus consuetudo peregrinandi jam pæne in naturam conversa est.
Quid Hiberniam memorem, contempto pelagi dis- crimine, pæne totam cum grege philosophorum ad littora nostra migrantem ! (SPA., 1910, p. 1080)
Zimmer with great learning, breadth of view, and mastery of detail builds upon these facts a history at once picturesque and surprising. Stated briefly his hypotheses amount to this. The exodus from Gaul to Ireland (A.D. 419-507) was caused by the Homoousian persecution. Aquitania and the modern Baskish territory suffered like other parts, and Ireland was then the only haven of orthodoxy."
Ireland became the haven for the learned men of all Europe. Imagine that! Anyway, lots of good historical and technical material for poets can be found in the cited document.
...Created 2010-08-29 13:57:00 [ View Past Journals ] [ View as Blog ] |
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