Traveling Monastic Paths: Mobility and Religion in Medieval Ireland

Summary

Monasteries were powerful social institutions in early and late medieval Ireland that took drastically different forms over time. Medieval historical records, such as annals and Saints’ Lives, and archaeological data, such as the layout of monastic buildings, suggest that small communities of monks at early medieval Irish monasteries followed ascetic or austere ways of life. Contrastingly, historical and archaeological sources indicate that monks at late medieval monasteries, founded by English and continental religious orders, lived in large communities and interacted with lay or non-religious people. Historical texts also record that high-status Irish monks and nuns traveled throughout Ireland, Scotland, England, and continental Europe. However, documents record little information about lower status monks and lay people. Thus, it is unknown how frequently people traveled as part of monastic life and how frequently local individuals participated in monasticism. This study leverages unique burial contexts of 88 individuals at five Irish monastic sites spanning nine centuries (8th-16th centuries AD) through biogeochemical analysis of human bones and teeth based on three isotopic systems (radiogenic strontium, oxygen, and carbon), compared to a geological baseline of plant samples, to uncover patterns of medieval Irish mobility in connection to the changing practices of Irish monasticism.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21731