Do you ever wonder why there aren’t many records of the Celts before the Romans came to power? The culture of the Celts can be hard to trace before Roman times. They were a society that did not leave anything of much permanence behind. That being said, much pagan Celtic culture like art and literature remains unknown. The deciding factor that gave the Celts a permanent place in history was Christianity. Despite the prevalence of Christianity throughout Celtic society, much of the art and literature was unique to their culture.
Around the time Julius Caesar was taking control of Celtic lands, Christianity was ecoming more and more of a dominant religion in the area (Lassieur 75). By the fourth century A. D. , many Gauls had taken advantage of Roman education. These intellectual Gauls also became an important force in the conversion of the Celts (Lassieur 75). The ways of life began to change. Monasteries became the center of religious worship, and all things glorifying pagan gods, from art to religious rituals, were outlawed, and the rights of many who still worshipped the gods of old being stripped away (Lassieur 75, 77).
Despite this pervasiveness, Christianity did not completely permeate into the interior of Britain and Ireland. Many rural communities still practiced pagan religions (Lassieur 75). However, the Celtic church as an individual concept is very new. Most did not acknowledge themselves as Celts or acknowledge anything setting them apart from western churches (O Neill 225). The technical Celtic church spanned through Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany.
The period of the Celtic church lasted from around the third to twelfth century; after the twelfth century, a period of reforms came which depleted all difference from the western churches (O Neill 225). The main differences, while attributed to eography, resulted in the Celtic church practicing antiquated traditions (O Neill 226-227). One big difference was the structure of the church. The Celtic church developed around the rural structure of the community (O Neill 227). Another big difference was the celebration of Easter.
The Celtic church practiced according to a lunar calendar, while many western churches practiced according to the solar calendar (O Neill 228). In the early fourth century, there was little influence of the Celtic church on the rest of the world. By the fifth century, it had influence on churches outside its borders (O Neill 225). However, in the sixth and seventh centuries, the invasions of the Anglo-Saxons and the fall of the Roman Empire helped to drive the church inward and westward while also clearly establishing the church’s areas of influence – Wales, Cornwall, Brittany, and Ireland (O Neill 226).
This also led to monasteries becoming integral staples of churches (Lassieur 78). The monasteries gave support to the agrarian Celtic society while also providing resources for reading and writing (O Neill 227). Many monasteries gave valuable glimpses into Celtic life through reading, writing and art. Monasteries also gave rise to some of he most influential figures in Irish history. One of these figures was St. Patrick. Although born a free man in Britain, he was captured and sold into slavery when he was only 16. When he escaped, he joined priesthood.
From there, he went to proselytize Ireland. As he himself was Irish, he knew the clan ways. His method was to convert the kings first. As the kings converted, the people followed. In that way he was able to successfully convert many Irish. (Lassieur 76). However, Christianity was not the end all for art in Celtic society. Much art had survived the fall of paganism, only to influence Christian art. Early Celtic art had its roots in the designs of former Iron Age cultures. Many of these designs also had Roman influences (Graham-Campbell 218).
Because of Celtic missionaries, many art forms had much Germanic influence (Graham-Campbell, 218). Around the same time, Christian Celtic art began to grow and become more and more elaborate. One example of this is the “scripture cross”. These crosses were elaborate, freestanding, and most common in Ireland. By the late Dark Ages, these crosses began to display Biblical scenes on them (Graham-Campbell 221). Some areas, however, were not as dvanced as others in art form. All that survives of Welsh art is unelaborate crosses with crude figure attempts and geometric patterns (Graham-Campbell 224).
Even with the invasions of Vikings, Angles, and Normans, Celtic art did not die off completely. It brought a depletion of art, although it was revived in the Middle Ages as the English lost control of Celtic lands (Graham-Campbell 224). However, Celtic art and its development show a clear pattern. The Celts never simply just copied patterns of art. They added and developed the art, making it into something new (Graham-Campbell 220). Another xample of Christian influence on Celtic society can be seen in literature. Although the first written manuscripts are mainly Christian, there are many oral tales.
However, many of these can be validated for a couple reasons: they were written down in the Middle Ages, making it hard to alter the text because of tangible manuscripts, and the fact that they bordered literate nations that wrote down events (Young). For example, once Welsh legend claims that Celts attacked Greece in the 200s BCE. There are many similarities to a similar Greek legend, with one main difference (the name of the leader) that could be ttributed to sound changes (Young). However, these oral legends cannot be considered fact.
The only way they can be completely validated is through archaeology (Young). Written Celtic literature was due to monks, so almost all were religious. Christianity and monks were still the center of life and learning, with many students learning how to read and write Latin, as the Bible was in Latin, not Celtic languages (O Neill 231). However, with more and more people learning to write, the power of the ancient druids decreased, as the druids had previously been the people who had kept the stories of the ancient times. Still, this also enabled the druids to write their history (Lassieur 77).
One other big change was Celtic monasteries giving birth to Hisperic Latin, in which words were pulled from Greek and Hebrew as well as Latin (O Neill 231). A period of literature began in Celtic lands (Lassieur 77). These Celtic manuscripts were handwritten and hand decorated with art, often in the style of the late Iron Age La Tene period (Lassieur 78). One prime example of this is Amra Choluim Cille, an elegy for St. Columba written by Dallan Forgaill around the year 500 CE. Another example of this is a 00s manuscript of the Pauline Epistles with Irish glosses (Roe 233).
However, one of the most prominent examples of Celtic art and literature coming together is the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is a handwritten gospel with many hand-drawn pages of art, some full page. It was made by Irish monks and written in Latin in the late ninth century (Duffy 155). Even though the book was finished in Kells and bears the name Kells, there is likely chance it was initially created in lona, a monastery in Scotland. The art styles, such as the stylization of the crosses, matches ith the styles of the Picts.
It is also assumed that Viking attacks were what caused those to flee lona to Kells, where the book was finished (Graham-Campbell 223). It is now considered a treasure that gives a rare glimpse into the world of the ancient Celts’ art and literature. As seen, Celtic art and literature remained unique even with outside influences. This art and literature give a glimpse into a world that is “idir an is idir as” – an Irish phrase meaning “between the here, between the now” – to bridge history of ancient times and the world we live in today.
