Pádraig Ó Riain on the church-political function of Irish heroic epics

Reading Notes

Pádraig Ó Riain begins his exposition by noting that the historical analysis of heroic epics and hagiographical tracts cannot ignore their common ancestry as being produced (or put onto paper) in the same location, namely a monastic scriptorium [p.14?].

Prinzipiell sollte der Forscher davon ausgehen, daß der von ihm zu untersuchende Text nicht nur, wie seit langem bekannt, in einer klösterlichen Schreibstube geschrieben worden ist, sondern daß er auch in seiner Aussage das klösterliche Interessensfeld widerspiegelt. [p.146]

In principle, researchers should expect that the texts they are studying were not only, as has been known for a long time, produced in a monastic scriptorium, but also reflect the interests of the monastic context. [p.146] 

This reflects a fundamental shift in orientation.

Im krassen Gegen- [p.147] satz zu der Behauptung Robin Flowers, daß die Iren in ihren Handschriften "wrote themselves down as they were, without arrière pensée or evasion or concealment" [Fn.16], ist jeder Text auf einen möglichen kirchlichen Hintergedanken hin zu untersuchen. [p.146-147]

In sharp contrast to the assertion of Robin Flowers, that the Irish in their manuscripts "schrieben diese selbst auf, wie sie waren, ohne arrière pensée oder Ausweichung oder Vertuschung" [Fn.16], every text has to be checked for a alternate motivations of the Church. [p.146-147] 

Pádraig Ó Riain then proceeds to interpret the Irish Epic Táin Bó Cúailnge  should be interpreted as a coded church-political pamphlet that argues against the election of Nuadu (✝ 812) to become Abbot of Armagh [p.147], who had aggressively pursued legislation against cattle rustling.

Damit läßt sich die Handlung des Táin Bó Cúailnge folgendermaßen auslegen: Ein Rinderraubzug nach Ulster (Emain Macha) wird der Provinz Connacht (Cruachain) zugeschrieben, damit der aus Loch Vama bei Cruachain kommende Bewerber aus dem Westen um das höchste Kircheamt Ulsters in Armagh (in der Nähe von Emain Macha), der sich mit einem Gesetz gegen Rinderdiebstahl brüstet, zum Spott und Hohn wird. [p.147]

The action in Táin Bó Cúailnge can then be summarized as follows: A cattle rustling trip to Ulster (Emain Macha) is attributed to the Province of Connact (Cruachain), in order to bring disgrace on the applicant from Loch Vama near Cruchain for the highest church office of Ulster, in Armagh (near Emain Macha)--an applicant who had championed laws against cattle rustling.   

As history shows, the pamphlet failed in its task. But the interpretation receives some interesting support when Pádraig Ó Riain looks at the potential sources or benefactors of such a smear campaign. Specifically, Pádraig Ó Riain suspects the family of the predecessor abbot of Armagh, Torbach, had the best reasons to perpetrate such literature.

 Torbach ist nicht nur bekannt für seine Rolle als Initiators des Buchs von Armagh ... das im Grunde ein Propagandawerk zu Gunsten Armaghs darstellt. Er war auch der Gründer einer Schreiberfamilie ... [der wir verdanken, RCK] ... daß die Fassung des Táin im lebor na hUidre erhalten geblieben ist. [p.149]

Torbach is not only known for his part as initiator of the Book of Armagh ... which basically is a work of propaganda for Armagh. He was also the founder of a family of scribes ... [to whom we owe it, RCK] ... that the form of the Táin in the lebor na hUidre was handed down. [p.149]

Thus, Pádraig Ó Riain can note

... die Forschung sollte prinzipiell damit rechnen, daß die irischen Heldensagen genauso wie die Heiligensagen zeitgemäße politische Interessen unterworfen waren. [p.149]

... researchers should basically expect, that Irish heroic epics are mastered by then-existing political interests, just as the hagiographic writings were. [p.149]

This also means that the authors of the Táin must have left enough clues to direct the readers attention to the church-political context, even if the epic is then often interpreted as "historical".

Pádraig Ó Riain takes the insights of Frank O'Connor's The Backward Look, London (1967) to show that the temporal backward projection of the event served to create a case of precedence that was church-politically most suitable, because now the epic was

... ein Präzedenzfall, dem niemanden widersprechen konnte [p.150] 

... a case of precedence that no one could argue against [p.150] 

Overall, the best parallel remains the hagiographic writing process,

bei der die Aktualisierung der vom Hagiographen zumeist erfundenen Vergangenheit eine wichtige Rolle spielt. [p.150]

for which the updating of the invented past by thru the hagiographic writer remains constitutive [p.150] 

Discussion

Though Pádraig Ó Riain does not cast the issue in economical terms, he is suggesting to me that the limited resources of the monastic context will ensure that only texts that further the church interests of the monastery receive the resources to be authored and (re-)produced.

Colophon

From:  Pádraig Ó Riain, Der Schein der trügt: Die irische Heldensage als kirchenpolitische Aussage, p.143-152,  in: Hildegard L.C. Tristram, Neue Methoden in der Epenforschung -- New Methods in the Research of Epic [sic], ScriptOralia 107, Tübingen (G. Narr), 1998; Sigl. OeNB 1,567.381-B Neu.
Purple translations from German to English are my own.