Celtic Saints and Early Medieval Archaeology

Abstract

Abstract Many Celtic saints are not mentioned in the early documentary sources. Those that are remain elusive figures, their deeds re-created, often centuries later, in hagiography, which, though illuminating for the period in which it was written, tells us almost nothing about the saints themselves. Almost all were thought to have lived during the fifth to seventh centuries. They were believed to be responsible for the foundation of particular ecclesiastical sites, or at any rate they came to be identified with one or more of them. These sites may have been religious communities of one form or another, but not necessarily all; they may have begun as such, though their role would clearly have changed and evolved over the centuries. Many, often obscure, Celtic saints were associated with a single site and therefore their cults would have been very localized. Others were regional saints whose cults were centred on one or more sites within a locality often coterminous with a tribal or administrative area. The cults of some Celtic saints, however, became much wider, frequently spanning more than one Celtic country. Ultimately the cults of many univocal saints either acted as an adjunct to the more important cults or were supplanted by them. But, whether local, regional, national, or international, the power of each saint continued to protect his or less often her ecclesiasti-cal community.

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