Insular monasticism
As Christianity spread into Ireland and parts of Great Britain during the late 4th and 5th centuries, monastic communities emerged in places such as Iona, Lindisfarne and Kildare.
It seems clear [citation needed] that the first Celtic monasteries were merely settlements where the Christians lived together – priests and laity, men, women, and children alike – as a kind of religious clan.
[6] The Insular observance, at first so distinctive, gradually lost its special character and fell into line with that of other countries; but, by that time, Celtic monasticism had passed its zenith and its influence had declined.
Archaeological excavations have suggested that Whithorn was primarily a commercial settlement, whose residents were Christian, and that a more likely location for Ninian's church might have been Kirkmadrine, across the bay.
[12] At Whithorn, many monks were trained who later went into the missionary field to become famous apostles of Ireland and Alba, even as far north as the misty Orkney and Shetland Islands.
[22] St. Donnan's monastery at Kildonnan was located within an oval enclosure, surrounded by a ditch, housing a rectangular chapel in the center, and a handful of smaller buildings either side.
After Edwin's death in the Battle of Hatfield Chase, his immediate successors reverted to paganism,[28] His widowed queen Æthelburg fled, with members of her family, to her brother, King Eadbald of Kent.
After Paulinus left Northumbria with Queen Æthelburg, his assistant James the Deacon remained and continued his missionary efforts, primarily in the Kingdom of Lindsey.
Some time later, her sister, Hereswith became a nun at Chelles Abbey in Gaul, but Hild returned north with some companions, and was trained in Celtic monasticism by Aidan of Lindisfarne, part of the Hiberno-Scottish mission to northern Britain.
The double monastery of Hartlepool Abbey, a walled enclosure of simple wooden huts surrounding a church had been founded in 640 by Hieu, an Irish recluse in Northumbria.
Ecgberht of Ripon, who organized the first missionary efforts, studied at Rath Melsigi in County Carlow; as did Wihtberht,[43]Willibrord,[44] and Swithbert,[45] Adalbert of Egmond,[46] and Chad of Mercia.
He began his studies first with Illtud at Llanilltud Fawr in Glamorganshire, and continued with Pawl Hen[51] at "Ty Gwyn", the "white house" overlooking Whitesands Bay in Pembrokeshire.
The monks fed and clothed the poor and needy; they cultivated the land and carried out many crafts, including beekeeping, in order to feed themselves and the many pilgrims and travellers who needed lodgings.
[52] Known for his asceticism, his monastic Rule prescribed that monks had to pull the plough themselves without draught animals,[53] and must drink only water and eat only bread with salt and herbs.
Its school was a primary learning center of Sub-Roman Britain, but was situated on the Glamorgan Plain exposed to hostile incursions from Irish pirates, and to Viking raids.
Bangor is an old Welsh word for a wattled enclosure,[56] A monastery was established at Bangor-on-Dee in about AD 560 by Saint Dunod (or Dunawd) and was an important religious center in the 5th and 6th centuries.
The monastery was destroyed in about 613 by the Anglo-Saxon king Æthelfrith of Northumbria after he defeated the Welsh armies at the Battle of Chester; a number of the monks then transferred to Bardsey Island.
Before the battle, monks from the monastery had fasted for three days and then climbed a hill to witness the fight and pray for the success of the Welsh; they were massacred on the orders of Æthelfrith.
Anti-Christian sentiment forced Kentigern to quit his see, and he took refuge in Wales, where, after visiting St. David at Menevia, he received from a Welsh prince a grant of land for the erection of a monastery.
These he divided the community into three companies; one, who were unlearned, worked the farm; the second, around the monastery; the third, which was made up of the learned, devoted their time to study and apostolic labours, and numbered upwards of 365.
[58] Rhydderch Hael later invited him to return to his see and he left the government of his monastery and school to St. Asaph, his favorite scholar, whose name was afterwards conferred upon the church and diocese.
According to historian John Capgrave, When they had done their field work, returning to the cloisters of their monastery, they spent the rest of the day till evening in reading and writing.
Patrick's stay at the monastery of Lerins, and the influence of St John Cassian in that area, would have exposed him to the monastic practice and spirituality of the Desert Fathers.
[66] Íte, who was said to embody the six virtues of Irish womanhood: wisdom, purity, beauty, musical ability, gentle speech and needle skills, founded a community of nuns at Killeedy.
[70] He returned to Ireland, and around 520 founded Clonard Abbey, modelled on the practices of Welsh monasteries, and based on the traditions of the Desert Fathers and the study of Scripture.
The Hiberno-Scottish mission was a series of missionary expeditions by Gaelic monks from Ireland and the western coast of Scotland, which contributed to the spread of Christianity and established monasteries in Britain and continental Europe during the Middle Ages.
In 563, Columba left Ireland and settled with the Gaels of Dál Riata, founding an abbey on Iona, which became one of the oldest Christian religious centers in Western Europe.
When Columbanus crossed the Alps into Italy, Gallus remained behind and became a hermit in the forests southwest of Lake Constance, near the source of the river Steinach,[79] and died around 646.
[89] He founded a monastery with a school and infirmary at Lanwethinoc (the church of Wethinoc, an earlier holy man), at the mouth of the river Camel on the North Cornish Coast.
[100] From the 7th century important monasteries following the Benedictine Rule were established in the north of England, at Hexham, at Whitby, and at Wearmouth and Jarrow in County Durham.
