1. I haven't given away the Celtic ornament yet.
2. You like miscellaneous Celtic-interest/history posts that appear approximately three times a week. Hopefully, with some Irish luck and Divine inspiration.
3. You are waiting to hear when my next book releases. (Okay, not a good reason. It's not until early 2013, but I might write something interesting here in the meantime, hopefully...see reason #2.)
4. You want some links to other sites of Celtic interest.
5. The biggest reason to keep reading Celtic Voices is...............drumroll..............a reason that only you know, but hopefully will tell me in the comments section!
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But seriously, here's something you might be interested in:
According to
Celtic Britain and Ireland, The Myth of the Dark Ages, by Lloyd & Jennifer Laing, Irish Academic Press, 1990, the study of the early Irish Christians did not begin in earnest until the 18th century. When you consider that St. Patrick came to Ireland near the turn of the 5th century, much historical data was probably lost. That's why I found the early Christian period a fascinating time in which to set fiction. It's history told orally and through folktales.
In the early 19th century, Ireland's primary historian was
Sir George Petrie, who was also a painter. He made some historical drawings that have preserved some of Ireland's history for us today. Austin Cooper also made drawings that preserved some of Ireland's history.
I blogged about Cooper here.
In their book, the Laings say: "It is not improbable that the considerable upsurge of interest in Early Christian Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century was the outcome of two trends--a growing national feeling and an interest in medieval antiquities..."
For whatever reason, much of what we know of Irish history comes out of that time and the work of Victorian-era historians. That's probably too broad of a statement. Archeology is bringing more to light all the time and some of what the old histories tell us has to be reexamined. But I'm always reminding myself that just because an old book says it, doesn't necessarily make it true. Even the belief that the Irish today are descended from the Celts is being questioned. (That's a whole other topic!)
History is not set in stone, so it seems. That's what makes the study so interesting, in my opinion. What do you think?
