ipl-logo

When Did St. Patrick Die Essay

936 Words4 Pages

Answering the question ‘When did St. Patrick die?’ is of crucial importance in understanding the way in which Early Medieval History works. The debate over the potential death date of St. Patrick shows that (for this period at least) there is no such thing as a historical fact for an Historian to rely on. When studying any period in History, there is a heavy reliance on sources. However, with the Medieval period, there are question marks surrounding the reliability of the sources. With very few original sources, there is always the potential that critical information has been lost when the copies were made. The question itself is an interesting one. It requires a critical examination of the sources relating to the subject, as well as a look at the theories put forward by contemporary scholars. In my view, there are 3 main theories regarding the death date of St. Patrick. The authors, Bury, O’Rahilly and Esposito use a variety of sources to support their arguments. As stated above, there are a number of question marks surrounding the reliability of any source from the medieval period. The key writings for answering this question are: The writings of St. Patrick (Confessio & Epistola), the Annals of Ulster and the Book of Armagh. …show more content…

In my opinion, approaching the question in this manner allows an examination of how theories have developed and changed over a period of around 50 years. Critically reviewing each theory will allow an educated conclusion to be made as to whether an early (AD 430, Esposito), middle (AD 461, Bury) or late (AD 492, O’Rahilly) date is more likely for the death of St. Patrick. Although all 3 theories present what can be considered valid arguments, I believe Esposito’s early date of AD 430 makes the most

Show More
Related
463 Words | 2 Pages

Alan Forey wrote and intriguing journal article that questions the authentication of a letter supposedly written by St. Bernard in which he mentions Pedro Henriques the purported brother of King Alfonso. Because of mentioning of Pedro, Forey establishes the theory, that St. Bernard did not author the letter. Forey questions if St. Bernard provided any prior knowledge to King Afonso of Portugal regarding the crusaders siege of Lisbon in 1147. Forey states, the letter known simply as letter 308 is cryptic at best and does not provide any specific details of an invasion by crusaders or of the original author’s intent for writing the letter. Stating, letter 308 first appeared in Brito’s Chronica de Cister in 1602, in which Forey claims that articles printed in that particular chronical are often not genuine.

Read More
670 Words | 3 Pages

The journal article “The Siege of Lisbon and the Second Crusade” written by Alan Forey attempts to provide enough historical evidence to answer questions about the validity of St. Bernard’s direct involvement in the northern fleet ’s siege of Lisbon in 1147. Forey immediately brings to the attention of the reader a historical interpretation of letter 308. St. Bernard purportedly wrote letter 308 to the ruler of Portugal, King Afonso Henriques. However, the author expresses concern about the authenticity of the letter.

Read More
202 Words | 1 Pages

In Document A: Textbook Passage #1. The source was created to help educate people how Europe was going through a rough time in the Middle Ages. ”During the early Middle Ages much of Europe passed through a time of turmoil and confusion, of ignorance and lawlessness”. This source has a Eurocentric view of the Middle Ages.

Read More
331 Words | 2 Pages

In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue on three ships called the Santa Maria, the Nina, and the Pinta. But do you really know what happened during this time period? Although some people think he was one of the best people to walk this earth, others think not and that we shouldn’t celebrate the day we founded America. As said in the article “Christopher Columbus does not deserve a holiday”

Read More
652 Words | 3 Pages

The history of Christopher Columbus has been a shared piece of history in the education systems. American history books and majority of cultures portray Columbus as a hero. The United States of America honors Christopher with a holiday named Columbus Day, which occurs the second Monday in October. Also, historians divide Columbus’s history in a similar way as Jesus, example: before 1492 known as pre-Columbian. The school textbooks preserve Columbus with a positive life story and don’t include all the negative events that took place.

Read More
331 Words | 2 Pages

In October of 1492, Portuguese explorer Christopher Columbus landed by ship in the “New World” which is today known as the Americas. Many people believe the holiday that honors him annually in October has great meaning behind it. However, I believe Columbus day should not be celebrated. Christopher Columbus was not the first person ever to discover the Americas, he abused natives on their own land, and the holiday isn’t celebrated in the way it should be. Christopher Columbus was not the first to discover the Americas.

Read More
1894 Words | 8 Pages

"The Murder of Charles the Good." Readings in Medieval History. 4th ed. Toronto: Published by University of Toronto Press, 2010. 382-93. Print.

Read More
931 Words | 4 Pages

I have attempted to argue the importance of crusader castles for the longevity and success of the crusades through the control and use of the landscape. With a few choice examples and primary documents I have pointed out that each crusader castle had an impactful relationship with its surroundings. I have also argued that each crusader castle was built for a variety of reasons other than for primarily defensive ones as many of the first crusader scholars had suggested. Saphet castle’s unique documentation allows us to understand the many political and economic factors that influenced the decision to build castle. The building of Saphet had widespread impacts on all manners of life that affected both the Franks and Muslims of the local region.

Read More
686 Words | 3 Pages

Now many people say that is should be celebrated, but most of those people are uneducated in the subject. When Columbus came in his first voyage he had disease from animals that the natives have the natives immune system have never felt which means they were more likely to get the disease and it was harder for the natives to get rid of the disease therefore many of them died. Columbus might not have been morally responsible for the deaths for disease, but he did go their and spread their germs to the natives.

Read More
1345 Words | 6 Pages

James VI had many notable moments throughout his 58 years as King of Scotland from 1567-1625 but a large-scale witch hunt that he played a major role in and the 1000-2000 people who were burnt, tortured and strangled will not only go down as one of his most memorable times as King but also in the history of Scotland. This paper will argue that James notion of witchcraft was massively conditioned by his ideas about kingship. It will discuss his belief in Divine right kingship and that he never denied he was the lords vassal and glorified in that fact. He believed in one Kingdom, of which god was the head, with the king as his vicegerent.

Read More
823 Words | 4 Pages

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and a cartographer who was chronologically tentative to be born before October 31,1451(no one really knows because of this time of error). He went on a voyage in 1492 using circumnavigation to avoid having to go

Read More
841 Words | 4 Pages

Reflection Présis 2, Columbus and The First Thanksgiving (February 13-15,2018) 108788 Part I: In these two sessions, Dr. Jendian introduced the term heroification and gave the definition from the book Lies My Teacher Told Me. The author of the book mentioned, James W. Loewen (11) explains that, “Through this process, our educational media turn flesh-and-blood individuals into pious, perfect creatures without conflicts, pain, credibility, or human interest.” Dr. Jendian explained that heroification presents history characters as superhuman heroes.

Read More
1466 Words | 6 Pages

Critically assess the extent of Christian and Latinate influence on Beowulf. When first reading Beowulf it would appear that the Christian references within it superimpose onto the essentially pagan view that makes a huge body of the poem. Therefore, within this assignment, there will be investigations of inconsistencies. Sources clearly show that Beowulf was written by Germanic pagans that had been debauched by some leftist ecclesiastic wordsmith , to the insistence that the author designedly created the Christian allegory along the lines of Book 1 of The Faerie Queen. It is know that Germanic traditions and techniques were used by Anglo-Saxons to frame Christian literature, just as it was with the poet of Beowulf.

Read More
460 Words | 2 Pages

There has been much debate into how medieval authors define a good writer of history throughout the years, and the ideas and beliefs of authors during the medieval period would differ greatly from modern historians. There are a few different ways that medieval authors would define a ‘good’ writer of history, one of these ways is that the writing of history has a large emphasis on Christian theology and uses writing history to recognise the will of god. During the Middle Ages religion was a major aspect of most societies, a large majority of authors and historians during this period were often members of the clergy as literacy was relatively rare, and ‘every state in Europe encouraged the writing of official histories dominated by law-givers, saints and warrior kings of the past . It has been argued that to the Christian writer of the middles ages it was unquestionable that human life

Read More
773 Words | 4 Pages

He walked with a limp for the rest of his life. Ferdinand Magellan died on April 27, 1521 in Mactan, Philippines. Magellan believed it was true that the Americas lay between Europe and Asia. He had heard of other explorers who had voyaged to the new world and wanted to explore it for himself. His goal was to find a strait that connected the Atlantic to the unknown ocean.

Read More

More about When Did St. Patrick Die Essay

Related Topics

Open Document