close
more_vert

Wells, trees and stones - certainly. I shall be writing about these at length elsewhere shortly.

If the Christianisation of Ireland was similar to elsewhere, the pattern was that the aristocracy were converted first. Often this was for practical trading reasons as in Scandinavia (pagan traders were excluded from markets). With the bigshots in the bag and endowing their personal estate churches, the clergy could work on the peasants. This took the form of outlawing "superstitions" rather than any cohesive "pagan" religions. Church leaders were always more concerned with exposing heretics than pagans until the much later witchcraft persecutions. Remember that the word "pagan" comes from the Latin "pagus" a rural district and "paganus" evolved into meaning "country dweller" Hence paeon and peasant. The change of meaning into "non-Christian" illustrates that country folk were converted later than town dwellers.

>> If the Christianisation of Ireland was similar to elsewhere, the pattern was that the aristocracy were converted first.

That's where it's different. The Kings are reported to have held on to pagan beliefs longer than the people. Ireland's very unusual for that and it's possibly why 'Celtic Christianity' was so 'earthy' and why so many pagan remnants remain.