How Irish monks saved Roman writings

Photo: copy of an illuminated manuscript page by artsmia.org

Thomas Cahill, a scholar and historian of Western civilization, credits Irish monks, copying books in their scriptoria in obscure monasteries, for saving huge numbers of Roman writings from being obliterated during the Dark Ages.

In his book How the Irish Saved Civilization (New York, Anchor, 1995), Cahill explains how as the Roman Empire fell, "the Irish took up the great labour of copying all of Western literature." Monastic scribes also "served as conduits through which the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian cultures were transmitted to the tribes of Europe."

The Irish monks, says Cahill, "re-founded European civilization throughout the continent." Without them, the current literate Western civilization would never have come into being.

According to the Irish Times archive, the years between 500 and 1000 were golden ones for scholarly itinerant Irish monks, who also developed their knowledge of mathematics, astronomy and other sciences.