Although related to one of the ruling families of Ireland, Columba (c 521-97) became a central figure in the 'Age of Saints' by setting out from his native land and founding his famous monastery on the island of Iona.
It was from here that priests and monks played a key role in converting the Picts of Scotland, here that countless penitents came on pilgrimages and that the King of Dalriada (Argyll) came to be consecrated. Adomnan'sLife, writes Richard Sharpe, is the fullest early account, offering a 'vivid depiction of the abbot among his own monks, written on the spot by...

This book explores the development of the cult of the saints in western Europe between c.400 and 1000 AD. The main emphasis is upon Anglo-Saxon England, post-Roman Britain, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, but there are important contributions on Francia and on western Europe as a whole. No other volume combines such a broad geographical spread with such a wide range of disciplines and approaches - textual, archaeological, genealogical, onomastic, as well as historical. Veneration of innumerable local saints and martyrs is one of the defining characteristics of early medieval society. This book...

This book is a study of three important late medieval collections of saints' lives. The manuscripts, written in Latin and, for the most part, relating to the lives of Irish saints, have never before been subject to critical examination. Sharpe's pioneering analysis examines such questions as when and where the lives were compiled, and from what sources they derive. Sharpe sets his own treatment of the collections within the wider context of Irish hagiographical studies.

This work provides as complete a list as possible of Latin texts written during the early Middle Ages on Celtic territory or by Celts abroad. Each entry adverts to MSS (where appropriate), printed editions, notices in other standard repertories, and bibliographies of secondary literature. The book is an ancillary volume to the Royal Irish Academy's -Dictionary of Medieval Latin from Celtic Sources- project, whose main publications are detailed at http: //journals.eecs.qub.ac.uk/DMLCS.

Roderick O'Flaherty (born 1629) was an Irish aristocrat, historian and antiquarian. Here his letters are published with annotation and biographical detail by Richard Sharpe FBA, Professor of Diplomatic at Oxford and Fellow of Wadham College. O'Flaherty's life was active both intellectually and politically: he lost his estate under Cromwell and was further dispossessed when King William began to control Galway in 1696. Previously unseen correspondence is uncovered, including O'Flaherty's exchanges with the Welsh lexicographer Edward Lhwyd (1660-1709), and the Irish philosopher William Molyneux...