The ages of the world and the ages of man: Irish and European learning in the twelfth century

In the grand narrative of renewal and creativity in the Europe of the “long twelfth
century,” it has been easy to assume that Ireland was marginal and backward-looking, with the energy of its thinkers and writers concentrated on preserving
and continuing the cultural forms of the national past. In recent scholarship, however, it has become clear that Irish intellectual life in this period was much closer to the European mainstream than was once believed. Here we present a case study in this area, concerned with the schematization of historical time and the course of human life in parallel systems of six ages. Two examples of Irish text production from the early twelfth century—one an extended marginal gloss of some theological subtlety and the other a complex heroic image in a narrative eulogy—are compared with parallel manifestations in three sources from the same period: an encyclopedic compilation of history and theology, a sequence of hymns for the Divine Office, and the iconographic program of stained-glass windows in a newly rebuilt cathedral. The parallels we draw
here point to the conclusion that, despite the obvious differences in outer form, the modes of learned creativity reflected in Irish manuscript culture were closely aligned with international trends across Europe in the same period.