Product Description
Many Irish scholars, known as 'peregrini', arrived in Continental Europe in the early Middle Ages. They are often credited with making some of the most important contributions to European culture and learning of the time, from the introduction of a new calendar to monastic reform. Celebrated personalities such as St Columbanus, John Scottus Eriugena, and Sedulius Scottus were the vanguard of a constant stream of peregrini from Ireland to continental Europe. The continental response to this Irish 'diaspora' ranged from admiration to open hostility, especially when peregrini were deemed to challenge prevalent cultural or spiritual conventions. This volume brings together leading historians, archaeologists, and palaeographers who provide for the first time a comprehensive assessment of the phenomenon of Irish peregrini in their continental context and the manner in which it is framed by modern scholarship as well as the popular imagination. "