Mayo Theme -
8
Mayo of the Saxons
It is perhaps remarkable that events happening
on the wider international stage of ecclesiastical
politics in the seventh century should have had a
profound and lasting effect on County Mayo. But
such is the case when the origins of the name for
Mayo are examined.
Maigh Eó na Sacsan, 'Mayo of the Saxons'
- was the name by which the place was known right
up until the seventeenth century. Who were these
'Saxons' and what motivated them to settle in Mayo?
For an answer to these questions we must look at an
ecclesiastical argument in AD 664 concerning the
calculation of the date of Easter. In England, on
the island of Lindisfarne, Iona monks under the
leadership of Colmán celebrated on one date
while some southern English monks celebrated on
another - the date celebrated in most of Europe by
that time.
The English clergy won the argument as far as
king Oswy was concerned, and the defeated
Colmán left Lindisfarne for his own
monastery of Iona,
and from there to Ireland. Taking his own loyal
followers with him, a mixture of English and Gaels,
he set sail for Inishbofin off the west coast of
Connaught. Was this a haphazard journey or was it a
well-planned targeted destination? Secure in the
knowledge that there was an abandoned church on the
island, which Colman and his entourage could occupy
immediately, they founded a monastery there in 668
AD.
Inishbofin was an ideal location for the
traditional concept of exile and self-sacrifice,
facing as it does the western ocean, a frontier
post on the outer rim of Christendom. But the
harmony of this island community could not be
sustained as differing approaches to monastic
discipline caused conflict between the English and
Irish monks. Whilst the English concentrated on the
agricultural routine of the monastery, the Irish
monks used the close proximity of the island to
home to wander off and visit their kinsmen,
expecting on their return to enjoy the fruits of
the English monks' labour. This tension between the
two groups drove Colmán to relocate the
discontented English monks elsewhere. The place he
chose was on the good pasture and tillage land of
the plains of Maigh Eó, unfolding towards
Croagh Patrick in
the west.
There in the early 670s Colmán founded
his new monastery. Colmán returned to
Inishbofin where he died, leaving the English to
societal, legal and ecclesiastical systems
unfamiliar to them. The Irish churches were tightly
interwoven with the traditional Brehon
laws governing society. The English monks had to
find their niche within this unfamiliar system.
There can be no doubt that they were successful in
dealing with all of these issues as Maigh Eó
grew to become by 700 a famous seat of learning
with an enclosure covering more than 28 acres and
grants of land which amounted to over two thousand
acres. Judging by the extent of its enclosure and
the expanse of land it farmed, the monastery was on
a par with some of the more famous sites like
Clonmacnoise, Glendalough and Kildare. Indeed, just
like these more famous examples, Maigh Eó in
its early history expresses both cultural
assimilation and the interconnections between
Ireland and the wider European world.
Key
References
- Orschel, V. 2001, Maigh Eo na Sacsan Anglo
Saxons in Early Christian Mayo in History
Ireland, Vol. No.2, Summer 2001
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