THE early ecclesiastical history of Man is shrouded in as dense a
mist of myth and tradition as is its early secular history. In connexion
with this worship, a class of persons arose whom we know by the Celtic
name of druadh,
who stood between the people and their deities, and who acquired great
power over the former by the influence they were supposed to exert
over the latter by their sacrifices and magic arts. It should be remembered,
that " in no tale or legend of the Irish druids " with whom the Manx
druids were most likely to have been connected " which has come down
to our time, is there any mention of their ever having offered human
sacrifices " The non-Celtic natives had another religion, namely druidism,
which may be surmised to have had its origin among them.
In the Isle of Man, as elsewhere, the old order was to give way to
the new, but probably so gradually, and certainly so obscurely, that
we are entirely unable to state more than that the Manx were probably
converted to Christianity in the sixth or seventh century, or possibly
as early as the fifth century. Into the midst of these people came
the conquering Goidels,
who were, seemingly' originally polytheists of the Aryan type. These
Goidels or Goidelic Celts, devotees of a religion which combined Aryan
polytheism with druidism were clearly greatly influenced by the magic
arts of the druids (dniadli), or priests, of the conquered race, as
they practised a religion which combined the chief characteristics
of druidism with those of their own. This view of the influence of
the druids is confirmed by the use made of their name in the Celtic
literature of later times. In Welsh poetry, it is applied to the wise
men of the East, who came to our infant Saviour with gifts; and, in
Ireland, it is not only used in the same manner, but is usually rendered
into Latin by magus, a magician.
The British Church was represented at the Synod
of Aries in A.D. 314;
at the close of the fourth century the natives of Britain 12 were
probably all Christians, and, at the beginning of the fifth century,
they had advanced sufficiently to produce a heretic, Pelagius.
This Pelagius had an intimate friend, Coelestinus, an Irishman, so
that it is possible that in this way, if not also through the constant
attacks of the Irish upon Britain during the
fourth century, when they must have had intercourse with Christian
natives, Christianity was introduced into Ireland before St. Patrick's
time.
The druadh, after their adoption by the
Goidels, were, in fact, soothsayers, priests, and medicine-men,
but their principal character was, perhaps, that of magicians. It
was formerly supposed that they sacrificed to the Phoenician
Baal in the stone circles, but more recent research has shown
that these mighty monuments are the memorials of a prehistoric race,
and that the Goidels
had no knowledge of this deity. It is in this aspect of magicians
that they 'appear in the early legends about the introduction of Christianity,
one of which, for instance, represents St.
Patrick, who is supposed to have driven them from Ireland. A Christianizing
movement of somewhat earlier date may have reached Man from another
quarter. For at the very end of the fourth century a British saint,
St. Ninian (ob.432),
who had been trained at Rome, built a church, called Candida
Casa, on the western side of Wigton Bay, and dedicated it to St.
Martin of Tours It is said that through his teaching the southern
Picts were converted, but, as they soon afterwards seem to have
apostatized, his influence was not a permanent one.
Irish missionaries who
introduced it to Man, we cannot tell, but from the large proportion
of the names of Irish ecclesiastics surviving in the old
Manx keeills, or cells, which are of similar type to the Irish
oratories of the sixth and seventh centuries, and in the Manx
parish churches, which are usually on ancient sites, it may reasonably
be conjectured that Manxmen were, for the most part, Christianized
by Irish missionaries; and, indeed, it would have been strange if
the proselytizing Irish monks, who, beginning in the sixth century,
wandered all over Europe, had avoided an island so near to them.
Christianity, brought by English missionaries, gained a foothold
under Olaf I and was established by Olaf II (reigned 1015–28). Olaf
II was driven out of Norway by King Canute of England and Denmark,
in league with discontented Norwegian nobles; however, his son, Magnus
I, was restored (1035) to the Norwegian throne. Both Magnus and his
successor, Harold III, played a vital part in the complex events then
taking place in England and Denmark. After Harold died while invading
England (1066), Norway entered a period of decline and civil war,
precipitated by conflicting claims to the throne.
The word Gaelic by itself most often refers to Scottish Gaelic and
it is the word that Scottish Gaelic speakers themselves use when speaking
English. Although Irish and Manx are often referred to as Irish Gaelic
and Manx Gaelic can be described as Goidelic or Gaelic languages.
Gaelic is specifically Northern Irish Gaelic - and this is the origin
of the English word Gaelic. a
Manx Languages (table)
Ireland is on its west shore of Man, Scotland, England, and Wales
on the east. The principal islands in the sea are the Isle of Man,
Anglesey, and Holyhead. The chief ports are Dublin, Liverpool, Manchester,
Fleetwood, and Dún Laoghaire. It is connected to the Atlantic
Ocean (the Celtic Sea) by St George's Channel between the Republic
of Ireland and Wales to the south and by the North Channel between
North Ireland and Scotland to the north-east.
The Celtic Sea is that area of the Atlantic Ocean which is bounded
by the south coast of Ireland, the southwest coast of Wales and the
north coast of Devon and Cornwall in England west of the Bristol Channel,
Peel, on the west coast of the Island. Amongst its ruins is an ancient
Celtic cathedral dating from the 13th century. The cathedral is surrounded
by the pink sandstone walls of Peel Castle, which dates from the 14th
century. St Patrick's Isle, on the edge of the bay and tradition has
it that the great Irish Saint stepped ashore here in the 5th century
to bring Christianity to the Manx. First
Peel Inventory