It is well known that hagiography reflects the period in which it was written rather than the period it depicts. In Hiberno-Latin Saints’ “Lives,” John Higgins attempts to stand apart by using four ‘Lives’ dedicated to saints Brigid (by Cogitosus), Patrick (by Tírechán and Muirchú), and Columba (by Adomnán) to situate hagiography as a tool for the manufacture of a historical past and to explore how hagiographers used form, content, and style to make this past real. The book consists of a preface and eight chapters. Chapters 1–4 provide context and scaffolding for what follows, where Higgins discusses the literary and stylistic choices utilized by the hagiographers.
Chapter 1 is an extension of the Preface, where Higgins sets out the rationale and structure of the book as well as provides context on the Irish literary scene and his chosen texts. In Chapter 2, he provides an overview of the historical framework that gestated the vitae and which is reflected in their constructions of the past. Three key influences are identified: the Easter Controversy, competition for ecclesiastical primacy between the Armagh and Kildare, and the emergence of more cohesive dynastic polities, particularly the Uí Néill which came to dominate the northern half of Ireland. ‘At times, the historical framework feels underdeveloped, particularly in Higgins’ treatment of the Easter Controversy. The presentation of a battle between northern “Celtic” traditionalists and southern “Roman” innovators fails to take into account research that breaks down this simple binary when it comes to Easter.
In Chapter 3, Higgins unpacks how the vitae managed information to construct a “useable past” focusing on Muirchú’s portrayal of the enigmatic Palladius. The deliberate erasure of Palladius has been much discussed and Higgins is right to highlight Muirchú’s hand in this, but there is more to the story. The incendiary presence of Palladius in Vita Albei (noted on p. 137) demonstrates that Muirchú did not have the last word on Palladius. In fact, the narrative of Palladius’ failure receives further elaboration in later Patrician vitae like Vita Quarta and Vita Tripartita demonstrating that the “official line” was slow to develop. Muirchú was evidently not entirely successful in his dismissal of Palladius.
Chapter 4 sets the stage for the subsequent chapters which focus on literary tools employed by the hagiographers. The first, discussed in detail in Chapter 5, is the choice of the biographical form. Higgins argues that the biographical form was ideally suited to the ideological and intellectual needs of the hagiographers. He highlights how the Irish adopted the form of the “saint’s life” from the Continent, a key difference being that Irish saints belonged to the distant past. Chapter 6 moves on to discuss how the hagiographers used miracles to legitimize the political and ecclesiastical world of the seventh century and Chapter 7 uses close readings to demonstrate how the style employed in the vitae accentuates the words and actions of the saints. The use of form, miracle content, and style together elevate the saints, creating and legitimizing a past that leads to the world of the seventh-century authors. Chapter 8 then provides a conclusion.
The focus on Lives written by Cogitosus, Tīrechán, Muirchú, and Adomnán is understandable as they can be placed within an identifiable historical context, but it does mean that Higgins is walking on well-trodden grounds. There are outstanding questions about what the historical project(s) created by the vitae constitutes. Higgins acknowledges that these texts emanate from different – sometimes competing – institutional contexts and they have different perspectives on issues like primacy and political history, but he also claims that they create an “agreed-upon past for Ireland based on the model of the Lives of Frankish saints” (p. 111). Is the “past” of the vitae unitary or do they produce competing pasts? Certain themes like the triumph of Christianity are shared and individual authors privilege other perspectives, like the ascendancy of the Uí Néill by Tírechán, Muirchú, and Adomnán. However, there are also implicit contradictions such as the respective claims to primacy forwarded Muirchú and Cogitosus. There are even small discrepancies in the Patrician narratives of Tírechán and Muirchú: the former claims that Patrick failed to convert Lóegaire while the latter claims that the king acquiesced and became Christian. Higgins is right to point out how the authors utilized the biographical form packed with miracle content and decorated with a deliberate style as a tool to tell stories about the past to legitimize the present, but who were the audiences for the individual Lives and how are different institutional perspectives squared with the creation of an “agreed past”?
Higgins does occasionally employ evidence from other texts and these additions are welcome, but they are not always used to good effect. One example is the discussion on Vita Albei (pp. 137–139), which is discussed as a seventh-century text. Higgins’ assessment is based on Patrick’s role in bestowing Ailbe with authority over Munster: “The purpose of the Vita is to subordinate Munster to Armagh ecclesiastically” (p. 139). While Vita Albei reluctantly admits Patrick’s special position and actively engages with the Patrician hagiographical tradition, it does so in a way that deliberately subverts its core tenets – whatever Patrick’s role, Ailbe’s continued ascendancy in Munster is maintained. This says a lot about the perceived importance of the Patrick legend when Vita Albei was being written, but Vita Albei is reacting against and subverting this version of the past in texts like Vita Patricii for its own political aims which lays bare some of the tensions that underwrite the creation of these hagiographical pasts.
One issue with Higgins’ approach is that he sometimes privileges overarching historical frames over the specific contexts of individual vitae. For example, in his discussion on Vita Columbae I.40 (pp. 147–149) where Columba outs a sinful priest from Trevet, Higgins aptly demonstrates how Adomnán’s stylistic choices should frame interpretation. The analysis becomes problematic when Higgins attempts to put it into a historical context. Based on Iona’s longstanding adherence to the latercus (the Easter reckoning followed by Columba) and based on Trevet’s position in the midlands of Ireland and thus at the faultline between the geographical separation between the “Celtic” and “Roman” Easter, Higgins suggests that the story of the sinful priest reflects this ecclesiastical-political context. As already noted, the Easter Controversy was more complex than a northern “Celtic” versus southern “Roman” reading implies. Moreover, the north of Ireland had adopted the reckoning of Dionysius of Alexandria prevalent at Rome when Adomnán composed Vita Columbae, and Bede’s comment that Adomnán himself had adopted the Dionysiac reckoning is not addressed. By emphasizing the role played by the Easter Controversy, debates over ecclesiastical primacy, and the rise of the Uí Néill, Higgins redirects his historical analysis through these lenses, potentially overlooking insights that may be gleaned from a closer focus on the context of each individual text.
Nonetheless, further focus on vitae as a serious medium of history for medieval authors is useful. Historians often gloss over the importance of form and style in the vitae and Higgins analysis focuses attention on how these literary choices have important implications for understanding these texts.
