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Early Christian Down Cathedral.
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| One of the earliest annalist records of Dun Lethglaise is the death of Scannlan in 753. The abbot is the head of a monastery and it is often a hereditary succession
to Monasteries were not exempt from tribal warfare; attacks on ecclesiastical
property were at one time, thought to be Viking only during the Viking
period, (first recorded attack in 795) but just as many recorded attacks,
were from their neighbouring tribes. In the annals, the Viking were known
as the foreigners or the heathens, records of both plundering and burning
can be found, some burning may have been accidental; while plundering
implies a deliberate act, it may have been total destruction. It often
involved theft of precious treasures the monasteries; archaeological evidence
of such activity has been found in Scandinavia . 942 Dun Lethglaise was plundered by the foreigners, God and Patrick avenged
it on them, causing them to go overseas and taking their island from them
so that their king stole away and was killed by the Irish on land.
In the Annals of Ulster dated 1107 Matudann son of Domnall, King of the
Ulaid was killed by the Torc in Bridgids church in he middle of Dun da
Lethglas
In order to preserve the most precious relic Down was hastily chosen as their resting place before the advancing Vikings. Similarly, Columcille died at Iona in 594, his remains being moved from there for safekeeping from the pagan Vikings in 824. This was the high summer of the Celtic church and the period of ascendancy of the cult of St Patrick; it seems logical, that the remains of Columcille, should also be brought to lie in his native soil. The Annals record that the remains were carried back and forth on a number of occasions- no doubt it was a problem to save them from the plundering Vikings before their final disposition in Ireland in 877. De Courcy was not going to let slip this chance to make political capital, and no doubt added to the reasons to make Down his capital was the fact that they possessed the bones of the three most important saints in the Irish calendar. First he had to find their graves, the story that is told that Bishop Malachi, prayed earnestly that God would revel to the spot that where the saints had been buried. And so on a particular night when he was deep in prayer in the church a shaft of light like a sunbeam shine over the spot . in great hast he dug at the place and found three sets of bones, placing them reverently in boxes and re-interred them. De Courcy, and the bishop sent messengers to the Pope Urban111 for permission to translate them to a more suitable location inside the church. Papal permission was granted and he legate Cardinal Vivian, already well known to both de Courcy and Malachy, were despatched to down to preside at the ceremony. On the 9th of June1196, the Feast day of St Columcille , in the presence of fifteen bishops, who must have come from all over Ireland and a large number of Clergy, the relics of St Patrick Brigid and Columcille were buried in one tonb with great solemnity. In the Annals of the Four Masters, states that in 1293 Nicholas MacMael
Isu at that time Archbishop of Armagh, had a revelation that the relics
were buried at Saul ; so he had them disinterred , where upon great miracles
were wrought before they were deposited in a shrine! This legend is probably
based on the rivalry between the Norman and Irish church. Down Hoard In 1954 while digging100yards south west of the Cathedral Tower The Verger A.J.Polock discovered a number of gold hoard. They were found a depth of almost three feet in such a manner as to suggest that security was the reason for their abandonment The objects were identified as 10 bracelets, a fragment of another and a fragment of a gold collar. They were declared treasure trove and can now be seen on display in the Ulster and Down Museums. This hoard has been dated to between 1300 BC and 1000BC, during the transition from the Middle to late Bonze age.; the bracelets were highly decorated with chevrons, cross lines and zigzags. Archaeological excavations carried out in the 1950s uncovered a massive ditch around the hilltop, assumed to have been dug for defensive purposes during the late Bronze age period. However in the 1980 a Revisionist view was taken to date this ditch to the Early Christian Period. As defensive boundary to the early monastery. This revision be lies that Down was the capital for the Dal Fiatach who ruled this part of Ulster both pre and post Christian until their defeat sat the hand of the Ui Neil under Colunmba in 566 Bangor and Down founded bt Comgall in 555 or 558 and Movilla founded by Finnian in 540 and Nendrum founded by Mochaoi Son of Bronagh first convert, during Patrick s lifetime. Bangor was a monastic centre of learning, it is said, attended by thousands
of students, it is also said to have been a Druid school long before Christianity
got here. Most of this is UI Neil propandga KELTCHAIR Celtchair is describes as; a wrathful, terrible, fearsome man. He was big-nosed, big eared and with prominent eyes. Rough grizzled hair he had. A stripped cloak he wore and in that cloak over his breast, an iron stake which reaches from his shoulder to shoulder. A rough plated shirt, next to his skin.. Along the side of his back, a sword of refined iron, tempered seven times in the heat. A brown mound, to wit, his shield, he carried. A great, grey spear with thirty rivets through its socket, in his hand. He is half a battle ( in himself), he is a leader of strife, he is chief in valour, That was Celtchair Mór mac Uthechair from Lethglais in the North. Isles of the Pretani Between 600 and 500 BC ’Periplous’ of Himilco, the Carthaginian, made earliest documentary reference to Ireland. The Greek philosopher Aristotle, who lived in the fourth century BC, wrote of an island called Ierne, which lay at the edge of the continent, and stated that it was discovered by the Phoenicians. The sister island was known as Albion. These names had come to the general
knowledge of the Greek geographer such as Eratosthenes by the middle of
the third century BC. Between 330 and 300 BC the Greek geographer and
voyager Pytheas, in his Concerning the ocean, gave us the earliest reference
to the British isles calling them the Isles of the Pretani. (Pretanikai
neso). The Pretani are thus the most ancient inhabitants of Britain and
Ireland to whom a definite name can be given, As there is no evidence
of any major immigrations into Ireland after the Neolithic period, the
Pretani would appear to be the direct descendants of earlier peoples or
at least a dominant segement within the native population. In the later
Irish literature, ‘Pretani would appear to become the Cruthin. VIKING RAIDS. In 811 the Ulaid clashed Norse Vikings and defeated them.
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the
founder not necessary to be in clerical orders. There are many instances
that the same person, held the office of bishop and abbot. If the abbot
was not in holy orders, the monastery would have its own bishop, who would
live with the brothers but whose role it was to ordain and carryout other
sacramental function. The abbot was responsible for maintains the temporal
function of the monastery and would have had considerable power and authority,
over land, crops, tenants, money etc.