Seathrún Céitinn

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Seathrún Céitinn ( English Geoffrey Keating , * approx. 1569 in Burgess in the municipality of Tubrid ( Tiobraid ), today to Ballylooby ( Béal Átha Lúbaigh ) near Cahir , County Tipperary ; † 1644 in Tubrid) was an Irish historian, poet and Catholic priest. He came from an old Anglo-Irish family ( na Sean-Ghall , "old stranger"). His date of birth is controversial, 1570 and 1581 are also mentioned. Moorstown Castle is also discussed as the place of birth .

Life

He was ordained a priest at the age of 24. From 1603 he studied theology at the newly founded Irish College in Bordeaux (France), where he obtained a doctorate in theology and returned to Ireland in 1610. He was first parish priest in Knockgraffon ( Cnoc Rafann , now New Inn, Co. Tipperary), but had to give up because of persecution under the Penal Laws in 1620. He initially hid in the Poll Granda cave in the Glen of Aherlow ( Gleann Eatharlaí ) and then traveled through Ireland for six years under an assumed name, collecting material and devoting himself entirely to literary activity.

Works

Keating completed his main historical work Foras feasa ar Éirinn ("Knowledge base about Ireland", usually briefly called History of Ireland ) around 1634. The story was also used as a defense of his Irish compatriots against the Protestant colonists in Ulster ( na Nua-Gall , "the new strangers ”), and against authors such as William Camden , Edmund Spenser , Giraldus Cambrensis , Richard Stanihurst , Meredith Hamner , John Barclay , John Davies and Edmund Campion , who consistently gave negative descriptions of Ireland and especially of its inhabitants. Keating compares these authors to beetles wallowing in dung for being unable to see beauty. He criticizes Camden above all for his lack of knowledge of the Irish language, or rather his refusal to acquire it, which means that the local sources remain closed to him.

As a source, Keating mainly used the Lebor Gabála Érenn and other historical and pseudo-historical sources from Irish tradition. Keating's story goes back (as was customary at the time) far into mythical times and begins with the creation of the world. The noble Gaelic families derive his genealogies from the sons Míl Espánes , Éber and Éremón . The history work ends with the Norman invasion in the 12th century.

Furthermore, Keating v. a. Poems and theological works.

reception

His story was attacked by his English contemporaries as he wrote in Irish, lived in Munster in the provinces (across the Pale), and allegedly relied too much on local lore. Even Richard Cox emphasized in the preface to his Hibernia Anglicana of 1689 that the work was pure fiction. Brendan Bradshaw, on the other hand, emphasizes that Keating was well involved in contemporary antiquarian research.

It gained its importance at that time mainly through the support of pro-Catholic forces, especially the claims of the Stuart dynasty.

In addition, it is an outstanding example of literature in the early Neo- Irish language ( Classical Irish ). Keating's language and style were formative and were considered the quasi-standard of Irish until the end of the 19th century.

John Lynch translated the book into Latin, but this version was never published. English translation comes from:

  • Dermot O'Connor 1726
  • Michael Kearney 1668
  • W. Haliday 1811, new translation of the introduction and part of the text
  • John O'Mahony in New York in 1857
  • David Comyn in Dublin in 1898

swell

  • Anne Cronin, The sources of Keating's Forus feasa ar Éirinn . Éigse 4, 1943/44, 235-279; 5, 1945/47, 122-135.
  • Bernadette Cunningham, Seventeenth-century interpretations of the past: the case of Geoffrey Keating. Irish Historical Studies 25, 98, 1986, 116-128
  • Brendan Bradshaw, Geoffrey Keating: Apologist of Irish Ireland. In: Bradshaw et al. (Ed.), Representing Ireland: Literature and the origins of conflict, 1534-1660 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1993).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bianca Ross, Britannia et Hibernia, National and Cultural Identities in 17th Century Ireland. Heidelberg: Winter 1998, 238
  2. ↑ Mahoney 1851, v
  3. ↑ Bernadette Cunningham: Geoffrey Keating's family connections, Tipperary Historical Journal, XV, pp. 59-67, 2002
  4. ^ Bianca Ross, Britannia et Hibernia, National and Cultural Identities in 17th Century Ireland. Heidelberg: Winter 1998, 246
  5. ↑ Sir Richard Cox: Hibernia Anglicana: Or, The History of Ireland, from the Conquest Thereof by the English, to this Present Time. With an Introductory Discourse Touching the Ancient State of that Kingdom . H. Clark, 1689 ( Google Books ).
  6. ^ Brendan Bradshaw, Geoffrey Keating: Apologist of Irish Ireland. In: Bradshaw et al. (Ed.): Representing Ireland: Literature and the origins of Conflict, 1534-1660. Cambridge 1993

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Céitinn, Seathrún
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Keating, Geoffrey (English)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Irish historian, poet and Catholic priest
DATE OF BIRTH around 1569
PLACE OF BIRTH Burgess, Tubrid, Ballylooby, Co. Tipperary
DATE OF DEATH 1644
Place of death Tubrid