Lebar Gabala Erenn A myth of Christian Origion?

ArdRi79

Its my opinion that Lebar Gabala Erenn (The book of invasions) was a christian invention, a creation myth in line with the Latin-Christian propaganda of the day and that in all probability there were no invasions. Whats your opinion?

When our native Oral Tradition met the written Tradition of Latin Monks the scribes probably encountered a good many problems. Prof Robin Flower notes in THE IRISH TRADITION (5) that early Irish history while rich in detail, is loose in chronology and with that in mind I would conjecture that one of the major problems the latin monks of the 6th and 7th century faced was how such knowledge could be validated and placed in the universal scheme of history that ruled the latin church at the time.

That universal scheme has been preserved for us in the Chronicle of Eusebius as translated and continued by St. Jerome and Prosper of Aquitane. The theory at the basis of the chronicle wasthat the great kingdoms of the world such as Egypt Greece etc.. all led pu by devine providence, to the establishment of the holy roman empire and this was reflected in the arrangement of the chronicle.
Each kingdom was layed out in parralell columns and the events of each kingdom were synchronised so that the advance of history, century by century could be followed at a glance for each and every kingdom and in that way they could be seen to lead up to the Roman Empire becoming the empire of Christ under Constantine.

Prof. Robin Flower again in THE IRISH TRADITION points to the common term for historian in Irish at that time as proof of the practice. "Fer Comgne" which he translates as "a Synchroniser" Prof Flower goes on to note that chronicles formed in this manner are at the base of all Irish manastic annals. The task the Fer Comgne would have set themselves in order for Ireland to be added to such a chronicle was to settle the loose chronology of early Irish history so that Irish kings might appear in due succession and right relation to their contemporaries in the other great kingdoms of the world.

PRof Eoin Mac Neill points to two methods used by latin scribes to complete their task in CELTIC IRELAND (25) An eye witness would either be called from the dead to converse with a saint or his life would be miraculously preserved 'til the coming of the saints and the written tradition. The latter is true of Tuan son of Starn in Lebar Gabala Erenn who goes through man animal incarnations (as in Scél Túain maic Cairill do Fhinnén Maige Bile inso sís) until he is reborn as Tuan son of Cairell in the time of Colm Cille and Findian to relay the invasions of Lebar Gabala Erenn to them.

in this way the lineages already known to to the Fer Comgne could have been shown to succeed one another in a series of invasions and be places in the Chronicle of Eusebius to give Validation to early Irish history.

The saying goes that necessity is the mother of invention and I have shown there was a need, I have shown the means by which the deed could have been accomplished and it is my opinion that Lebar Gabala Erenn is a work of Latin-Christian propaganda invented to fit the Kingdom of Ireland into the chronicle of Eusebius,

James Byrne