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Irish scholars who arrived in Continental Europe in the early Middle Ages are often credited with making some of the most important contributions to European culture and learning of the time, from the introduction of a new calendar to monastic reform. Among them were celebrated personalities such as St Columbanus, John Scottus Eriugena, and Sedulius Scottus who were in the vanguard of a constant stream of arrivals from Ireland to continental Europe, collectively known as 'peregrini'. The continental response to this Irish 'diaspora' ranged from admiration to open hostility, especially when peregrini were deemed to challenge prevalent cultural or spiritual conventions.
 
This volume brings together leading historians, archaeologists, and palaeographers who provide-for the first time-a comprehensive assessment of the phenomenon of Irish peregrini in their continental context and the manner in which it is framed by modern scholarship as well as the popular imagination.

The Irish in Early Medieval Europe: Identity, Culture and Religion

Introduction; Roy Flechner and Sven Meeder.- 1. Travel, transport and communication to and from Ireland, c.400-1100; Christopher Loveluck and Aidan O'Sullivan.- 2. Exiles from the edge? The Irish contexts of peregrinatio; Elva Johnston.- 3. The political context of Irish monasticism in seventh-century Francia; Yaniv Fox4. Columbanian monastic rules: dissent and experiment; Albrecht Diem5. Columbanian monasticism: a contested concept; Ian Wood.- 6. Columbanus and the Easter controversy: theological, social and political contexts; Caitlin Corning.- 7. Irish biblical exegesis; Mark Stansbury.- 8. The Irish contribution to the penitential tradition; Rob Meens.- 9. The liturgy of the Irish in Europe; Yitzhak Hen.- 10. Computus as scientific thought in Ireland and the early medieval West; Immo Warntjes.- 11. The Irish and Carolingian learning; Sven Meeder.- 12. Controversies and ethnic tensions; Roy Flechner and Sven Meeder.- 13. The Irish and their books; Elizabeth Duncan.- Conclusion .- Notes .- Further Reading.- Index.