Description

Celtic scholar and philologist Whitley Stokes (1830-1909) edited and translated many important early medieval texts from Ireland, in Latin and Irish, which remain standard reading. This two-volume edition of works about Patrick, the fifth-century apostle to Ireland, was first published in 1887. Volume 1 contains the Tripartite Life, compiled around 900 CE. The earliest-known saint's life in Irish, it was intended to be read over the three days of the saint's festival. Hagiography rather than history, it is partly in Irish and partly in Latin. The Irish portions are translated into English. Volume 2 contains a range of works dating from the fifth to the eleventh century, including the two surviving works that can be attributed to Patrick himself, the Confession and Letter to Coroticus. The excerpts from the Book of Armagh from the seventh century onward reflect the growing nationwide cult of St Patrick. Several appendices and indexes are also provided.