Athassel Priory and the Cult of St Edmund in medieval Ireland
Francis Young
“This is the first study of the medieval cult of Saint Edmund in Ireland … Young achieves the admirable feat of writing a detailed case study of one institution and one saint, but in a way which offers an insight into events in Ireland over several centuries, most notably the attempts of the Anglo-Normans to gain, and then maintain, a colonial hold over Irish lands … One of the book’s main achievements is that the author gathers in one place the varied sources of evidence relating to the history of Athassel Priory. This is no mean feat … Young carefully analyzes the sources he presents, weighing their relative merits and suggesting lines of further inquiry where these fall beyond the scope of the present study … Overall, Young succeeds in his aim of synthesizing “the archaeological and documentary evidence to produce a narrative history” (16) of the Priory of Athassel and the cult of Saint Edmund in medieval Ireland. As the first of its kind for this important medieval institution, the wealthiest by far in its diocese, Young’s study is an important and very readable contribution to scholarship in this area.” Rebecca Pinner (Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies volume 98, number 1)
“In Athassel Priory, Francis Young assesses late medieval and early modern Ireland through a new lens. His examination of the titular ecclesiastical foundation in Co. Tipperary and the likewise titular saint to whom Athassel was dedicated—the first book-length work to focus on St. Edmund’s cult in Ireland, in fact—offers a window onto the fortunes of one of the most powerful Anglo-Norman families in Ireland, the de Burghs/Burkes ... Young weaves together material culture with documentary history, folklore, and hagiography, using evidence from Athassel itself, from elsewhere in Ireland, and from beyond Ireland’s shores ... The strength of Young’s work is the delicate, objective balance he maintains. Any study in which a microcosm illuminates the macrocosm risks oversimplification, a pitfall to which Young never falls prey; instead, his analysis highlights the complexities of identity in later medieval and early modern Ireland, and his treatment of the evidence is well rounded and multidimensional ... Francis Young’s work is solid, and Athassel Priory adds important elements to our understanding of culture in Norman Ireland and beyond.” Máire Johnson, Church History 2022
“[An] original and thought-provoking book [that] makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of late medieval Ireland … Dr Young does medieval Irish history a service by bringing into focus the commemoration of English Saints in Ireland”. Brendan Smith, Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies (10, 2021)
"Not everyone is aware of the presence of dedications to St Edmund, the Anglo-Saxon king and martyr, in medieval Ireland ... In Athassel Priory and the Cult of St Edmund in medieval Ireland Francis Young sets out to examine in detail the evidence for a cult of St Edmund in Ireland ... Young has managed to skilfully draw on the work of other scholars to weave an informative picture of the issues, families, politics and religion of the age while following the rise and decline of the cult, from the heyday of the de Burghs to the residual cultural evidence that endures today ... Aside from the cult, the discussion of the fate of Athassel from foundation to today provides an interestingly broad portrait of a priory that does not end with the Reformation, as is so often the case." (Archaeology Ireland, Autumn 2020)
