Saints and Christianity in the Dindṡenchas

This article examines the representation of saints and Christianity in the medieval Irish texts collectively known as the Dindṡenchas (“The Lore of the Eminent Places of Ireland”). The Dindṡenchas explains the origins of numerous Irish place-names, which it typically derives from legendary figures associated with Ireland’s pre-Christian past. The study investigates references to saints in the corpus, focusing primarily on the metrical Dindṡenchas. It demonstrates that explicitly Christian material occupies only a limited place within the tradition. The corpus explains the names of only two churches, Cell Chorbáin and Túam, and both texts belong to a relatively late stage of the tradition. The article also analyses references to saints in poems associated with Bile Tortain, Temair (III), Tailtiu, and Carman. It argues that these references did not merely reflect the growing influence of Christianity but also enhanced the prestige and legitimacy of the royal assemblies and inauguration ceremonies associated with those sites. The integration of saints into the narrative landscape of the Dindṡenchas therefore linked Christian authority with places of political significance and reinforced their status within the historical memory of medieval Ireland.

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