Acknowledgements

Introduction: Early Irish Rhetoric
Ireland and the Roman Frontiers
Historiography and Medieval Rhetoric
A Note on Periodization

1 Late Antique and Early Medieval Ireland and the Latin West
Social and Ecclesiastical Organization in Early Ireland

2 Learning in Ireland in the Sixth through the Eighth Centuries
Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England
Ireland and Spain
Letter Writing and the Paschal Controversy
Columbanus
Learning at Iona
The Grammatical Handbook Tradition in Ireland

3 St Patrick and the Rhetoric of Epistolography
The Historical Context of Patrick’s Mission to Ireland
The Dating of Patrick’s Obit
Rhetoric of Epistolography
Patrick’s Learning
The Purpose of Patrick’s Mission

4 A Rhetorical Analysis of Patrick’s Epistola ad Milites Coroticus
Patrick and Paul

5 The Hisperica famina
Rhetorical Analysis of Hisperica famina

6 Secular Learning and Native Traditions
Filidecht and Secular and Church Relations
Verbal Art and Early Irish Poetry – ‘The Cauldron of Poetry and Learning’
The Cauldron
‘The Cauldron of Poetry and Learning’ and The Trivium of the Liberal Arts

Conclusion and Considerations for Further Study

Bibliography
Index