The church founded by Patrick evolved into monastical settlements which becamegreat centers of culture in the following centuries, like Clonmacnoise in Co. Ofally.
They furthered the use of writing and produced many illuminated manuscripts
which survive today, such as the book of Durrow in the seventh century and the
book of Kells in the eight or ninth. Their scribes helped to write down and therefore preserve
many of the old celtic tales which would otherwise have been lost, and their workshops
manufactured metal masterpieces such as the Ardagh chalice.
With the invention of the keelboat around AD 600, the Vikings descended on the peoples
of Northern and Western Europe. Ireland was a prime target, with rich pickings in the
Monasteries situated along the major rivers, and with little or no protection save
their round towers. The first recorded decent of the vikings upon Ireland took place
in 795, and these sporadic raids continued for a full half-century before the vikings
attempted any permanent settlement in the country, before their arrival, Ireland was
a country of isolated settlements, ring-forts and monasteries. Towns as we know them
today did not exist, and it was the Vikings who laid the foundations of many of
Irelands coastal towns, starting with Dublin in 841, and continuing with Wexford,
Waterford, Cork and Limerick in the following century. these irish towns, and
foremost among them Dublin itself, became important centers of trade, bartering
slaves and other merchandise. the Vikings made Dublin into what was the most important
trading center in the whole of northern Europe at the time.
The second Viking period began in Ireland when a large sea-fleet arrived
in Waterford harbor in 914 AD., and they began to attack Munster and later,
Leinster. They plundered the Monasteries of Cork, Lismore and Aghaboe and
met with little resistance. For the next two decades the Vikings of
Dublin were very powerful but they spent a lot of resources
attempting to control their other settlements in Limerick and Waterford.
By about 950 AD. the second period of Viking raiding was over and Ireland
settled into an uneasy peace and prosperity for a short time.
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