How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe

In his introduction, Cahill states that at the time of his writing (1995), there was no book published dealing with the transition between the ancient and medieval periods in European history, "nor even one in which this subject plays a substantial part” (5). It is, thus, his goal to address an era of transition with a specific focus on Ireland’s Christianization as a bridge between the two eras.

Cahill suggests that the Irish played a significant role in the preservation of classical tradition through the writing rooms, called scriptoria, of the many monastic institutions that early medieval Irish monks founded in Ireland and beyond. The Irish church, thus, disseminated what remained of Greco-Roman knowledge when the manuscripts they copied circulated, building a bridge between the classical era and the early Middle Ages. These works included copies of the Bible and early Christian writings, as well as works authored by classical pagan writers. These manuscripts, however, were also uniquely Irish because of the elaborate decorative techniques the monks employed, which Irish pagan designs inspired. This style is known as Insular, or Hiberno-Saxon. The