Food and Farming

The study of early medieval farming in Ireland has in the past largely concentrated on the historical and literary sources rather than on the archaeological evidence. The law tracts, in particular, though undoubtedly idealized and highly schematic, provide a very valuable insight into everyday farming practices which must have changed comparatively little over the generations. Críth Gablach, for example, describes a strict hierarchy of farmers, each listed with their possessions: agricultural tools and equipment owned personally or shared with others, crops, livestock and animal pens. The law tracts also provide more specific information on agricultural techniques such as brewing, milling, and beekeeping, the construction of fences and the value of trees. ¹ Other historical sources include more incidental details. The annals, for example, frequently refer to freak weather conditions, and sometimes to bad harvests, famine or animal disease. The hagiographical literature, though mainly concerned with the life of a particular saint and his or her miracles, can also be of use. For example, in Adomnán’s late seventh-century Life of Columba several agricultural processes are mentioned, including milking, butchering, threshing and ploughing; and in the seventh-century Life of Brigit by Cogitosus there is an interesting reference to the difficulties encountered in the transportation of a newly-quarried millstone to the monastery. ² Similarly, the literary sources, though clearly open to the exaggeration and idealization inherent in all epic poetry and heroic saga, cannot be discounted, as long as their limitations are realized. For example, the theme of the most famous of the early Irish epics, Táin Bó Cúailnge, written in its earliest form during the eighth century but with a long oral existence before that, tells the story of an important early medieval Irish pastime, cattle raiding, with the object in this instance of carrying off a prize stud bull. At the end of the period The Vision of MacCon-glinne gives us an interesting insight into Irish culinary arts. ³