That's Holy Emerald Empire (of the Irish Nation) or HEEIN to you!
Selection from:
After coming into the control of Galicia shortly after his reign began, as a gesture of goodwill to his new subjects King Rolando returned the bones of St. James to their finding place at Iria (Flavia). While this did much to restore the local good will (along with substantial economic assistance available via more extensive control of the Western Saharan trade routes) after touring the province in AD 837 it was decided that an institution for religious study would have to be established to properly take advantage of the presence of the relics.
Pope George (834-851) was duly consulted and consented to the formation of the University of Iria as a center for religious studies in the west. In set up, while it owes much to the catholic education centers of earlier periods in the decades after it's founding it owed much to the evolving practices of the Islamic Madrassa concept developed in Idrisid Kingdom in the 850s. It was said that the decision to name Rolando's sister Aiza as patron of the school was due both to her marriage into the Galician nobility and to the desire to create an image for the school as a non-threatening to established Catholic institutions and because Aiza had become quite a pious woman according to all extant sources.
The course of study in the Iria school from the beginning was centered on topics outside the normal study of doctrine and ritual of the Catholic church. In part this was due to the existence of the Mozarabic rite in the kingdom proper that was quickly introduced into Galicia. Approved by Pope George as by his predecessor Pope Paul, this rite had to coexist with the Roman Rite. As such parts of the school were focused on more unitary aspects of the rites as well as less overtly liturgical topics and provided and outlet for theological (and invariably theo-political) arguments of the day.
One of the theories further developed in the Iria school (and with great enthusiasm from the Pope) was that of the King as annointed by God (via the Pope) to prevent the Chaos of Satan from engulfing the world. The concept of course was not new, but the intricacies of the theory began to be filled in. Unfortunately this eventually led to the theory of Divine Rite espoused first in our Kingdom by Ramon II (r. 986-987). But 600 years ago such concerns would not even have registered.
............
With the background of the subject complete the implications for outward influence by the Iria school can now be looked at. While scholars around the region later began to attend the school it was the Monks of Iona that first demonstrate an effect the school and in particular the Anointed Orderer of God would have on history. (I am indebted in the particulars of this section to Doctor Connolly with her access to the Iona resources on this issue.)
During the course of repeated Norse raids on Iona in the first half of the 9th century, many of the learned monks there migrated to other parts of the region. Several of them took the opportunity to join the university first as visiting observers and later as faculty or students. One in particular who is known to us now as St. Andrew of Ireland, impressed all who knew him there with his wit and eloquence. After studying at Iria for a time he returned to Ireland around 849.
There after in Ireland of the time, occurred the "Wars of Consolidation" or more simply "The Consolidation" that marked the beginning of the transformation from the Ard Ri of Ireland into the imperial monarch of the HEE. It was almost surely begun by the preaching on Andrew on the the internal failure of resistance in the face of the Norse onslaught. He proclaimed among other things that the defeat of the Irish by the Norse was a punishment from God for their acceptance of Chaos and Disunity which was "...like unto a veneration of the Deceiver of Men!" (See the appendix for the known textual records of Andrew's speeches as compiled by Doctor Connolly.)
The surprising thing was that he was not simply killed outright or brushed aside. Perhaps the support of the well-liked Queen Gormflaith enabled him to survive past those early days. Regardless the Irish began to turn on each other with greater ferocity than before as enterprising monarchs began to mouth adherence to Andrew's preachings. But while before Irish Kings had more openly ambitious motives the lip service and preaching had the effect to plant the seeds of a national consciousness in many of the Irish as to a more religious duty to resist the pagan Norse. Many have targeted this moment as the catalyst for the famous Irish intensity to their religion but one should note that in the beginning the top-down aspects of the situation were such that it was window dressing for ambitious kings.
But what is undeniable is that in the short term this made the situation worse for the Irish: the Norse were able to take greater advantage of the Irish kingdoms who were fighting each other more often and more fiercely than before and made more inroads. But once the Consolidation was completed under Ard Ri Patrick Mar (r. 864-890) it inevitably led to Norse removal from Ireland and the Irish to their participation at the Battle of Culloden (899) that decided the fates of the Irish, Saxon and Norse struggle for dominance of the islands and led to the birth of the HEE.
*OTL's Professor of History
With apologies to the excellent thread on a unified Ireland by Fraxinesis and the knowledgeable and erudite posters in it
Selection from:
Socio-Political Consequences of the Early University System Outside the Iberian Peninsula
by
Muftisor Historia* Miguel C.S.D Alatriste
and
Doctor Jena Connolly, University of Iona.
First Published 1479, Viva River Press
First Mass Market Edition 1484, Orinoco Public Division
Reign of Alita II Araman
The construction of the University of Iria (Faith) in 839 is one of those events that may be important in their own time but over the centuries are revealed to have impacts all out of proportion to themselves and that their builders could never have imagined. Another is the University of Malaga, but for now we must focus on the Religious university. by
Muftisor Historia* Miguel C.S.D Alatriste
and
Doctor Jena Connolly, University of Iona.
First Published 1479, Viva River Press
First Mass Market Edition 1484, Orinoco Public Division
Reign of Alita II Araman
After coming into the control of Galicia shortly after his reign began, as a gesture of goodwill to his new subjects King Rolando returned the bones of St. James to their finding place at Iria (Flavia). While this did much to restore the local good will (along with substantial economic assistance available via more extensive control of the Western Saharan trade routes) after touring the province in AD 837 it was decided that an institution for religious study would have to be established to properly take advantage of the presence of the relics.
Pope George (834-851) was duly consulted and consented to the formation of the University of Iria as a center for religious studies in the west. In set up, while it owes much to the catholic education centers of earlier periods in the decades after it's founding it owed much to the evolving practices of the Islamic Madrassa concept developed in Idrisid Kingdom in the 850s. It was said that the decision to name Rolando's sister Aiza as patron of the school was due both to her marriage into the Galician nobility and to the desire to create an image for the school as a non-threatening to established Catholic institutions and because Aiza had become quite a pious woman according to all extant sources.
The course of study in the Iria school from the beginning was centered on topics outside the normal study of doctrine and ritual of the Catholic church. In part this was due to the existence of the Mozarabic rite in the kingdom proper that was quickly introduced into Galicia. Approved by Pope George as by his predecessor Pope Paul, this rite had to coexist with the Roman Rite. As such parts of the school were focused on more unitary aspects of the rites as well as less overtly liturgical topics and provided and outlet for theological (and invariably theo-political) arguments of the day.
One of the theories further developed in the Iria school (and with great enthusiasm from the Pope) was that of the King as annointed by God (via the Pope) to prevent the Chaos of Satan from engulfing the world. The concept of course was not new, but the intricacies of the theory began to be filled in. Unfortunately this eventually led to the theory of Divine Rite espoused first in our Kingdom by Ramon II (r. 986-987). But 600 years ago such concerns would not even have registered.
............
With the background of the subject complete the implications for outward influence by the Iria school can now be looked at. While scholars around the region later began to attend the school it was the Monks of Iona that first demonstrate an effect the school and in particular the Anointed Orderer of God would have on history. (I am indebted in the particulars of this section to Doctor Connolly with her access to the Iona resources on this issue.)
During the course of repeated Norse raids on Iona in the first half of the 9th century, many of the learned monks there migrated to other parts of the region. Several of them took the opportunity to join the university first as visiting observers and later as faculty or students. One in particular who is known to us now as St. Andrew of Ireland, impressed all who knew him there with his wit and eloquence. After studying at Iria for a time he returned to Ireland around 849.
There after in Ireland of the time, occurred the "Wars of Consolidation" or more simply "The Consolidation" that marked the beginning of the transformation from the Ard Ri of Ireland into the imperial monarch of the HEE. It was almost surely begun by the preaching on Andrew on the the internal failure of resistance in the face of the Norse onslaught. He proclaimed among other things that the defeat of the Irish by the Norse was a punishment from God for their acceptance of Chaos and Disunity which was "...like unto a veneration of the Deceiver of Men!" (See the appendix for the known textual records of Andrew's speeches as compiled by Doctor Connolly.)
The surprising thing was that he was not simply killed outright or brushed aside. Perhaps the support of the well-liked Queen Gormflaith enabled him to survive past those early days. Regardless the Irish began to turn on each other with greater ferocity than before as enterprising monarchs began to mouth adherence to Andrew's preachings. But while before Irish Kings had more openly ambitious motives the lip service and preaching had the effect to plant the seeds of a national consciousness in many of the Irish as to a more religious duty to resist the pagan Norse. Many have targeted this moment as the catalyst for the famous Irish intensity to their religion but one should note that in the beginning the top-down aspects of the situation were such that it was window dressing for ambitious kings.
But what is undeniable is that in the short term this made the situation worse for the Irish: the Norse were able to take greater advantage of the Irish kingdoms who were fighting each other more often and more fiercely than before and made more inroads. But once the Consolidation was completed under Ard Ri Patrick Mar (r. 864-890) it inevitably led to Norse removal from Ireland and the Irish to their participation at the Battle of Culloden (899) that decided the fates of the Irish, Saxon and Norse struggle for dominance of the islands and led to the birth of the HEE.
*OTL's Professor of History
With apologies to the excellent thread on a unified Ireland by Fraxinesis and the knowledgeable and erudite posters in it
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