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Gildas and the Schools of Cirencester

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

Andrew Breeze
Andrew Breeze*
Affiliation:
Andrew Breeze, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Navarra, 31080 Pamplona, Spain. E-mail: abreeze@unav.es
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Abstract

The life of Gildas by an eleventh-century Breton monk mentions his education at ‘Iren’. Though often taken to mean ‘Ireland’, this is more probably a corruption of ‘Cerin’, the Old Welsh name of ‘Corinium’ or Cirencester. If so, it implies the survival in sixth-century Britain of traditional Roman schools.

Résumé

‘La vie de Gildas’, œuvre d’un moine breton du onzième siècle, fait mention de son éducation à ‘Iren’. Bien que l’on ait souvent pensé que ce nom voulait dire ‘Irlande’, il est plus probable qu’il s’agisse d’une corruption de ‘Cerin’, le nom de la ville de ‘Corinium’ (le Cirencester moderne) en vieux gallois. Si c’est exact, cela sous-entend que des écoles romaines traditionnelles existaient encore dans la Grande-Bretagne du sixième siècle.

Zusammenfassung

In ‘Das Leben von Gildas’, von einem bretonischen Mönch im elften Jahrhundert geschrieben, wird erwähnt, daß er in ‘Iren’ ausgebildet wurde. Obwohl es oft als ‘Irland’ verstanden wird, ist es warscheinlicher, daß es eine Korruption des Wortes ‘Cerin’ ist, eine alte walisische Bezeichnung für ‘Corinium’ (das heutige Cirencester). Wenn das bestätigt wird, kann man davon ableiten, daß römische Schulen in Großbritannien bis ins sechste Jahrhundert bestanden.

Type
Articles
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 90 , September 2010 , pp. 131 - 138
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 2010

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