The Templars, The Witch, and the Wild Irish by Maeve Brigid Callan (review)

This text will likely sell well because of the somewhat cryptic title that should draw curious readers from a number of fields in medieval studies. Templars, witches and the Irish: each group has a fan base, one might say, and the implication with the title of this text is that there is in fact some connection between the three within the context of medieval Ireland. However, the title is deceptive in some respects, because while the book itself is well researched and makes a number of innovative points about the political, legal, and religious world of later medieval Ireland, Callan draws far too many tenuous connections that simply do not stand given what is known about medieval Ireland, both before and after the fifty-year period of the early fourteenth century.

Callan’s intent with this book seems to fluctuate between enhancing the narrative surrounding several notable heresy trials in fourteenth-century Ireland and connecting those trials to wider trends in heresy throughout medieval Europe. In this sense, the book is simply not successful. For instance, her treatment of the trial of the Templars in Ireland reviews the sources and secondary literature for the trial adequately. However, her interpretation shows several gaps. Most notably, Temple House, in north County Sligo, was originally settled on the periphery of the English colony, and if anything shows why the location of Templar and Hospitaller settlements in the landscape is an important consideration: they were typically located on frontiers as means of solidifying Anglo-Norman settlement. Temple House, one of the last Templar foundations in Ireland, pushed the boundary south from Sligo into Connacht. This is an important omission because of the likelihood that the military monastic orders were used as front line settlements for the colony, much in keeping with the Crusading mentality that informed the foundation of these orders. Her consideration of the trial of the Templars in Ireland does not break new ground, but sides with the belief that the Templars were in fact practicing heresy because of the admissions of members during the trial. Fair enough.

Callan’s real intent, though, is to stage the trial of the Templars as part of a “tradition” of the Irish themselves as heretics. She extends this argument back to the Patrician mission in Ireland, which she claims was a means of preventing the spread of Pelagianism in Ireland. She connects that era with consideration of the speculative theology of Eriugena. But then she admits that there were never any formal trials of heresy before the twelfth century, and also concludes that although Irish theologians used Church fathers and authoritative sources, they also used “heretical” sources frequently, and, thus, “that the heresy of being Irish predates the fourteenth century” (198). That is a stretch to say the least.

Callan also draws attention to the question of a renewed paganism that has been described by Katharine Simms and others. Callan’s conclusion is that any reference to such activity by Giraldus is ethnic stereotyping (not an uncommon conclusion), and that the references in bardic poetry to pagan activity is a form of antiquarianism. Yet, she has not considered the extensive work of Elizabeth Fitzpatrick on this subject, particularly her work concerning renewed interest in inauguration rites at sites in the twelfth through fourteenth centuries. Is it paganism? Perhaps that is the wrong question, since practicing paganism in Callan’s argument would mean that the practitioners are apostates. Further, Callan asserts that one of the reasons for the perception of the Irish as being pagan and ignorant was less their practices than a lack of education and schools in Ireland evidenced by a lack of a university. She fails to note that during the twelfth and thirteenth century there is actually an increase in the production of Irish manuscripts within Gaelic religious foundations, a growth in the patronage of secular historians on the part of a number of high status...