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

Between the Visigothic sack of Rome in 410 CE and the last Western emperor’s murder in 476 CE, the Roman Empire’s instability increased due to rising brigandry and frequent raids that ravaged lands, devastated property, and destroyed written records. Although the invaders spared Romans' lives, “sooner or later they or their progeny lost almost everything else: titles, property, way of life, learning—especially learning” (35). Imperial collapse is not conducive to manuscript preservation or institutional learning’s survival. The empire shrank as Roman troops retreated from the frontiers, leaving former provinces easily overwhelmed by Germanic peoples like the Angles and the Saxons, among others. Free Romans, including the Romano-British Christian Patricius (Patrick), were subjected to enslavement.

St. Augustine of Hippo’s life serves as an example of what the world lost when the Roman Empire collapsed. Cahill claims that Augustine was the first writer with a self-awareness that made him “the father not only of autobiography but of the modern novel” (41). Classical literature such as the Roman epic poem the Aeneid inspired Augustine, who “vernacularized” Latin, previewing the “people’s” Latin of the Middle Ages (46). The Roman rhetorician Cicero also inspired Augustine, and he employed Cicero’s methods to promote the Christian religion.