Geoffrey Keating

Seathrún Céitinn (English Geoffrey Keating, * ca 1569 Burgess in the community Tubrid ( Tiobraid ), today Ballylooby ( Béal Átha Lúbaigh ) in Cahir, County Tipperary, † 1644 in Tubrid ) was an Irish historian, poet and Catholic priest. He came from an old Anglo-Irish family ( na Sean - għall, "old foreigners" ). His birth date is disputed, also 1570 and 1581 are called.

Life

At the age of 24 he was ordained a priest. He studied theology at the newly founded 1603 Irish College of Bordeaux (France), where she earned a doctorate in theology in 1610 and returned back to Ireland. He was first parish priest in Knockgraffon ( Cnoc Rafann, today New Inn, Co. Tipperary ), but this had to give up because of the persecution under the Penal Laws 1620. He hid first in the cave Poll Granda in the Glen of Aherlow ( Gleann Eatharlaí ), and then to travel for six years under an assumed name through Ireland, gather material and to devote himself entirely to literary activity.

Works

Keating completed his historical masterpiece Foras Feasa ar Éirinn ( " knowledge base on Ireland," usually short history of Ireland called ) about 1634th The story was also a defense of his Irish countrymen against the Protestant settlers in Ulster ( na Nua -Gall, " the new strangers " ) written, and gave to writers such as William Camden, Edmund Spenser, Giraldus Cambrensis, Richard Stani Hurst, Meredith Hamner, John Barclay, John Davies and Edmund Campion, the consistently negative descriptions of Ireland and most of all its inhabitants. Keating compares these writers with beetles, wallowing in manure, they were unable to recognize beauty. At Camden he is particularly critical of the lack of knowledge of the Irish language, or his refusal to appropriate it, making the indigenous sources remain closed to him.

As a source Keating used mainly the Lebor Gabála Érenn and other historical and pseudo-historical sources of the Irish tradition. Keating's history dates ( as was the usual) far in mythical times and begins with the creation of the world. His genealogies derives from the Gaelic noble families of the sons of Míl Espanès, Éber and Eremon. The historical work ends with the Norman invasion in the 12th century.

Furthermore, Keating wrote V.A. Poems and theological works.

Reception

His story has been attacked by his English contemporaries, as he wrote in Irish, lived in Munster in the province ( beyond the Pale ) and too much based allegedly on local traditions. Richard Cox also emphasized in the preface to his Hibernia Anglicana of 1689, that the work is pure fiction. Brendan Bradshaw points out, however, that Keating was quite involved in the contemporary antiquarian research.

His then was the significance of it, especially by supporting pro- Catholic forces, in particular also the claims of the Stuart dynasty.

Moreover, it is an outstanding example of literature in frühneuirischer Language (Classical Irish). Keating's language and style was formative and lasted until the late 19th century as a de facto standard of Irish.

John Lynch translated the book into Latin, this version was never published. English translation are from:

• Dermot O'Connor 1726
• Michael Kearney 1668
• W. Haliday 1811, new translation of the introduction and part of a text
• John O'Mahony 1857 in New York
• David Comyn, 1898 in Dublin

Swell

• Anne Cronin, The sources of Keating's Forus Feasa ar Éirinn. Éigse 4, 1943/44, 235-279; 5, 1945/47, 122-135.
• Bernadette Cunningham, Seventeenth -century interpretations of the past: the case of Geoffrey Keating. Irish Historical Studies 25, 98, 1986, 116-128
• Brendan Bradshaw, Geoffrey Keating: apologist of Irish Ireland. In: Bradshaw et al (eds.), Representing Ireland: Literature and the origins of conflict, 1534-1660 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993).