Early Medieval Ireland 400 - 1200 Quotes

“One man owns many large mansions adorned with costly marbles, another has not so much as a small hut to keep out the cold and heat. One man has vast territories and unlimited possessions, another has but a little stretch of turf to sit upon and call his own … Are these riches from God? … If God had willed universal inequality, he would have distributed all creation unequally, would not have permitted … equal shares … in the sky, the earth, the elements … Does the rich man enjoy the blessings of fresh air more than the poor man? Does he feel the sun’s heat more keenly or less? When earth receives the gift of rain, do larger drops fall upon the rich man’s field than upon the poor man’s? … What God himself distributes … is shared equally; what we own in unjust inequality is everything whose distribution was entrusted to human control … Is there one law for the rich, another for the poor? … Are the rich reborn from one Baptism, the poor from another? … If God distributes the gifts of flesh and spirit with fully equal affection towards all mankind, it begins to be clear that inequality of wealth is not to be blamed upon the graciousness of God, but upon the iniquity of men.”
― Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland 400-1200

“Catherine Nash, Of Irish descent, origin stories, genealogy and the politics of belonging (2008) and J. P. Mallory, The origins of the Irish (2013).”
― Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland 400-1200

“Origins of the English (2003) have been followed by works on a much grander scale, such as Stephen Oppenheimer, The origins of the British (2006) and Bryan Sykes, Saxons, Vikings and Celts. The genetic roots of Britain and Ireland (2006),”
― Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland 400-1200