Urban genesis in early medieval Ireland

This paper examines the evidence for the pre-twelfth-century town in Ireland. Recent research, propted by continental studies and whealtley's notion of the ceremonial centre, has emphasized an indigenous origin dependent upon the post-seventh-century development of monasteries. This is in direct contrast with traditional theories of exogenous imposition. It is argued here that insfficient attention has been paid to conceptualization and definition and thus that the case for the monastic town has been suject to exaggeration and unwarranted assumption. The evidence for early medieval unbanization is examined under a number of headings with in turn reflec the Weberian in clinations of those promoting the neo-orthodoxy of the monastic town. That evidence is found to be extremely enigmatic. The paper concludes that the most probable expklication is that only a most primitive, limited, urbanization developed in early medieval Ireland prior to the arrival of the Anglo-Normans in 1196.