One thing that marked both the Celtic Church and Rome in the seventh century was that the concept of celibacy was not universal. While there were always ascetics in both churches who sublimated physical love in a dedication to the deity, it was not until the Council of Nicea in a.d. 325 that clerical marriages were condemned but not banned. The concept of celibacy in the Roman Church arose from the customs practiced by the pagan priestesses of Vesta and the priests of Diana. By the fifth century Rome had forbidden clerics from the rank of abbot and bishop to sleep with their wives and, shortly after, even to marry at all. The general clergy were discouraged from marrying by Rome but not forbidden to do so. Indeed, it was not until the reforming papacy of Leo IX (a.d. 1049-1054) that a serious attempt was made to force the western clergy to accept universal celibacy. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, priests below the rank of abbot and bishop have retained their right to marry until this day.
The condemnation of the "sin of the flesh" remained alien to the Celtic Church for a long time after Rome's attitude became a dogma. In Fidelma's world, both sexes inhabited abbeys and monastic foundations which were known as conhospitae, or double houses, where men and women lived raising their children in Christ's service.
Fidelma's own house of St. Brigid of Kildare was one such community of both sexes in Fidelma's time. When Brigid established her community at Kildare (Cill-Dara = the church of oaks) she invited a bishop named Conlaed to join her. Her first biography, written in a.d. 650, in Fidelma's time, was written by a monk of Kildare named Cogitosus, who makes it clear that it was a mixed community.
It should also be pointed out that, showing women's coequal role with men, women were priests of the Celtic Church at this time. Brigid herself was ordained a bishop by Patrick's nephew, Mel, and her case was not unique. Rome actually wrote a protest in the sixth century at the Celtic practice of allowing women to celebrate the divine sacrifice of Mass.
To help readers locate themselves in Fidelma's Ireland of the seventh century, where its geo-political divisions will be mainly unfamiliar, I have provided a sketch map and, to help them more readily identify personal names, a list of principal characters is also given.
I have generally refused to use anachronistic place names for obvious reasons although I have bowed to a few modern usages, e.g.: Tara, rather than Teamhair; and Cashel, rather than Caiseal Muman; and Armagh in place of Ard Macha. However, I have cleaved to the name of Muman rather than the prolepsis form "Munster" when the Norse stadr (place) was added to the Irish name Muman in the ninth century a.d. and eventually anglicized. Similarly, I have maintained the original Laigin, rather than the anglicized form of Laiginstadr which is now Leinster.
Armed with this background knowledge, we may now enter Fidelma's world. This story is placed in the year a.d. 665.
Principal Characters
Sister Fidelma of Kildare, a dálaigh or advocate of the law courts of seventh-century Ireland
Cass, a member of the King of Cashel's bodyguard
Cathal, the dying King of Cashel
Colgu, the tánaiste or heir-apparent of Cashel, and Fidelma's brother
At Rae na Serine
Intat, a bó-aire or local magistrate of the Corco Loigde
Sister Eisten, caring for orphans
Cétach and Cosrach, young brothers
Cera and Ciar, young sisters
Tressach, an orphan boy
At the abbey of Ros Ailithir
Abbot Brocc, a cousin of Fidelma
Brother Conghus, the aistreóir or doorkeeper
Brother Rumann, the fer-tighis or steward of the abbey
Brother Midach, the chief physician
Brother Tola, the assistant physician
Brother Martan, the apothecary
Sister Grella, the librarian
Brother Sègán, the fer-leginn or chief professor
Sister Necht, a novice and assistant hostel keeper
Men of the Corco Loigde
Salbach, chieftain of the Corco Loigde
Scandlán, his cousin and petty king of Osraige
Ross, captain of a coastal barc or sailing vessel
Men of the kingdom of Laigin
The Venerable Dacán, the deceased
Fianamail, the king of Laigin
Forbassach, his Brehon or judge
Abbot Noé brother of the Venerable Dacán; abbot of Fearna and advisor to Fianamail
Mugrón, captain of a Laigin warship
Midnat, a Laigin sailor
Assid of the Uí Dego, a merchant and sea captain from Laigin
At Sceilig Mhichil
Father Mel, father superior of monastery of Sceilig Mhichil
Brother Febal, a monk
At Molua's House
Brother Molua, who runs an orphanage
Sister Aibnat, his wife
At the Great Assembly Sechnassach, King of Ireland
Barrán, the Chief Brehon of Ireland
Ultan, Archbishop of Armagh, Chief Apostle of the Faith
Chapter One
The storm broke with sudden violence. The white flash of lightning heralded a crash of angry thunder. A moment later the rain began to fall in heavy, icy droplets.
The horse and rider had just emerged from the shelter of a forest and halted on a ridge overlooking a broad, low level plain. The rider was a woman, clad in a long, brown woollen cloak and hood, thick and warm, wrapping her body against the late autumnal chill. She turned her gaze to the sky, unafraid of the frenzy of the tempest. The clouds were dark gray, rolling close to the ground and obscuring the distant mountain tops like a mist. Here and there, against this background, were patches of darker, scudding clouds, black and ominous, bringing the threatening thunder with them.
The woman blinked as the cold rain splattered against her face; it was chilly to the point of being painful. Her face was youthful, attractive without being pretty, and with rebellious strands of red hair streaking from under the hood of her cloak across her broad forehead. There was a faint hint of freckles on the pale skin. The eyes seemed momentarily gray, reflecting the color of the somber skies, yet when the lightning flashed there was a hint of green fire in them. She sat her horse with a youthful agility, her tall figure firmly in control of the restless animal. A closer examination would have revealed the silver crucifix hung around her neck and the habit of a religieuse hidden by the heavy riding cloak and hood.