Cast to the Wilderness


 * Cast to the Wilderness
 * by Dan McCollum
 * 21 March 2002


 * "Saint Michael came/
 * From across the sea/
 * To preach the word/
 * to you and me/
 * He brought us horses/
 * He brought us steel/
 * And thousands of bodies under the sun"


 * - Modern Huronian Children's Rhyme


 * From Into the Wilderness: The Irish Monks in the New Found Land
 * by Padriack O'Doul

The years following the founding of St Patrick On the Sea in SE 403 [1175 CE] brought great changes to the inhabitants of the isle of Manhattan. What had begun as a small village was quickly becoming an experiment in something much greater, something that would set the course for the history of the entire Eastern Coast of the New Found Lands.

It has been noted by many historians that the plagues which swept through the isle and surrounding lands began just within a year of the arrival of the Irish refugees. At the time it was thought by the new arrivals that the plague was sent by God to cause the natives to change their ways and accept Christ, a belief that would be picked up by many future monastic orders in the future. We now know, of course, that the plague was a result of the Irish bringing along with them diseases which the natives had no immunity to.

The result was devastating. In all the lands it touched, the plague wiped out almost 90 percent of the population, greatly disrupting native society in the process as well as wiping out entire tribes. However, the plague initially was limited to Manhattan itself and the lands immediately surrounding it. It would take further contact with the Old World to cause what is known as "The Great Dying" a half century later. By that time, the plague had already transformed the area around the refugee Irish settlement. We know from surviving records that many monks from the Monastery of St. Patrick went among the Natives to minister to the plague victims. Whether or not they had any effect on the spread of the disease, we do know that they triggered something in the Native mind.

In the immediate aftermath of the plague outbreak, many of the survivors from the local tribes asked to be brought under the protection of the Irish village. The monks who we the de facto rulers of St Patrick On the Sea agreed and began to minister to their new parishoners/citizens. The monks and the other Irish settlers taught the Natives of the making of iron tools and weapons, of breeding horses, swine, and poultry. The Natives in turn taught the new arrivals to hunt the local game and to cultivate maize.

Over the next two generations, the two groups became even closer. Intermarriage between Natives and Irish was common, and their children, referred to as "Those Who Talk Both Ways," went on to become leaders in the community. By 430 the population of St Patrick On the Sea had grown to 1,500, making it the largest city in the New Found Land north of the Toltec Empire, and the Patrician community as a whole numbered 15,000. In 447, [1219 CE] the people of St Patrick On the Sea and the surrounding Celto-Native community agreed to elect a common ruler, or Ri, to govern both peoples. His name was Patrick McGuiness, one of the oldest of the "Talkers", and would rule for several years before passing away in a fishing accident.

By 450 [1222 CE], spurred on by stories of the lost Irish homeland and a desire to obtain supplies of cattle, barley, and rye which had failed to survive the first crossing, a small fleet of three ships was fitted out with crews of Irish, Natives, and Dual Talkers. Although two of the ships were lost in the storms of the Western Sea, the St. Brigid managed to find its way to the west coast of Ireland.

Thus it was that on a brisk day on May 24, 450, twenty-two years into the long reign of the High King Finn I, a battered ship pulled into the harbor of O'Sullivan on the western shore of Ireland. As one of the former "Free Clan" harbors, O’Sullivan was accustomed to the appearance of strange ships. What brought wonder to the people of the port was the crew.

Stumbling ashore came several young men, none older than 30, many of them of the fair Irish complexion but several with a darkish, almost bronze, color of skin and deep black hair. All spoke an oddly-accented Gaelic and claimed to be from a town across the sea founded almost 50 years before, where the dark skinned members of the crew where natives!

The captain of the St. Brigid explained about the Patrician fleet. They had come to barter for supplies to take back to their town, as well as word of the state of Ireland itself; many burst out in tears of joy to hear that the Submissive Kingdom of Dublin had been overthrown.

The crew of the St. Brigid became a sensation. People had known of the New Found Land across the sea for some time, but knew nothing of any settlements or natives. When word reached the High King, he invited the ship’s crew to come to Dublin where scribes wrote down their tales for posterity and they were gifted with all the luxuries the Kingdom had to offer. Particular interest was given to the Natives of the crew who spoke of the close cooperation between the two peoples and their recent conversion to Christianity.

Early the next year the crew of the St. Brigid set sail with a new ship given to them by King Finn and laden with supplies. Several adventurous young men from Dublin chose to join the Patricians in their journey across the sea. The arrival of the ship had created a sensation, but once the Patricians were gone few gave any further thought to the New Found Land. With a kingdom to build and colonization efforts still going on in Wales, the Ard Ri had no intention of sending other settlers to this far off land. That is, until certain members of the Celtic Church became aware of the implications.

Ireland had been fully converted to Christianity several hundred years earlier, and during the Irish Golden Age Irish monks had spread the Irish monastic tradition across Western Europe. The coming of Submission had put an end to these missionary efforts, as the Submissives refused to allow proselytization by other faiths. But this new land, full of natives untouched by Submission and still following their heathen ways, represented a new opportunity. If the Good News could be brought to these heathens, many more souls could be saved. Within a few years of the St. Brigid’s arrival, a new mania had gripped the Celtic Church, the urge to reproduce the Golden Age and to do it better this time, making up for past mistakes. These flocks would not fall into the mouths of the Norse wolves, by God!

The accounts left by the crew of the St. Brigid of their crossing of the Western Sea were pored over, and plans were made to follow them across the sea to St Patrick On the Sea. From there, the new missionary monks would spread out along the eastern coast of the New Found Land, spreading the word of God as they went. In 454 a fleet of three ships, the St. Mary, the Look, and the Girl-child, set out from O’Sullivan port, crewed by the first of the monastic explorers who came to be known as the Sea Monks.

The three ships all weathered the long journey across the Western Sea, making landfall on the coast of the New Found Land and searching until they found the Celto-Native settlements surrounding St Patrick On the Sea. They were greeted with joy by the Patricians, who had been awaiting the return of their fleet from four years before. The Sea Monks learned that the crew of the St. Brigid had never returned, and their fate was never discovered. Most of the Sea Monks continued their mission among the Natives of the New Found Land in the St. Mary and the Girl-child, but a few agreed to return to Ireland in the Look with a crew of Patricians to make another attempt to re-supply the settlement. They succeeded in returning to O’Sullivan port in 455, giving new impetus to the missionary fervor of the Irish monks.

As more missionary ships set out across the Western Sea, the Sea Monks often fell victim to the hazards of the sea, including pirates from the Outsider settlements of Iceland, Greenland, and Providence. Those who survived returned to Ireland to tell fantastic tales of the Natives and their ways. It would be folly to over-exaggerate the true number of orders who left Ireland for the untamed wilderness to spread the word of Christ. The true numbers were few; after all most monks had grown fat and comfortable at the monasteries and no longer cared for the rigors of missionary work. Only the most idealistic would go.

And so, two centuries before the rush to colonize the New Found Land began, we see small roving band of Irish monks setting out across the sea, along with horses, lay brothers, and Patrician guides to preach the words of Christianity to the natives. Of those that survived the crossing, most never made it past their first few years, having been struck down by famine, hostile Natives, bad weather and so forth. Less than one in twenty who set out from Ireland would survive their mission and return home.

Yet their impact should not be overlooked. It is a common saying, and a truth, that many of the oldest cities in the New Found Land grew up around monasteries. These monasteries not only taught the people of Christianity but also of a different way of living, of permanent settlements, of European technologies and, sadly, of European disease.

After the first few years of the conversion effort, many Sea Monks noticed a strange thing. Natives where drying off in droves, many times of common diseases. It was preached by the Sea Monks that God was venting his wrath upon the nonbelievers; now that his true words have been revealed to them, he would punish those who refused to believe. They were unable to explain, of course, how good Christian Natives died along with heathens, and were careful not to mention it.

Perhaps, however, the epidemic was a blessing in disguise. Although it utterly devastated Native populations and cultures, it also gave them time. Within two centuries the Age of Colonization would come to Ireland and the rest of Europe. The survivors of the epidemics would pass their resistance on to their descendants, and the Native population would recover by the time the main wave of European colonization began. By then, the Natives would possess European metallurgy, European livestock and agricultural staples, and the monotheistic religion of Celtic Christianity.

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