Święci jako narzędzie polityki: Vita sancti Albei w kontekście zmian dynastycznych w Munsterze w VIII wieku

Saint patrons, and especially their Lives, were used as political weapons in early medieval Ireland. St Ailbe was a Munster saint of the sixth century; his Vita was most probably written in the second half of the eighth century. The factor providing strong dating possibilities is the story of a certain political conflict, most probably reflected in the Vita Albei. In fact, this Life seems to be a product of a careful and sophisticated propaganda and negotiation between two rival ecclesiastical centres, Emly and Armagh, and their secular patrons and protectors – the dynasties of the Eóganachta and the Uí Néill. The description of Ailbe as superior in many aspects to St Patrick, yet without open undermining of St Patrick’s authority, is a sophisticatedly composed conciliation between the two saints that were patrons and representatives of the two rival dynasties.