Excerpt from The Psalter and Martyrology of Ricemarch, Vol. 1

Nevertheless, a revival of learning was at hand. In the first quarter of the tenth century the number of Irish scholars considerably increased, and remained apparently at the same level till within a few years of its close.3 By the year 1000 the number was doubled and no very serious diminution is notice able till the Close of the eleventh century. In the first quarter of that century the number of scholars was almost as great as in the second quarter of the ninth and it was not exceeded in any other quarter of a century of the pre-norman era.

It is true, of course, that the figures supplied by the Annals must not be pressed too far: the increase in the tenth and eleventh centuries may be in part due to a lowering of the standard of literary attainment, in consequence of which the honour of mention in the Annals was more readily granted than in earlier times. But, allowing for this possibility, the increase cannot be wholly devoid of Significance. And in estimating the state of learning in Ireland we must take account of two other facts, our knowledge of which we owe to the annalists.

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