There never were any snakes in Ireland for Patrick to cast out, but here he is in Purgatory
@BLMedieval Royal17Bxliiipic.twitter.com/TWuoPs7Jjl
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@medievalhistory Daft question, know why not? Due to 'Ice Ages' never lowering sea-level enough for a land-bridge, unlike Britain, or...?!
@caitlinrgreen so I read! Something about glaciers & snakes not being able to swim that well. A bit outside my expertise!
@caitlinrgreen @medievalhistory Sorry to barge in, but I'm reminded of Gerald of Wales also making a similar conjecture in his Topography.
@caitlinrgreen @medievalhistory Although Gerald is fully convinced of Patrick's power as a saint, he nonetheless quesitons the snake story.
@HopeSteffen @medievalhistory oh, good point! He calls it "a flattering fiction"--tho' he believes toads explode when they touch Irish land!
@caitlinrgreen @medievalhistory Yes, but he ascribes this to qualities in the Irish soil, doesn't he?
@HopeSteffen @medievalhistory Yes, to "some occult property of the soil itself"!
@caitlinrgreen @medievalhistory had a bit of a hunt around, as intrigued me, and yes it seems lack of land bridge was the barrier
@CatherineEsse @medievalhistory Intriguing! Soooo is it true of all such islands?! And do they have snake-banishing saints too?!?
@caitlinrgreen @medievalhistory but ?only Ireland places saintly intervention as driver? ;) and snakes don't deserve to be banished anyhow:)
@CatherineEsse @caitlinrgreen Modern historians in their desire to take the magic out of everything have declared that snakes = pagans ;)
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