Conversion and consolidation in Leinster's royal heartland

This chapter explores the processes of conversion, Christianisation and consolidation, as played out within the royal heartland of Leinster: the central Kildare plains and especially the southern part of the kingdom of Uí Fáeláin. This area is home to some of the most important and famous royal sites of early medieval Ireland, as well as a highly significant concentration of early ecclesiastical establishments, some of which may be associated with disciples of Palladius, a Gaulish missionary sent from Rome c. AD 430. The chapter explores the evidence for how early missionaries engaged with the elite of fifth- to seventh-century Ireland, and how this new religion found expression in the landscape through land grants by local and regional polities, and via patterns of burial, community assembly and patronage. In particular, it is argued that religious belief was a more formative driver in shaping fifth- to seventh century society and conceptions of community than has often been allowed by previous scholarship, and that Christianity had a profound impact on the character and evolution of royal landscapes and kingship during the conversion period.