Geoffrey Keating

Home > People > Philosophy and Religion > Ancient Religion: Biographies

Keating, Geoffrey ( Seathrun Céitinn) (c.1570–c.1644), priest and historian. Born in Co. Tipperary, he received his doctorate at Reims, taught at the Irish College at Bordeaux, and by 1613 was serving as a priest in Co. Tipperary. His major work Foras Feasa ar Éirinn (literally ‘Compendium of Wisdom about Ireland’) synthesized the biblical account of the Flood and the repeopling of the world, the narrative of the Lebor Gabála, and the work of Gerald of Wales, to recount the history of Ireland from earliest times. Although Keating's reliance on legend and acceptance of the fabulous left him open to criticism from both Catholic and Protestant contemporaries, his work circulated widely in manuscript, offering Gaelic Irish and Old English a shared origin legend, and encouraging them to see themselves as joint heirs to a glorious historical past. An English translation by Dermot O'Connor appeared in 1723. Keating also wrote poetry, and two religious tracts: Eochairsgiath an Aifrinn, a polemical defence of the mass against the arguments of Luther and Calvin, and Trí Biorghaoithe an Bháis (Three Shafts of Death), a homily on mortality and the afterlife.

See also literature in Irish.