So the wished-for extremes of the Green Martyrdom were largely – and quickly – abandoned in favor of monasticism, a movement which, though it could support and even nurture oddity and eccentricity, subjected such tendencies to a social contract. Since Ireland had no cities, these monastic establishments grew rapidly into the first population centers, hubs of unprecedented prosperity, art, and learning.
Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization
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Entrusted to the Dirt 