Inventing the tradition of a perpetual fire at Kildare

In the light of several recent 'rekindlings' and reinterpretations of St. Brigit's fire in Kildare, this article reexamines Gerald of Wales' account in the Topographia Hibernica of a fire maintained by the nuns of Kildare that had been burning continuously since St. Brigit's time. I argue that the fire is more likely to have been a tradition recently invented when Gerald heard and wrote about it in the late twelfth century than an actual survival from the sixth century. I bring evidence from history and archaeology to bear on each piece of Gerald's account. The article concludes with a consideration of when and by whom the tradition of the fire might have been invented, and of Gerald's purpose in including it in the Topographia .