Inventing the tradition of a perpetual fire at Kildare

abstract: 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 .