Under the enlightened policy of Charlemagne there was a distinct improvement in the social condition of the people, but the part played by the Irish monks during the seventh and eighth centuries in helping to bring about the moral regeneration of the people must not be overlooked; for even though this aspect of their work lies outside our present study, we cannot completely ignore those social factors which delayed the realization of a literary renaissance until the ninth century. Whether or not the efforts of Charlemagne “resulted in a revival of learning far more important in its consequences than that which is known as _the_ Renaissance”[372] it can no longer be questioned that “during the reign of Charlemagne and his immediate successors the chief share of the literary revival which belongs to that period and is known as the Carolingian Renaissance fell to the Irish teachers in Frankland, and if we except Alcuin, Rhabanus and Fredegis, the men who founded that educational system to which the latter Middle Ages owe everything and the modern world more than it generally acknowledges were Irishmen.”[373] STUDY OF GREEK IN EARLY MEDIÆVAL IRELAND: Having shown that there was an unbroken tradition of classical Latin learning in early mediæval Ireland, having examined the scope and character of that learning and noted its influence in the history of European education, we may fittingly examine the position which Greek occupied in the curriculum of Irish monastic schools. The traditional belief that the study of Greek was pursued in these schools cannot be accepted without investigation in view of the doubts raised by such scholars as Manitius, Roger, and Esposito in recent years.[374] The most important objection raised by these writers is that the evidence is insufficient to justify the claim that the Irish schools possessed a knowledge of Greek prior to the ninth century. Even in the ninth century Esposito will allow the Irish schools no credit for Greek scholarship. According to this writer men like Johannes Scottus Eriugena learned Greek from the books which they found on the Continent, especially in Gaul. We might retort that these assertions require more proof than has been advanced on their behalf, that these conclusions derive no support from the authorities adduced by Esposito as evidence, and that the views expressed by him are contradicted by the contemporary evidence contained in the well-known passage from Eric the Auxerre.[375]