Examines literature on the medieval traditions associated with Welsh holy women. Prerequisites for feminine sanctity; Biographical pattern of the female saints; Implications of the popularity of the Welsh women saints.
Zoomorphic Penannular Brooches in 6th and 7th Century Ireland
January 6, 2014 By
In this thesis the author examines the evolution, manufacture, and societal significance of zoomorphic penannular brooches, a type of metal dress fastener used in early medieval Ireland that is often decorated.
The Enigma of the Picts
December 8, 2013 By
Yet superficially the subject does not seem so problematical. The task in hand is that of identifying the general political, linguistic and cultural personality of the people, or peoples, who lived to the north of the Forth- Clyde line from the first century B.C. (around when the first historical details were collected) to the ninth century A.D. (when the Pictish kingdom disappeared).
The Earls of Desmond in the Fourteenth Century
November 24, 2013 By
This thesis explores these ambitions and relationships. It looks at the complex, sometimes violent, relationships between the earls of Desmond and local gentry, neighbouring magnates, absentee landholders, the royal government and the English crown as well as with the Irish.
Thomas Fitzanthony’s Borough: Medieval Thomastown in Irish History, 1171-1555
November 22, 2013 By
Thomas Fitzanthony’s Borough: Medieval Thomastown in Irish History, 1171-1555 Marilyn Silverman In the Shadow of the Steeple VI, Duchas-Tullaherin Parish Heritage Society (1998) Abstract In the year 1295, King Edward I “ordered that all goods belonging to subjects of the King of France should be seized and sold”. A man named Richard Ie Marshall then […]
Witches, Spies and Stockholm Syndrome, Life in Medieval Ireland
November 20, 2013 By
In this unique book, Dublin based historian Finbar Dwyer has created a captivating picture of life in the Late Middle Ages from fatal tavern fights to football; sex to sea travel and other topics often neglected by histories of the period
Newest Irish coin features medieval landmark
November 11, 2013 By
The coin features the Rock of Cashel, the traditional seat of the kings of Munster.
Converting Childhood: Shifting Perceptions of Childhood in Early Irish Ecclesiastical and Secular Law
October 30, 2013 By
In early medieval Ireland, children could be reared in foster families or by the church.
Medieval Fortress discovered in Ireland
October 15, 2013 By
‘There is no doubt in my mind that we are looking at a major, unstudied settlement.’
The Transformative Nature of Gender: The Coding of St. Brigit of Kildare through Hagiography
September 26, 2013 By
The Transformative Nature of Gender: The Coding of St. Brigit of Kildare through Hagiography Liliane Catherine Marcil-Johnston Master of Arts, The Department of Theology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada December (2012) Abstract This study examines how gender is portrayed in the hagiographic tradition surrounding St. Brigit of Kildare. In particular, it provides an in-depth look […]
Love Magic in Medieval Irish Penitentials, Law and Literature
September 22, 2013 By
I exemplify this striving for ‘neutral’ research in this study of love magic, which starts with a case study on an episode from the Life of Saint Brigit.
Voyagers in the Vault of Heaven: The Phenomenon of Ships in the Sky in Medieval Ireland and Beyond
September 3, 2013 By
This paper explores the phenomenon of ships voyaging in the sky.
Crime and Punishment in Early Irish Law
August 12, 2013 By
Is it possible to tell from the information we have if hanging entered the laws due to the influence of the Church and biblical law, or if it existed as a punishment before the rise of the Church’s influence?
A Revival of Female Spirituality: Adaptations of Nuns’ Rules during the Hiberno-Frankish Monastic Movement
August 12, 2013 By
Before Columbanus, Irish abbots demonstrated little interest in producing monastic rules as we know them from the traditions of Benedict of Nursia and Caesarius of Arles. Preferring instruction by example to any documented tenets, Irish monasticism emphasized the conduct of the founding or ruling abbot or abbess as a model to imitate.
War dogs among the early Irish
August 7, 2013 By
In the Celtic world, as elsewhere, canines were admired for their senses of sight, smell and hearing. Dogs were used on hunting expeditions and to guard homes, as domestic pets and as a source of food
That Melodious Linguist: Eloquence and Piety in Christian and Islamic Songbirds
August 1, 2013 By
That Melodious Linguist: Eloquence and Piety in Christian and Islamic Songbirds Cam Lindley Cross University of Chicago, December 8 (2010) Abstract “Birds,” writes Albertus Magnus, “generally call more than other animals. This is due to the lightness of their spirits.” Although Albertus here employs “lightness” (levitas) as a technical term, the broader valences of the word […]
The Sorcery Trial of Alice Kyteler
July 26, 2013 By
In 1324, Richard Ledrede, bishop of Ossory, declared that his diocese was a hotbed of devil worshippers. The central figure in this affair was Alice Kyteler, a wealthy Kilkenny woman who stood accused of witchcraft by her stepchildren.
Were there heretics in medieval Ireland?
July 26, 2013 By
In her article, ‘Heresy in Ireland in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries’, Bernadette Williams uncovers some cases where people were accused and convicted of heresy, including insulting the Virgin Mary and denying the Jesus was the son of God.
A short exploration of the inauguration of kings in late medieval Ireland, and its depiction in bardic poetry
July 22, 2013 By
The status and image of a king was, at least partially, derived from the sacral king of sagas, such as that of Niall Noígiallach. In these sagas it is conveyed that under a righteous and unblemished king of royal ancestry there is peace and prosperity…I will give an overview of the elements of these ceremonies, the sources in which they are mentioned, and the developments during the high and late medieval period.
Religious and Cultural Boundaries between Vikings and Irish: The Evidence of Conversion
July 19, 2013 By
If we compare sources from England, the horror with which viking attacks were viewed is immediately apparent. The heathenism of vikings is stressed as one of their dire attributes in Alcuin’s famous response to news of the attack on Lindisfarne in 793. Literary accounts of vikings also became more lengthy and imaginative over time.
The Hospitallers’ and Templars’ involvement in warfare on the frontiers of the British Isles in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries
June 8, 2013 By
Although in theory they were independent religious orders answerable only to the pope, in the British Isles the Templars, and particularly the Hospitallers, were increasingly secularised institutions, serving the king of England and playing important roles in royal government
Medieval Irish chronicles reveal persistent volcanic forcing of severe winter cold events, 431–1649 CE
June 6, 2013 By
We present a uniquely long historical record of severe short-term cold events from Irish chronicles, 431–1649 CE, and test the association between cold event occurrence and explosive volcanism.
Rhetoric and Ethnicity in Gerald of Wales
May 3, 2013 By
This paper was given at the 2013 Celtic Studies Association of North America Annual Meeting at the University of Toronto.
Lincolnshire and the Arthurian Legend
April 28, 2013 By
This article is intended to rectify this, proceeding from the widely-held assumption of the existence of a genuinely ‘historical Arthur’, before going on to consider the even more fundamental question of whether we ought to believe in Arthur’s existence at all.
Society and Settlement in Glendalough and the Vartry before 1650
April 21, 2013 By
Glendalough and the Vartry yielded some of its secrets in these last four years and I became aware of its many unique aspects and the fact that the island viewpoints ofthe general political historian were not necessarily appropriate.
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