The Strategy of Challenges: Two Beheading Games In Medieval Literature
The Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and its Old Irish ancestor The Feast of Bricriu recount a remarkable stranger’s challenge to the hero, in effect, ‘You can chop off my head if you’ll let me return the blow.’
‘The Halved Heads’: Osteological Evidence for Decapitation in Medieval Ireland
This paper examines the osteological evidence for decapitation from 30 skeletal assemblages dated to the medieval period (6th to 16th century) from Ireland.
Ireland’s Ancient East campaign to showcase country’s medieval sites
The Irish government has started a tourism campaign – Ireland’s Ancient East – in hopes that the country’s heritage will attract another 600,000 overseas visitors per year.
Tabula Gratulatoria for Clerics, Kings and Vikings
Four Courts Press invite you to subscribe to the Tabula Gratulatoria for Clerics, Kings and Vikings, a collection of essays on medieval Ireland in honour of Donnchadh Ó Corráin,
Which Irish Saint Are You?
Brendan, Columba, Patrick – find out which Irish Saint you are most like!
BOOKS: Medieval Ireland
In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, here are some great books on medieval Ireland!
15th century ruins discovered near Dunluce Castle
Historians have known that a 17th-century town existed near the iconic Dunluce Castle in Northern Ireland, but new research has uncovered new evidence of an earlier settlement, dating back to the 15th century.
‘Hag of the Castle:’ Women, Family, and Community in Later Medieval Ireland
In a letter written as part of his work for the Irish Department of the Ordnance Survey in 1840, Thomas O’Conor recorded his reaction to a “Sheela- na-gig” sculpture—the image of a naked woman shown exposing her genitalia (fig. 1)—that he saw on the old church at Kiltinane, Co. Tipperary.
Enniskillen Castle to receive over £2 million in heritage funding
Enniskillen Castle, one of Northern Ireland’s most impressive castles, is to be transformed into a world class heritage attraction, thanks to a £2.37 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund
An aspect of Alcuin: ‘Tuus Albinus’ – peevish egotist? or parrhesiast?
In over 270 letters from about a decade and a half, alcuin of york (†804) informed, advised, consoled and admonished contemporaries, reacted to current events, and maintained a circle of friends and partners in reciprocal prayer that extended from Jerusalem to Ireland and from rome to salzburg. Alcuin left york in the 780s to become a friend and chief advisor to Charlemagne.
Viking Chiefs, Irish Kings and Exported Princesses
One of the earliest records which we have of the Deisi, the native kingdom in which Viking Woodstown were constructed, is their origin legend
Tundale’s Vision: Socialization in 12th Century Ireland
The purpose of this project is to explore the historical image of Hell in Medieval Europe as an agent of socialization for illiterate Christian communities.
6,000 artefacts discovered at Drumclay crannog dig
An archaeological dig in Northern Ireland has uncovered about 6,000 artefacts, dating back to as early as the seventh century A.D.
A monastic landscape: The Cistercians in medieval Leinster
This study endeavours to discuss the Cistercian monasteries of Leinster with regard to their physical location in the landscape, the agricultural contribution of the monks to the broader social and economic world and the interaction between the cloistered monks and the secular world.
ARTICLES: The Deflation of the Medieval in Joyce’s Ulysses
For James Joyce, Irish nationalism, with its appeal to patriotic emotionality and promotion of interest in the archaic and medieval Irish past, was suspect.
The Viking Age in Ireland – An Overview
The Irish sometimes referred to them as Lochlannach, meaning ‘men from the land of lakes’. This probably refers back to their native Scandinavia and its famous landscape, but it could equally refer to Scotland and northern England where the Vikings had also settled.
Grainne Uaile: The Movie
An up and coming movie about Grace O’ Malley (Grainne Uaile), Ireland’s famous female pirate!
Irish Hagiographical Lives in the Twelfth Century: Church Reform before the Anglo-Norman Invasion
In order to further disentangle the reality and fiction of this view of culture versus barbarity and of reform versus wickedness, I shall analyse twelfth-century Irish vitae.
Christianity and the Latin tradition in early Medieval Ireland
The Christianity which arrived in Ireland with the fifth-century missionaries was more than just a literate religion; it was very much a religion of the book.
A Peripheral Matter?: Oceans in the East in Late-Medieval Thought, Report and Cartography
It is something of a truism that the Ocean Sea {mare oceanum in medieval texts and cartography) marked out a real and conceptual periphery for medieval Western Europeans.
Archaeologists uncover human remains in Dublin
The remains of at least five people have been discovered by archaeologists working at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Since they were found at a depth of 1.5 metres below the surface, it suggests the remains are most likely medieval or earlier in date.
What’s Happening in Medieval Archaeology this Summer
Here are some videos posted this summer about archaeological work currently taking place that involves medieval finds.
Amending the Ascetic: Community and Character in the Old English Life of St. Mary of Egypt
Among the most eligible saints for such treatment, Mary of Egypt deserves particular consideration: her popularity is evidenced by over a hundred extant Greek manuscripts of her Life and her uniquely prominent position in the Lenten liturgical cycle in the Eastern Church.
Quiz: Early Medieval Ireland
Try this quiz and see how much do you know about Ireland in the Early Middle Ages!