Episodes
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In this bonus episode, Dr Niamh Wycherley interviews Dr Charles Insley (University of Manchester) to briefly discuss the overarching framework of queenship applied to the Irish Sea and how it can help us to understand better how the Irish conceptualized queenship and power.
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In today's episode, Dr Niamh Wycherley and Dr Donncha MacGabhann explore The Book of Kells, one of Ireland's most famous medieval manuscripts. This Irish treasure now exhibited at Trinity College Dublin, displays a carefully crafted script and astonishing miniatures, which showcase the expertise of medieval Irish artistic expression.
Where was it made? When? How? By whom? Why? Those are some of the questions that lead today's episode into an in-depth examination of one of the most important objects of medieval Ireland, an object that to this day makes up part of Irish identity itself.
Suggested reading:
Donncha MacGabhann, The Book of Kells A Masterwork Revealed: Creators, Collaboration, and Campaigns (Sidestone, 2022)
Bernard Meehan, The Book of Kells (London, 2012)
Jennifer OʼReilly, Early medieval text and image II: the Codex Amiatinus, the Book of Kells and Anglo-Saxon art, Variorum Collected Studies Series, 1080 (New York, 2019).
Richard Sharpe (ed. & trans.) Adomnán of Iona: Life of St Columba (London: Penguin, 1995)
Máire Herbert, Iona, Kells, and Derry: the history and hagiography of the monastic familia of Columba (Oxford, 1988)Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).Email: [email protected] X: @EarlyIrishPodSupported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & Science Foundation Ireland/The Irish Research Council. Views expressed are the speakers' own.Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.Logo design: Matheus de Paula CostaMusic: Lexin_Music
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Missing episodes?
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The Battle of Clontarf (1014) was one of those unique and dividing moments in Irish History, but how much do we know about it?
The traditional narrative of this event places the Irish fighting against the Norse invaders who held Dublin. Still, in this episode, Dr Denis Casey https://deniscasey.com/ shows us that this hypothesis is not entirely true.
Brian Boru, king of Ireland and killed at the battle, achieved heroic status in the Irish imaginary, but how did this story come to be? Join Niamh and Dr Denis Casey in this investigation.
Resources:https://www.tcd.ie/library/exhibitions/boru/index.php
Seán Duffy, Brian Boru and the battle of Clontarf (Dublin, 2013).
Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Brian Boru: Ireland's greatest king? (Stroud, 2007).
The various annalistic compilations can be found on the Corpus of Electronic Texts (CELT) website: https://celt.ucc.ie//publishd.html
James Henthorn Todd (tr., ed.) Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh (The war of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, or, The invasions of Ireland by the Danes and other Norsemen (London, 1867).
Magnus Magnusson & Hermann Pálsson (trs.). Njal’s Saga (Harmondsworth, 1971).
Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).Email: [email protected] X: @EarlyIrishPodSupported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & Science Foundation Ireland/The Irish Research Council. Views expressed are the speakers' own.Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.Logo design: Matheus de Paula CostaMusic: Lexin_Music
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In this episode Prof. Robin Chapman Stacey (University of Washington) chats to Niamh and Tiago about medieval Ireland's unique and remarkable legal system and the huge volume of law tracts that survive in both Latin and the Irish language. With topics ranging from status and gender to what happens when you get stung by a neighbour's bee, we discuss social theorising, how useful the study of law texts can be to the historian, and how astonishing it is that the Irish material, the most extensive in western Europe, is generally ignored outside of Ireland.
Suggested reading:
Robin Chapman Stacey, The Road to Judgment: From Custom to Court in Medieval Ireland and Wales. (Philadelphia, 1994)
Robin Chapman Stacey, Dark Speech: The Performance of Law in Early Ireland (Philadelphia, 2007)
Fergus Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin, 1988) [A bit outdated in areas but still the best introductory overview of the topic]
Fergus Kelly, Early Irish Farming. A Study Based Mainly on the Law-texts of the 7th and 8th centuries AD (Dublin, 1997).Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).Email: [email protected] X: @EarlyIrishPodSupported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & Science Foundation Ireland/The Irish Research Council. Views expressed are the speakers' own.Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.Logo design: Matheus de Paula CostaMusic: Lexin_Music
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Featuring the greatest periwinkle story ever told, this episode explores the evidence for the language spoken in Ireland in late antiquity with the highly entertaining Prof. David Stifter (Maynooth University). He tells us all about the uniqueness of the ogham/ogam writing script (which may or may not have been invented by a Kerryman) and how difficult Old Irish is to learn. Stay tuned to the end to hear Prof. Stifter recite/translate some lines and poetry in Old Irish, Modern Irish, Latin and German.
This is the third and final episode of our little trilogy on Ireland in late antiquity. The first two episodes are 'Ireland in the Roman Empire with Dr Elva Johnston' and 'St Patrick with Terry O'Hagan'.
Happy Easter!
Suggested reading/links:
Ogam booklet by David Stifter: https://shop.universitybooks.ie/Books/Ogam-Language-Writing-Epigraphy_9788413404226
David Stifter, Sengoidelc: Old Irish for Beginners (Syracuse, 2006) https://shop.universitybooks.ie/Books/SENGOIDELC-OLD-IRISH-FOR-BEGINNERS_9780815630722
The Og(h)am project website, esp blog on spelling and pronounciation: https://ogham.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/2021/12/06/you-say-ogham-and-i-say ogam/#:~:text=There%20are%20those%20who%20speak,as%20if%20you%20were%20gargling).
Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).
Email: [email protected]
Twitter X: @EarlyIrishPod
Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & Science Foundation Ireland/The Irish Research Council. Views expressed are the speakers' own.
Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.
Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa
Music: Lexin_Music
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Continuing our tour of Ireland in late antiquity, this episode examines the life of the historical Patrick, the 'poster boy' of the period. Dr. Niamh Wycherley invites Terry O'Hagan, also known as blogger Vox Hiberionacum, to delve deep into the writings of Patrick, the real man behind Ireland's famous patron saint.
Suggested reading:
www.confessio.ie
https://voxhib.com/
This is the second episode of a trilogy on Ireland in late antiquity. The previous episode explores Ireland in the Roman Empire with Dr Elva Johnston. The final episode in this holy trinity is on language and Ogham with Prof. David Stifter and will be released March 29th.
Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).
Email: [email protected]
Twitter X: @EarlyIrishPod
Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & Science Foundation Ireland/The Irish Research Council. Views expressed are the speakers' own.
Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.
Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa
Music: Lexin_Music
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In this episode, host Dr Niamh Wycherley explores the rich world of late antiquity (approx. 3rd to 7th centuries AD) with Dr Elva Johnston (School of History, UCD) when Irish elites imported wine, foodstuffs, fancy earbuds and Christianity from the Roman world. Dr Johnston makes the important distinction that Ireland wasn't 'part of' nor 'apart from' the Roman Empire during this time. We discover that it is unhelpful to categorize this period in religious terms such as 'Early Christian Ireland' — we should not assume that belief was the dominating organising factor in society.
This is the 1st episode in a trilogy on Ireland in late antiquity. Next up we will have Terry O'Hagan (@voxhib) on St Patrick, the poster boy of Late Antique Ireland, and we'll finish with Prof. David Stifter on Ogham writing and the Early Irish language on March 29th.
Suggested reading:
-Elva Johnston, “Ireland in Late Antiquity: A Forgotten Frontier,” Studies in Late Antiquity 1.2 (2017): 107–23
-Elva Johnston, When worlds collide? Pagans and Christians in fifth- and sixth-century Ireland, Kathleen Hughes Memorial Lectures, 16, Cambridge: ASNC, 2017.
-The writings of St Patrick can be found on https://confessio.ie
Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).
Email: [email protected]
Twitter X: @EarlyIrishPod
Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & Science Foundation Ireland/The Irish Research Council. Views expressed are the speakers' own.
Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.
Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa
Music: Lexin_Music
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In this episode, Dr Niamh Wycherley and Dr Catherine Swift (Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick) take a deep dive into the complex contexts of the ultimate Queen of medieval Ireland, Gormlaith, daughter of Murchad, son of Finn (King of Leinster). Famous as the mother of kings and wife to kings, she was born into Leinster aristocracy and is remembered in the Annals of Inisfallen as the Queen of Munster. Gormlaith's life was marked by a series of important events, most notably the Battle of Clontarf, 1014, in which two sides of her family battled for the control of Dublin. Part Two will be out in May or June.
Suggested reading:
In addition to the works mentioned in the episode, see Máire NÍ Mhaonaigh, 'Tales of three Gormlaiths in early Irish literature', Ériu 52 (2002), 1–24; Ailbhe Mac Shamhráin, 'The battle of Glenn Máma, Dublin and the high-kingship of Ireland', Medieval Dublin II, ed. S. Duffy (Dublin, 2001). For the suggestion of an early marriage between Gormlaith and Mael Sechnaill (King of Tara), see A. Woolf, From Pictland to Alba: 789–1070 (Edinburgh, 2007).
Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).
Email: [email protected]
Twitter X: @EarlyIrishPod
Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & Science Foundation Ireland/The Irish Research Council. Views expressed are the speakers' own.
Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.
Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa
Music: Lexin_Music
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Was Brigit a true feminist icon? Was she even real? Or merely made up by a man to exploit the veneration of a 'pagan' goddess? All this and more in our special St Brigit's Day episode with Prof. Catherine McKenna (Harvard University) to celebrate the Brigit 1500 commemorations in 2024. Happy St Brigit's Day!
Niamh's suggested reading: Since the podcast aired Dr Elva Johnston published an excellent article, available free online, which references all the relevant reading on St Brigit, including my book (The cult of relics in early medieval Ireland) which discusses the relics of Brigit in detail and the glory of Kildare, Prof McKenna's article on Maud Gonne and the development of Brigit the goddess, and the translations of the earliest texts on St Brigit which are online. See Elva Johnston, 'Making St Brigit real in the early middle ages', Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy Vol. 124C (2024), 1–26.
Hosted by Dr Niamh Wycherley.
Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).
Email: [email protected]
Twitter X: @EarlyIrishPod
Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & Science Foundation Ireland/The Irish Research Council. Views expressed are the speakers' own.
Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.
Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa
Music: Lexin_Music
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Suggested reading now added below. Were towns introduced by vikings? Were the Irish settled around monastic centres? What actually is a 'town' and what is 'monastic'? In this episode, Dr. Niamh Wycherley invites Dr. Michael Potterton, lecturer in the Department of History at Maynooth University, to discuss some key aspects and intersections between medieval history and archaeology. One of the subjects discussed here is the ongoing 'monastic town' debate, which has been around for decades in academic circles.
(Disclaimer: No, you haven't gone back in time. It is 2024. We recorded before Christmas and weren't clever enough to say 2024 instead of 2023 when mentioning the year.)
Suggested reading. The first two articles detailed below were mentioned during the podcast and they are both by influential historians of early Ireland. There are many more brilliant articles listed in the article by Etchingham detailed below and it is available free online (as of Feb 19th, 2024). I add a third article by John Soderberg to provide a more recent, and archaeological, perspective.
1) Charles Doherty, ‘The Monastic Town in Early Medieval Ireland’, in The Comparative History of Urban Origins in Non-Roman Europe, ed. H.Clarke and A. Simms (Oxford, 1985), pp. 45–75.
2) Colmán Etchingham, 'The Irish ‘monastic town’: is this a valid concept?', Kathleen Hughes memorial lectures 8 (Cambridge, 2010).
3) John Soderberg, 'Anthropological "civitas" and the possibility of monastic towns', The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol. 144/145 (2014–2015), pp. 45–59.
Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).
Email: [email protected]
Twitter X: @EarlyIrishPod
Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & the Irish Research Council. Views expressed are the speakers' own.
Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.
Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa
Music: Lexin_Music
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This episode explores the networks and social relations involving arguably the most famous woman of the Irish Middle Ages, Ireland's 'Helen of Troy' — Queen Derbforgaill of Bréifne. Host Dr Niamh Wycherley chats with Dr Seán Ó Hoireabhárd of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies about her independent wealth and status, whether she caused the English invasion of Ireland, and whether she and her husband Tigernán Ua Ruairc were the hot power couple of 12th century Ireland.
Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).
Email: [email protected]
Twitter X: @EarlyIrishPod
Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & the Irish Research Council. Views expressed are the speakers' own.
Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.
Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa
Music: Lexin_Music
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Santa is not the only bearded guy bringing gifts around this time of year, the vikings are here!
In this episode, Dr Niamh Wycherley explores the so-called viking age in medieval Ireland with Prof. Clare Downham, Professor of Medieval History at the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool.
Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).
Email: [email protected]
Twitter X: @EarlyIrishPod
Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & the Irish Research Council. Views expressed are the speakers' own.
Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.
Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa
Music: Lexin_Music
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Was Christmas a big deal in medieval Ireland? In this bonus episode host Dr Niamh Wycherley interviews some contributors to the recently launched Christmas and the Irish: a miscellany (Wordwell, 2023) edited by Salvador Ryan, Professor of Ecclesiastical History at St Patrick's College Maynooth.
Featuring: Prof David Stifter (MU), Tara Shields (QUB), Dr Denis Casey (MU), Dr Siobhán Barrett (MU).
Nollaig shona daoibh go léir!
Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).
Email: [email protected]
Twitter X: @EarlyIrishPod
Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & the Irish Research Council. Views expressed are the speakers' own.
Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.
Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa
Music: Lexin_Music
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An introduction to the Irish medieval world, including inequality, druids (or lack thereof), kings, and romantic notions of the past, with Dr. Elizabeth Boyle.
This is a long one but stayed tuned to the end to hear Niamh and Lizzie chat about how medieval Ireland was just as exceptional as anywhere else and about how medieval Irish historians are an endangered species.
Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).
Email: [email protected]
Twitter X: @EarlyIrishPod
Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & the Irish Research Council. Views expressed are the speakers' own.
Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.
Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa
Music: Lexin_Music
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Welcome to The Medieval Irish History Podcast!
In this trailer episode, Dr. Niamh Wycherley will introduce the podcast and we will give you a brief excerpt of the upcoming episode with Dr. Elizabeth Boyle. Enjoy!
Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).
Email: [email protected]
Twitter X: @EarlyIrishPod
Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & the Irish Research Council. Views expressed are the speakers' own.
Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.
Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa
Music: Lexin_Music
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/medievalirishhistory/message
