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  • In this episode, we are joined by Dr Chantal Kobel (Department of Early Irish, Maynooth University) to chat all about medieval Irish manuscripts (literally documents written by hand) and the various specialists skills and tools needed to read these precious historical sources. From palaeography (the study of old handwriting and writing systems) to codicology (study of the actual books) we learn about how manuscripts were physically made (trigger warning, it gets a little gruesome!), what they feel like, why so few survive, where you can see them for yourselves (online or Royal Irish Academy!), whether some more could be discovered, and whether any were written by women. Some notable mentions: Faddan More Psalter, Rawlinson B502 (Book of Glendalough?), Book of Armagh, Aided Chonchobair ‘The violent death of Conchobar.

    Suggested resources:

    Irish Script on Screen (ISOS): www.isos.dias.ie Manuscripts with Irish Associations (MIra): http://www.mira.ie/

    e-Codices: https://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en

    John Gillis, The Faddan More Psalter: The Discovery and Conservation of a Medieval Treasure (Dublin, 2021).

    Richard Sharpe, ‘Books from Ireland, fifth to ninth centuries’, Peritia 21 (2010), 1–55.

    Donnchadh Ó Corráin, ‘What happened Ireland’s medieval manuscripts?’, Peritia 22-23 (2011–2012), 191–223.

    Charles Plummer, ‘On the colophons and marginalia of Irish scribes’, Proceedings of the British Academy 12 (1926), 11–44.

    Chantal Kobel, “A critical edition of Aided Chonchobair ‘The violent death of Conchobar’: with translation, textual notes and bibliography”, PhD thesis, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Irish and Celtic Studies, 2015.

    Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).

    Email: [email protected]

    X (formerly Twitter): @EarlyIrishPod

    Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & Taighde Éireann (formerly Science Foundation Ireland/Irish Research Council).

    Views expressed are the speakers' own.

    Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.

    Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa

    Music: Lexin_Music

  • This week we chat to Anthony Candon about one of the greatest men in Irish history — Muirchertach Ua Briain (c.1050–1119), king of Munster, arguably king of all Ireland, and great-grandson of Brian Bóru. Tony tells us all about Muirchertach's reputation as a great military leader, his influence on the Irish Church, his international status outside of Ireland, the astute marriage alliances he brokered for his daughters with famous Norwegian king Magnus Barelegs and Arnulf de Montgomery, brother of Robert de Bellême, earl of Shrewsbury. We also chat how appropriate a camel is as a diplomatic gift, the Rock of Cashel and decapitated head trophies in medieval Irish warfare.

    You can find Anthony Candon's published articles on academia.edu

    Suggested reading:

    Anthony Candon, “Power, politics and polygamy: women and marriage in late pre-Norman Ireland”, in: Damian Bracken, and Dagmar Ó Riain-Raedel (eds), Ireland and Europe in the twelfth century: reform and renewal (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2006) 06–127

    Anthony Candon, ‘Muirchertach Ua Briain, politics and naval activity in the Irish Sea, 1075 to 1119’, Gearóid Mac Niocaill and Patrick F. Wallace (ed.), Keimelia: studies in medieval archaeology and history in memory of Tom Delaney (1987), 397–415

    Anthony Candon, ‘Barefaced effrontery: secular and ecclesiastical politics in early twelfth-century Ireland’, Seanchas Ard Mhacha, xiv, no. 2 (1991), 1–25

    For the 12th century Church see Marie Therese Flanagan, The transformation of the Irish church in the twelfth century (Woodbridge, 2013).

    For the Rock of Cashel listen to Dr Patrick Gleeson on the Amplify Archaeology Podcast https://open.spotify.com/episode/63Sv8kZNbP12NT4HoRAgUp?si=1dda663e986b4e53

    Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).

    Email: [email protected]

    X (formerly Twitter): @EarlyIrishPod

    Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & Taighde Éireann (formerly Science Foundation Ireland/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 back to the second season of The Medieval Irish History Podcast!

    We are very excited to be back with you all! Today, in our very first episode of the new season, we are back with Dr Elizabeth Boyle to talk little bit about Early Irish Literature. You have probably heard about some key figures of medieval Irish literature, such as Cú Chulainn and Queen Medb from Táin Bó Cúailnge, but how can we as historians (or interested readers) interpret these sagas? Are they myths that provide a window into Ireland's past or are they the result of a cleric's fertile imagination?

    Suggested reading:

    – For translations of a selection of Irish saga narratives see Jeffrey Gantz, Early Irish Myths and Sagas (Penguin, 1981) but please disregard the outdated introduction.

    – Ann Dooley, Playing the Hero: Reading the Irish Saga Táin Bó Cúailnge (Toronto, 2006)

    – Elizabeth Boyle, Fierce Appetites (Dublin and London, 2022)

    – Elizabeth Boyle, 'Early Medieval Perspectives on Pre-Christian Traditions in the Celtic World' In: Prognostication in the Medieval World: A Handbook (Berlin, 2020).

    – Gregory Toner, ‘Wise Women and Wanton Warriors in Early Irish Literature’ in Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium, xxx (2010), pp 259–27

    – Angela Bourke et al (eds), The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing Volume IV: Irish Women’s Writings and Traditions (Cork 2002)

    – Thomas Owen Clancy, ‘Women poets in early medieval Ireland’, in C. E. Meek & M. K. Simms (eds), The Fragility of her Sex? Medieval Irish Women in their European Context (Dublin, 1996), pp. 43–72

    Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).

    Email: [email protected]

    X (formerly Twitter): @EarlyIrishPod

    Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & Taighde Éireann (formerly Science Foundation Ireland/Irish Research Council).

    Views expressed are the speakers' own.

    Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.

    Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa

    Music: Lexin_Music

  • ICYMI! In order to celebrate the anniversary of Adomnán on the 23rd of September, we are re-uploading the episode discussing saint Adomnán, one of the successors of Columba and writer of the Vita Columbae, with Prof. Clancy (Professor of Celtic, University of Glasgow).

    In this episode we focus on his primary monastic foundation, Iona, and his successor abbot Adomnán (d.704), famous in his own right as a saint, a stateman, a scholar, and a jurist. Prof. Clancy tells us about Adomnán's writings, including the Vita Columbae (The Life of Columba) and De Locis Sanctis (On the Holy Places), his diplomatic activities, his motivations and his methods. We also chat about the Loch Ness Monster, vikings, the Book of Kells and more.

    Suggested reading/resources (see also part 1 ep. notes):

    -Máire Herbert, Iona, Kells and Derry (1988)

    -Thomas O'Loughlin, Adomnán at Birr, AD 697: essays in commemoration of the law of the innocents (2001)

    - Jonathan M. Wooding, Rodney Aist, Thomas Owen Clancy, Thomas O'Loughlin (eds.), Adomnán of Iona: Theologian, lawmaker, peacemaker (Dublin, 2010).

    - Thomas O'Loughlin, 'The library of Iona in the late seventh century: The evidence from Adomnán's 'De Locis Sanctis'', Ériu 45 (1994) 33–52

    -Iona's Namescape project https://iona-placenames.glasgow.ac.uk/

    -Adrián Maldonado on Columba's writing hut: https://theconversation.com/how-we-found-st-columbas-famous-writing-hut-stashed-in-a-cornish-garage-80778

    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

  • This episode is excerpted from RTÉ Radio One's The History Show with Myles Dungan September 8th, 2024: https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22430394/

    Thanks a million to Myles, producer Lorcan & the whole team for having Dr Niamh Wycherley on to talk about St Brigid’s legacy, medieval Irish history, women in medieval Ireland, how medieval historians are like detectives & our big Brigid’s Worlds event this weekend in Maynooth University in collaboration with Kildare County Council. Book here: https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/news-events/brigids-worlds

    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

  • In case you missed it! Inspired by the summer sun and tourist queues at Christchurch Cathedral, Dublinia, the Viking Splash Tour and the National Museum of Ireland (Kildare Street) etc, we bring you a REPEAT of our episode from May 24th dedicated to the man (partly) responsible for it all.

    In this episode, Dr Niamh Wycherley interviews Prof Alex Woolf (University of St. Andrews) on Sitric Silkenbeard, arguably one of the best Dubliners of all time. How did he end up being the king of Dublin? What was he doing during the Battle of Clontarf? What happened to him afterwards? These questions are at the core of this week's episode of The Medieval Irish History podcast.

    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

  • ! Apologies for the poor sound quality! Unfortunately, this was recorded online, but we promise to fix this problem for Season 2 which should begin at the end of September.

    In the last episode of the season, Dr. Niamh Wycherley interviews Anne Connon on queens and queenship in medieval Ireland, a subject that has underpinned many episodes this season. Queens and noblewomen were an integral part of medieval Irish society and rulership, but often receive much less scholarly attention than their male counterparts. This episode asks fundamental questions that are imperative to a better understanding of female power in medieval Ireland, such as how can we define a queen in the medieval Irish context, where can we find them and what was their role in medieval Irish society? This episode fits into a wider framework of queenship studies and contributes to an ongoing discussion of female power and authority in Ireland during the Middle Ages.

    Thank you for following and supporting the podcast, we hope you enjoyed this as much as we did! If you have any suggestions for Season 2, please e-mail us or drop us a message on X!

    Suggested reading:

    Connon, Anne, “The Banshenchas and the Uí Néill queens of Tara”, in: Alfred P. Smyth (ed.), Seanchas. Studies in early and medieval Irish archaeology, history and literature in honour of Francis J. Byrne, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000, pp. 98–108

    Connon, Anne, “A prosopography of the early queens of Tara”, in Edel Bhreathnach (ed.), The kingship and landscape of Tara (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2005), pp. 225-327, 338-57.

    Resources on the Banshenchas can be found at: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Metrical_Banshenchas
    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

  • In our penultimate episode of season 1 we were incredibly lucky to get Prof. Máire Ní Mhaonaigh (Professor of Celtic and Medieval Studies, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge) out to the recording studio in Maynooth University. We chatted all about Gormlaith (died 948), an aristocratic woman, queen, reputed poet, and daughter of famous self proclaimed king of all Ireland, Flann Sinna. She left a considerable legacy, becoming one of the most written about Irish women in the Middle Ages. Prof. Ní Mhaonaigh guides us through all these varied written sources and her reputed marriages to famous Irish kings: King of Munster, Cormac mac Cuilennáin, King of Leinster, Cerball mac Muirecáin, and King of Tara, Niall Glúndub.

    Suggested reading:

    Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, ‘Tales of the Three Gormlaiths in Medieval Irish Literature’, Ériu 52 (2002), pp 1–24.

    Máirín Ní Dhonnchadha, ‘On Gormfhlaith Daughter of Flann Sinna and the Lure of the Sovereignty Goddess’ in Seanchas: Studies in Early and Medieval Irish Archaeology, History and Literature in Honour of Francis J Byrne, ed. Alfred. P. Smyth (Dublin, 2000), pp 225–237

    Gregory Toner, Manifestations of Sovereignty in Medieval Ireland (University of Cambridge, 2018)

    Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).

    Email: [email protected]

    Twitter 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 Costa

    Music: Lexin_Music

  • We're back to continue our chat with Prof. Clancy (Professor of Celtic, University of Glasgow) about St Columba (aka Colum Cille). In this episode we focus on his primary monastic foundation, Iona, and his successor abbot Adomnán (d.704), famous in his own right as a saint, a stateman, a scholar, and a jurist. Prof. Clancy tells us about Adomnán's writings, including the Vita Columbae (The Life of Columba) and De Locis Sanctis (On the Holy Places), his diplomatic activities, his motivations and his methods. We also chat about the Loch Ness Monster, vikings, the Book of Kells and more.

    Suggested reading/resources (see also part 1 ep. notes):

    -Máire Herbert, Iona, Kells and Derry (1988)

    -Thomas O'Loughlin, Adomnán at Birr, AD 697: essays in commemoration of the law of the innocents (2001)

    - Jonathan M. Wooding, Rodney Aist, Thomas Owen Clancy, Thomas O'Loughlin (eds.), Adomnán of Iona: Theologian, lawmaker, peacemaker (Dublin, 2010).

    - Thomas O'Loughlin, 'The library of Iona in the late seventh century: The evidence from Adomnán's 'De Locis Sanctis'', Ériu 45 (1994) 33–52

    -Iona's Namescape project https://iona-placenames.glasgow.ac.uk/

    -Adrián Maldonado on Columba's writing hut: https://theconversation.com/how-we-found-st-columbas-famous-writing-hut-stashed-in-a-cornish-garage-80778

    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

  • Part 2 out June 28th.

    In this episode, Dr Niamh Wycherley invites Prof. Thomas Owen Clancy (Professor of Celtic, University of Glasgow) to discuss St Columba (aka Colum Cille aka Columbkille), the so-called warrior saint of medieval Ireland. St Columba is considered one of the main patron saints of Ireland together with St Brigit and St Patrick. Part of a noble family, the saint sought exile and founded what is now one of the most well-known monasteries of medieval Ireland, Iona, which is actually located in present day Scotland. The power of Iona later developed into what historians call the 'Columban Federation', a group of monasteries under Iona's central influence.

    Join us in this two-part episode accompanying the life of St. Columba, his monastery and Adomnán, his most famous hagiographer.

    Suggested reading:

    Adomnán of Iona, Life of St Columba, translated by Richard Sharpe (London, Penguin Classics, 1995)

    Thomas Owen Clancy and Gilbert Márkus, Iona: the earliest poetry of a Celtic monastery (Edinburgh, 1995)

    Thomas Owen Clancy and Dauvit Broun (eds), Spes Scotorum / Hope of Scots: St. Columba, Iona and Scotland (Edinburgh, 1999)

    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

  • In 1066 Edward the Confessor died, an event that set in motion a tripartite dispute for the throne of England, ultimately won by William of Normandy. After the Battle of Hastings, forever immortalized in the Bayeux Tapestry, William acquired the epithet 'The Conqueror' and the fate of England and surrounding territories was forever changed.

    The battle of Hastings in 1066 was certainly important, but was it decisive? Who were the Normans? What happened to the losers? How did the Irish react to this event? Diarmait mac Máel na mBó, King of Leinster, was allied with Harold Godwinson, who defeated famed 'Last Viking' Harald, King of Norway, at the Battle of Stamford Bridge only three weeks before he was killed by the Normans at Hastings. Godwinson's sons sought refuge with Diarmait in the aftermath. Diarmait is later mentioned in the Irish annals as possessing the standard or banner of the king of England, but how did it get in Ireland in the first place?

    These are some of the questions tackled by today's episode with Dr Caitlin Ellis (University of Oslo) and Dr Niamh Wycherley, who are looking at England from an Irish perspective and placing the aftermath of the Battle of Hastings in a wider context bridged by the Irish Sea.

    Suggested reading:

    Caitlin Ellis, ‘“Brian’s sword” and the “standard of the king of the Saxons” in the Irish annals: the Godwinsons, Hastings and Leinster–Munster relations’, Ériu 73 (2023), 43–62

    Caitlin Ellis, ‘Ireland and the Anglo-Normans within the Irish Sea World: Rebels, Mercenaries, Allies 1066–1169’, Borders and the Norman World, ed. Daniel Armstrong, Áron Kecskés with Charlie Rozier and Leonie Hicks (Boydell & Brewer, 2023), 17–42

    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

  • In this episode, Dr Niamh Wycherley interviews Dr Alex Woolf (University of St. Andrews) on Sitric Silkenbeard, arguably one of the best Dubliners of all time. How did he end up being the king of Dublin? What was he doing during the Battle of Clontarf? What happened to him afterwards? These questions are at the core of this week's episode of The Medieval Irish History podcast.

    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

  • Special bonus episode! An extra treat as part of our mini series on Irish Queens. In this episode Niamh and Dr Charles Insley (The University of Manchester) chat all about what Queens Aethelflaed (Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians), Emma of Normandy and Gormlaith of Dublin have in common. Dr Insley tells us about an overarching framework of queenship which applied across the Irish Sea regions and how it can help us to understand better how the Irish conceptualised queenship and power.

    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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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.

    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).

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    Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & Science Foundation Ireland/The Irish Research Council. Views expressed are the speakers' own.

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