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: medievalirishhistory@gmail.com

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 (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: medievalirishhistory@gmail.com
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: medievalirishhistory@gmail.com 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