Dicuil and Irish scholars at the Carolingian Court with Dr Christian Schweizer
This week we are delighted to talk to the always enlightening Dr Christian Schweizer about his Research Ireland funded research on Dicuil, an Irish scholar who was prominent in the Carolingian Court in Aachen in the early 9th century. Dicuil wrote many fascinating texts covering a variety of disciplines including geography, astronomy and computistics, some of which, Dr Schweizer explains were annual "gifts" owed to King/Emperor Louis the Pious in return for his patronage. We also hear about other famous Irish scholars on the continent and ponder whether there are many parallels between their experiences and academia today.Suggested reading:-Christian Schweizer, ‘Categorizing Dicuil’s De cursu solis lunaeque’ in Peritia: Journal of the Medieval Academy of Ireland, xxxiii (2022), pp 227-48. https://doi.org/10.1484/J.PERIT.5.131906-Anthony Harvey, ‘"Battling Andrew" and the West-Brit Syndrome Twelve Hundred Years Ago’, Classics Ireland 9 (2002), 19-27.- Anthony Harvey, How linguistics can help the historian (Dublin, 2021), 11-22.-Sam Ottewill-Soulsby, ‘The Elephant’s Knee: Questioning Ancient Wisdom in the Ninth Century’, in The Historian’s Sketchpad, November 30, 2023. https://salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2023/11/30/the-elephants-knee-questioning-ancient-wisdom-in-the-ninth-century/- Tutrone, F. (2020). ‘Lucretius Franco-Hibernicus: Dicuil's Liber de astronomia and the Carolingian reception of De rerum natura’, Illinois Classical Studies 45.1, 224-52.- Ross, H. E. and Knott, B. I. (2019), ‘Dicuil (9th century) on triangular and square numbers’, British Journal for the History of Mathematics, 34.2, 79-94.- Dicuil, Liber de mensura orbis terrae, ed. & trans. J. J. Tierney [and Ludwig Bieler] (1967). Dublin: School of Celtic Studies.Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday)Email: medievalirishhistory@gmail.comX (formerly Twitter): @EarlyIrishPodSupported by the Dept of Early Irish, Dept of Music, Dept of History, 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 CostaMusic: Lexin_Music
11/4/2025
52:25
Slavery in Medieval Ireland with Dr Janel Fontaine
Apologies for the poor sound quality in this episode! This week Dr Janel Fontaine (Treasure Trove Officer, National Museums Scotland) talks us through some of the evidence for slavery in medieval Ireland. From the accounts of St Patrick in the 5th century to Gerald of Wales in the 12th century she explains how slavery was built into the social and economic fabric of Irish society. Suggested reading:- Janel Fontaine, Slave Trading in Early Medieval Europe (Manchester, 2025)- Fergus Kelly, Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin, 1988)- Caitlin Ellis, ‘Perceptions of the Slave Trade in Britain and Ireland: “Celtic” and “Viking” Stereotypes’, Quaestio Insularis 19 (2018), 127–57- Paul Holm, “The slave trade of Dublin, ninth to twelfth centuries”, Peritia 5 (1986), 317–345- David Wyatt, Slaves and Warriors in Medieval Britain and Ireland, 800-1200 (Brill, Leiden, 2009)- Charlene Eska, “Women and slavery in the early Irish laws”, Studia Celtica Fennica 8 (2011), 29–39-Alice Rio, Slavery After Rome, 500-1100 (Oxford, 2017)Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday)Email: medievalirishhistory@gmail.comX (formerly Twitter): @EarlyIrishPodSupported by the Dept of Early Irish, Dept of Music, Dept of History, 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 CostaMusic: Lexin_Music
28/3/2025
52:39
The 'Story' of St Patrick with Dr Elizabeth Dawson
It's time for our annual discussion of the man responsible for our national holiday in Ireland, Fáilte Ireland's global greening campaign and J. D. Vance wearing shamrock socks in the White House! Dr Elizabeth Dawson (Carlow College) is the perfect expert guide through over 14 centuries of stories celebrating St Patrick. She explains how Patrick became our patron saint, how traditions around Patrick evolved, why the 3 day weekend actually goes the whole way back to the 8th century, and from where snakes, parades and green beer come. For those looking for the historical individual Patrick, have a listen to our episode with the excellent Terry O'Hagan from last year: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1xYXTvNMKUbOwfG9Cf061N?si=-_3QBbkGQnOx9YofGTKXVQSuggested reading:Dawson, Elizabeth, Lives and Afterlives: The Hiberno-Latin Patrician Tradition, 650–1100 Studia Traditionis Theologiae, 55 (Turnhout, 2023)Dawson, Elizabeth, https://www.confessio.ie/more/article_dawson#Wycherley, Niamh, 'Meet St Patrick's Spin Doctor,' https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/0314/1036430-meet-st-patricks-spin-doctor/Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday)Email: medievalirishhistory@gmail.comX (formerly Twitter): @EarlyIrishPodSupported 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 CostaMusic: Lexin_Music
14/3/2025
56:50
Women's Power and Patronage with Tiago Veloso Silva
Due to popular demand our podcast producer Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva has finally come on to the other side of the mic as one of our expert guests! We chat ‘soft power’, definitions of patronage, Agnes Ní Máelsechlainn ‘An Caillech Mór’ (d.1196), St Mary’s Arrouaisian monastery, Clonard, & reflections on the study of medieval Irish history. Tiago is over half way through his PhD research in the Department of Early Irish, Maynooth University, under the supervision of Dr Wycherley, working on the Taighde Éireann/Research Ireland Pathway project ‘Power and patronage in medieval Ireland: Clonard from the sixth to twelfth centuries’. Tiago’s research aims to understand how women exercised power and authority in medieval Ireland by operating socio-cultural and political networks of patronage. This investigation is framed around noblewomen and religious women of the 12th century due to its intense and transformative character, but it allows certain chronological flexibility in order to understand the development of the concept and exercise of female power. To fill this epistemological lacuna, he employs an interdisciplinary approach anchored in a wide array of sources such as the corpus of secular genealogies, the Banshenchas and annalistic evidence. Suggested reading: Tiago Veloso Silva, The other Brigids: meet the forgotten mighty women of Medieval Ireland, https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2025/0130/1493745-medieval-ireland-kildare-women-st-brigid-darlugdach-gnathnat-sebdann-muireann-and-coblaith-sarnat/ Tracy Collins, Female Monasticism in Medieval Ireland: An Archaeology (Cork, 2021) Burke, Peter. History and social theory (Cambridge, 2005) Hall, Dianne. Women and the Church in Medieval Ireland (Dublin, 2008) Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday)Email: medievalirishhistory@gmail.comX (formerly Twitter): @EarlyIrishPodSupported 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 CostaMusic: Lexin_Music
28/2/2025
42:43
Isabel de Clare (d.1220) with Dr John Marshall
"I have no claim to anything here save through her". These are the reputed words of one of the most famous knights in English history, William Marshal, describing his wife Isabel, daughter of Aoife and Strongbow. In honour of St Valentine's Day Dr John Marshall (Lancaster University) gives us the full story of Isabel de Clare — a fascinating noblewoman, whose life, inheritance and influence crossed multiple (shifting) territorial boundaries. Dr Marshall offers complex and sometimes poignant insights, explaining to us how, being "born to an English father from the Welsh March and an Irish royal mother, Isabel's life crossed geographic and cultural divides, though neither of these were as rigid as we tend to think.” Suggested reading: You can find details on John's publications at: https://lancaster.academia.edu/JohnMarshall The history of William Marshal , eds A. J. Holden, S. Gregory, and D. Crouch (3 vols, London, 2002) L. Mitchell, ‘‘The most perfect knights’ Countess: Isabella de Clare, her daughters, and women’s exercise of power and influence, 1190–ca. 1250’ in H. J. Tanner (ed.), Medieval elite women and the exercise of power, 1100–1400: moving beyond the exceptionalist debate (London, 2019), 45–65 J. Bradley, C. Ó Drisceoil and M. Potterton (eds), William Marshal and Ireland (Dublin, 2020)Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).Email: medievalirishhistory@gmail.comX (formerly Twitter): @EarlyIrishPodSupported 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 CostaMusic: Lexin_Music
Hosted by Dr Niamh Wycherley, this podcast shows that medieval Irish history is complex and dynamic — not at all stuffy or static. Via lively and engaging chats with leading experts, it explores aspects of a largely ignored, but commonly evoked, period, and shares new and exciting research on medieval Ireland.
medievalirishhistory@gmail.com
X (Twitter): @EarlyIrishPod
Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, Taighde Éireann (formerly SFI/IRC). Views expressed are speakers' own.
Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.
Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa
Music: Lexin_Music
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