The Medieval Irish History Podcast

Feb 27 2025 36 ep. 48 mins 148
The Medieval Irish History Podcast artwork

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. [email protected] 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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Women's Power and Patronage with Tiago Veloso Silva

Feb 27 2025 42 mins  
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 w

Isabel de Clare (d.1220) with Dr John Marshall

Feb 13 2025 58 mins  
"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,

Bonus episode: Interpreting the 'Anglo-Norman' Invasion with Dr Colin Veach

Feb 08 2025 24 mins  
As a follow up to our episode on the English Conquest with Dr Colin Veach (University of Hull) we examine the bias inherent in the contemporary sources, including the famous Laudabiliter papal bull, the works of Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis/Gerald de Barri) , and the 'Song of Dermot and the Earl'. We also discuss how historians can best approach this complicated period of I

1169: The English Conquest of Ireland with Dr Colin Veach

Jan 30 2025 54 mins  
Happy St Brigit's weekend! (For links to Brigit content see below). Instead of Brigit we were eager to release an episode we recorded just before Christmas with the brilliant Dr Colin Veach, from the University of Hull, on the English colonisation of Ireland, which may be known to some of you as the Anglo-Norman Invasion. Today’s episode mostly focusses on the English perspective

Fashion and clothing with Mairéad Finnegan

Jan 16 2025 34 mins  
In this episode, Niamh Wycherley interviews Mairéad Finnegan, a PhD researcher in Maynooth University, about dress, clothing and fashion in late medieval Ireland (12th to 16th centuries). Mairéad brilliantly paints a vivid picture of how a medieval Irish person would express their ethnic identity, status, gender or community through their clothes and provides a glimpse into the p

St Columbanus and the Merovingians with Dr Alexander O'Hara

Jan 02 2025 52 mins  
Happy New Year! To soothe fragile minds after the Christmas break we are easing you in to 2025 with St Columbanus part 2 — a further, more relaxed, reflection, on the career and legacy of Irish monastic founder Columbanus with Dr Alexander O'Hara. Do listen to our previous episode from November 22nd first if you get the chance. In this episode, we hear lots of Columbanus' own wo

Law and Society with Prof. Liam Breatnach

Dec 19 2024 58 mins  
Happy Christmas everyone! In today's episode, Professor Liam Breatnach (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), one of Ireland's leading experts on the Old/Middle Irish language, medieval Irish law (so-called Brehon Law), poets and the Irish language, explains what the law tracts can tell us about medieval Irish society, the intellectual networks and frameworks that influenced and

The Material World of Medieval Ireland with Dr Sharon Greene

Dec 05 2024 56 mins  
Today, Dr Sharon Greene tells us how archaeologists explore how people lived in the past, what they believed and so on through the material remains they left behind. This can sometimes confirm or deny what the written records tell us – but most often it adds another layer to our understanding medieval Ireland. We chat about disciplinary challenges, how scholars can work together,

St Columbanus with Dr Alexander O'Hara

Nov 21 2024 54 mins  
Happy anniversary to St Columbanus, famous as a monastic founder, and a symbol of a united Europe, who is remembered as having died on Nov 23rd in the year 615! (Happy birthday also to Dr O'Hara's wife! More info in episode). Columbanus aficionado Dr Alexander O'Hara brings us through Columbanus' auspicious beginnings as a handsome aristocrat in Leinster, his superlative scholarly

Medieval Irish Manuscripts with Dr Chantal Kobel

Nov 07 2024 56 mins  
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 bo