Re-examining the early Irish marriage laws

Understanding Religious Change in Africa and Europe: Crossing Latitudes; The Christianization of Jukun of Nigeria and Celtic Irish in Early Medieval Europ

The church and the world in early Christian Ireland. By Kathleen Hughes; with an appendix by John Bannerman. In Irish Historical Studies, xiii. 99–116. - Visigothic Spain and early Christian Ireland. By J.N. Hillgarth. In Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. lxii, sect, c, pp. 167–194. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis. 1962. 3s. 6d. - The impact of the Scandinavian invasions on the Celtic speaking peoples. Proceedings of the International Congress of Celtic Studies held in Dublin, 6—10 July 1959. Pp. xxvii, 132. Dublin: Institute for Advanced Studies. 1962. 18s. - Volume 13 Issue 51

Reviewed by: Constructing Gender in Medieval Irelanded. by Sarah Sheehan and Ann Dooley Charlene M. Eska sarah sheehanand ann dooley, eds., Constructing Gender in Medieval Ireland. The New Middle Ages. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Pp. xv, 219. isbn: 978–0–230–11525–5. $90. In this collection of essays, part of Palgrave Macmillan’s The New Middle Agesseries, the editors aim ‘to address an omission in the existing criticism of gender and medieval texts’ (1), specifically in relation to medieval Ireland, making the observation that ‘medieval Irish studies have benefited little from the deployment of critical methods and perspectives such as poststructuralist analysis, postcolonial theory, and gender studies’ (1). While their observation is, indeed, true, the uneven quality of the essays detracts from the success of their endeavor. The volume contains an introduction by the editors, nine essays (each more or less taking a different critical approach to early Irish literary, legal, and religious texts), a bibliography, notes on the contributors, and an index. The index, despite typographical errors, is very useful in helping the reader navigate through themes and texts which are often mentioned in more than one essay. As such, it goes a long way towards making the volume feel much more cohesive, although it could have been more substantial in terms of length and detail. The first two essays, ‘Travelers and Settled Folk: Women, Honor, and Shame in Medieval Ireland’ by Máirín Ní Dhonnchadha and Catherine Swift’s ‘Sex in the Civitas: Early Irish Intellectuals and Their Vision of Women,’ both deal with [End Page 178]the construction of gender roles and use early Irish legal material as sources. Both, however, also have a very dated feel. Even if neither scholar agrees with recent scholarship on the topic of women in medieval Ireland, each does need at least to engage said scholarship. For example, Ní Dhonnchadha’s analysis of material relating to marriage contracts with various classes of women found in the law tract Recholl Breth(31) would have benefited from the discussion of the same material to be found in Keltische Forschungen3 (2008): 33–43. Ní Dhonnchadha and Swift both reference the law tract Gúbretha Caratniad[The False Judgments of Caratnia], but neither cites Rudolf Thurneysen’s edition in the Zeitschrift fü r celtische Philologie15 (1925): 302–370; Swift does mention (45 n. 27) Liam Breatnach’s unpublished edition of the text, but this does not help the reader unfamiliar with early Irish legal sources. Of note is that the legal text in question is spelled variously as ‘ Gúbretha Carat Niad[The false judgments of Carat Nia]’ by Ní Dhonnchadha (28) and in the index, and as ‘ Gúbretha Caratniad[The false verdicts of Caratnias]’ by Swift (45). The next three essays are concerned with early literary texts. Joanne Findon’s ‘Looking for “Mr. Right” in Tochmarc Becfhola’ uses speech act theory and performativity to analyze the use of Becfhola’s speech as she creates and reshapes her own world, arguing that Becfhola has much more agency than previously thought (59). Taking a similar approach to performativity and gender, Amy C. Mulligan’s ‘Playing for Power: Macha Mongrúad’s Sovereign Performance’ builds on the author’s previous scholarship on female sovereignty figures and argues that Macha Mongrúad should be viewed more as a sovereign figure despite her gender rather than as a sovereign goddess figure (80). In one of the stronger essays in the volume, Sarah Sheehan’s ‘Feast for the Eyes: Visuality and Desire in the Ulster Cycle’ analyzes the descriptions of beautiful men in the Ulster Cycle from the perspective of the visual arts and the theory of the gaze. Sheehan argues that the men are depicted as objects to be gazed upon and physically desired, not only female characters (95). It is refreshing to find in a collection of essays dealing with gender an essay that concerns itself with the male characters found in the literary texts, a topic often ignored in gender scholarship of early Irish literature. The sixth essay, Judith L. Bishop’s ‘They Kept Their Skirts On: Gender-Bending Motifs in Early Irish Hagiography,’ begins by noting that...

Early Christian Ireland: introduction to the Sources. By Kathleen Hughes. (Studies in the Uses of Historical Evidence.) Pp. 320. London: Sources of History Limited; Hodder & Stoughton, 1972. £4 (bound), £2.25 (paper). - Volume 25 Issue 1

New BlackfriarsVolume 90, Issue 1026 p. 262-266 SACRED TIME IN EARLY CHRISTIAN IRELAND: THE MONKS OF THE NAUIGATIO AND THE CÉLI DÉ IN DIALOGUE TO EXPLORE THE THEOLOGIES OF TIME AND LITURGY IN PRE-VIKING IRELANDby Patricia M. Rumsey GILBERT MÁRKUS, GILBERT MÁRKUSSearch for more papers by this author GILBERT MÁRKUS, GILBERT MÁRKUSSearch for more papers by this author First published: 09 February 2009 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-2005.2008.01272_2.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume90, Issue1026March 2009Pages 262-266 RelatedInformation

EARLY CHRISTIAN IRELAND. Vol. 8 in the series ‘Ancient Peoples and Places’. By Maire and Liam De Paor. Thames and Hudson, 1958. pp. 264, with 77 plate figures, 5 maps and 31 figures in the text. 25s. - Volume 33 Issue 132

Sacred Sisters: Gender, Sanctity and Power in Medieval Ireland

In early medieval Ireland, the process of the interaction between indigenous society and incoming Roman Christianity was saliently characterised by the forging of a more or less symbiotic relationship, one of continuity rather than radical discontinuity between the old ways and the incoming new. Aspects included the use of Irish language, rituals, and symbols within the new religion, as the major concern during this early period was how to create a composite religion that was authentically Irish and Christian. The outcome was slow, becoming fully realised over several centuries, in contrast with societies such as the Jukun, caught at the cusp of rapid change in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Acknowledgements Introduction Huw Pryce 1. The uses of literacy in early medieval Wales Patrick Sims-Williams 2. Literacy in Pictland Katherine Forsyth 3. The context and uses of literacy in early Christian Ireland T. M. Charles-Edwards 4. Orality, literacy and genealogy in early medieval Ireland and Wales David E. Thornton 5. Charter-writing and its uses in early medieval Celtic societies Wendy Davies 6. The context and uses of the Latin charter in twelfth-century Ireland Marie-Therese Flanagan 7. Written text as performance - the implications for Middle Welsh prose narratives Sioned Davies 8. More written about than writing? Welsh women and the written word Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan 9. Celtic literary tradition and the development of a feudal principality in Brittany Noel-Yves Tonnerre 10. Gaelic literacy in eastern Scotland between 1124 and 1249 Dauvit Broun 11. Inkhorn and spectacles: the impact of literacy in late medieval Wales Llinos Beverley Smith 12. 'This my act and deed': the writing of private deeds in late medieval north Wales A. D. Carr 13. Literacy and the Irish bards Katherine Simms List of works cited Index.

This paper consists of two parts. The first concerns the use of words such as cerd to denote both an abstract concept (‘craft’) and a person who embodies it (‘craftsman’), and of words such as fine to denote both a collective (‘kin’) and an individual member of the collective (‘kinsman’). The second part consists of an examination of the meaning of cétmuinter, as well as an account of the origin and persistence of the mistranslation ‘chief wife’, which implicitly underpins the notion of polygamy in Early Christian Ireland.

Literature and scholarship, in Irish and in Latin, were prized and cultivated in early Christian Ireland: what has come down to us from the years ad 600 to 800 is most impressive, in both range and quality. These early texts are the products of an intellectual elite that comprised clerical and secular scholars and authors. There were already some Christians in Ireland early in the fifth century, for in 431 Pope Celestine sent Palladius as first bishop to the Irish who believed in Christ. Since Christianity is a religion of the Book, these Irish Christians must have had individuals among them who were literate in Latin. Some degree of literacy in the Irish language was present even earlier than the fifth century. The oldest surviving records of the Irish language are inscriptions incised in stone in the ogam script. Something under four hundred of these inscriptions survive, and they generally consist of a personal name in the genitive case, accompanied, more often than not, by the name of that person’s father or other ancestor. The earliest inscriptions probably date to the fifth and sixth centuries, and some may belong to the fourth. The invention of the ogam alphabet cannot have occurred later than the fourth century, and it has been suggested that it may date to the end of the second century or the beginning of the third. We know nothing of the identity of the inventor of this alphabet, but we can be sure that he knew Latin and that his invention entailed an analysis of the Irish language.

This paper consists of two parts. The first concerns the use of words such as cerd to denote both an abstract concept (‘craft’) and a person who embodies it (‘craftsman’), and of words such as fine to denote both a collective (‘kin’) and an individual member of the collective (‘kinsman’). The second part consists of an examination of the meaning of cétmuinter, as well as an account of the origin and persistence of the mistranslation ‘chief wife’, which implicitly underpins the notion of polygamy in Early Christian Ireland.

Early Christian Ireland was a highly inegalitarian society. Indeed, the original Introduction to the Senchas Mar expressed horror at the very notion of social equality. Yet, although status was all-important, the early Irish laws explicitly recognised that there were several ways to achieve high rank. This acknowledgement that there were different sources of high status made it much easier to give a high social value to verbal and artistic skills and to learning; for that reason, the approach to status was a principal foundation-stone of early Irish culture. As we shall see, the treatment of the subject in the laws suggests that men whose own claim to high rank was through their learning used that very same learning to impose a comprehensive view of social status. In any inegalitarian society there is a need to have a comprehensive hierarchy of status, namely a system by which one person's status can be related to anyone else's. If rank is a essential part of any person's social identity, no one can be left outside the system. When someone was injured or killed, compensation was due, and the value of the compensation, including the conditions in which an injured person was treated, depended on the status of the victim and the rank of his kinsmen and lord. But if there is division of labour and therefore diversity of social function, the different functions performed by people are likely to be incommensurable.

This book provides a fully documented history of Ireland and the Irish between the fourth and ninth centuries AD, from St Patrick to the Vikings - the earliest period for which historical records are available. It opens with the Irish raids and settlements in Britain, and the conversion of Ireland to Christianity. It ends as Viking attacks on Ireland accelerated in the second quarter of the ninth century. The book takes account of the Irish both at home and abroad, including the Irish in northern Britain, in England and on the continent. Two principal thematic strands are the connection between the early Irish Church and its neighbours, and the rise of Uí Néill and the kingship of Tara.

A wealth of political writings survives from early Christian Ireland. While traditionally this material has been understood in terms of a dichotomy between "pagan" and "Christian," recent scholarship has borrowed the category of the "secular" from late antique studies to make sense of early Irish intellectual culture and its political discourses. This article builds on this trend to reveal, through close examination of seventh-century Irish writings, a multitude of differently Christianized discourses existing simultaneously, sometimes even within a single text. Just as the boundary between the "pagan" and the "secular" was not fixed, so too the boundary between the "Christian" and the "secular," giving rise to many different ways late antique Christians (in Ireland and elsewhere) could speak about politics. Much late antique scholarship on the "secular" assumes it was a passing phase ending in Christianization, but this research argues that "secularity" retained its importance in societies where Christians constantly debated and disagreed over where the boundaries of the "Christian" lay.