This paper explores how ideas of judgement-at-death shaped the emergence of accounting. Using a macro-historical approach, it examines eschatological motifs across Egyptian, Zoroastrian, Jewish, and Christian traditions, with special attention to Irish high crosses. Themes such as weighing deeds, the “Book of Life”, and mediating figures reveal how accounting metaphors of balance, record-keeping, and interpretation were embedded in moral culture long before they became technical practices. By tracing this lineage, the study shows how spiritual metaphors of accountability helped frame enduring conceptions of ethical and financial responsibility.

Zusammenfassung Die drei hier untersuchten Liebesgeschichten sind gut zwei Jahrhunderte älter als die neue Erzählliteratur über den Themakomplex Liebe, Ehe und Ehebruch, die rund 1160 in Frankreich und im normannischen England ihren Anfang nimmt. Sie bilden eine Art Vorstufe, von der keine (erkennbaren) Beeinflussungen aus Irland heraus ausgingen. Dazu waren sie wohl zu stark in einer realitätsnahen insulären Welt verwurzelt.

Memory and remembering in early Irish literature. Beyond the backward look by Sarah Künzler (review)

This article explores the figure of Saint Mac Nisse, a legendary companion of Saint Patrick, within the context of early medieval hagiographical tradition. Particular focus is given to his genealogical origins and his depiction in the Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick, where he emerges as a paradigmatic saint of elevated sanctity. The study includes an annotated translation of a late Latin vita of Mac Nisse, which, to date, has not been rendered into any modern language. The translation and commentary offer new insights into the construction of sanctity, ecclesiastical memory, and textual transmission in early Irish Christianity.

This article examines similar poetic conventions in Early Irish and Japanese nature poetry. The first section focuses on associations of the seasons, often used in both literatures to explore cycles of rulership, rituals both societal and personal, and phases in human experiences. The second section examines the use of dindṡenchas in Early Irish lyrics and a comparable device, the utamakura, in Japanese poetry. Dindṡenchas and utamakura add historical and literary depth to nature poetry.

abstract: This article concerns the fragmentarily attested early Irish legal text Fidbretha ‘Tree-Judgments’. Although this text is often mentioned by scholars of early Irish law as an important source of information about early Irish trees, no edition or translation of the text has been published thus far. Fidbretha is compared with other sources related to trees and forests and an edition and translation of the text appears in the Appendix.

The early Irish dative case is typically found after prepositions, but there are a number of nonprepositional usages. Three of these are explored in this chapter: the instrumental dative, the dative of accompaniment or inclusion, and the dative of apposition. The main goal of the chapter is to describe the syntactic distribution and features of these constructions, compare their similarities and differences, and ultimately to sharpen the classification of these three usages of the dative into distinct constructions. The bulk of the chapter concentrates on the third construction, the dative of apposition, in which the dative-marked nominal is found in apposition chiefly to a pronominal item. Because this pronominal is virtually obligatory, comparison between the early Irish appositional dative and a typology of similar “adnominal pronoun constructions” in other languages is made. A major contribution of the chapter is to show that there are various number and person restrictions that are placed on the pronominal antecedent but these restrictions are subject to diachronic variation. Finally, the dative of apposition is contrasted with the nominative of apposition, which is shown have a distinct syntactic structure.

In the Gaelic literary tradition, the figure of the cailleachmeaning old woman or hag in modern Scottish Gaelic -has been present in literature since the early Irish period, in poems like the 'Lament of the Old Woman of Beare' (Old Irish: 'Caillech Bérri'), where the poetic voice expresses a deep sense of decay and desolation. In the second half of the twentieth century, that legacy is to be seen in the works of Scottish Gaelic writer Iain Mac a' Ghobhainn (Iain Crichton Smith), in which the character of the cailleach is common. In his writing, the old woman bears characteristics of the 'old hag', associated with death and decay, but also with religious dogmatism. Indeed, the trope of the 'disapproving, religious cailleach, [is] a familiar character-type' in Mac a' Ghobhainn's works, writes Kevin MacNeil (2001, 30). However, despite the association of the old woman with judgment and close-mindedness, Mac a' Ghobhainn often presents a more nuanced view of old women in his writing. In this article, I examine to what extent Mac a' Ghobhainn subverts the trope of the judgmental cailleach, as he redefines the representation of female ageing in his poetry.

The inspiration behind this paper came from both authors’ long-term collaboration with our friend and colleague, Professor Ralph Kenna. This connection emerged initially through his interest in Rathcroghan and in our paper, ‘Exploring the Nature of the Fráoch Saga’, which we concluded with the statement that we believed it ‘presents a case that will hopefully ignite conversation between disciplines’. This led us to consider the potential value for researchers of compiling a template list of useful and reliable sources and resources to consult, in other words a type of starter toolkit or guide for any individual from an alternative discipline or background, who might possess, or, in time, develop a personal or professional interest in Early Ireland and Early Irish literature. In doing this, we decided for ease of illustration, to take the example of the location name Rathcroghan/Cruachan Aí, (the prehistoric Royal Site of Connacht in the west of Ireland and the place that we both work in and interact with on a daily basis), as a case study in order to demonstrate an initial methodological approach to not only the types of resources and information available, but also to highlight some potential pitfalls that may arise in the course of an investigation.

Otherworld women in early Irish literature by Heather C. Key (review)

The Digital Atlas of Early Irish Carved Stone (DAEICS) seeks to record and map key traits of carved stone monuments of late prehistoric and early medieval date, providing fresh perspectives on stone-carving over the course of a millennium. First, however, the question of chronology must be addressed, so here we reassess the potential of Latinate inscriptions as a dating tool. Rather than a comprehensive treatment of palaeography and language, we focus, first, on the small number of monuments that commemorate historically identifiable individuals and, second, on the chronological implications of the use or non-use of formulae, proposing new termini post quem for different variations. We also show that the appearance of Gilla- compound personal names on inscriptions allows the monuments in question to be dated to after 950 CE. The implications of the inscriptions for the date-ranges of some specific cross-forms are explored, above all with respect to the singularly large collection of carved stone monuments at Clonmacnoise, which we argue was the only site in Ireland where stone-carving was sustained over several centuries. Using the dateable inscriptions, we demonstrate that there was a general increase in the average size of recumbent grave-markers between 600 and 1200 CE, a trend indicative of changing strategies of commemoration that has important implications for the chronology of these monuments, especially those that cannot readily be dated on other criteria. This refined chronology will facilitate further research on the key questions raised by these monuments, including patterns of patronage and resource investment, the varied identities of ecclesiastical communities, and networks of carvers and churches.

:<i>Lost and Found in Early Irish Law: “Aidbred,” “Heptad 64,” and “Muirbretha.”</i>

This article examines the role that women’s activism and advocacy played in early Irish television and the opportunities for and representation of women in national broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ). It focuses on two groups: RTÉ’s own Working Group on Women in Broadcasting, which reported in 1981, and the Women in Broadcasting Study Group of 1980, headed by Senator Gemma Hussey. Both investigated practices of employment of women and the roles that they undertook as well as the role of women in RTÉ programs and in television advertising on RTÉ. The article argues that, although there were tensions between the two groups and each group had different interests, different methodological approaches in their reports and were received in the public and by RTÉ very differently, they effectively worked together to compel RTÉ to implement their recommendations and take the issue of gender equality more seriously on a long-term basis.

This article focuses on the collaborative work between the early Irish collectors and artists, and particularly that between Crofton Croker and Keightley, and the artists Daniel Maclise and William Henry Brooke who produced the illustrations for Crofton Croker’s Fairy Tales and Legends of the South of Ireland (1825 and 1826) and Thomas Keightley’s Fairy Mythology (1833). The images by Maclise and Brooke added a powerful new dimension to the ways in which the stories and the beliefs behind them were understood. These works (and Crofton Croker’s in particular) would go on to influence the presentation of Norwegian folk legends especially in the latter half of the century, and not least the careers of some of Norway’s most famous artists from the period.

:<i>The Bible in the Early Irish Church, A.D. 550 to 850</i>

abstract: Breatnach 2016 provides a comprehensive inventory of the many legal and literary instances of cétmuinter and concludes by suggesting that his linguistic analysis of the word proves that polygyny in early Christian Ireland did not exist. This paper reviews Breatnach's work; re-examines the early Irish marriage laws more generally; puts those laws within their larger medieval European context; and concludes that the situation in medieval Ireland is not as clear-cut as Breatnach would suggest.

:<i>The Bible in the Early Irish Church, A.D. 550 to 850</i>

Abstract: The Digital Atlas of Early Irish Carved Stone (DAEICS) seeks to record and map key traits of carved stone monuments of late prehistoric and early medieval date, providing fresh perspectives on stone-carving over the course of a millennium. First, however, the question of chronology must be addressed, so here we reassess the potential of Latinate inscriptions as a dating tool. Rather than a comprehensive treatment of palaeography and language, we focus, first, on the small number of monuments that commemorate historically identifiable individuals and, second, on the chronological implications of the use or non-use of formulae, proposing new termini post quem for different variations. We also show that the appearance of Gilla- compound personal names on inscriptions allows the monuments in question to be dated to after 950 CE. The implications of the inscriptions for the date-ranges of some specific cross-forms are explored, above all with respect to the singularly large collection of carved stone monuments at Clonmacnoise, which we argue was the only site in Ireland where stone-carving was sustained over several centuries. Using the dateable inscriptions, we demonstrate that there was a general increase in the average size of recumbent grave-markers between 600 and 1200 CE, a trend indicative of changing strategies of commemoration that has important implications for the chronology of these monuments, especially those that cannot readily be dated on other criteria. This refined chronology will facilitate further research on the key questions raised by these monuments, including patterns of patronage and resource investment, the varied identities of ecclesiastical communities, and networks of carvers and churches.

Abstract: The continental recension of the vita of the sixth-century Irish saint Íte survives only in five independent manuscript witnesses of the Magnum Legendarium Austriacum [MLA], a vast, sprawling collection of hagiographical texts culled from a great variety of sources in the late twelfth century. The recension is anonymous in all five witnesses, but internal and circumstantial evidence points to Paul of Bernried (c. 1080 - c. 1145) as the reviser of this vita . Paul was an Augustinian canon best known for his Life of Pope Gregory VII (1073-85) which also survives in the MLA. The most likely reason for his interest in this early Irish saint is the affinity he saw between her and the Bavarian holy woman Herlucca of Bernried (c. 1060-1127/8) whom he knew and revered. Although separated by space and time, Íte and Herlucca provided a common spiritual model that resonated with Paul despite his support for a Gregorian reform movement tainted by misogyny.

Described by C. W. Jones as ‘a work of magnificent conception’, the Liber de ordine creaturarum is one of the most admired texts in the entire canon of Hiberno-Latin literature. Publication of a revised edition and accompanying English translation provides an opportunity to reexamine its importance.