Description
This volume comprises the first eight lectures (2017-2024) presented in memory of Jennifer O'Reilly, a renowned expert in early medieval Insular culture. The Memorial Lecture Series was established in 2017 by the School of History, University College Cork, where Dr O'Reilly spent most of her career. Each year a distinguished scholar is invited to speak on either the writings of Bede (c. 673-735) or medieval iconography, two subjects that Dr O'Reilly explored in her research and teaching. The studies in this volume, which are varied in subject matter and approach, indicating the breadth and depth of the honorand's scholarship, offer ground-breaking insights into early medieval Insular culture. The contents illuminate our understanding of relations between the islands of Britain and Ireland during the Age of Bede. Analyses of the writings of Bede, situate his work in the context of his patristic inheritance and his monastic community of Wearmouth and Jarrow, thereby advancing our knowledge of that influential monastery. New approaches to medieval art and iconography highlight the importance of specific imagery in Insular culture and re-examine one of the most iconic examples of Insular art, the high cross. This book will be of value to anyone interested in early medieval Ireland and Britain, especially those who wish to learn more about cross-cultural connections between these islands, and the interpretation of Scripture in Insular culture.
About the Author
Maccarron, Máirín: - Máirín MacCarron is Senior Lecturer in Digital Humanities at University College Cork, having previously held posts in the Departments of History at the University of Galway and the University of Sheffield. She won the Irish Historical Research Prize 2021 for her monograph Bede and Time: Computus, Theology and History in the early medieval World (2020), and she is Principal Investigator of the Irish Research Council Consolidator Laureate Time for Women? Gender, Chronology and Historiography before AD 900 (GENCHRON). She is Reviews Editor of Peritia: Journal of the Medieval Academy of Ireland, and she has co-edited multiple books including Maths Meets Myths: Quantitative approaches to ancient narratives (2017), History, hagiography and biblical exegesis: Essays on Bede, Adomnán and Thomas Becket by Jennifer O'Reilly (2019), and Bede the Scholar (2023).O'Reilly, Tom: - Tom O' Reilly is the son and literary executor of Jennifer O'Reilly, and runs an independent publishing company based in Cambridge. He previously worked in the Academic Books division of Cambridge University Press, 2007-2014.