On the podcast this week we explore Niamh's favourite primary source material: hagiography! We are joined by the multilingual Dr Sarah Waidler, of Glucksman Ireland House, NYU, expert in medieval Celtic languages including Irish and Welsh. Sarah guides us through these fascinating religious texts which were arguably the most popular literary genre in the 'European' Middle Ages and how Irish hagiography fits into this wider community. From warring saints to moving house miracles we learn what these texts can tell us about medieval people and society.

Suggested reading:

James Palmer, Early Medieval Hagiography (Amsterdam University Press, 2018).

S. Waidler (ed.), Defining the Boundaries of Hagiography in the Celtic World and Beyond: Textual Sources Outside Saints’ Lives and Martyrologies (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, forthcoming 2025)

S. Waidler, ‘Sanctity and Intertextuality in Medieval Munster: The Unusual Life of Findchú of Brí Gobann’, Peritia 30 (2019), pp. 215–34

Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday)

Email: medievalirishhistory@gmail.com

Producer: Tiago Veloso Silva

Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University & Taighde Éireann/Research Ireland.

Views expressed are the speakers' own.

Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa

Music: Lexin_Music