Bibliography
Máire
Ní Mhaonaigh s. xx–xxi
Works authored
Works edited
Contributions to journals
Clarke, Michael, and Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, “The ages of the world and the ages of man: Irish and European learning in the twelfth century”, Speculum 95:2 (2020): 467–500.
Sections: Medieval Irish narrative: context and contacts; The six ages in theology and historiography; The Irish evidence: Sex aetates mundi; The Irish evidence: Cogadh Gáedhel re Gallaibh; Intamlugud intliuchta: the figure of thought; The Irish evidence: summary; The Liber floridus of Lambert of Saint-Omer; The Hymns for the Paraclete of Abelard; The typological windows in Christ Church, Canterbury; The Isidorean Liber de numeris: a key intertext?; Irish and European images and intellectualism.
abstract:
In the grand narrative of renewal and creativity in the Europe of the "long twelfth century," it has been easy to assume that Ireland was marginal and backward-looking, with the energy of its thinkers and writers concentrated on preserving and continuing the cultural forms of the national past. In recent scholarship, however , it has become clear that Irish intellectual life in this period was much closer to the European mainstream than was once believed. Here we present a case study in this area, concerned with the schematization of historical time and the course of human life in parallel systems of six ages. Two examples of Irish text production from the early twelfth century-one an extended marginal gloss of some theological subtlety and the other a complex heroic image in a narrative eulogy-are compared with parallel manifestations in three sources from the heart of mainstream European creativity in the period: an encyclopedic compilation of history and theology, a sequence of newly composed hymns for the Divine Office, and the iconographic program of stained-glass windows in a newly rebuilt cathedral. The parallels we draw here point to the conclusion that, despite the obvious differences in outer form, the modes of learned creativity reflected in Irish manuscript culture were closely aligned with international trends across Europe in the same period. To set this material in context, we preface our discussion with some general remarks on medieval Irish writing , before proceeding to the details of the chosen examples.
Sections: Medieval Irish narrative: context and contacts; The six ages in theology and historiography; The Irish evidence: Sex aetates mundi; The Irish evidence: Cogadh Gáedhel re Gallaibh; Intamlugud intliuchta: the figure of thought; The Irish evidence: summary; The Liber floridus of Lambert of Saint-Omer; The Hymns for the Paraclete of Abelard; The typological windows in Christ Church, Canterbury; The Isidorean Liber de numeris: a key intertext?; Irish and European images and intellectualism.
abstract:
In the grand narrative of renewal and creativity in the Europe of the "long twelfth century," it has been easy to assume that Ireland was marginal and backward-looking, with the energy of its thinkers and writers concentrated on preserving and continuing the cultural forms of the national past. In recent scholarship, however , it has become clear that Irish intellectual life in this period was much closer to the European mainstream than was once believed. Here we present a case study in this area, concerned with the schematization of historical time and the course of human life in parallel systems of six ages. Two examples of Irish text production from the early twelfth century-one an extended marginal gloss of some theological subtlety and the other a complex heroic image in a narrative eulogy-are compared with parallel manifestations in three sources from the heart of mainstream European creativity in the period: an encyclopedic compilation of history and theology, a sequence of newly composed hymns for the Divine Office, and the iconographic program of stained-glass windows in a newly rebuilt cathedral. The parallels we draw here point to the conclusion that, despite the obvious differences in outer form, the modes of learned creativity reflected in Irish manuscript culture were closely aligned with international trends across Europe in the same period. To set this material in context, we preface our discussion with some general remarks on medieval Irish writing , before proceeding to the details of the chosen examples.
Ní Mhaonaigh, Máire, “Tales of three Gormlaiths in medieval Irish literature”, Ériu 52 (2002): 1–24.
abstract:
A body of literary material in Middle and Early Modern Irish has survived pertaining to two historical queens both named Gormlaith: Gormlaith (ob. 948), daughter of Flann Sinna, and Gormlaith (ob. 1030), daughter of Murchad mac Finn. In addition, the latter was confused at an early period with an earlier royal Gormlaith (ob. 861), daughter of Donnchad Midi, about whom passing references have also come down to us. As actual personages who have engendered a corpus of fictional material, our trio of regal Gormlaiths parallel the host of male rulers whose deeds are celebrated in what have come to be known as king-tales. By addressing aspects of the traditions that have come to be associated with these three queens, this article seeks to chronicle their development as distinct literary entities and to shed light on the process whereby an historical figure is transformed into a complex literary character.
abstract:
A body of literary material in Middle and Early Modern Irish has survived pertaining to two historical queens both named Gormlaith: Gormlaith (ob. 948), daughter of Flann Sinna, and Gormlaith (ob. 1030), daughter of Murchad mac Finn. In addition, the latter was confused at an early period with an earlier royal Gormlaith (ob. 861), daughter of Donnchad Midi, about whom passing references have also come down to us. As actual personages who have engendered a corpus of fictional material, our trio of regal Gormlaiths parallel the host of male rulers whose deeds are celebrated in what have come to be known as king-tales. By addressing aspects of the traditions that have come to be associated with these three queens, this article seeks to chronicle their development as distinct literary entities and to shed light on the process whereby an historical figure is transformed into a complex literary character.
Contributions to edited collections or authored works
Ní Mhaonaigh, Máire, “Irish influence on Old Norse literature? Immram to Hvítramannaland”, in: Erich Poppe, Simon Rodway, and Jenny Rowland (eds), Celts, Gaels, and Britons: studies in language and literature from antiquity to the middle ages in honour of Patrick Sims-Williams, Turnhout: Brepols, 2022. 91–112.
Ní Mhaonaigh, Máire, “International vernacularisation, c. 1390 CE: the ‘Book of Ballymote’”, in: Michael Clarke, and Máire Ní Mhaonaigh (eds), Medieval multilingual manuscripts: case studies from Ireland to Japan, 24, Berlin, Online: De Gruyter, 2022. 209–229.
abstract:
The ‘Book of Ballymote’ is a late fourteenth-century manuscript written in Ireland and predominantly in the vernacular (the Irish language). In its focus on history, local, regional and global, it draws on and develops biblical and classical themes. It does so in a way that demonstrates how medieval Irish scholars moulded their own language to occupy this international cultural space. Their continued use of Latin in specific contexts underlies their creativity and skill.
abstract:
The ‘Book of Ballymote’ is a late fourteenth-century manuscript written in Ireland and predominantly in the vernacular (the Irish language). In its focus on history, local, regional and global, it draws on and develops biblical and classical themes. It does so in a way that demonstrates how medieval Irish scholars moulded their own language to occupy this international cultural space. Their continued use of Latin in specific contexts underlies their creativity and skill.
Ní Mhaonaigh, Máire, “Caraid tairisi: literary links between Ireland and England in the eleventh century”, in: Axel Harlos, and Neele Harlos (eds), Adapting texts and styles in a Celtic context: interdisciplinary perspectives on processes of literary transfer in the middle ages: studies in honour of Erich Poppe, 13, Münster: Nodus Publikationen, 2016. 265–288.
Ní Mhaonaigh, Máire, “Mongán’s metamorphosis: Compert Mongáin ocus Serce Duibe Lacha do Mongán, a later Mongán tale”, in: Fiona Edmonds, and Paul Russell (eds), Tome: studies in medieval Celtic history and law in honour of Thomas Charles-Edwards, 31, Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2011. 207–216.
abstract:
Compert Mongáin ocus Serc Duibe Lacha do Mongán (The Birth of Mongán and Mongán's Love for Dub Lacha – or Dub Lacha's Love for Mongán) belongs to the broad category of narrative Alan Bruford termed ‘Romantic Tales’, encompassing in his view ‘all the late medieval and later romances found in Irish manuscripts from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries and the related folktales’. The earliest copy is contained in the Book of Fermoy, written for David Mór son of Maurice Roche in the middle of the fifteenth century, and it was in Bruford's view among the best of the Romantic tales produced at a time when ‘Irish poets and scribes enjoyed the patronage of a powerful Irish-speaking aristocracy of mixed Norman and Irish descent’.
Notwithstanding this, unlike other contemporary compositions which enjoyed widespread popularity in the seventeenth century and later, as far as post-classical transmission is concerned, our tale survives in a solitary copy written in Munster about the year 1811 by Seághan Mac Mathghamhna and entitled Tóruigheacht Duibhe Lacha Láimhe Ghile ‘The Pursuit of Dub Lacha of the White Hand’.
(source: Introduction (publisher))
abstract:
Compert Mongáin ocus Serc Duibe Lacha do Mongán (The Birth of Mongán and Mongán's Love for Dub Lacha – or Dub Lacha's Love for Mongán) belongs to the broad category of narrative Alan Bruford termed ‘Romantic Tales’, encompassing in his view ‘all the late medieval and later romances found in Irish manuscripts from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries and the related folktales’. The earliest copy is contained in the Book of Fermoy, written for David Mór son of Maurice Roche in the middle of the fifteenth century, and it was in Bruford's view among the best of the Romantic tales produced at a time when ‘Irish poets and scribes enjoyed the patronage of a powerful Irish-speaking aristocracy of mixed Norman and Irish descent’.
Notwithstanding this, unlike other contemporary compositions which enjoyed widespread popularity in the seventeenth century and later, as far as post-classical transmission is concerned, our tale survives in a solitary copy written in Munster about the year 1811 by Seághan Mac Mathghamhna and entitled Tóruigheacht Duibhe Lacha Láimhe Ghile ‘The Pursuit of Dub Lacha of the White Hand’.
(source: Introduction (publisher))
Miscellaneous
Stifter, David, Nina Cnockaert-Guillou, Beatrix Färber, Deborah Hayden, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Joanna Tucker, and Christopher Guy Yocum, Developing a digital framework for the medieval Gaelic world: project report, Online: Irish Research Council – Arts and Humanities Research Council, 2022. PDF. URL: <https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/ael/Research/ResearchinLanguages/imdorus/Publications>.
In reference works
McGuire, James [ed.], and James Quinn [ed.], Dictionary of Irish biography, online ed., Online: Royal Irish Academy, Cambridge University Press, 2009–present. URL: <https://www.dib.ie>.
Contributions: Mac Murchada, Diarmait (MacMurrough, Dermot)
