In our penultimate episode of season 1 we were incredibly lucky to get Prof. Máire Ní Mhaonaigh (Professor of Celtic and Medieval Studies, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge) out to the recording studio in Maynooth University. We chatted all about Gormlaith (died 948), an aristocratic woman, queen, reputed poet, and daughter of famous self proclaimed king of all Ireland, Flann Sinna. She left a considerable legacy, becoming one of the most written about Irish women in the Middle Ages. Prof. Ní Mhaonaigh guides us through all these varied written sources and her reputed marriages to famous Irish kings: King of Munster, Cormac mac Cuilennáin, King of Leinster, Cerball mac Muirecáin, and King of Tara, Niall Glúndub.

Suggested reading:

Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, ‘Tales of the Three Gormlaiths in Medieval Irish Literature’, Ériu 52 (2002), pp 1–24.

Máirín Ní Dhonnchadha, ‘On Gormfhlaith Daughter of Flann Sinna and the Lure of the Sovereignty Goddess’ in Seanchas: Studies in Early and Medieval Irish Archaeology, History and Literature in Honour of Francis J Byrne, ed. Alfred. P. Smyth (Dublin, 2000), pp 225–237

Gregory Toner, Manifestations of Sovereignty in Medieval Ireland (University of Cambridge, 2018)

Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).

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Twitter X: @EarlyIrishPodSupported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & Science Foundation Ireland/The Irish Research Council.

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