Fabula Celtica: A Celtic Studies Podcast

S01 E15: Up the Workers

This episode was originally recorded in August 2025: apologies for the delay on getting it out! Tyler and Saoirse discuss independent freemen, dependent workers, and slaves in medieval Ireland, and things get a wee bit political. Main topics addressed: status and professions for the non-nemed ('noble'/privileged) classes in early medieval Ireland. This episode includes swearing and we discuss connections we perceive between the medieval situation and potentially contentious current world issues including racism, immigration, and fascism. References and Suggested Media: Boyle, Elizabeth. Fierce Appetites (London: Penguin, 2023) CARANTES: https://carantes.org/ [https://carantes.org/] Derrick, J. The Image of Irelande (1581) Gerriets, Marilyn. 'Money in Early Christian Ireland according to the Irish Laws', Comparative Studies in Society and History 27.2 (1985), 323-39 at 327 Gray, Elizabeth. Cath Maige Tuired: The Second Battle of Mag Tuired electronic ed (Cork: CELT, 2023) Kelly, F. A Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2020), pp. 51-67, 91-98 Watson, J. Carmichael (ed.), William M. Hennessy (English trans.), and Tadhg Ó Síocháin (Modern Irish trans.), Mesca Ulad: The Intoxication of the Ultonians, electronic edn (Cork: Irish Sagas Online), §37

S01 E14: Who's your Daddy?

Tyler and Saoirse have too much fun questioning the medieval Irish patriarchy. Main topics addressed: patriarchy, misogyny, women, and children in early medieval Ireland. This episode includes sexual references and swearing. References and Suggested Media: ‘Debility of the Ultonian Warriors’ in Hull, Eleanor, The Cuchullin Saga in Irish Literature (London: David Nutt, 1898). Fitzsimmons, F. ‘Fosterage and Gossiprid in Late Medieval Ireland: Some New Evidence’ in Duffy, P. J., Edwards, D. and FitzPatrick, E. (eds.) Gaelic Ireland c. 1250-1650: Land, Lordship, and Settlement (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2001), pp. 138–149. ‘How Cú Chulainn was Begotten’ in Kinsella, T. The Táin (Oxford, 1969), pp. 23–25. Kelly, Fergus. A Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2020), especially pp. 68–79. Kelly, Patricia. ‘The Táin as Literature’ in Mallory, J. P. (ed.) Aspects of the Táin (Belfast: December Publications, 1992), pp. 69–102 (pp. 77–84, especially 79–80). Meyer, K. The Wooing of Emer by Cú Chulainn electronic ed. (Cork: CELT, 2004, 2008). https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T301021/index.html [https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T301021/index.html] [Accessed 31 Aug 2025].  Ní Bhrolcháin, M. ‘Re Tóin Mná: In Pursuit of Troublesome Women’ in Ulidia 1, pp. 115–122. (especially bottom of 116–117). https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/id/eprint/4643/ [https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/id/eprint/4643/] [Accessed 31 Aug 2025]. Ní Chonaill, B. ‘Fosterage: Child-Rearing in Medieval Ireland’, History Ireland 5.1 (1997), 28–31. ‘Noínden Ulad ocus Emuin Macha: The Debility of the Ulstermen’, ed. by R. I. Best & Osborn Bergin, The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbála, Vol. 2 (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1956), pp. 467–468; english trans. by George Henderson, Leabhar nan Gleann: The Book of the Glens; with Zimmer on Pictish Matriachy (Edinburgh: Norman Macleod, 1898), pp. 304–307; Modern Irish version supplied by Tadhg Ó Síocháin. https://iso.ucc.ie/Noinden-ulad/Noinden-ulad-index.html [https://iso.ucc.ie/Noinden-ulad/Noinden-ulad-index.html] [Accessed 31 Aug 2025]. Ó Brolcháin Carmody, Isolde. ‘The Fairs of Early Irish Society’, Story Archaeology (blog), 9 Jul 2012. https://storyarchaeology.com/beidh-aenach-amarach/ [https://storyarchaeology.com/beidh-aenach-amarach/] [Accessed 31 Aug 2025]. Ó Corráin, Donnchadh. ‘Women and the Law in Early Ireland’ in Chattel, Servant or Citizen: Women’s Status in Church, State and Society, ed. by Mary O’Dowd and Sabine Wichert, Historical Studies 19 (Belfast, 1995), pp. 45–57. https://celt.ucc.ie/women_law.html [https://celt.ucc.ie/women_law.html] [Accessed 16 Aug 2025]. Stokes, Whitley (trans.), ‘The Destruction of Dá Derga’s Hostel’ in The Celtic Heroic Age, ed. by J. T. Koch and John Carey, 4th edn (Aberystwyth: Celtic Studies Publications, 2003), pp. 166–184. Stokes, Whitley (ed. and trans.), ‘The Tidings of Conchobar Mac Nessa’, Ériu 4 (1910), 18–38. Wycherley, Niamh. ‘Law and Society with Prof. Liam Breatnach’, The Medieval Irish History Podcast, 20 Dec 2024. https://open.spotify.com/episode/10nfUgLHjZLLM9f46O0Wpb?si=a382c8ee01a94f98 [https://open.spotify.com/episode/10nfUgLHjZLLM9f46O0Wpb?si=a382c8ee01a94f98] [Accessed 31 Aug 2025]. Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EOtiCLShaFOzGdlKntrBoXunSOgJ8NlhPCWf1HPYJis/edit?usp=sharing [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EOtiCLShaFOzGdlKntrBoXunSOgJ8NlhPCWf1HPYJis/edit?usp=sharing]

S01 E13: The Good, the Bad, & the Poetry

We introduce a new co-host and chat about one of the most fascinating (and powerful) figures in medieval Irish society: the fili, or poet. Main topics addressed: poets, seers, praise poetry, satire, ominous background characters, working in a bar This episode includes sexual references and swearing. References and Suggested Media: Binchy, D. A. ‘The Date and Provenance of Uraicecht Becc’, Ériu 18 (1958), 44-56 Breatnach, Liam. Uraicecht na Ríar: The Poetic Grades in Early Irish Law (Dublin: DIAS, 1987). Gwynn, Edward. ‘Sinann I’ and ‘Sinann II’ in The Metrical Dindshenchas vol 2, electronic ed. (Cork: CELT  2004, 2008), pp. 288-299. (Irish [https://celt.ucc.ie/published/G106500C/index.html] / English [https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T106500C/index.html]) Kelly, F. A Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2020). Knott, Eleanor. 1916. ‘Why Mongán was Deprived of Noble Issue’, Ériu 8, 156-160, available at https://iso.ucc.ie/Scela-mongain/Scela-mongain-text.html [https://iso.ucc.ie/Scela-mongain/Scela-mongain-text.html] Ní Chatháin, Próinséas. ‘Some Themes in Early Irish Lyric Poetry’, Irish University Review 22(1) (1992), 3-12 (p. 5).  Nutt, Alfred and Meyer, Kuno. The Voyage of Bran (London: D. Nutt, 1895), pp. 49-52. https://archive.org/details/cu31924096849629/page/n73/mode/2up [https://archive.org/details/cu31924096849629/page/n73/mode/2up] Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PrI-g_u5Thi7-wks6giZFAjwHGedEgWiQ-fsl0Nzfj4/edit?usp=sharing [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PrI-g_u5Thi7-wks6giZFAjwHGedEgWiQ-fsl0Nzfj4/edit?usp=sharing]

S01 E12: Law and Order: Royal Victims Unit

Tyler attempts to untangle the relationship between kingship and early Irish law through depictions of crime and compensation in The Saga of Fergus Mac Léti. Main topics addressed: kingship, early Irish law References and Suggested Media: The additional music is ‘The Theme of Law & Order’ by Mike Post, 1990. Binchy, D. A. 1952. ‘The Saga of Fergus Mac Léti’, Ériu 16, 33-48 (pp. 39-44) Binchy, D. A. 1954. ‘Secular Institutions’, Early Irish Society 8, 52-65 Kelly, F. A Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2020), pp. 17-26 McLeod, Neil. 2011. ‘Fergus Mac Léti and the Law’, Ériu 61, 1-27 Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y2ViHAF_a5aZvUbmC4D0-g4d0ytEzITrdlrz1DSHAd0/edit?usp=sharing [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y2ViHAF_a5aZvUbmC4D0-g4d0ytEzITrdlrz1DSHAd0/edit?usp=sharing]

S01 E11: Of Kings, Kin, and Cows

Tyler provides an overview of early medieval Irish society, discussing D. A. Binchy's description of that society as "tribal, rural, hierarchical, and familiar". Main topics addressed: Irish petty kingdoms, cow-based currency, the social (and legal) hierarchy, kinship Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wm5oW5IHKKLWuq-GPp6wqtpF5zQINkxCrEQyumujzLI/edit?usp=sharing [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wm5oW5IHKKLWuq-GPp6wqtpF5zQINkxCrEQyumujzLI/edit?usp=sharing] References and Suggested Media: Best, R. I. ‘The Settling of the Manor of Tara’, Ériu 4 (1910), 121-172. Kelly, F. A Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2020). McLeod, N. ‘Kinship’, Ériu 51 (2000), 1-22.