Royalty and Renewal in Viking Age Ireland

2018 ◽  
pp. 73-89
Author(s):  
Andrew R. Woods
Keyword(s):  
Irish Sea ◽  
Viking Age ◽  
Organization And Administration ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Commercial Viability ◽  
New Type ◽  
The Irish Sea ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Medieval Ireland

This chapter examines the relationship between coinage and kingship in early medieval Ireland. First, the Hiberno-Scandinavian coinage produced in Dublin is contextualized within a discussion of the use of silver in Ireland between the tenth and twelfth centuries. The chapter then discusses the coinage’s organization and administration. Study of coin weight and silver fineness, alongside evidence for currency renewal (the demonetization of official coins, and the issuing of a new type), reveals that the coinage constituted a well-regulated currency that was effectively monitored by successive kings of Dublin. Examination of the timings of currency renewals reveals that, rather than being overtly political, they were motivated by commercial viability, with the aim of facilitating trade around the Irish Sea.

The Role of Women in Plant-based Textile Production during the Viking Diaspora in Scotland and the Irish Sea Region

2021 ◽  
Vol 100 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-358
Author(s):  
Susan Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Irish Sea ◽  
Viking Age ◽  
Textile Production ◽  
The Status ◽  
Role Of Women ◽  
The Irish Sea ◽  
Grave Goods

Evidence for textiles in viking-age Scotland and the adjacent Irish Sea region derives from small fragments usually surviving as mineralised products associated with metal dress fittings and grave goods such as shield bosses and weaving battens, excavated from the furnished graves of both women and men. Since Scottish viking-age textiles were last reviewed over twenty years ago, this paper collates information from antiquarian finds and more recent excavations which employed considerably enhanced techniques for retrieving fragile archaeological textiles. Evidence is presented for the occurrence and role of plant-based textiles derived from flax and hemp including linen in funerary processes as burial garments, shrouds and wrapping other grave goods, such as weapons and tools. Many richly appointed women's graves in viking-age Scotland were accompanied by tool assemblages used in the manufacture and maintenance of textiles. The presence of these tools raises questions about the status of textile production and the roles women played in it.

'The Ceaseless Labour of Your Life': Occupations and Wages in Holyhead, 1841–81

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 562-593
Author(s):  
Gareth Huws
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Irish Sea ◽  
Employment Patterns ◽  
The Irish Sea ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Town

The relationship between Britain and Ireland in the nineteenth century has been extensively studied, but the crucial significance of the London-Dublin communications link in this relationship has received less attention from historians. This article concentrates on the effect of establishing and maintaining this link on the strategically-placed town of Holyhead and, more specifically, how employment patterns in the town changed as Holyhead became the main mail packet port for the Irish Sea crossing.

The Irish Sea and the Atlantic trade in the Viking Age

2000 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Local Population ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Irish Sea ◽  
Economic Power ◽  
Viking Age ◽  
Luxury Goods ◽  
Trade Routes ◽  
Atlantic Trade ◽  
The North ◽  
The Irish Sea

The Vikings initially ventured into the Irish Sea as raiders and took, from the monasteries and other rich centres, wealth in the form of goods and slaves. In the course of the tenth century, however, they became permanently established and founded and developed the first towns in Ireland, often under sufferance from the local population. From these towns they controlled the trade routes along the western coasts of Europe through the Irish Sea — routes that brought luxury goods to both the North and the South. The increasing economic power of the Irish towns was one of the factors that led to the English conquest of Ireland in 1170.

The Alliance between Church and State in Early Medieval Alba

1998 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Veitch
Keyword(s):  
Church And State ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Direct Consequence ◽  
Irish Sea ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
The Irish Sea

During the ninth century, Iona’s ancient role as the administrative and jurisdictional center of a united, pan-Gaelicfamilia Iaewas brought to an end when it was superseded in Ireland by Kells and in what was to become known as Alba by Dunkeld. This process, which effectively created two distinct Columban churches, has traditionally been viewed as a direct consequence of the disruptive, sometimes destructive, presence of Scandinavian raiders in the Irish Sea and around the western isles. It has long been presumed that their depredations, which gained especial attention from annalists and chroniclers when a monastery was pillaged, “drove a wedge” between Ireland and northern Britain and so established ade factoschism in both secular and ecclesiastical Gaelic society. However, as John Bannerman has highlighted, the effect of the Scandinavian incursions on the Columban Church and its eventual dichotomy has been exaggerated, with the period of actual raiding relatively short-lived.

Language and Identity in Early Medieval Ireland

2002 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-131
Author(s):  
Caitriona Ô Dochartaigh
Keyword(s):  
Language And Identity ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Medieval Ireland

The medieval cultures of the Irish sea and the North Sea: Manannan and his neighbors [Book Review]

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 142-144
Author(s):  
John Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Irish Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
The Irish Sea

Review(s) of: The medieval cultures of the Irish sea and the North Sea: Manannan and his neighbors, by MacQuarrie, Charles W., and Nagy, Joseph Falaky Nagy (eds), (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2019) hardcover, 212 pages, 1 map, 4 figures, RRP euro99; ISBN 9789462989399.

Movers and Shakers?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander O'Hara
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Background ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Medieval Ireland

This chapter considers Columbanus’s cultural background and how this influenced his dealings with women, both in early medieval Ireland and on the Continent. In particular, women as inspiration, patrons, and antagonists are portrayed as having had a formative influence on Columbanus, primarily in the Vita Columbani, written by Jonas of Bobbio. To what extent are these relationships true of Columbanus’s own experience? In order to tease this out more fully special attention will be given to women such as Columbanus’s unnamed mother as well as to the powerful queens, Brunhild and Theodelinda.

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