Landscapes of the Learned: Placing Gaelic Literati in Irish Lordships 1300-1600

Gaelic literati were an elite and influential group in Irish lordships between 1300 and 1600, serving Gaelic and Old English ruling families in the arts of history, law, medicine, and poetry. This book presents a framework for identifying and interpreting the settings and built heritages of their estates in lordship borderscapes, using archaeological investigation and topographic and spatial analyses. It contributes a landscape perspective to the study of autochthonous intellectual culture and the exercise of power by ruling families in late medieval and early modern northern European societies.

Format: Hardback
Length: 384 pages
Publication date: 04 May 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Between c. 1300 and 1600, Gaelic literati held a prominent and influential position within the social hierarchy of Irish lordships. These individuals derived their influence from their estates, where they served Gaelic and Old English ruling families in various domains such as history, law, medicine, and poetry. In addition to their literary pursuits, Gaelic literati engaged in diverse activities such as farming, maintaining guesthouses, operating schools, and fostering networks of learning. They also played active roles in political assemblies and commemorated dynastic histories through the landscape.

This book aims to provide a framework for identifying and interpreting the settings and built heritage of Gaelic literati's estates in lordship borderscapes. It demonstrates that a more nuanced understanding of this learned class can be gained by examining the material record of the buildings and monuments they utilized, as well as the spatial positioning of their lands within the political map. The study adopts a predominantly field-based methodology, employing archaeological investigation, topographic and spatial analyses, and drawing on historical and literary texts, place-names, and lore to reference named individuals and places. Furthermore, the study contributes to the growing body of work on indigenous intellectual culture and the exercise of power by ruling families in late medieval and early modern northern European societies from a landscape perspective.

The Gaelic literati were an elite and influential group in the social hierarchy of Irish lordships between c. 1300 and 1600. From their estates, they served Gaelic and Old English ruling families in the arts of history, law, medicine, and poetry. They farmed, kept guest-houses, conducted schools, and maintained networks of learning. In other capacities, they were involved in political assemblies and memorializing dynastic histories in landscape.

This book presents a framework for identifying and interpreting the settings and built heritages of their estates in lordship borderscapes. It shows that a more textured definition of what this learned class represented can be achieved through the material record of the buildings and monuments they used, and where their lands were positioned in the political map. Where literati lived and worked are conceived as expressions of their intellectual and political cultures. Mediated by case studies of the landscapes of their estates, dwellings, and schools, the methodology is predominantly field based, using archaeological investigation and topographic and spatial analyses, and drawing on historical and literary texts, place-names and lore in referencing named people to places.

More widely, the study contributes a landscape perspective to the growing body of work on autochthonous intellectual culture and the exercise of power by ruling families in late medieval and early modern northern European societies.

Weight: 994g
Dimension: 198 x 254 x 29 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192855749