Dr Elizabeth Boyle

    Early Irish (Sean-Ghaeilge)

    Gaeilge agus fáilte

    Head of Department
    Lecturer

    Arts Building
    20
    (01) 708 6784

    Biography

    After studying Celtic languages, literature and history at the universities of Glasgow (MA, 2002) and Cambridge (MPhil, 2003; PhD, 2008), I held postdoctoral fellowships at Cambridge and at University College Cork. I was appointed Lecturer in Early Irish at Maynooth in September 2013 and became Head of Subject in September 2015. My research focuses on the religious, cultural and intellectual history of medieval Ireland; Ireland’s contacts with Britain and continental Europe; the translation and adaptation of Latin sources into Old and Middle Irish; and the history of the discipline of Celtic Studies.

    Research Interests

    My research interests include:
    • the religious and intellectual culture of medieval Britain and Ireland
    • medieval theology and philosophy
    • education in medieval Ireland 
    • the relationship between Latin and the vernaculars in medieval Britain and Ireland
    • the influence of the Bible on medieval literature and society
    • history of scholarship

    Books

      Year Publication
    2014 Authorities and Adaptations: the Reworking and Transmission of Textual Sources in Medieval Ireland.
    Elizabeth Boyle and Deborah Hayden (2014) Authorities and Adaptations: the Reworking and Transmission of Textual Sources in Medieval Ireland. : Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. [Details]
    2011 The Tripartite Life of Whitley Stokes (1830 - 1909).
    Elizabeth Boyle and Paul Russell (2011) The Tripartite Life of Whitley Stokes (1830 - 1909). : Four Courts Press. [Details]

    Book Chapters

      Year Publication
    2018 'Eschatology and Reform in Early Irish Law: the Evidence of Sunday Legislation'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2018) 'Eschatology and Reform in Early Irish Law: the Evidence of Sunday Legislation' In: Matthew Gabriele and James Palmer (eds). Apocalypse and Reform from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Abingdon: Routledge. [Details]
    2018 'Biblical Kings and Kingship Theory in Medieval Ireland and Norway'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2018) 'Biblical Kings and Kingship Theory in Medieval Ireland and Norway' In: Karl G. Johansson and Elise Kleivane (eds). Speculum Septentrionale: Konungs skuggsjá and the European Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages. Oslo: Novus Forlag. [Details]
    2017 'Writing Medieval Irish Religious History in the Nineteenth Century'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2017) 'Writing Medieval Irish Religious History in the Nineteenth Century' In: Jacqueline Hill and Mary Ann Lyons (eds). Representing Irish Religious Histories: Historiography, Ideology and Practice. London and New York: Palgrave. [Details]
    2017 'The Forms and Functions of Medieval Irish Poetry and the Limitations of Modern Aesthetics'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2017) 'The Forms and Functions of Medieval Irish Poetry and the Limitations of Modern Aesthetics' In: Tom Birkett and Kirsty March Lyons (eds). From Eald to New: Translating Early Medieval Poetry for the Twenty-First Century. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer. [Details]
    2017 'The Twelfth-Century English Transmission of a Poem on the Threefold Division of the Mind, Attributed to Patrick of Dublin (d. 1084)'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2017) 'The Twelfth-Century English Transmission of a Poem on the Threefold Division of the Mind, Attributed to Patrick of Dublin (d. 1084)' In: Wolfram R. Keller and Dagmar Schlueter (eds). 'A Fantastic and Abstruse Latinity'? Hiberno-Continental Cultural and Literary Interactions in the Middle Ages. Muenster: Nodus Publikationen. [Details]
    2016 'Allegory, the áes dána and the Liberal Arts in Medieval Irish Literature'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2016) 'Allegory, the áes dána and the Liberal Arts in Medieval Irish Literature' In: Grammatica, Gramadach and Gramadeg: Vernacular Grammar and Grammarians in Medieval Ireland and Wales. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. [Details]
    2015 'Eschatological Themes in Lebor na hUidre'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2015) 'Eschatological Themes in Lebor na hUidre' In: Codices Hibernenses Eximii I: Lebor na hUidre. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. [Details]
    2015 'Forming the Future for Individuals and Institutions in Medieval Ireland'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2015) 'Forming the Future for Individuals and Institutions in Medieval Ireland' In: Mittelalterliche Zukunftsgestaltung im angesicht des Weltendes – Forming the Future Facing the End of the World in the Middle Ages. Köln: Böhlau Verlag. [Details]
    2015 'Senchas Gall Átha Clíath: Aspects of the Cult of Saint Patrick in the Twelfth Century '
    Elizabeth Boyle and Liam Breatnach (2015) 'Senchas Gall Átha Clíath: Aspects of the Cult of Saint Patrick in the Twelfth Century ' In: Sacred Histories: A Festschrift for Máire Herbert. Dublin: Four Courts Press. [Details]
    2014 'On the Wonders of Ireland: Translation and Adaptation'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2014) 'On the Wonders of Ireland: Translation and Adaptation' In: Authorities and Adaptations: the Reworking and Transmission of Textual Sources in Medieval Ireland. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. [IR Link] [Details]
    2014 'De tribus habitaculis animae'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2014) 'De tribus habitaculis animae' In: The End and Beyond: Medieval Irish Eschatology. Aberystwyth: Celtic Studies Publications. [IR Link] [Details]
    2013 'Resurrection: the Study of Medieval Irish Eschatology in the Nineteenth Century'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2013) 'Resurrection: the Study of Medieval Irish Eschatology in the Nineteenth Century' In: Romantic Ireland: from Tone to Gonne; Fresh Perspectives on Nineteenth-Century Ireland. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars' Publishing. [Details]
    2013 'Sacrifice and Salvation in Echtgus a Canins Poetic Treatise on the Eucharist'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2013) 'Sacrifice and Salvation in Echtgus a Canins Poetic Treatise on the Eucharist' In: Envisioning Christ on the Cross: Ireland and the Early Medieval West. Dublin: Four Courts Press. [IR Link] [Details]
    2011 'The Impiety of the Intellect: Whitley Stokes and the Pre-Raphaelites'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2011) 'The Impiety of the Intellect: Whitley Stokes and the Pre-Raphaelites' In: The Tripartite Life of Whitley Stokes (1830 - 1909). Dublin: Four Courts Press. [Details]
    2010 'Margaret Stokes (1832-1900) and the Study of Medieval Irish Art in the Nineteenth Century'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2010) 'Margaret Stokes (1832-1900) and the Study of Medieval Irish Art in the Nineteenth Century' In: Visual, Material and Print Culture in Nineteenth-Century Ireland. Dublin: Four Courts Press. [Details]
    2010 'Visionary Texts'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2010) 'Visionary Texts' In: Handbook of Medieval Studies: Terms - Methods - Trends. Berlin & New York: De Gruyter. [Details]

    Peer Reviewed Journals

      Year Publication
    2016 'The Rhetoric and Reality of Reform in Irish Eschatological Thought, c. 1000 – 1150'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2016) 'The Rhetoric and Reality of Reform in Irish Eschatological Thought, c. 1000 – 1150'. History of Religions, 55 :269-288 [IR Link] [Details]
    2013 'Lay Morality, Clerical Immorality, and Pilgrimage in Tenth-Century Ireland: Cethrur Macclérech and Epscop do Gáedelaib'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2013) 'Lay Morality, Clerical Immorality, and Pilgrimage in Tenth-Century Ireland: Cethrur Macclérech and Epscop do Gáedelaib'. Studia Hibernica, 39 :9-48 [IR Link] [Details]
    2012 'The Authorship and Transmission of De tribus habitaculis animae'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2012) 'The Authorship and Transmission of De tribus habitaculis animae'. Journal of Medieval Latin, 22 :49-65 [Details]
    2010 'Eschatological Justice in Scela lai bratha'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2010) 'Eschatological Justice in Scela lai bratha'. CAMBRIAN MEDIEVAL CELTIC STUDIES, 59 :39-54 [IR Link] [Details]
    2009 'Neoplatonic Thought in Medieval Ireland: the Evidence of Scela na esergi'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2009) 'Neoplatonic Thought in Medieval Ireland: the Evidence of Scela na esergi'. MEDIUM AEVUM, 78 :216-230 [IR Link] [Details]
    2005 'A Welsh Record of an Anglo-Saxon Political Mutilation'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2005) 'A Welsh Record of an Anglo-Saxon Political Mutilation'. ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND, 35 :245-249 [IR Link] [Details]

    Other Journals

      Year Publication
    2005 'Stranger in a Strange Land: an Irish Monk in Germany and a Vision of the Afterlife'
    Elizabeth Boyle (2005) 'Stranger in a Strange Land: an Irish Monk in Germany and a Vision of the Afterlife' Quaestio Insularis, 6 :120-134. [Details]

    Book Review

      Year Publication
    2012 Ireland and India: the Life and Scholarship of Whitley Stokes (1830 - 1909).
    Elizabeth Boyle and Paul Russell (2012) Ireland and India: the Life and Scholarship of Whitley Stokes (1830 - 1909). Book Review [Details]
    2012 Professor Raymond Page (1924 - 2012).
    Elizabeth Boyle (2012) Professor Raymond Page (1924 - 2012). Book Review [Details]
    2011 John Carey, ed. & trans., Corpus Christianorum Series Apocryphorum 16, Apocrypha Hiberniae II, Apocalypta 1 – In Tenga Bithnua – The Ever-new Tongue.
    Elizabeth Boyle (2011) John Carey, ed. & trans., Corpus Christianorum Series Apocryphorum 16, Apocrypha Hiberniae II, Apocalypta 1 – In Tenga Bithnua – The Ever-new Tongue. Book Review [Details]

    Honours and Awards

      Year Title Awarding Body
    2013 Teaching and Learning Fellowship, NUI Maynooth Mayooth University Centre for Teaching and Learning
    2012 Marie Curie Fellowship Gerda Henkel Stiftung
    2009 Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship Leverhulme Trust
    2008 Medium Aevum Essay Prize Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature

    Teaching Interests

    I teach a broad range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules, including:
    • Humour in medieval Celtic literature
    • Heroic literature
    • Medieval Irish poetry
    • Old Irish language
    • Textual criticism
    • Ecclesiastical history
    I have also supervised postgraduate (MA, MLitt, and PhD) research on topics including medieval Irish philosophy and theology; medieval Irish literary analysis; and medieval Irish religious and cultural history. I welcome enquiries from prospective postgraduates working in any of these areas.


    External Collaborators

      Name Role / Description Country
    Professor Liam Breatnach. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies Co-author
    Dr Deborah Hayden. Maynooth University Co-editor
    Professor Paul Russell. University of Cambridge Co-editor