St Columba (Part 1) with Prof. Thomas Owen Clancy

The Medieval Irish History Podcast

Part 2 out June 28th.

In this episode, Dr Niamh Wycherley invites Prof. Thomas Owen Clancy (Professor of Celtic, University of Glasgow) to discuss St Columba (aka Colum Cille aka Columbkille), the so-called warrior saint of medieval Ireland. St Columba is considered one of the main patron saints of Ireland together with St Brigit and St Patrick. Part of a noble family, the saint sought exile and founded what is now one of the most well-known monasteries of medieval Ireland, Iona, which is actually located in present day Scotland. The power of Iona later developed into what historians call the 'Columban Federation', a group of monasteries under Iona's central influence.

Join us in this two-part episode accompanying the life of St. Columba, his monastery and Adomnán, his most famous hagiographer.

Suggested reading:

Adomnán of Iona, Life of St Columba, translated by Richard Sharpe (London, Penguin Classics, 1995)

Thomas Owen Clancy and Gilbert Márkus, Iona: the earliest poetry of a Celtic monastery (Edinburgh, 1995)

Thomas Owen Clancy and Dauvit Broun (eds), Spes Scotorum / Hope of Scots: St. Columba, Iona and Scotland (Edinburgh, 1999)

Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday). Email: [e-mail] Twitter X: @EarlyIrishPod Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & Science Foundation Ireland/The Irish Research Council. Views expressed are the speakers' own. Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva. Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa Music: Lexin_Music