Online Lecture | Bardic poets and the early modern world

Much has changed over recent years in our understanding of both elements of this comparison: the social and political roles of the Irish court poet and the revolutionary changes associated with Europe's transition from the medieval age to the modern one. Drawing upon elements of that exciting new research, this presentation will explore "European" aspects of Gaelic literary and court life and consider ways in which an Irish-language perspective sheds light on major historical shifts affecting people and populations across the Continent and beyond. 

Brendan Kane is Professor in the departments of History and of Literatures, Cultures and Languages at the University of Connecticut. He is the founding co-director of the website Léamh.org and co-editor of two forthcoming collections of scholarly essays on Gaelic Ireland and Europe: "Ireland and the Renaissance Court: Political culture from the cúirteanna to Whitehall, 1450-1640" (with David Edwards) and "An Eoraip: Ireland in medieval and early modern Europe" (with Patrick Wadden).