In Ireland, nunneries are perhaps the most under-studied of all medieval religious houses. Not only is there a relative dearth of source material on these female religious communities, but too often, nunneries have been compared to the more “mainstream” male medieval monasticism and have been considered lacking. This view has marginalised nunneries in archaeological narratives.
In her talk, Tracy Collins will challenge this traditional narrative and demonstrate both that nunneries had different purposes than male religious houses and that they should be regarded as innovative in their fluid approaches to following their particular models of religious life..
Collins is a professional archaeologist and founding director of Aegis Archaeology, a consultancy firm. She holds a PhD from University College Cork and is currently an Irish Research Council (IRC) research fellow at the Department of Archaeology UCC, writing a monograph based on her PhD research.
Co-sponsors: Department of Anthropology and the Medieval Institute.
Originally published at irishstudies.nd.edu.