Media
History Hit's 'Gone Medieval'
with Matt Lewis (02/29/2024)
Episode 295. Medieval Ireland: Death & Politics
Court records of naked, murderous monks, tavern brawls, robberies gone wrong, tragic accidents and criminal gangs reveal how the English in medieval Ireland governed and politicised death.
In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis meets Dr. Joanna MacGugan, whose research focuses on how the English legal system in Ireland relied on collective memory, customary law, oral histories, common fame and social networks to collectively decide what was the ‘truth’.
This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.
Listen on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, podfollow, Audible, or PodBean.
Worcester Magazine
01/24/24
Historian looks for clues to life, death and justice in medieval Ireland.
Excerpt:
Imagine yourself living in the late Middle Ages, in Dublin, Ireland. It's a bustling port city, a nerve center of power and commerce. It's also a place of economic and political unrest, in the aftermath of a deadly plague that has struck three continents. Part of the country is under the control of a foreign power and a ruler who might speak English or French. But not Irish, which is what you speak, as do most of the people you know.
In the midst of all this, you're accused of murder. Who's going to judge the evidence? What if the jurors include neighbors who like you ... or who don't?
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Historian and Paxton resident Joanna MacGugan went looking for answers, which led her to Dublin, to legal documents with stories to tell across the centuries and to an ancient crypt with its own secrets. Her book of academic research, "Social Memory, Reputation and the Politics of Death in the Medieval Irish Lordship," was recently published by and available from Four Courts Press, which publishes peer-reviewed works of research.
The Medieval Podcast
with Danièle Cybulskie (01/03/2024)
Often, the stories we tell about colonization focus on the takeovers themselves, and the circumstances that led up to them. But what happens to the people when the dust settles? How do they manage the clash of two cultures and often two law codes? And how do the stories they tell about themselves and each other help them navigate society? This week, Danièle speaks with Joanna MacGugan about how the justice system worked in Ireland under medieval English rule, how communities shaped justice, and what this meant when a person was faced with capital punishment.
Listen on Medievalists.net, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, iHeart Radio, or Spreaker.