Lucy McKenna and Bronagh McShane - Women in early modern Ireland, c.1550-1700: the VOICES project by History Hub

In this episode, a recording of a paper by Lucy McKenna and Bronagh McShane from Trinity College Dublin. Their paper was entitled 'Women in early modern Ireland, c.1550-1700: an introduction to the VOICES project'.

This joint paper will offer an introduction to the European Research Council-funded project, ‘VOICES: Life and Death, War and Peace, c.1550-c.1700: Voices of Women in Early Modern Ireland’. Led by Prof. Jane Ohlmeyer (School of Histories and Humanities, Trinity College Dublin), the project harnesses digital tools and innovative technologies, including a Knowledge Graph, to interrogate the lived experiences of ordinary women in early modern Ireland. Key sources underpinning the project include the 1641 Depositions, Irish Chancery records and Testamentary sources. The paper will begin with a discussion of the VOICES Knowledge Graph, demonstrating its capacity to transform unstructured historical data into knowledge that can be interrogated and visualised. The paper will then explore the value and importance of testamentary sources as a means of assessing the lived experiences of women in early modern Ireland. Testamentary records are valuable but highly gendered sources with wills made by men far out numbering those that were made by women. But women’s wills provide important glimpses into the familial, social and friendship networks of those who made them and the bonds of affection that existed between them and their loved ones. At a time when religious identity was an intrinsic hallmark of one’s place in the world, wills offer insights into the religious faith and beliefs of the individuals in question. Additionally they reveal the nature and extent of women’s material possessions and their very strong grasp of financial matters.

In this episode, a recording of the closing plenary address from the 12th Annual Tudor and Stuart Ireland Interdisciplinary Conference. The plenary was given by Hiram Morgan from University College Cork. His paper was entitled 'Going Dutch: Ireland and the Low Countries 1491 to 1691'.

Tudor and Stuart Ireland

The annual Tudor & Stuart Ireland Interdisciplinary Conference welcomes established academics, early stage and independent researchers, as well as postgraduates from Ireland and beyond to present their research in a genuinely collegial environment. The conference takes place in a venue in Ireland in August every year. For more information on attending go to tudorstuartireland.com

The 12th Annual Tudor and Stuart Ireland Interdisciplinary Conference took place in the University of Galway in August 2024. The conference was organised by Marie-Louise Coolahan, Maureen Deleo, Andrew Levie, Brenda Luies, Millie Randall and Ian Wong and generously supported by the Department of English, University of Galway, and Marsh's Library.

As in previous years the majority of papers were recorded for podcasting by Real Smart Media in association with History Hub.ie. There is now an extensive archive of around 300 podcasts from previous Tudor and Stuart Ireland conferences freely available to listen to. To access this archive go to historyhub.ie or search for Tudor and Stuart Ireland on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud or on Spotify.

https://historyhub.ie/tudor-and-stuart-ireland-conference