Society and Social Institutions in the Celtic-speaking West

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This module provides an introduction to the key social and political institutions of the Middle Ages in Ireland: kinship, clientship, kingship, and the church. The first three will be discussed both in terms of the evidence they provide for a common Celtic inheritance from the prehistoric period and their medieval actuality, while the church will be considered as a new institution which, more than any other, shaped and changed the organization and outlook of the Celtic regions. The module shows how personal and familial relations were lived in the matrix of kinship. It considers clientship as a cornerstone of the economy, and looks at the roles and obligations of the different grades of lords and clients. It examines kingship as the key political institution, looks at the terminology and ideology of kingship, and provides an introduction to the political geography of medieval Ireland. It considers the role of the church (including the monastery) in the formation of communities, small and large, local, national and international.