Representations of Women in Early Irish and Welsh Literature
Although there are parallels between Irish and Welsh sagas of elopement, the powerful self confident women depicted in these narratives do not represent the real women of Medieval Ireland and Wales. Proinsias Mac Cana has suggested that the dominant roles of Deirdre and Gráinne in their respective tales (Longes mac nUislenn and Toruigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne) are ‘literary variations on the exemplar of the sovereignty goddess’ (Doan, 1985: 90). Bitel (1996: 2) asserts that Celticists have been seduced by these dominant female characters viewing them as representative of real women with considerable power over men, a depiction which if true should be reflected in the law tracts or ‘custom in action’(Stacey, 2002: 1107). This paper will argue that the ecclesiastical and legal tracts of both Ireland and Wales offer many images of women, judgements about women, and regulations for women. They do not however present the stereotypical medieval woman as the sovereignty goddess depicted in the secular sagas.
Because women left no written records, we are dependent on male literature (probably all of the texts written in early Ireland and Wales) for a definition of woman and her cultural role. These male authors wrote of women in: ‘saint’s lives; poems; sagas and myths; gnomic texts; histories; chronicles; genealogies; folktales; theological tracts; and extensive ecclesiastical tracts; and secular laws’ (Bitel, 1996: 12). Although these texts offer insights on women they must be viewed through the hermeneutical lens of the socio-historical context of the era in which they were written. Early medieval Ireland was a patriarchal society and a woman’s role and identity was determined by patriarchal norms and conventions. The literati of this era did not define woman as an independent individual. Women existed only in relation to men and therefore their representation in literature was not entirely objective or according to Bitel consistent. Tensions exist between various
Because women left no written records, we are dependent on male literature (probably all of the texts written in early Ireland and Wales) for a definition of woman and her cultural role. These male authors wrote of women in: ‘saint’s lives; poems; sagas and myths; gnomic texts; histories; chronicles; genealogies; folktales; theological tracts; and extensive ecclesiastical tracts; and secular laws’ (Bitel, 1996: 12). Although these texts offer insights on women they must be viewed through the hermeneutical lens of the socio-historical context of the era in which they were written. Early medieval Ireland was a patriarchal society and a woman’s role and identity was determined by patriarchal norms and conventions. The literati of this era did not define woman as an independent individual. Women existed only in relation to men and therefore their representation in literature was not entirely objective or according to Bitel consistent. Tensions exist between various
References: Benson, P., (ed), 1993. Anthropology and Literature. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. Bitel, L.M., 1996. Land Of Women: Tales of Sex and Gender from Early Ireland. New York: Cornell University Press. Gula, R.M., 1989. Reason Informed By Faith. New York: Paulist Press. Ó Corráin, D. And D. Ó Cróinín, (eds), 1997. Peritia: Journal of the Medieval Academy of Ireland, Volume 11. Belgium: Brepols Ó Cróinín, D., 1995 Roberts, S.E., 2008. Law, Literature and Society: C S A N A Yearbook 7. Dublin: Four Courts Press. Journal Articles Bitel, L.M., 1995. ‘Do Not Marry The Fat Short One: The Early Irish Wisdom on Women’. Journal of Women’s History, 6 / 7: 137-159. Bitel, L.M., 1987. ‘Sex, Sin, and Celibacy in Early Christian Ireland’. Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquim, 7: 65-95. Stacey, R.C., 2002. ‘Divorce, Medieval Welsh Style’. Speculum, 77: 1107-1127. Websites Ó Corráin, D., 1985