USIHS: Imagining Ulster and the Ulaid in Acallam na Senórach, a thirteenth-century ‘pan-Irish&
Institute of Irish Studies, QUB, Belfast, BT7 1NN
Thursday 12th November 2026 6:00PM
Please join the Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies on Thursday 12 November at 6pm for Professor Geraldine Parson's talk on ‘Imagining Ulster and the Ulaid in Acallam na Senórach, a thirteenth-century ‘pan-Irish’ tale’.
This talk will be held in hybrid format: in person in 27 University Square and online via Teams (audience members will receive the Teams link in the 'additional information' section of their booking confirmation).
Abstract:
Acallam na Senórach (‘The Colloquy of the Ancients’) is significant Irish-language literary work, the central text of the Finn Cycle, composed c.1200. It seems to be a Connacht text, probably written in Roscommon, but its action takes place across Ireland. The narrative’s traversing of the island is an important element in its meditation on the Irish past and on ideas of Irish identity in a period in which Irish society was changing rapidly and profoundly. This paper will explore the work’s presentation of Ulster places and people. A particular focus will be on associations with Ulster Cycle literature, and what these allusions reveal about the author’s ambitions for the Acallam will be discussed.
Speaker Bio: Geraldine Parsons is Professor of Medieval Irish Language and Literature at the University of Glasgow and, 2025-28, Senior Research Fellow at University College Cork, where she is working on the Taighde Ireland/Research Ireland-funded project, The Disappearing Text (https://www.ucc.ie/en/disappearing-text/). Her research is often focussed on medieval fíanaigecht literature (the corpus centred on the legendary figure, Finn mac Cumhaill).
This talk will be held in hybrid format: in person in 27 University Square and online via Teams (audience members will receive the Teams link in the 'additional information' section of their booking confirmation).
Abstract:
Acallam na Senórach (‘The Colloquy of the Ancients’) is significant Irish-language literary work, the central text of the Finn Cycle, composed c.1200. It seems to be a Connacht text, probably written in Roscommon, but its action takes place across Ireland. The narrative’s traversing of the island is an important element in its meditation on the Irish past and on ideas of Irish identity in a period in which Irish society was changing rapidly and profoundly. This paper will explore the work’s presentation of Ulster places and people. A particular focus will be on associations with Ulster Cycle literature, and what these allusions reveal about the author’s ambitions for the Acallam will be discussed.
Speaker Bio: Geraldine Parsons is Professor of Medieval Irish Language and Literature at the University of Glasgow and, 2025-28, Senior Research Fellow at University College Cork, where she is working on the Taighde Ireland/Research Ireland-funded project, The Disappearing Text (https://www.ucc.ie/en/disappearing-text/). Her research is often focussed on medieval fíanaigecht literature (the corpus centred on the legendary figure, Finn mac Cumhaill).
Event Details
Starts at 6:00PM
