Kathleen Winifred Hughes

Kathleen Winifred Hughes (born September 8, 1926 in Middlesbrough ; † April 20, 1977 ) was an English historian who, through a systematic study of contemporary sources, developed a new image of the early Christian Irish Church and thus shaped research in this area for decades . In particular, she studied the early Christian Church's relations with Wales, Scotland, England and continental Europe.

Academic path of life

After completing her school education, she began her studies in 1944 at Bedford College at the University of London . After completing her studies and the additional teaching examination, she began researching the Saint Finnian of Clonard as a doctoral student . Since the story of Finnian and Clonard is closely tied to Llancarfan in Wales , it early became concerned with the relationship between Ireland and Wales. Through the lectures of Francis Wormald, among other things, she developed a deep interest in ancient manuscripts and medieval art. In addition, she learned Old and Middle Irish during several stays in Oxford and Ireland , which opened the way to medieval sources for her. She completed her doctorate in 1951.

From 1951 to 1955 she worked as an assistant lecturer in history at Royal Holloway College . She then got a job as a history lecturer at Newnham College , Cambridge . In 1957 she was appointed University Assistant Lecturer in the Faculty of History. In 1976 she took over from Nora Chadwick as lecturer on the early history and culture of the British Isles.

Works

Her early publications were particularly concerned with Saint Finnian, his connection to Wales and Clonard. There was also an increasing number of analyzes of some medieval manuscripts. Then began generalizing works about the early Christian church in Ireland, which dealt with pilgrimages or the training of monks. Her work The Church in Early Irish Society , which appeared in 1966 and which for the first time comprehensively presented the embedding of the early Christian church in Irish society at the time , was particularly important .

In her further works, she intensified her research into the early medieval contacts between Ireland and the Picts and England . Her 1972 book on the primary sources of early medieval church history in Ireland, Early Christian Ireland: Introduction to the Sources, became well known .

Numerous essays did not appear until after her unexpectedly early death in 1977. These include in particular her examination of earlier ideas about the early Christian Irish Church The Celtic Church: Is this a Valid Concept? and the updated work The church in Irish society, 400-800 for the A New History of Ireland series, which was still being planned at the time .

Appreciation of your work

Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, editor of Prehistoric and Early Ireland , pays tribute to Kathleen Hughes 'work from the point of view of 2005: although some recent works also partially revise Hughes' point of view, she was undoubtedly the most important historian of Irish church history of her generation. With her work The church in early Irish society from 1966 she freed the area from previous clichés and with her work from 1972 on sources on early medieval church history she pointed the way forward.

In 2000, an annual series of lectures in memory of Kathleen Hughes on the medieval history of Wales began at Hughes Hall , Cambridge. All contributions will then appear in printed form.

Bibliography of selected works

• Kathleen Hughes: The Church in Early Irish Society . Methuen & Co Ltd, 1966.
• Kathleen Hughes: Early Christian Ireland: Introduction to the Sources . Cornell University Press, 1972, ISBN 0-8014-9135-5 .
• Kathleen Hughes and Ann Hamlin: The Modern Traveler to the Early Irish Church . London, 1977. New editions published in 1997 and 2004 by Four Courts Press, ISBN 1-85182-194-5 .
• Kathleen Hughes: The Celtic Church: Is this a Valid Concept? . In: Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies , year 1981, issue 1, pages 1–20. (This publication is based on a lecture as O'Donnell Lecturer at the University of Oxford by Hughes in 1974/75. She herself intended to publish a revised version, but was prevented from doing so by her untimely death.)
• Kathleen Hughes: The church in Irish society, 400-800 . Written in 1974, but first published in 2005 in Prehistoric and Early Ireland , ISBN 0-19-821737-4 .

literature

• David Dumville: Kathleen Winifred Hughes 1926-1977 . In: Studia Celtica , University of Wales Press, year 1979, volume 14, issue 15, pages 387-391. (This is a short biography and tribute to Hughes written by one of her students immediately after her death.)
• Dorothy Whitelock (Ed.) Et al .: Ireland in Early Medieval Europe . Cambridge University Press, 1982, ISBN 0-521-23547-2 . (This volume was edited by colleague friends of Hughes after her untimely death. The preface expressly acknowledges her dominant role in the analysis of early Christian church history. The volume also contains the biographical essay by Rosamund McKitterick.)
• Rosamond McKitterick : Kathleen Winifred Hughes 1926-1977 . In: Ireland in Early Medieval Europe . (The biographical data including the academic path were taken from this essay.)
• David Dumville: Bibliography of the Publications of Kathleen Hughes . In: Ireland in Early Medieval Europe . (This bibliography contains all of Hughes' publications up to 1982. However, not a few of her publications appeared later.)
• Dáibhí Ó Cróinín (Ed.): Prehistoric and Early Ireland from the series A New History of Ireland . Oxford University Press, 2005. (This volume contains the essay, The Church in Irish Society, 400-800, by Hughes, written by her in 1974 and not published until 28 years after her death. This prompted the editor to make a full note of its meaning of their work from today's perspective.)

Individual evidence

1. ^ University of Cambridge: Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic - Public Lecture Series
2. ^ University of Cambridge: Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic - Publications