SCRÍBHINN: Scribal Culture in Medieval Irish Schools of Law and Medicine

Principal Investigator: Dr Chantal Kobel

The central aim of SCRÍBHINN is to advance our understanding of the nature and scope of scribal culture and knowledge exchange intersecting medieval Irish schools of law and medicine, ca. 1350–1650. The vernacular Irish legal and medical manuscripts and their contents at the heart of this project will shed new light on medieval Irish writing practices and scribal training in these professional schools of learning.

By taking an interdisciplinary approach, including Celtic Studies, manuscript studies, law and medicine, this project will enhance our comprehension of the manuscript tradition in medieval Irish schools of law and medicine as evidenced through their book production and the circulation of texts, and will seek to place late medieval Irish scribal culture within the broader context of European book history.

SCRÍBHINN is supported by a Maynooth University Seed Funding Grant in 2025-26.