"Medieval Kings and Symbolic Landscapes in Western Ireland" - Jimmy Schryver, University of Minnesota - Morris April 24, 2012

Center for Medieval Studies Colloquium Series
1210 Heller Hall

James (Jimmy) Schryver is a professor of Art History at the University of Minnesota, Morris, where his research interests include Greek and Roman art and archaeology, as well as Byzantine and Islamic art, Castles and Cathedrals, and the Medieval Mediterranean, particularly the art and archaeology of the Crusader states. During the summer of 2009, he was Assistant Director of the Petra Garden and Pool Complex Excavations and from 2006 to 2008 he participated in summer excavations at Tulsk, Co. Roscommon, Ireland. Some of his recent publications include “Types of Gardens: Looking towards, not from, Northwest Christendom” (forthcoming), Studies in the Archaeology of the Medieval Mediterranean (editor, 2010), and “Unraveling Butrint: Putting together a city’s history by rebuilding its walls” (2009).

Rathcroghan, the ringfort of Cruachan, just outside of the modern village of Tulsk in western Ireland, is a complex of archaeological sites with considerable importance for the study of medieval Irish culture, religion, and burial practices, with cemetery and building remains dating from the first few centuries BCE to the second half of the first millennium. The site also figures in much of early Irish literature, featuring in the Ulster Cycle (dating from the seventh or eighth centuries and preserved in manuscripts from the twelfth through the fifteenth), as the seat of the king and queen of the Connachta.

Reception to follow, open to faculty, graduate students, and Friends of the Center for Medieval Studies.

Official Website: http://www.cmedst.umn.edu