Insular Encounters in Early Medieval Europe

The question of Irish and Insular intellectual influence in early medieval Europe has been a much-debated topic for at least the past 150 years, and the Lake Constance region holds a central place in this debate. The conference aims at a better understanding of the Irish experience and its reception in this region, but also of Insular intellectual and artistic influence — or its rejection — in early medieval Continental Europe more broadly. It provides a platform for highlighting and discussing the advances made by the most recent scholarship in manuscripts studies (palaeography, codicology, DNA analysis), textual analysis (transmission history and especially early medieval exegesis), glossing traditions, and Insular art.

The conference is being organised in collaboration with the Abbey Library of St Gallen, the University of Zurich and Trinity College Dublin.