Clodagh Tait
Biographic Data
| ID | 1515145 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Clodagh Tait |
| GIVEN NAMES | Clodagh |
| FAMILY NAME | Tait |
| SIGNATURE | TAIT C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Mary Immaculate College |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3621-1013 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Mothering, matrescence and the changing meanings of ceremonies of churching after childbirth in Ireland, c.1800–2000
Ceremonies of churching tend to have a negative reputation, as rituals imposed by clerics on women in the vulnerable time after childbirth. Their perceived associations with ‘cleansing’ or ‘purification’ have long caused disquiet. However, the term might be applied to quite different rites, there were different views of churching’s nature and purpose, and it was often promoted by people other than the clergy. The sources relating to churching are…
Phantoms in and of the Archive
In October 1688, and again in May 1689, Mary Cudmore claimed to have encountered a ‘spectre’ in her employers’ house in Cork city. The great interest the story aroused among the townspeople is indicated in letters from prominent inhabitants and an examination of Mary by the bishop of Cork and Ross. They allow us access into the homes and heads of the people of Cork at a point when significant challenges were being mounted to the Protestant author…
Spectres Across the Atlantic, c.1820-1940
In Irish tradition it was believed that both the living and the dead might in certain circumstances appear at a distance from their bodies. This article considers occasions where such supernatural visitations happened close to the moment of the death. Deathbed apparitions or 'crisis apparitions' were reported widely in Europe and America, but have not been much explored by historians. In crisis apparition stories, the dying or just-dead person vi…
Progress, challenges and opportunities in early modern gender history, c .1550–1720
Following some of the themes of the original ‘An agenda for women's history in Ireland, 1500–1900’ and others that were not as prominent, this article considers progress since 1992 and highlights opportunities for the further development of Irish early modern women's and gender history. It considers aspects of the life cycle of women and men, especially birth, youth and marriage; the economic roles of women, especially when it came to work and pr…
Kindred Without End’
Wet-nursing and fosterage were widely used in early modern Ireland. Despite the difficulties of reconstructing practices surrounding the nourishment and care of infants and young children, the limited surviving sources provide some evidence for the practical arrangements involved, the role of these practices in extending families and creating long-lasting ties of ‘fictive kinship’, the emotional and economic connections they forged and deeply hel…
Worry Work
There was a woman went out one time and left her child in the cradle; she was in a hurry so she forgot to put the tongs across the cradle. When she went back there was a fairy child in the cradle, and when she would look at him he would put his left leg on his right shoulder and his right leg on his left shoulder and cry for hours. He had no bones and he could twist like an eel; the poor mother was heart-scalded looking at him. One day there was …
Popular Culture and Political Agency in Early Modern England and Ireland
Royal Inauguration in Gaelic Ireland c.1100-1600
The World of the Gallowglass
Namesakes and nicknames
This article argues that naming can reveal personal ideologies, family connections, social interactions and changes in the concerns of the inhabitants of Ireland in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Ethnic and religious differences are indicated by the differing naming practices used by the Gaelic Irish, Old English and New English, Scots and Welsh inhabitants of Ireland. Much can be divined about the symbolism underlying naming practice w…
Spiritual Bonds, Social Bonds
Though the ritual of baptism occasioned impassioned debates about its effects and performance in the early modern period, most Christian groups agreed on its necessity. It signified the incorporation of each individual into a broad spiritual family, symbolized by the provision of a set of godparents who were chosen to underline and extend bonds of friendship and bring families to the attention of influential patrons. This article provides as full…
Catholic Martyrdom in Early Modern Ireland
Approximately 250 men and women who died in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Ireland have been claimed as martyrs for Catholicism. As well as demonstrating one aspect of Irish Catholic experience, martyrdom offers insights into the difficulties in governing Ireland in the early modern period
Safely Delivered
Death, Burial and Commemoration in Ireland, 1550–1650
This book is the first detailed examination of death in early modern Ireland. It deals with the process of dying, the conduct of funerals, the arrangement of burials, the private and public commemorat
Conclusion
On the south wall of Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin is the monument to Francis Agard and his daughter, Cecilia Harrington (Figure 7). 1 Two family groups face one another across their prayer desks. On the right hand side are Francis, his wife Jacoba de Brett, their daughters, and their infant son. Opposite are Cecilia and her two sons, James and John. The three shields of arms that originally surmounted the tomb have disappeared, but the compl…
The Politics of Disinterment
In his will of 1600, Sir John Bellew asked that should he die and be buried at Duleek, his second wife, Ismay Nugent, should be buried beside him. All very well, until we realise that she was already dead, and had been interred, probably in Dundalk, in the early 1590s. What Bellew was proposing was that she be exhumed and reburied in the new grave. 1 While today, as one anthropologist points out, we are ‘horrified at the disturbing of bodies’, ot…
Adored for Saints
While individuals amongst the Catholic martyrs of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Ireland have recently received some scholarly attention on a local level, little consideration has been given to the wider context of their experiences. This paper traces the deaths of these martyrs from capture to cult, drawing on contemporary accounts of martyrdom and comparing the process as it occurred in Ireland with the experiences of the Catholic martyrs o…
Harnessing Corpses
Restricted accessAbstractFirst published June 2000Harnessing Corpses: Death, Burial, Disinterment and Commemoration in Ireland c.1550–1655Clodagh TaitView all authors and affiliationsVolume 27, Issue 1https://doi.org/10.1177/033248930002700109
Safely Delivered
Progress, challenges and opportunities in early modern gender history, c .1550–1720
Following some of the themes of the original ‘An agenda for women's history in Ireland, 1500–1900’ and others that were not as prominent, this article considers progress since 1992 and highlights opportunities for the further development of Irish early modern women's and gender history. It considers aspects of the life cycle of women and men, especially birth, youth and marriage; the economic roles of women, especially when it came to work and pr…
Phantoms in and of the Archive
In October 1688, and again in May 1689, Mary Cudmore claimed to have encountered a ‘spectre’ in her employers’ house in Cork city. The great interest the story aroused among the townspeople is indicated in letters from prominent inhabitants and an examination of Mary by the bishop of Cork and Ross. They allow us access into the homes and heads of the people of Cork at a point when significant challenges were being mounted to the Protestant author…
Kindred Without End’
Wet-nursing and fosterage were widely used in early modern Ireland. Despite the difficulties of reconstructing practices surrounding the nourishment and care of infants and young children, the limited surviving sources provide some evidence for the practical arrangements involved, the role of these practices in extending families and creating long-lasting ties of ‘fictive kinship’, the emotional and economic connections they forged and deeply hel…
Namesakes and nicknames
This article argues that naming can reveal personal ideologies, family connections, social interactions and changes in the concerns of the inhabitants of Ireland in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Ethnic and religious differences are indicated by the differing naming practices used by the Gaelic Irish, Old English and New English, Scots and Welsh inhabitants of Ireland. Much can be divined about the symbolism underlying naming practice w…
Adored for Saints
While individuals amongst the Catholic martyrs of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Ireland have recently received some scholarly attention on a local level, little consideration has been given to the wider context of their experiences. This paper traces the deaths of these martyrs from capture to cult, drawing on contemporary accounts of martyrdom and comparing the process as it occurred in Ireland with the experiences of the Catholic martyrs o…
Harnessing Corpses
Restricted accessAbstractFirst published June 2000Harnessing Corpses: Death, Burial, Disinterment and Commemoration in Ireland c.1550–1655Clodagh TaitView all authors and affiliationsVolume 27, Issue 1https://doi.org/10.1177/033248930002700109
Adored for Saints
While individuals amongst the Catholic martyrs of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Ireland have recently received some scholarly attention on a local level, little consideration has been given to the wider context of their experiences. This paper traces the deaths of these martyrs from capture to cult, drawing on contemporary accounts of martyrdom and comparing the process as it occurred in Ireland with the experiences of the Catholic martyrs o…
Death, Burial and Commemoration in Ireland, 1550–1650
This book is the first detailed examination of death in early modern Ireland. It deals with the process of dying, the conduct of funerals, the arrangement of burials, the private and public commemorat
Conclusion
On the south wall of Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin is the monument to Francis Agard and his daughter, Cecilia Harrington (Figure 7). 1 Two family groups face one another across their prayer desks. On the right hand side are Francis, his wife Jacoba de Brett, their daughters, and their infant son. Opposite are Cecilia and her two sons, James and John. The three shields of arms that originally surmounted the tomb have disappeared, but the compl…
The Politics of Disinterment
In his will of 1600, Sir John Bellew asked that should he die and be buried at Duleek, his second wife, Ismay Nugent, should be buried beside him. All very well, until we realise that she was already dead, and had been interred, probably in Dundalk, in the early 1590s. What Bellew was proposing was that she be exhumed and reburied in the new grave. 1 While today, as one anthropologist points out, we are ‘horrified at the disturbing of bodies’, ot…
Safely Delivered
Catholic Martyrdom in Early Modern Ireland
Approximately 250 men and women who died in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Ireland have been claimed as martyrs for Catholicism. As well as demonstrating one aspect of Irish Catholic experience, martyrdom offers insights into the difficulties in governing Ireland in the early modern period
Spiritual Bonds, Social Bonds
Though the ritual of baptism occasioned impassioned debates about its effects and performance in the early modern period, most Christian groups agreed on its necessity. It signified the incorporation of each individual into a broad spiritual family, symbolized by the provision of a set of godparents who were chosen to underline and extend bonds of friendship and bring families to the attention of influential patrons. This article provides as full…
Namesakes and nicknames
This article argues that naming can reveal personal ideologies, family connections, social interactions and changes in the concerns of the inhabitants of Ireland in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Ethnic and religious differences are indicated by the differing naming practices used by the Gaelic Irish, Old English and New English, Scots and Welsh inhabitants of Ireland. Much can be divined about the symbolism underlying naming practice w…
Royal Inauguration in Gaelic Ireland c.1100-1600
The World of the Gallowglass
Popular Culture and Political Agency in Early Modern England and Ireland
Kindred Without End’
Wet-nursing and fosterage were widely used in early modern Ireland. Despite the difficulties of reconstructing practices surrounding the nourishment and care of infants and young children, the limited surviving sources provide some evidence for the practical arrangements involved, the role of these practices in extending families and creating long-lasting ties of ‘fictive kinship’, the emotional and economic connections they forged and deeply hel…
Worry Work
There was a woman went out one time and left her child in the cradle; she was in a hurry so she forgot to put the tongs across the cradle. When she went back there was a fairy child in the cradle, and when she would look at him he would put his left leg on his right shoulder and his right leg on his left shoulder and cry for hours. He had no bones and he could twist like an eel; the poor mother was heart-scalded looking at him. One day there was …
Progress, challenges and opportunities in early modern gender history, c .1550–1720
Following some of the themes of the original ‘An agenda for women's history in Ireland, 1500–1900’ and others that were not as prominent, this article considers progress since 1992 and highlights opportunities for the further development of Irish early modern women's and gender history. It considers aspects of the life cycle of women and men, especially birth, youth and marriage; the economic roles of women, especially when it came to work and pr…
Spectres Across the Atlantic, c.1820-1940
In Irish tradition it was believed that both the living and the dead might in certain circumstances appear at a distance from their bodies. This article considers occasions where such supernatural visitations happened close to the moment of the death. Deathbed apparitions or 'crisis apparitions' were reported widely in Europe and America, but have not been much explored by historians. In crisis apparition stories, the dying or just-dead person vi…
Phantoms in and of the Archive
In October 1688, and again in May 1689, Mary Cudmore claimed to have encountered a ‘spectre’ in her employers’ house in Cork city. The great interest the story aroused among the townspeople is indicated in letters from prominent inhabitants and an examination of Mary by the bishop of Cork and Ross. They allow us access into the homes and heads of the people of Cork at a point when significant challenges were being mounted to the Protestant author…
Mothering, matrescence and the changing meanings of ceremonies of churching after childbirth in Ireland, c.1800–2000
Ceremonies of churching tend to have a negative reputation, as rituals imposed by clerics on women in the vulnerable time after childbirth. Their perceived associations with ‘cleansing’ or ‘purification’ have long caused disquiet. However, the term might be applied to quite different rites, there were different views of churching’s nature and purpose, and it was often promoted by people other than the clergy. The sources relating to churching are…
Historical Studies of British Isles (14 works) · History (14 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Political science (9 works) · History (8 works) · Irish and British Studies (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Ancient history (5 works) · Archaeology (5 works) · Ethnology (5 works)