Highlights Jennifer O'Reilly's distinctive approach to historical sources / Gathers difficult to find work into one volume / Provides a substantial contribution to our understanding of medieval England and Ireland

When she died in 2016, Dr Jennifer O'Reilly left behind a body of published and unpublished work in three areas of medieval studies: the iconography of the Gospel Books produced in early medieval Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England; the writings of Bede and his older Irish contemporary, Adomnan of Iona; and the early lives of Thomas Becket. In these three areas she explored the connections between historical texts, artistic images and biblical exegesis. This volume is a collection of 16 essays, old and new, relating history and exegesis in the writings of Bede and Adomnan, and in the lives of Thomas Becket. The first part consists of seven studies of Bede's writings, notably his biblical commentaries and his Ecclesiastical History. Two of the essays are published here for the first time. The five studies in the second part, devoted to Adomnan, discuss his life of Saint Columba (the Vita Columbae) and his guide to the Holy Places (De locis sanctis). One essay ('The Bible as Map'), published posthumously, compares his presentation of a major theme, the earthly and heavenly Jerusalem, with the approach adopted by Bede. The third section consists of two essays on the lives of Thomas Becket that were composed shortly after his death. They examine, in the context of patristic exegesis, the biblical images invoked in the texts in order to show how the saint's biographers understood the complex relationship between hagiography and history. With the exception of the Jarrow Lecture on Bede and the essays on Becket, the studies in both parts were published originally in edited books, some of them now hard to come by. (CS1078).

Leading Irish academics and policy practitioners present a current and comprehensive study of policy analysis in Ireland. Contributors examine policy analysis at different levels of government and governance including international, national and local and in the civil service, as well as non-government actors such as NGOs, interest groups and think tanks. They investigate the influential roles of the European Union, the public, science, quantitative evidence, the media and gender expertise in policy analysis. Surveying the history and evolution of public policy analysis in Ireland, this authoritative text addresses the current state of the discipline, identifies post-crisis developments and considers future challenges for policy analysis.

This interdisciplinary collection sets the cultural transformation of early medieval Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England in the context of its inheritance from Late Antiquity and engagement with the wider Medieval world. Honoring the work of Jennifer O Reilly, this exciting volume brings together new research on a range of patristic and medieval texts and visual materials. It testifies to the imaginative ways in which scholars and artists in these islands assimilated and creatively re-interpreted the Christian and Mediterranean culture they encountered through the coming of Christianity.The book is divided into three sections. The first section, "Inheritance and Transmission," sets the scene with contributions examining the interplay of Classical and Christian "topoi" in Late Antique texts; continental commentators appropriation of patristic ideas both directly and through Irish and Anglo-Saxon intermediaries; the representation of Ireland in English and Continental sources. The second section, "Monasticism in the Age of Bede," focuses initially on Bede as heresiologist, exegete, martyrologist and historian, addressing issues that include the cult of saints, reform, and the representation of women. These themes are continued in the section s other papers; views of conception and birth, the cult of St Gregory the Great, and the understanding of scripture in Adomnan s Life of Columba. The third section, "Exegesis and the Language of Pictures," explores the visual representation of scriptural exegesis in Insular sculpture and illuminated manuscripts. A number of papers survey the iconography of secular portrait figures, damnation, the beard, and the representation of cherubim and seraphim. Others consider the meaning and symbolism of particular Insular artworks such as the Ruthwell cross, the Book of Kells and Boulogne MS 10."