Social Status in the Old Irish Immrama
Abstract
The article attempts to identify the social status of some main characters of the Immrama, the old Irish texts about sea journeys. Mael Duin and Ua Corra brothers, with their young age and material disability, remind us a typical fer midboth — one of the lowest social categories in Early Ireland. The meanings of fuirseóir and crosán are also in the focus, since the former refers to jester or a mountebank, while later has a more widespread semantic range included some penitential aspects of an atonement. A context from the Old Irish Law texts, glossaries and narratives allows us to consider all these ranks and categories as the marginal ones. Constructing Immrama penitential and moral effect a medieval author found such marginals as a perfect role model for his narratives.
Supporting agencies: The article is published as part of the Russian Science Foundation project No. 23–28–01592, “The phenomenon of sea voyages in pre-modern cultures: contract with the sea, models and practices”. https://rscf.ru/ project/23–28–01592/
About the Author
A. A. Bogdanova
Pitirim Sorokin Syktyvkar State University; University of Tyumen
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Anastasiia A. Bogdanova — Senior Lecturer, Junior Research Fellow; Junior Research Fellow
Tyumen
Syktyvkar
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Review
For citations:
Bogdanova A.A. Social Status in the Old Irish Immrama. State, Religion and Church in Russia and Worldwide. 2025;43(4):98-122. (In Russ.)
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