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Lecturer Information
Thomas Finan
University of St. Louis Thomas Finan is Assistant Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of St. Louis, St. Louis MO. He is responsible for bringing international programs to the home campus of Webster University, and acts as a resource for faculty and students who participate in study abroad opportunities. He also directs the International Studies BA and Certificate programs.
Thomas Finan is also Visiting Research Scholar in the Department of History at St. Louis University. His primary research interests include the history and archaeology of Gaelic Ireland, thirteenth and fourteenth century bardic poetry, the history and theology of the Gaelic church in medieval Ireland and the ideology of nationalism in medieval Ireland.
Dr. Finan is director of the Settlement in the Medieval Diocese of Elphin research project. The goals of this long-term project are to identify the local parish churches in the medieval diocese of Elphin, Co. Roscommon, Ireland, to survey the extant remains, and to establish the form and function of those individual churches with the diocese and wider medieval Irish church.
Lecture Abstracts The Medieval Ecclesiastical Complex at Kilteasheen, Co. Roscommon, Ireland
The medieval church in thirteenth century Ireland was divided between two distinct regions, an ecclesia inter Anglicos and ecclesia inter Hibernicos. Up until recently, though, no high medieval Gaelic ecclesiastical sites have been excavated in Ireland.
In 2002 Dr. Finan began a long term research and training project analyzing the medieval parish churches in the Diocese of Elphin, in Co. Roscommon. In 2005, as part of that survey, excavations began at the medieval ecclesiastical complex at Kilteasheen. The complex includes a medieval parish church, a medieval cemetery, a kiln, earthen fortifications and several other unidentified structures. Initial geophysical surveys of the site revealed a complex palimpsest of occupation layers, including what appeared to be prehistoric evidence of settlement.
The first season of excavations in 2005 confirmed the initial geophysical survey by revealing the walls of the medieval parish church, the foundations of a medieval
fortification and cemetery, and substantial evidence of Neolithic settlement under the cemetery and fortification.
Short bibliography and/or website on lecture topic (for lay reader):
http://www.instituteofirisharchaeology.com
O’Keefe, Medieval Ireland: An Archaeology
Barry, The Archaeology of Medieval Ireland
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