Dr. Nicole Volmering

Dr. Nicole Volmering

Research Assistant Professor, History

www.nicolevolmering.ie

Biography

Dr Volmering is Research Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Principal Investigator of the SFI-IRC Pathway Programme project "Early Irish Hands: The Development of Writing in Early Ireland". She currently teaches on the M.Phil. in Medieval Studies and is Trinity Centre for the Book Strand Coordinator for the History of Writing. In addition, she occasionally teaches in the School of Education and is a member of the CAVE research centre.

Her research interests centre on the manuscript culture and religious literature of the insular world, particularly medieval Irish martyrologies, eschatology, transmission of books and texts, genre studies, and palaeography. She has taught a range of medieval history, literature, and language modules at Trinity as well as the universities of Cork and Maynooth, and is currently teaching palaeography and manuscript studies. In addition, she has an interest in Higher Education (history and pedagogy) and regularly teaches T&L practices.

She previously worked as Assistant Professor in the School of Education and held funded fellowships in both Ireland and Germany, including an Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Irish and Celtic Languages, Trinity College Dublin, an O'Donovan Scholarship at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, and an IKGF fellowship at the Friedrich-Alexander Universität in Erlangen. She obtained her PhD in Early and Medieval Irish from University College Cork as De Finibus Fellow. In her dissertation, which won the Johann-Kaspar-Zeuß-Preis, she analyzed medieval narrative accounts of journeys to the afterlife as didactic writing, with a focus on structural and eschatological development. Before coming to Cork, she completed an MPhil at Trinity College Dublin and two theses at the Radboud University, Nijmegen, where she specialized in Anglo-Saxon England.

Publications and Further Research Outputs

  • Bibliography of Medieval Irish Eschatology and Related Sources in, J. Carey, et al. , The End and Beyond: Medieval Irish Eschatology, Aberystwyth, Celtic Studies Publications, 2014, pp855 - 912, [Nicole Volmering]Book Chapter, 2014, TARA - Full Text
  • The Old English Account of the Seven Heavens in, editor(s)J. Carey, et al. , The End and Beyond: Medieval Irish Eschatology, Aberystwyth, Celtic Studies Publications, 2014, pp285 - 306, [Nicole Volmering]Book Chapter, 2014, TARA - Full Text
  • The Second Vision of Adomnán in, J. Carey, et al. , The End and Beyond: Medieval Irish Eschatology, Aberystwyth, Celtic Studies Publications, 2014, pp647 - 681, [Nicole Volmering]Book Chapter, 2014, TARA - Full Text
  • N. Volmering, The Adaptation of the Visio Sancti Pauli in the West: The Evidence of Redaction VI', Peritia, 31, 2020, p125 - 154Journal Article, 2020, DOI , TARA - Full Text
  • The Rhetoric of Catastrophe in Eleventh Century Ireland: The Case of The Second Vision of Adomnán in, editor(s)R. Bjork , Catastrophes and the Apocalyptic in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Turnhout, Brepols, 2019, pp1 - 13, [Nicole Volmering]Book Chapter, 2019, DOI , TARA - Full Text
  • Aigne, Cork, UCC: CACSSS, [eds.], 2012-2014Editorial Board, 2012, URL
  • Gaelicisation, Education and the Gaelic Script in, editor(s)Nicole Volmering Claire Dunne John Walsh Noel Ó Murchadha , Irish in Outlook: A Hundred Years of Irish Education, Lausanne, Peter Lang, 2024, pp273 - 301, [Nicole Volmering]Book Chapter, 2024, DOI , TARA - Full Text
  • Nicole Volmering, Review of J.M. Wooding, R. Aist, T.O. Clancy and T. O'Loughlin, eds. Adomnán of Iona: Theologian, Lawmaker, Peacemaker (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2010), Studia Celtica Fennica, 8, 2012, p64 - 7Journal Article
  • Nicole Volmering, De Struktuur van Fís Adomnáin, Kelten: : Mededelingen van de Stichting A.G. van Hamel voor Keltische Studies ["Celts: Bulletin of the A. G. van Hamel Foundation for Celtic Studies"] , 56, 2012, p5 - 8Journal Article
  • N. Volmering, 'HOLY TIME Calendars and Martyrologies Through the Ages', holytime.martrae.net, 2018, -Exhibition
  • N. Volmering, The Problem of Pilate's Queen, Eleanor Knott Conference, Trinity College Dublin, April 2016, 2016Conference Paper
  • TCD School of Education, CAVE, MIE, Irish in Outlook: A Hundred Years of Irish Education, 12-13 May 2022, 2022, TCDMeetings /Conferences Organised
  • Nicole Volmering, 'TransSCRIPTion: Schaffhausen Adomnán Transcription Challenge', FromthePage, https://fromthepage.com/nicolev/schaffhausen-adomnan-challenge, 2021, -Digital research resource production, URL
  • Nicole Volmering, Gaelicisation, Access, and Distance: Ambivalent Attitudes to Irish Script, Irish in Outlook, TCD, 12-13 May, 2022Oral Presentation
  • Nicole Volmering, Engaging with Manuscripts in the Digital Space: Accessible Palaeography Training for Students and the General Public, CSANA cnference, Fairleigh Dickinson University (virtual), March 31-April 3, 2022Conference Paper
  • Nicole Volmering, An Integrative Approach to the Development of Writing in Early Ireland: Some Preliminary Observations, James Lydon Research Seminar, TCD, 24 March, 2022Oral Presentation
  • Nicole Volmering, Intangible Boundaries: Sound and Sacred Space in the Early Middle Ages, ICM, Leeds, 04-07-2022, 2022Conference Paper
  • Nicole Volmering, Irish Saints Between Past and Future: The Language of Memory and Identity in Félire Óengusso, Third European Symposium in Celtic Studies, Pavia, 09-09-2022, 2022Conference Paper
  • Nicole Volmering, Database Development for Manuscript Projects, Medieval DH Storming, Prague, Prague, 24/5-02-2023, 2023Oral Presentation
  • Nicole Volmering, Workshop: The possibilities and limitations of using FromthePage for transcription lessons, basic editing, collaboration, and crowdsourcing, Medieval DH Storming, Prague, Prague, 24/5-02-2023, 2023Conference Paper
  • Nicole Volmering, Training Workshop. Insular Manuscripts: the making of, 12-13 Dec 2022, In:Medieval DH Storming, Prague, 2022, Trinity College DublinMeetings /Conferences Organised
  • Nicole Volmering, Workshop on the Materiality of Medieval Manuscripts, 29/05/2023, 2023, TCDMeetings /Conferences Organised, URL
  • Nicole Volmering, Fragments from an Irish Sammelband, Workshop on the Materiality of Medieval Manuscripts, TCD, May 29, 2023Oral Presentation
  • Nicole Volmering , The Future of the Irish Research Landscape & Why it Matters, 17 April, 2023, TCDMeetings /Conferences Organised, URL
  • FAHSS, Research Forum on the Research and Innovation Bill & the Research Landscape, TCD, May 8, 2023, FAHSSInvited Talk, URL

Research Expertise

My research interests span more than one discipline (as below), but key themes in my research are manuscript studies, the transmission of texts and ideas, the study of writing, and didactic approaches (historical and modern). 1. Research concerning the manuscript culture, language, religious history and literature of medieval Ireland, with a particular focus on manuscript studies (palaeography and codicology), and on the transmission of texts and religious ideas. Ongoing work in this area concerns: the study of early Irish script, writing techniques, and the materiality of manuscripts (as part of my SFI-IRC project); the history and manuscript transmission of martyrologies the transmission of eschatological ideas genre development and literary adaptation the ongoing relevance of medievalism in the present My work draws on Old Irish and Latin material, but also occasionally touches on Old English and medieval Dutch literature. 2. Research interests in the broader field of Higher education and philosophy of education, specifically: education in 20th century Ireland humanistic approaches and transformative learning

  • Title
    Early Irish Hands: The Development of Writing in Early Ireland
    Summary
    The project studies early Irish palaeography and writing techniques based on manuscripts from the earliest stratum of Irish writing (550-900). It aims at contributing to a better understanding of the writing techniques used in early Irish scriptoria and to enable more accurate dating of early manuscripts through an improved understanding of variations in Irish script. In addition, it lays the groundwork for research into Irish-Continental script. This is important because palaeography is one of very few methods available that can help identify where and how a manuscript was made or read. The project takes an inclusive approach to the analysis of writing techniques and underpins traditional graph analysis with research on the material aspects of the manuscript. With this approach the project seeks to place palaeographical analysis on a surer footing and to contribute to the understanding of regional manuscript-making techniques in their insular and European context.
    Funding Agency
    Irish Research Council & Science Foundation Ireland
    Date From
    01-03-2022
  • Title
    Foundation Libraries
    Summary
    Scoping project for funding application on tracing intellectual networks through material and philological analysis.
    Funding Agency
    Enterprise Ireland
    Date From
    10/04/2018
    Date To
    09/01/2019
  • Title
    Religious Writing in Ireland, 800-1630: The Transmission and Reception of the Félire Óengusso
    Summary
    The text known as the 'Félire Óengusso('Martyrology or Calendar of Óengus')is the earliest surviving martyrology composed in Irish verse, and one of our most important sources for the history of the language. It was copied over a period of more than eight hundred years and attracted copious glosses and commentaries in the course of its transmission, so that it became a repository of knowledge in its own right. However, the text has never been studied in its manuscript context. The last edition of the Martyrology dates to 1905 and is both incomplete and outdated. Moreover, it's editorial policy is confused and obscures the textual evidence from the individual manuscripts. This research project therefore involves a comprehensive study of the transmission and reception of the 'Félire Óengusso' through an examination of the individual manuscript witnesses. Such a study will allow us an opportunity to examine medieval textual scholarship in a key period of Ireland's religious and linguistic history (800-1630). This approach translates into two complementary focus points, examining, on the one hand, the text and its transmission, with particular attention to its linguistic aspects; on the other, the historical, literary and socio-religious aspects of the manuscript copies of the 'Félire' as witnesses to living communities, their scholarship and their religious practices or beliefs.
    Funding Agency
    Irish Research Council
    Date From
    01/10/2015
    Date To
    31-03-2018
  • Title
    CLÓSCAPE
    Summary
    CLÓSCAPE aims to reconstruct the historic placement of cló gaelach signs across Ireland, aid in preserving signage, and investigate the cultural value of cló gaelach signage within the community past and present.
    Funding Agency
    Trinity Long Room Hub
    Date From
    2024
    Date To
    2025

Languages and literature, Education, History, Heritage and Archaeology,

Recognition

  • O'Donovan Scholarship 2012-2015
  • IRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship 2015
  • TLRH Research Incentive Scheme 2023-25
  • Enterprise Ireland Development Grant 2018-19
  • IKGH Visiting Fellowship 2018-19
  • De Finibus Fellowship 2009-2012
  • Teaching commendation from the Students Union 2016
  • SFI-IRC Pathway Programme grant 2021
  • Johann-Kaspar-Zeuß-Prize for the Best Dissertation in Celtic Studies 2015
  • VSB Fonds Scholarship 2007-2009
  • Travel Grant from the Irish Biblical Association (SPT) 2012
  • Harting Scholarship
  • Trinity Long Room Hub Research Incentive Scheme 2016-17
  • TRDA Group-Based Scheme 'Wandering Books' 2024-2028
  • Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain
  • Association for Manuscripts and Archives in Research Collections (AMARC)
  • Institute of Conservator-Restorers Ireland, Associate
  • Societas Celtologica Europaea [Advisory Board]
  • American Society for Irish Medieval Studies [Rep]
  • Henry Bradshaw Society
  • Irish Association of Professional Historians (IAPH)
  • The Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature