Projects per year
Personal profile
Research Focus
I am an historian of early medieval intellectual culture. To date, my research has resulted in two solo-authored substantial monographs. My first book provides an edition of glosses on Prudentius’s Psychomachia, an allegorical work that had a profound influence through the Middle Ages into the early modern era. My second on the reception of Martianus’s textbook on the liberal arts illumines the central work underpinning medieval ideas of education and learning. Providing comprehensive first editions of early medieval glosses on foundational texts, both books establish the significance of glosses as evidence for early medieval intellectual activity. Moreover, the larger issues arising from these studies pertaining to micro-texts and hypertexts reach right into the modern world. Additionally, collaborations on interdisciplinary projects have extended the scope of my research beyond the field of glossing studies into the areas of the classical commentary tradition and the materiality of the medieval book. More recently, I have explored the reception of Vergil for insight into Carolingian imperial ideology as well as the Carolingian conception of earth.
My current project probes annotations on the Psalms added to Carolingian manuscripts for insight into Carolingian imperial ideology. It seeks to examine these annotations both as a source for Carolingian ideas about empire and for what they reveal of the role of Jerusalem in shaping an enduring articulation of empire in the post-Roman West.
Achievements
Elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, London in 2010, past awards include an AHRC Leadership fellowship (2020-2021) to organise an international conference and undertake exhibition organisation at Queen's on crafting knowledge in the medieval and modern worlds (https://craftingknowledge.wordpress.com/). Thanks to a Leverhulme International Fellowship in 2017, visiting fellowships were held at the Moore Institute for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Galway; Huygens ING, Amsterdam; Laboratoire d’histoire des théories linguistiques, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), Paris; and the Abteilung für Griechische und Lateinische Philologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich.
Other awards include an AHRC Research Fellowship (2009-2010), Scaliger Fellowship, Leiden (2005), National University of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship (2003-2005), Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship, Irish Research Council (2001-2002), Research Fellowship, University College Cork (2000-2001), Wingate Scholarship, Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation, London (1998-1999), Rhodes Scholarship, Rhodes Trust, Oxford (1995-1998), Olwyn Rhys Scholarship, St. Anne’s College, Oxford (1995-1997), DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) awards (Munich 2002 and Heidelberg 1991), and a Research Fellowship, University of Konstanz (1992-1993).
Invited to sit on the advisory boards for the Leverhulme funded project Boethius in Early Medieval Europe (Oxford) and the Irish Research Council project Global and Local Scholarship on Annotated Manuscripts (Galway) as well as to contribute to international collaborative projects in Stockholm, Helsinki, Vienna, and Princeton, Sinéad O’Sullivan has served as guest editor for a major digital collaborative project at the Huygens Institute (Leiden), co-organised an international conference in the Hague and has recently been invited to serve as an Associate Editor for The Journal of Medieval Latin (Toronto and Turnhout, Brepols). Her research has brought to light new materials for understanding the texts shaping the cultural history of the medieval West. Publications include single-authored monographs that are standard reference works, major research volumes of which she was chief editor and co-editor respectively, and numerous solo-authored articles in leading journals and peer-reviewed articles in edited collections.
At Queen’s, Sinéad O’Sullivan is currently an Athena SWAN Lead for HAPP. Past roles include Programme Convenor for History, Senior Tutor, Senior Exams Officer, Advisor of Studies, Socrates-Erasmus co-ordinator, and membership of the Theology Board.
Teaching
Sinead O'Sullivan teaches on the following programmes / modules:
Undergraduate/Postgraduate
110HIS249 |
The Roman Origins of the East and West 300-700 |
HIS3079 |
Kings, Courts and Culture in Carolingian Europe, 800-1000 |
HIS2047 |
Expansion of Medieval Europe, 1000-1300 |
HIS3077 |
Dissertations |
MHY7089 |
Case Studies in History (MA in History) |
MHY7010 |
Dissertations (MA in History) |
Particulars
Relevant Websites
Full CV at https://sineadosullivansite.wordpress.com/
Current project: https://craftingknowledge.wordpress.com/
Colloquium: Crafting knowledge in the early medieval book: practices of collecting and concealing, Queen’s University, Belfast, 12-13 July 2021
Public Exhibition: ‘Ciphers, Codes and Notes: Crafting Knowledge in the Medieval and Modern Worlds.’ The McClay Library.
Online Exhibition: Ciphers, Codes, and Notes: Crafting Knowledge in the Medieval and Modern Worlds.
Public Engagement Event: Ciphers and Codes, Past, Present, Future, The Great Hall, Queen's University, Belfast (Schools of HAPP and EEECS & Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London)
Online Lecture: IHR Earlier Middle Ages Seminar: Reading the Psalms in the Carolingian Age.
Podcast: How and Why History: Who was Charlemagne https://tv.historyhit.com/?fbclid=IwAR244owq5LwBnOUweKqbAYbAEDTYx19SUq10hivHJhURN_Gn1xFxwhp7rOc
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Projects
- 3 Active
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R2153HIS: Encoding knowledge in the textual culture of the early Middle Ages
22/07/2016 → …
Project: Research
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"Book as Bibliotheca: the emergence of the commented edition" (forthcoming Speculum 100/2 (April 2025)
O'Sullivan, S., 30 Jun 2023, (Accepted) In: Speculum. 100, 2Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Collecting and concealing in the field of the world
O'Sullivan, S., 12 Jul 2023, Crafting knowledge in the early medieval book: practices of collecting and concealing in the Latin West. O’Sullivan, S. & Arthur, C. (eds.). Brepols Publishers, p. 11-38 28 p. (Publications of the Journal of Medieval Latin; vol. 16).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
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Crafting knowledge in the early medieval book: practices of collecting and concealing in the Latin West
O'Sullivan, S. (ed.) & Arthur, C. (ed.), 12 Jul 2023, Turnhout: Brepols Publishers. 524 p. (Publications of the Journal of Medieval Latin; vol. 16)Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Interconnecting knowledge in early medieval glosses
O'Sullivan, S., 15 Jan 2023, Glossing practice: comparative perspectives. Cinato, F., Lahaussois, A. & Whitman, J. B. (eds.). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, p. 95-112 18 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
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Summa intellegentia rerum incorporalium: Transcendent knowing in the Carolingian reception of Martianus
O'Sullivan, S., 16 Jul 2022, Martianus Capella et la circulation des savoirs dans l’Antiquité tardive: Actes du colloque en ligne (Paris, Sorbonne Université, 8-9 Avril 2021. Guillaumin, J-B. (ed.). Trieste: EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, p. 395-408 14 p. (Polymnia. Studi di filologia classica).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
Open AccessFile34 Downloads (Pure)
Prizes
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AHRC Leadership Fellowship Award
O'Sullivan, Sinead (Recipient), 01 Jan 2020
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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British Academy Exchange Scheme
O'Sullivan, Sinead (Recipient), 2005
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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DAAD Research Award, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität, Munich
O'Sullivan, Sinead (Recipient), 2002
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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DAAD research award, Ruprecht-Karls Universität, Heidelberg
O'Sullivan, Sinead (Recipient), 1991
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
Activities
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APR panel (HAPP) (Event)
Sinead O'Sullivan (Member)
22 Sep 2023Activity: Membership types › Membership of peer review panel or committee
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APR Panel (HAPP) (Event)
Sinead O'Sullivan (Chair)
12 Sep 2023Activity: Membership types › Membership of peer review panel or committee
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APR Panel (HAPP) (Event)
Sinead O'Sullivan (Chair)
11 Sep 2023Activity: Membership types › Membership of peer review panel or committee
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APR Panel (HAPP) (Event)
Sinead O'Sullivan (Chair)
11 Sep 2023Activity: Membership types › Membership of peer review panel or committee
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PhD Internal Examiner
Sinead O'Sullivan (Examiner)
13 Jun 2023Activity: Examination types › Other examination
Press/Media
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Interviewed by Rob Weinberg on “How Charlemagne united much of Europe” for 'How and Why History'
06/03/2020
1 item of Media coverage, 1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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Review of Carolingian Scholarship Book for Parergon: Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/536723/pdf
30/11/2013
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Review of Carolingian Scholarship Book in The Medieval Review: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/tmr/article/view/17720
15/10/2013
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Review of Martianus Book for The Journal of Medieval Latin. https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1484/J.JML.5.100870
15/10/2012
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Review of Martianus book for The Medieval Review. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/tmr/article/view/18746
03/10/2011
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research