SSNS Seminar – Hannah Evans – ‘For every woman who is an embroideress deserves more profit than even queens’: gender, status, and textiles in medieval Ireland.

The SSNS Seminar Series continues on Tuesday 25th August 2026 with Hannah Evans for her talk ‘For every woman who is an embroideress deserves more profit than even queens’: gender, status, and textiles in medieval Ireland.

This is a free, ticketed event; please register below.

Abstract:

This paper explores the entanglement of gender, status and textile production in early medieval Ireland, examining how social status influenced women’s participation in different stages of textile manufacture by drawing on a range of written sources. While textile production has often been treated as a broadly female occupation, this paper explores the intricacies of women’s roles within the production process. For example, access to particular forms of textile work was shaped by status, with different stages of production carrying distinct social and economic significance. By situating textile production within broader discussions of gender and hierarchy, this paper demonstrates that textile production offers a nuanced lens through which to examine the intersection of gender, status, labour, and economic value in medieval Ireland.

Bio:
Hannah is a third-year PhD student in the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool. Her interdisciplinary research examines the economic use of textiles in early medieval Ireland, drawing on a variety of written sources, archaeological material, iconographic evidence and social anthropological frameworks. She completed an MPhil in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic with her dissertation focusing on the use of woollen cloth as currency in medieval Iceland and its impact on women’s roles in society, and has co-authored a forthcoming book chapter based on this research.

Registration below. Details for the Zoom meeting will be emailed in advance of the seminar.