Máire Herbert

Máire R. M. Herbert , also known as Mary Herbert, is an Irish historian and academic, specialising in early medieval Irish history and Irish saints. She is Emeritus Professor of Early and Medieval Irish at University College Cork, and was previously the head of its Scoil Léann Na Gaeilge (School of Irish Learning).

Biography Herbert pursued Celtic Studies at University College, Galway, taking a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1968 followed by a Master of Arts (MA) degree in 1970. She later undertook further postgraduate studies as a visiting fellow at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, completing her research there in 1975 Her doctoral thesis was titled "The monastic paruchia of Colum Cille in pre-Norman Ireland: its history and hagiography". In 2015, a Festschrift was published in her honour. In 2018, she was awarded the Derek Allen Prize (Celtic Studies) by the British Academy "for her outstanding contribution to the study of Celtic literature and history".

Selected works