O'Donnell Lecture 2025: 'The Morrigan Revisited' by Ronald Hutton

The Morrigan is the best-known goddess figure in medieval Irish literature next to Bridget, and in many ways epitomizes the dark aspects of Celtic female divinity, representing sorcery, sexuality, shapeshifting and war. At the same time there has been no consensus among recent academic experts concerning her essential character. This lecture seeks to fulfil the O'Donnell remit by using both a fresh analysis of the medieval texts and a comparison of other mythologies to suggest such a character for her, to explain her relationship with other Irish war goddesses and spirits and to account for her uniquely high profile, in comparison with those other beings, in modern Western culture. Ronald Hutton is Professor of History in the University of Bristol, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Society of Antiquaries, the Learned Society of Wales and the British Academy, and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He is also the Gresham Professor of Divinity at London, sits on the Conservation Committee of Historic England and chairs the first national Blue Plaques Panel. He has published eighteen books and ninety-five essays on a wide range of subjects including British history between 1400 and 1700, ancient and modern paganism in Britain, the British ritual year, and the history of witchcraft and magic. This lecture is part of the O'Donnell lecture series at Oxford's English Faculty. The O'Donnell Lectures in Celtic Studies were established in 1954 in honour of Charles James O’Donnell. Under the terms of his bequest the lectures can examine British or Celtic elements in the English language or in the existing population of England.