Fosterage in Medieval Ireland

Dr Thomas C. O'Donnell is an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London.

• Abbreviations, Acknowledgements, Introduction, -What is fosterage? -An Emotional History of Fosterage, -Methodological Approach, -The Chapters, Chapter 1. Cú Chulainn and Expressions of Foster Fatherhood, -Conchobur and the role of the maternal uncle, -The Language of Fosterage, -Multiple fosterage and emotions, -Foster fatherhood beyond infancy, -How many foster fathers is too many foster fathers? Chapter 2. Who Makes a Foster Sibling? -Cú Chulainn, Conall Cernach and Finnchóem, -The Fosterage in Alba, -Fer Diad, Death and How to Mourn, -Foster brotherhood: A lost idyll, Chapter 3. Identity Within Fosterage, -Holy Brother, Foster Brother, -Fosterage and Social Standing, -Fíanna: Where Everyone is a Foster sibling? -Creating foster identity, Chapter 4. Fosterage in the Medieval Irish Church, -Ísucán, -The Christ Child Elsewhere in Middle Irish, -Miraculous Fosterage in Saints' Lives, -Monastic Fosterage and Oblation, -Divine Metaphor and Mortal Practice, Chapter 5. Animal Fosterage: A bestial parallel? -St Ailbe and Cormac mac Airt, -Children Gone to the Dogs, -Relationships Beyond Suckling, -A Permeable Boundary Between Human and Animal, -Becoming Human, -Through an Animal Darkly, Conclusion, -Drawing the Chapters Together, -Revisiting the Methodology, Bibliography, -Manuscript Sources, -Primary Sources, -Secondary Sources.