Researcher

Dr Elaine Pereira Farrell

is a historian of early medieval Christianity with a special focus on penance, pastoral care, and gender. Her research explores penitential texts, legal culture, and the social history of women in the early Middle Ages. As an international scholar, she has held multiple funded research positions, developing projects on themes such as conversion, motherhood, pregnancy, and the body.

Farrell’s work centres on the Insular penitential tradition and its influence on the wider Christian world, highlighting the pivotal role of Irish monasticism and ecclesiastical authority in shaping early practices of confession and penance. She combines meticulous textual analysis with interdisciplinary approaches, bridging ecclesiastical literature, legal history, gender studies, and comparative methodologies.

By illuminating the unique contributions of the Irish penitential tradition and exploring its broader cultural and social contexts, Farrell provides critical insights into the diversity and evolution of medieval pastoral care. Her scholarship is an important resource for understanding how penitential manuals functioned within early medieval societies and continues to inform contemporary studies of ecclesiastical discipline, confession, and gender.