During her lifetime Jennifer O’Reilly was urged by her students and fellow scholars to collect her scattered essays for interested readers, but she did not live to do so.

When she died in 2016, Dr O’Reilly left behind a body of published work in three areas of medieval studies: the writings of Bede and his older Irish contemporary, Adomnán of Iona; the early lives of Thomas Becket; and the iconography of the Gospel Books produced in early medieval Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England. In these three areas she explored the connections between historical texts, artistic images and biblical exegesis. The aim of the three volumes, published simultaneously by Routledge in 2019, is to realise that ambition. Seen together, the essays gathered in these books highlight her distinctive approach to historical sources, and her substantial contribution to our understanding of England and Ireland in the Middle Ages.

‘Most users of these books will have read several of these essays before, but having them in one place is more than a convenience: it allows us to note continuities both within Jennifer O’Reilly’s work (thus making for a more fruitful engagement with her researches) and also to recognize continuities in the artefacts themselves. Moreover, we have not simply been given reproductions of the earlier papers ... but the works have been reset and all the appropriate illustrations have been reproduced in colour — more than 150 in total — close to where they are discussed allowing us to see exactly what is meant in the various iconographical analyses. These sharp, clear colour images, along with two indices, make these books works of scholarship in their own right. We are indebted to the editors for their work for us, as well as for having given us such an appropriate monument to a great scholar’ – Thomas O’Loughlin, Irish Theological Quarterly 2020, Vol 85 (3).

Review: Tom O’Loughlin, Irish Theological Quarterly. 85 (3): 307–309 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0021140020929902

History, Hagiography and Biblical Exegesis

“This collection brings into sharp focus O’Reilly’s contributions to medieval studies, especially her profound expertise in Scripture and her sensitivity to the spiritual and theological motivations of Bede and Adomnán” – Sharon M. Rowley, Peritia, Journal of the Medieval Academy of Ireland. 31 (2022): 317–321

Early Medieval Text and Image, Volumes 1 and 2

‘Everyone looked at the Book of Kells differently when they heard Jennifer O’Reilly talk about it. Her scholarship changed the landscape of the subject.’ – Bernard Meehan, Peritia, Journal of the Medieval Academy of Ireland. 31 (2022): 299–300