Michael Brennan 1943–2024
Occasionally the study of the early medieval art of Ireland and Britain, so-called Insular art, has been advanced by insights from scholars from different disciplines. The work of Michael Brennan, who died on 20 November 2024, on the mathematical principles underlying early medieval interlace, especially animal interlace, is such an advance. His studies of interlace on manuscripts and metalwork dating from the late seventh–twelfth centuries allowed for far more subtle and insightful analyses than possible hitherto of the designers’ sophisticated play with features such as symmetry and asymmetry, alternation/non-alternation of the weave and other constructs.
Michael came to the formal study of Insular art relatively late. His first degrees were a BA in Mathematics and Statistics and a Higher Diploma in Education from UCC, together with an MA in Mathematics from Maynooth. A born educator with a strong social conscience, his first job was as a secondary school teacher at the CBS school in his home town of Kilkenny. The physical punishments meted out to pupils there appalled him, however, and after two years he left for Manchester, where he remained from 1968 to 1975. This was a formative period. He became active in the Civil Rights movement in the north of Ireland from afar, while also engaged in the Manchester Non-Violent Action Group and community action initiatives focused on housing action and homelessness in the city, being arrested at least once.
In Manchester he was employed as a computer programmer but then moved back to education, first as a lecturer at Salford College of Technology (now the University of Salford) and then as a teacher at the innovative Manchester Free School, whose kindly ethic he fully endorsed. On his return to Ireland, he spent some time as a second-level teacher at Our Lady’s Bower, Athlone, but then obtained a post as Lecturer in Mathematics and Computing at WIT (Waterford Institute of Technology, now SETU, South-East Technological University), where he remained from 1985 until his retirement in 2009, receiving Emeritus status in 2024.
It was during his final years at WIT that Michael, between 2004 and 2011, undertook a Ph.D on the structure of interlace in Insular art c. AD 400–1200 under the supervision of Professor Nancy Edwards of Bangor University. This interest in Insular art had not come out of the blue: as a youth he had helped his father, Daniel, a monumental sculptor who worked in the Celtic Revival style, and already in 2001 he had published a paper on the modern Celtic cross in the Old Kilkenny Review. Michael, who had earlier published on educational methodologies, was very keen to make his mathematical ideas about interlace accessible to non-mathematicians, and from 2009 onwards he regularly presented papers at conferences and seminar groups and published papers on the topic, with more in the pipeline. The value of his work was recognised when he was made a Research Associate in the Department of History of Art and Architecture and subsequently in the Department of Philosophy at TCD, and later in the School of History, Philosophy and Social Sciences at Bangor University.
Michael was a man of wide interests who loved music and travel and whose scholarly concerns extended to Byzantine and early Islamic art, on which he had hoped to publish. He was very community-minded. For example, he campaigned to save the Viking settlement at Woodstown. He not only joined various groups but also set some up. After his Ph.D he regularly circulated exhaustive lists of seminars and conferences on aspects of Insular art, and he also started the WhatsApp Insular Art News group.
He remained loyal throughout his life to his birthplace, Kilkenny, regularly attending hurling matches at Croke Park when Kilkenny were playing, and participating in Kilkenny local history walks, where he recently presented some research. Indeed, he was due to give a talk on stone craft on Kilkenny buildings to the Kilkenny Archaeological Society on 22 January 2025.
The many messages on Insular Art News and on RIP.ie show with how much affection Michael was regarded by his many friends. Time and again the same qualities are picked out: a principled and passionate educator, a gentle and caring man always concerned to make new members of a group welcome, good-humoured, witty, great company, and generous with his time and academic knowledge. I can personally testify to his unstinting support for other scholars. Whenever I turned to him for help, he invariably put aside his own concerns to give it.
Michael was a devoted and proud father to Kate, Amy, Deirdre and Rachel. We extend heartfelt condolences to them and to his extended family.
Niamh Whitfield