Toil & Trouble 2026: Burning Woman
On 3rd November 1324, Petronilla de Midia became the first person in Ireland to be burned at the stake for the practice of witchcraft in a dark episode of Kilkenny’s history that would have reverberations around the world for centuries to come. Burning Woman takes that story and asks: why is this story still relevant today? This new seminar, the first in an annual series, brings together historians, feminist voices and storytellers to dig into the Kilkenny Witch trial and the bigger themes hiding inside it – power, wealth, status, church and state, and who gets blamed, excluded or pushed to the margins.
Joining the panel are Dr Andrew Sneddon, Senior Lecturer in International History at Ulster University and a leading historian of witchcraft and magic in Ireland; Dr Celeste McNamara, Assistant Professor in Early Modern European History at DCU; and Mary McAuliffe, Director of Gender Studies at UCD.
With Ireland holding the EU Presidency this year, we’re widening the lens to ask how far women’s rights and treatment have really come across Europe since. Part history, part hard conversation, Burning Woman connects a 700-year-old trial to very present-day questions about power, gender and belonging.
This event is funded as part of Cultúr 2026, the Culture Programme for Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2026.
Price: FREE but ticketed event.
Age: 16+ (Under 18’s must be accompanied by an adult)
Accessibility information: The Parade Tower at Kilkenny Castle is wheelchair accessible.
