abstract:“I am the Sovereignty” (“Misi in Flaithius”), states a woman boldly as her body is transformed from loathliness to loveliness in Echtra mac nEchach Muigmedóin (The Adventures of the Sons of Eochaid Muigmedóin), an eleventh-century Middle Irish prose narrative that intertwines sex, power, gender, and, it will be argued in this essay, the disease of leprosy. This woman is one version of the widely attested caillech, the “sovereignty figure” or “loathly lady” who embodies the rule of Ireland and who ultimately demonstrates that she is not just an object to be coveted or scorned. Rather, “Sovereignty,” as she frequently names herself, actively tests kingly candidates (often requiring them to kiss her or engage in sexual intercourse), endows her preferred male with power, disperses shrewd, politically enabling advice, and in some narratives even returns to reclaim power or “sovereignty” from an unfit king.
(source: Article abstract)