£1 million project for Carrickfergus Castle completed
Carrickfergus Castle’s Great Tower has been reopened after the completion of a £1 million conservation project to construct a new roof on the 800-year-old landmark.
Gathering communities: locality, governance and rulership in early medieval Ireland
This article reviews the archaeological character of assembly practices in Ireland, and how a phenomenon of transient activities and temporary gathering is manifest materially and spatially.
Disputed Isle: The Foundations of Mortimer Power in Ireland
Roger was at the very heart of this process as head of the Irish administration from 1316, but his commission also required him to defend the island against an invasion from Scotland.
How the borders within Ireland changed during the Middle Ages
Looking at the history of Ireland, including the many states that existed during its medieval period.
Hadrian IV (1154-1159) and the “bull” Laudabiliter: a historiographical review
This work represents an exploration into the historiography of a hotly debated historical document known as Laudabiliter.
Lost Irish words rediscovered, including the word for ‘oozes pus’
Researchers from Cambridge and Queen’s University Belfast have identified and defined 500 Irish words, many of which had been lost, and unlocked the secrets of many other misunderstood terms
The Naval Power of Norse Dublin
In the ninth to twelfth centuries the Dublin fleet was one of the most formidable war machines in the Irish Sea area.
Ireland’s population declined before the Vikings arrived, researchers find
New research has found that the population of Ireland was in decline for almost 200 years before the Vikings settled.
England and the Irish Sea Zone in the Eleventh Century
In this paper I seek to highlight Ireland’s significance in English affairs from the reign of Æthelred the Unready to that of William Rufus.
The Anglo-Norman cathedral of Ferns, history and architecture
A history of Ferns and its Cathedral, with an insight into Ferns becoming a diocesan centre in the reform of the 12th century
Project breathing new life into forgotten medieval chants
Trinity College Dublin is involved in an ambitious international cultural heritage project which is bringing back to life forgotten medieval chants and prayers associated with Irish saints such as St Patrick, St Brigit and St Colmcille.
Avicenna in Ireland: A manuscript discovery with Padraig O’Machain
This month, an exciting connection was made between Islamic and Irish medicine through the discovery of a fragment of Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine bound in a sixteenth-century printed book.
15th-century manuscript discovery reveals links between Irish and Islamic worlds
A previously undiscovered 15th-century Irish vellum manuscript has revealed an enchanting connection between Gaelic Ireland and the Islamic world, and illustrates how medieval Ireland was once at the centre of medical scholarship in the world.
Free online course on the Book of Kells returns
Following a hugely successful debut, Trinity College Dublin is again running its free online course on the Book of Kells – one of the world’s most famous medieval manuscripts.
Vandals Steal Head of 800-Year-Old ‘Crusader’ in Ireland
The news of vandals breaking into a church in Ireland and stealing the mummified head of an 800-year-old body has made international headlines.
Leprosy at the edge of Europe—Biomolecular, isotopic and osteoarchaeological findings from medieval Ireland
We propose that the Vikings were responsible for introducing leprosy to Ireland.
Medieval round tower discovered in Northern Ireland
Researchers have discovered that a major medieval monument has been hidden in plain-sight for centuries in the heart of a major city in Northern Ireland.
Finding the wealthiest places in Ireland, circa 1300
Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have produced a series of ground-breaking maps that illustrate the distribution of wealth in Ireland circa 1300.
Voyagers in the Vault of Heaven: The Phenomenon of Ships in the Sky in Medieval Ireland and Beyond
This paper explores the phenomenon of ships voyaging in the sky. Such fantastical sightings are considered primarily in an early medieval Irish context, but evidence from places as widely separated in time and place as thirteenth-century England and eighteenth-century Canada is also addressed.
Intermarriage in fifteenth-century Ireland: the English and Irish in the ‘four obedient shires’
This paper explores the interaction between these two groups through the curiously understudied phenomenon of intermarriage, and centres on the ‘four obedient counties’ of Dublin, Meath, Louth, and Kildare in the fifteenth century.
When the Atlantic Ocean had many islands: The mythical and miraculous places west of medieval Europe
Why medieval people did not accept that the vast space in the Atlantic Ocean between the Old World and the New could truly be an empty one.
The Middle Ages well-represented in The Cambridge History of Ireland
Cambridge University Press has come out with its major new survey of Irish history. Known as The Cambridge History of Ireland, this four-volume work tracks the island from the year 600 AD to the present-day.
One of his own: the Irish participant in the assassination of Tigernán Ua Ruairc
Tigernán Ua Ruairc was King of Bréifne and Conmaicne. In fact this kingdom reached its greatest extent during his long reign, between c. 1124 and his assassination in 1172.
Modern mathematics is used to solve question about medieval war
In the year 1014, the fate of Ireland would be decided at the Battle of Clontarf. The Irish King Brian Boru would defeat a Viking army, although at the cost of his own life. However, there is one historical debate about this conflict – was it really a battle against the Vikings, or an internal civil war?