Society and Settlement in Glendalough and the Vartry before 1650
Glendalough and the Vartry yielded some of its secrets in these last four years and I became aware of its many unique aspects and the fact that the island viewpoints ofthe general political historian were not necessarily appropriate.
Reconstructing a Late Medieval Irish Library
‘It is a tricky thing to discuss a library that has not existed for 350 years.’
“Becoming Mary of the Gael”
This paper focused on the comparison of St. Brigit and the Virgin Mary in early Irish texts.
Climate in Medieval Ireland: AD 500-1600
The aim of the dissertation is to reconstruct climate in Medieval Ireland using documentary and dendrochronological proxy data from Ireland and Northern Europe.
Intermarriage in fifteenth-century Ireland: the English and Irish in the ‘four obedient shires’
The so-called ‘four obedient shires’ of Meath, Kildare, Louth and Dublin are a fruitful area for a study of marriage between the English of Ireland and the Irish, as these counties comprised the region of the colony most firmly under English control in the fifteenth century. Much of the anti-Irish rhetoric that survives in sources from the period…
Dunluce Castle: History and Archaeology
Dunluce Castle, dramatically positioned on cliffs that plunge straight into the sea, was for centuries at the centre of a maritime lordship encompassing north Ulster and the Western Isles of Scotland.
A review of Irish medieval castles as a tourist facility
Of all heritage features which lie spread across the Irish landscape, it is perhaps the vast array of medieval castle which – more than any other – offer the most evocative testament to the country’s military and belligerent past
The Persuasive Power of a Mother’s Breast: The Most Desperate Act of the Virgin Mary’s Advocacy
The image of the Virgo Lactans orMaria Lactans (the image of the Virgin Mary suckling the Child Jesus), which occurs as early as the third century in the catacomb of Priscilla inRome, later spread ing across Europe, is found in a number of Irish sources.
The Slave Trade of Dublin: Ninth to Twelfth Centuries
It is however, often assumed that taking of slaves reached it peak in the ninth and tenth centuries and that the advent of Christianity made the institution of slavery morally unacceptable.
The History of Saint Patrick – a Short Story
St. Patrick was born, not in Ireland, but in Britian around AD 387. Well, actually, he wasn’t called St. Patrick at the time, or even Patrick, but was referred to as Maewyn Succat.
Functions of the Cantred in Medieval Ireland
The cantred as territorial division was recognised everywhere in Ireland by the Anglo-Norman colonists in the first decades of the establishment of the colony. The subsequent use made of these units depended on a number of variables.
BOOKS: Happy St. Patrick Day! New reads to celebrate Medieval Ireland!
BOOKS: Happy St. Patrick Day! New reads to celebrate Medieval Ireland!
The Legend of the Purgatory of Saint Patrick: From Ireland to Dante and Beyond
“Yes by Saint Patrick …. Touching this vision here It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you” (Hamlet, Act I, Scene 5)
Celtic Search Talk III: Irish Classical Studies and the Irish History of Troy
This was part of a series of papers given at the University of Toronto in competition for a position in the Celtic Studies department. This paper focused on the reception of literature and the reception of the classics in medieval Ireland.
Brigit: Goddess, Saint, ‘Holy Woman,’ and Bone of Contention
Brigit1 and Patrick, two saints from the beginnings of Christianity in Ireland in the fifth century CE, retain their popularity with Catholic Christians to this day.
The Cross of the Scriptures: Power Meets Religion in Medieval Ireland
A lecture examining the medieval cross and the monastery of Clonmacnoise in Ireland
The Sack of Viking Limerick
They carried of their jewels and their best property, and their saddles beautiful and foreign; their gold and their silver; their beautifully woven cloth of all colours and of all kinds…
Blood-brothers: a ritual of friendship and the construction of the imagined barbarian in the middle ages
My reflections are part of a broad stream of inquiries into the world of medieval rituals which has proved to be very fertile during the last two decades, but which also has its limits. For more than twenty years now, medievalists have discovered and analysed the importance of personal relationships for the organization of societies before the existence of states in a modern sense of the word.
The Papal Bulls for the Invasions of England and Ireland
John has represented his master’s enterprise in the very best light, making him out as an enthusiast for the reformation of the lax moral and ecclesiastical condition of Ireland.
The Archaeology of Knowth in the First and Second Millennia AD
Knowth, Ireland is the site of one the country’s most important archaeological sites: from a large neolithic grave mound to medieval and post-medieval settlements, this place offers a huge amount of evidence on Irish history.
The Historicity of the Early Irish Annals: Heritage and Content
To anyone attempting to explore the alluring world of medieval Ireland, it would seem that there is a set of guidebooks that allow one to look up any given year in Irish history and know the important events that had occurred.
Place, memory and identity among estuarine fishing communities: interpreting the archaeology of early medieval fish weirs
Medieval fish weirs were artificial barriers of stone or wood built in rivers or estuaries to deflect fish into an opening where they could be trapped in nets or baskets.
Early Irish Manuscripts: The Art of the Scribes
The Irish have always loved words.
From Paganism to Christianity: Transition of the Insular Celts As Seen Through The Archaeological Record
These centuries of tension and adaptation provide the evidence for the interaction of Christianity and Celtic religions, but one must use caution when examining Celtic religion because of potentially biased evidence.