Luke McInerney - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
NEWS by Luke McInerney
This is the first English translation of an important 17th century contention between two Irish c... more This is the first English translation of an important 17th century contention between two Irish clerics. The detail uncovered reveals much about Gaelic Irish culture and society at this turbulent period in Irish history. The two clerics, Antonius Bruodinus and Thomas Carve, present an image of Ireland that was split between native Gaelic and Old English culture and the influence of these two cultures on competing views about Ireland’s past. The seventeenth century was a period of turmoil and upheaval in Ireland. The politics of religious identity were visceral, giving rise to controversies and bitter clashes. In 1671 the Irish Franciscan, Antonius Bruodinus (Antóin Mac Bruideadha; b. 1625, Clare - 1680 in Prague), a former pupil of Luke Wadding in Rome, published Anatomicum Examen Enchiridii Apologetici, refuting the slanderous statements made by Fr Thomas Carve (‘Carew’, b. Tipperary, 1590; d.c. 1672), from a family of Old-English allegiance whose other work contains much of value on the Thirty Years War, he having been chaplain to Irish regiments in Europe. The intense exchange of views went to the core of many of the controversies regarding identity, authority and legitimacy of the time. This is the first time that one of the main works has been translated into English and treated to a detailed examination. In Culture, Contention and Identity in seventeenth century Ireland, the editors provide a helpful apparatus to guide the modern reader through a myriad of arguments and retorts by the two protagonists, which reveal much information about life and politics in seventeenth-century Ireland. The book, which provides a critical edition of the text with facing translation, sheds new light on the viewpoints of Gaelic-Irish and Old-English alike, as well as the impact of the Cromwellian invasion on the country. In translating this heated exchange between the two clerics we come closer to grasping some of the pressing issues troubling Ireland’s population at the time.
Much new detail can be harvested concerning the activities of learned Gaelic families, Irish marriage customs, place names and much else besides in seventeenth-century Ireland. The writings of these two clerics also provide a fascinating portrait of Irish clerics and their émigré networks at a time when the two traditions, which each claimed to represent – Gaelic-Irish and Old-English – were being supplanted by a different élite in Ireland, the New English. The book can be purchased via Cork University Press at this link: https://www.corkuniversitypress.com/Culture-Contention-and-Identity-17Century-Ireland-p/9781782055075.htm
Irish Historical Studies (vol. XLIII, No.63, May 2019), 2019
Review of Luke McInerney's 'Clerical and Learned Lineages of medieval Co. Clare' (Dublin: Four Co... more Review of Luke McInerney's 'Clerical and Learned Lineages of medieval Co. Clare' (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2014), by Prof. Pádriag Ó Riain in North Munster Antiquarian Journal, 55 (2015) pp. 173-4.
This review was published online in: Óenach: FMRSI Review, 7:1 (2015) pp 20-25
Review of Luke McInerney's 'Clerical and Learned Lineages of Medieval Co. Clare: A survey of the ... more Review of Luke McInerney's 'Clerical and Learned Lineages of Medieval Co. Clare: A survey of the fifteenth-century papal registers'
Review of Luke McInerney's book, 'Clerical and learned lineages of medieval Co. Clare', by Dr Dia... more Review of Luke McInerney's book, 'Clerical and learned lineages of medieval Co. Clare', by Dr Dianne Hall of Victoria University, Melbourne.
The review appeared in vol.15 (2015) of the Australasian Journal of Irish Studies.
Studia Hibernica, No. 40 (pp 216-18), 2014
Princes, prelates and poets in medieval Ireland: essays in honour of Katharine Simms. Edited by S... more Princes, prelates and poets in medieval Ireland: essays in honour of Katharine Simms. Edited by Sean Duffy. Four Courts Press. Dublin, 2013. Pp xxiv + 599. ISBN 978-1-84682-280-3. €55.
Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (JRSAI) vol.141, Nov 2014
The Other Clare journal, vol. 38, 2014
This book review by Colmán Ó Clabaigh of 'Clerical and learned lineages of medieval Co. Clare: A... more This book review by Colmán Ó Clabaigh of 'Clerical and learned lineages of medieval Co. Clare: A survey of the fifteenth century papal registers' appeared in vol. 38 (2014) of 'The Other Clare' journal, p. 31.
Books by Luke McInerney
This collection of studies on the history of Gaelic Ireland is the product of an essay competitio... more This collection of studies on the history of Gaelic Ireland is the product of an essay competition sponsored jointly by the Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains (Buanchomhairle Thaoisigh Éireann) and Clans of Ireland (Finte na hÉireann). The essays represent the winning entries and superior-quality submissions from 2018–20 and cover the early and medieval period from c. 600 to c. 1700. The topics under study are diverse and range from early medieval saints to Gaelic lordship in the high Middle Ages, and from archaeology to the custodians of Gaelic scholarship and learning, the Aos Dána class. Other themes under study throw new light on towerhouses, medieval literary texts, as well as on aspects of kinship and culture. The central focus is upon the Gaelic-Irish and Anglo-Norman population groups who were settled in Ireland during the period under study.
The first volume in this series, Gaelic Ireland (c. 600–c. 1700) politics, culture and landscapes, edited by Dr Katharine Simms (Wordwell, 2013), was the fruit of a competition initiated by the Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains, with the object of both encouraging research into Gaelic Ireland among postgraduate historians, and of reaping the harvest of independent researchers within the bounds of an accessible, academic publication. The second volume, titled Politics, kinship and culture in Gaelic Ireland c. 1100–c. 1690, followed suit in 2018, taking as its core theme culture and kinship of the later medieval period.
The continuance of the competition and the appearance of this third anthology, edited by Luke McInerney and Dr Katharine Simms, under the joint sponsorship of the Clans of Ireland and Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains, stands testament to the success of the original project and the wide appeal of Gaelic history and culture. The essay competition continues to this day, and it is hoped that it helps foster academic interest in this fascinating period of Irish history among new generations of historians and independent scholars.
Available to order at this link: https://wordwellbooks.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1997&search=Gaelic
This book takes as its core argument Robin Flower’s proposition that there was an unbroken link b... more This book takes as its core argument Robin Flower’s proposition that there was an unbroken link between hereditary learned families and the medieval Irish Church. It develops the proposition by surveying fifteenth-century church appointments in Co. Clare. The study reveals how extensive those connections were and, despite reforms, there was no clear severance between the ecclesiastical world and the custodians of the native monastic church. The old clerical lineages remained material elements in the structures of the medieval Irish Church, alongside members of the learned class and aristocratic families. This survey provides a template for bringing all of this together, marshalling an array of original source materials in Latin, Irish and English. Many of the sources are printed for the first time and will be of interest to the historian, archaeologist and genealogist alike.
This book takes as its core argument Robin Flower’s proposition that there was an unbroken link b... more This book takes as its core argument Robin Flower’s proposition that there was an unbroken link between hereditary learned families and the medieval Irish Church. It develops the proposition by surveying fifteenth-century church appointments in Co. Clare. The study reveals how extensive those connections were and, despite reforms, there was no clear severance between the ecclesiastical world and the custodians of the native monastic church. The old clerical lineages remained material elements in the structures of the medieval Irish Church, alongside members of the learned class and aristocratic families. This survey provides a template for bringing all of this together, marshalling an array of original source materials in Latin, Irish and English. Many of the sources are printed for the first time and will be of interest to the historian, archaeologist and genealogist alike.
This book takes as its core argument Robin Flower’s proposition that there was an unbroken link b... more This book takes as its core argument Robin Flower’s proposition that there was an unbroken link between hereditary learned families and the medieval Irish Church. It develops the proposition by surveying fifteenth-century church appointments in Co. Clare. The study reveals how extensive those connections were and, despite reforms, there was no clear severance between the ecclesiastical world and the custodians of the native monastic church. The old clerical lineages remained material elements in the structures of the medieval Irish Church, alongside members of the learned class and aristocratic families. This survey provides a template for bringing all of this together, marshalling an array of original source materials in Latin, Irish and English. Many of the sources are printed for the first time and will be of interest to the historian, archaeologist and genealogist alike.
*This book is now released and available for purchase: http://www.fourcourtspress.ie/product.php?intProductID=1132 "
Papers by Luke McInerney
Luke McInerney, ‘O curas hominum! The life and writings of Thomas Carve, alias Thomas Carew, 1590-c.1672’, in Catherine Swift, Brian Hodkinson & Tom Donovan (eds), Limestone and River: Essays on Thomond History in Honor of Liam Irwin (Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2024), pp 137-155., 2024
‘Assero & identidem repeto sine Anglorum consortio nusquam Hybernia bonis moribus instruenda fuis... more ‘Assero & identidem repeto sine Anglorum consortio nusquam Hybernia bonis moribus instruenda fuisses.’ These are the words that cleric Thomas Carve (1590–c.1672) levelled against the Gaelic culture of Ireland. As such they reveal something of his Weltanschauung and provided the basis for an acrimonious contention that ensued with his fellow Irish clerics. His views were not new among those who identified with the Old English in Ireland, although Carve’s repetition of them provoked the ire of Irish clerics who identified with Gaelic culture. This was particularly the case with the Franciscan communities at Louvain and Prague whose clerics were connected to the native culture and literature of Ireland. The controversy that arose from Carve’s forthright views bore unexpected fruit in the form of new detail about Gaelic culture and the doings of Irish émigré clerics in the seventeenth century. Both the contention that grew up around Carve’s writings, and his long career as a cleric on the continent, call for re-evaluation of this controversial Irish priest.
Studia Hibernica (no.50), 2024
Presented here is a transcription and translation of a late sixteenth-century poem by ollamh Maoi... more Presented here is a transcription and translation of a late sixteenth-century poem by ollamh Maoilín Óg Mac Bruaideadha on the historical migration of the Clann Ghormáin from Leinster to Thomond, where they settled in Ibrickan under new overlords, the Uí Bhriain. From these beginnings, Clann Ghormáin advanced themselves to a prominent position in the lordship of Thomond, which lasted until the loss of their estates in the mid-seventeenth century. An analysis of the seanchas-genealogy elements of the poem by Maoilín Óg alongside evidence contained in contemporary administrative records reveals the landholdings, proprietorial status and familial relationships of this important Gaelic Irish lineage.
Lorrha Medieval Conference , 2023
This paper was a talk delivered at the Lorrha Medieval History Conference held on 22 July, 2023. ... more This paper was a talk delivered at the Lorrha Medieval History Conference held on 22 July, 2023. The talk focused on the life of the Clare-born Franciscan, Anthony McBrody (Atoin Mac Bruaideadha, c.1618-1680). McBrody was an important intellectual among émigré Irish Catholic clerics in the second half of the 17th century and all of his known writings are in Latin. Educated in Co Clare and later at St Isidore's College in Rome, he moved to Prague in 1651. From his writings much valuable information may be gleaned on Gaelic culture and society and, in particular, the former status and activity of his own family, the Clann Bhruaideadha, who once served as chronicler-poets to the Ui Bhriain (O'Briens) kings, and later earls, of Thomond. This was a talk presented at the Lorrha Medieval Conference and was on the back of a co-authored publication, Giacomo Fedeli, Luke McInerney & Brian Ó Dálaigh, 'Culture, Contention and Identity in Seventeenth-Century Ireland: Antonius Bruodinus’ Anatomical Examination of Thomas Carve’s Apologetic Handbook' (Cork, 2022).
The Other Clare, vol.48, 2024
On a fine, though breezy Saturday on the 1st of July, a group of history enthusiasts assembled an... more On a fine, though breezy Saturday on the 1st of July, a group of history enthusiasts assembled and commenced the 2023 Clare Field Trip. Over the years, this has developed from a spontaneous outing by a small band of enthusiasts and academics, to an organised annual event. The 2023 trip was to the Loop Head Peninsula, An Leithinis Cheann Léime, with a particular focus on Carrigaholt, a village washed by the Shannon. Other places visited include Kilcredaun medieval church, the village of Doonaha, and the holy well known as Tobar Chaoi (St Kee's Well) on the northern edge of the peninsula.
North Munster Antiquarian Journal, 2024
Cabhail Bhaile Uí Chondhuibh: A late-medieval fortified house of the O’Conways in the Burren Cab... more Cabhail Bhaile Uí Chondhuibh: A late-medieval fortified house of the O’Conways in the Burren
Cabhail Bhaile Uí Chondhuibh appears to represent a late-medieval fortified dwelling associated with the Ó Conduibh lineage of the Burren. The Ó Conduibh name (altn. Ó Conbhaigh or Ó Connmhaigh, anglice O’Conway) achieved renown in the medieval annals as bearers of the name were skilled musicians attached to the ruling Gaelic lineages of Corcomroe.
The Uí Chondhuibh emerge in the mid-fourteenth century as professional practitioners of music and they continued to cultivate this art well into the sixteenth century. This contrasts with other learned kindreds from Corcomroe such as the Clann Chruitín (McCurtins) musicians and historians at Kilmacrehy and the Meic Fhlannchadha (McClancys) law-brehons at Tuath Ghlae (Killilagh). Another local learned kindred, the Uí Dhuibhdhábhoireann lawyer-jurists, are first attested as ollamhain of Corcomroe in brehon law in 1364, and had their law school at Cahermacnaughten, some three kilometres from Cabhail Bhaile Uí Chondhuibh. The earliest reference in the annals to the Uí Chondhuibh pre-date almost all subsequent references to these professional learned kindreds, and they are the only learned family from Corcomroe who are accorded attention in the Thomond-centric fourteenth-century saga-text, the Caithréim Thoirdhealbhaigh.
A new discovery of a possible fortified house site of this learned family throws new light on the materality and dwelling-places of An t-Aos Dána (the Gaelic learned class). Furthermore, research has unveiled significant links between the Uí Chondhuibh and the late medieval church, including a speculative identification of the place(s) of their professional scholarship in the Burren region of north Co. Clare.
The Other Clare, vol. 47 , 2023
In the mid-1730s Aindrias Mac Cruitín (c.1650-c.1738), destitute and aged, wrote a remarkable poe... more In the mid-1730s Aindrias Mac Cruitín (c.1650-c.1738), destitute and aged, wrote a remarkable poem in Irish known as Donn na Duimhche (‘Donn of the Sandhills’). Mac Cruitín sums up his personal condition in full poetic vigour: Ó nár éagas i n-éinfheacht rem shinsear /Do b’fhearr liom gur báite fé’n tuinn me! (‘Since I have not died together with my ancestors / It were better for me if I sank under the waves’). This line encapsulates the predicament of Mac Cruitín who lamented the loss of patronage from the noble classes on whom literary men such as himself could depend. In common with other literary men who produced poetry and literature and cultivated classical metres in Irish, Mac Cruitín saw himself as one of the last traditional receptacles of scholarly Gaelic culture.
This perception drew on his self-conscious view that his learning derived from the curriculum of the professional bardic schools which, in the west of Ireland, operated up to the mid-seventeenth century. He saw himself as a representative of what we might term the classical Gaelic literary tradition. The fact that the family to whom he belonged, the Clann Chruitín, were hereditary seanchaidhthe with medieval origins, meant that he saw himself as a descendant of a time-honoured learned line.
This is the first English translation of an important 17th century contention between two Irish c... more This is the first English translation of an important 17th century contention between two Irish clerics. The detail uncovered reveals much about Gaelic Irish culture and society at this turbulent period in Irish history. The two clerics, Antonius Bruodinus and Thomas Carve, present an image of Ireland that was split between native Gaelic and Old English culture and the influence of these two cultures on competing views about Ireland’s past. The seventeenth century was a period of turmoil and upheaval in Ireland. The politics of religious identity were visceral, giving rise to controversies and bitter clashes. In 1671 the Irish Franciscan, Antonius Bruodinus (Antóin Mac Bruideadha; b. 1625, Clare - 1680 in Prague), a former pupil of Luke Wadding in Rome, published Anatomicum Examen Enchiridii Apologetici, refuting the slanderous statements made by Fr Thomas Carve (‘Carew’, b. Tipperary, 1590; d.c. 1672), from a family of Old-English allegiance whose other work contains much of value on the Thirty Years War, he having been chaplain to Irish regiments in Europe. The intense exchange of views went to the core of many of the controversies regarding identity, authority and legitimacy of the time. This is the first time that one of the main works has been translated into English and treated to a detailed examination. In Culture, Contention and Identity in seventeenth century Ireland, the editors provide a helpful apparatus to guide the modern reader through a myriad of arguments and retorts by the two protagonists, which reveal much information about life and politics in seventeenth-century Ireland. The book, which provides a critical edition of the text with facing translation, sheds new light on the viewpoints of Gaelic-Irish and Old-English alike, as well as the impact of the Cromwellian invasion on the country. In translating this heated exchange between the two clerics we come closer to grasping some of the pressing issues troubling Ireland’s population at the time.
Much new detail can be harvested concerning the activities of learned Gaelic families, Irish marriage customs, place names and much else besides in seventeenth-century Ireland. The writings of these two clerics also provide a fascinating portrait of Irish clerics and their émigré networks at a time when the two traditions, which each claimed to represent – Gaelic-Irish and Old-English – were being supplanted by a different élite in Ireland, the New English. The book can be purchased via Cork University Press at this link: https://www.corkuniversitypress.com/Culture-Contention-and-Identity-17Century-Ireland-p/9781782055075.htm
Irish Historical Studies (vol. XLIII, No.63, May 2019), 2019
Review of Luke McInerney's 'Clerical and Learned Lineages of medieval Co. Clare' (Dublin: Four Co... more Review of Luke McInerney's 'Clerical and Learned Lineages of medieval Co. Clare' (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2014), by Prof. Pádriag Ó Riain in North Munster Antiquarian Journal, 55 (2015) pp. 173-4.
This review was published online in: Óenach: FMRSI Review, 7:1 (2015) pp 20-25
Review of Luke McInerney's 'Clerical and Learned Lineages of Medieval Co. Clare: A survey of the ... more Review of Luke McInerney's 'Clerical and Learned Lineages of Medieval Co. Clare: A survey of the fifteenth-century papal registers'
Review of Luke McInerney's book, 'Clerical and learned lineages of medieval Co. Clare', by Dr Dia... more Review of Luke McInerney's book, 'Clerical and learned lineages of medieval Co. Clare', by Dr Dianne Hall of Victoria University, Melbourne.
The review appeared in vol.15 (2015) of the Australasian Journal of Irish Studies.
Studia Hibernica, No. 40 (pp 216-18), 2014
Princes, prelates and poets in medieval Ireland: essays in honour of Katharine Simms. Edited by S... more Princes, prelates and poets in medieval Ireland: essays in honour of Katharine Simms. Edited by Sean Duffy. Four Courts Press. Dublin, 2013. Pp xxiv + 599. ISBN 978-1-84682-280-3. €55.
Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (JRSAI) vol.141, Nov 2014
The Other Clare journal, vol. 38, 2014
This book review by Colmán Ó Clabaigh of 'Clerical and learned lineages of medieval Co. Clare: A... more This book review by Colmán Ó Clabaigh of 'Clerical and learned lineages of medieval Co. Clare: A survey of the fifteenth century papal registers' appeared in vol. 38 (2014) of 'The Other Clare' journal, p. 31.
This collection of studies on the history of Gaelic Ireland is the product of an essay competitio... more This collection of studies on the history of Gaelic Ireland is the product of an essay competition sponsored jointly by the Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains (Buanchomhairle Thaoisigh Éireann) and Clans of Ireland (Finte na hÉireann). The essays represent the winning entries and superior-quality submissions from 2018–20 and cover the early and medieval period from c. 600 to c. 1700. The topics under study are diverse and range from early medieval saints to Gaelic lordship in the high Middle Ages, and from archaeology to the custodians of Gaelic scholarship and learning, the Aos Dána class. Other themes under study throw new light on towerhouses, medieval literary texts, as well as on aspects of kinship and culture. The central focus is upon the Gaelic-Irish and Anglo-Norman population groups who were settled in Ireland during the period under study.
The first volume in this series, Gaelic Ireland (c. 600–c. 1700) politics, culture and landscapes, edited by Dr Katharine Simms (Wordwell, 2013), was the fruit of a competition initiated by the Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains, with the object of both encouraging research into Gaelic Ireland among postgraduate historians, and of reaping the harvest of independent researchers within the bounds of an accessible, academic publication. The second volume, titled Politics, kinship and culture in Gaelic Ireland c. 1100–c. 1690, followed suit in 2018, taking as its core theme culture and kinship of the later medieval period.
The continuance of the competition and the appearance of this third anthology, edited by Luke McInerney and Dr Katharine Simms, under the joint sponsorship of the Clans of Ireland and Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains, stands testament to the success of the original project and the wide appeal of Gaelic history and culture. The essay competition continues to this day, and it is hoped that it helps foster academic interest in this fascinating period of Irish history among new generations of historians and independent scholars.
Available to order at this link: https://wordwellbooks.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1997&search=Gaelic
This book takes as its core argument Robin Flower’s proposition that there was an unbroken link b... more This book takes as its core argument Robin Flower’s proposition that there was an unbroken link between hereditary learned families and the medieval Irish Church. It develops the proposition by surveying fifteenth-century church appointments in Co. Clare. The study reveals how extensive those connections were and, despite reforms, there was no clear severance between the ecclesiastical world and the custodians of the native monastic church. The old clerical lineages remained material elements in the structures of the medieval Irish Church, alongside members of the learned class and aristocratic families. This survey provides a template for bringing all of this together, marshalling an array of original source materials in Latin, Irish and English. Many of the sources are printed for the first time and will be of interest to the historian, archaeologist and genealogist alike.
This book takes as its core argument Robin Flower’s proposition that there was an unbroken link b... more This book takes as its core argument Robin Flower’s proposition that there was an unbroken link between hereditary learned families and the medieval Irish Church. It develops the proposition by surveying fifteenth-century church appointments in Co. Clare. The study reveals how extensive those connections were and, despite reforms, there was no clear severance between the ecclesiastical world and the custodians of the native monastic church. The old clerical lineages remained material elements in the structures of the medieval Irish Church, alongside members of the learned class and aristocratic families. This survey provides a template for bringing all of this together, marshalling an array of original source materials in Latin, Irish and English. Many of the sources are printed for the first time and will be of interest to the historian, archaeologist and genealogist alike.
This book takes as its core argument Robin Flower’s proposition that there was an unbroken link b... more This book takes as its core argument Robin Flower’s proposition that there was an unbroken link between hereditary learned families and the medieval Irish Church. It develops the proposition by surveying fifteenth-century church appointments in Co. Clare. The study reveals how extensive those connections were and, despite reforms, there was no clear severance between the ecclesiastical world and the custodians of the native monastic church. The old clerical lineages remained material elements in the structures of the medieval Irish Church, alongside members of the learned class and aristocratic families. This survey provides a template for bringing all of this together, marshalling an array of original source materials in Latin, Irish and English. Many of the sources are printed for the first time and will be of interest to the historian, archaeologist and genealogist alike.
*This book is now released and available for purchase: http://www.fourcourtspress.ie/product.php?intProductID=1132 "
Luke McInerney, ‘O curas hominum! The life and writings of Thomas Carve, alias Thomas Carew, 1590-c.1672’, in Catherine Swift, Brian Hodkinson & Tom Donovan (eds), Limestone and River: Essays on Thomond History in Honor of Liam Irwin (Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2024), pp 137-155., 2024
‘Assero & identidem repeto sine Anglorum consortio nusquam Hybernia bonis moribus instruenda fuis... more ‘Assero & identidem repeto sine Anglorum consortio nusquam Hybernia bonis moribus instruenda fuisses.’ These are the words that cleric Thomas Carve (1590–c.1672) levelled against the Gaelic culture of Ireland. As such they reveal something of his Weltanschauung and provided the basis for an acrimonious contention that ensued with his fellow Irish clerics. His views were not new among those who identified with the Old English in Ireland, although Carve’s repetition of them provoked the ire of Irish clerics who identified with Gaelic culture. This was particularly the case with the Franciscan communities at Louvain and Prague whose clerics were connected to the native culture and literature of Ireland. The controversy that arose from Carve’s forthright views bore unexpected fruit in the form of new detail about Gaelic culture and the doings of Irish émigré clerics in the seventeenth century. Both the contention that grew up around Carve’s writings, and his long career as a cleric on the continent, call for re-evaluation of this controversial Irish priest.
Studia Hibernica (no.50), 2024
Presented here is a transcription and translation of a late sixteenth-century poem by ollamh Maoi... more Presented here is a transcription and translation of a late sixteenth-century poem by ollamh Maoilín Óg Mac Bruaideadha on the historical migration of the Clann Ghormáin from Leinster to Thomond, where they settled in Ibrickan under new overlords, the Uí Bhriain. From these beginnings, Clann Ghormáin advanced themselves to a prominent position in the lordship of Thomond, which lasted until the loss of their estates in the mid-seventeenth century. An analysis of the seanchas-genealogy elements of the poem by Maoilín Óg alongside evidence contained in contemporary administrative records reveals the landholdings, proprietorial status and familial relationships of this important Gaelic Irish lineage.
Lorrha Medieval Conference , 2023
This paper was a talk delivered at the Lorrha Medieval History Conference held on 22 July, 2023. ... more This paper was a talk delivered at the Lorrha Medieval History Conference held on 22 July, 2023. The talk focused on the life of the Clare-born Franciscan, Anthony McBrody (Atoin Mac Bruaideadha, c.1618-1680). McBrody was an important intellectual among émigré Irish Catholic clerics in the second half of the 17th century and all of his known writings are in Latin. Educated in Co Clare and later at St Isidore's College in Rome, he moved to Prague in 1651. From his writings much valuable information may be gleaned on Gaelic culture and society and, in particular, the former status and activity of his own family, the Clann Bhruaideadha, who once served as chronicler-poets to the Ui Bhriain (O'Briens) kings, and later earls, of Thomond. This was a talk presented at the Lorrha Medieval Conference and was on the back of a co-authored publication, Giacomo Fedeli, Luke McInerney & Brian Ó Dálaigh, 'Culture, Contention and Identity in Seventeenth-Century Ireland: Antonius Bruodinus’ Anatomical Examination of Thomas Carve’s Apologetic Handbook' (Cork, 2022).
The Other Clare, vol.48, 2024
On a fine, though breezy Saturday on the 1st of July, a group of history enthusiasts assembled an... more On a fine, though breezy Saturday on the 1st of July, a group of history enthusiasts assembled and commenced the 2023 Clare Field Trip. Over the years, this has developed from a spontaneous outing by a small band of enthusiasts and academics, to an organised annual event. The 2023 trip was to the Loop Head Peninsula, An Leithinis Cheann Léime, with a particular focus on Carrigaholt, a village washed by the Shannon. Other places visited include Kilcredaun medieval church, the village of Doonaha, and the holy well known as Tobar Chaoi (St Kee's Well) on the northern edge of the peninsula.
North Munster Antiquarian Journal, 2024
Cabhail Bhaile Uí Chondhuibh: A late-medieval fortified house of the O’Conways in the Burren Cab... more Cabhail Bhaile Uí Chondhuibh: A late-medieval fortified house of the O’Conways in the Burren
Cabhail Bhaile Uí Chondhuibh appears to represent a late-medieval fortified dwelling associated with the Ó Conduibh lineage of the Burren. The Ó Conduibh name (altn. Ó Conbhaigh or Ó Connmhaigh, anglice O’Conway) achieved renown in the medieval annals as bearers of the name were skilled musicians attached to the ruling Gaelic lineages of Corcomroe.
The Uí Chondhuibh emerge in the mid-fourteenth century as professional practitioners of music and they continued to cultivate this art well into the sixteenth century. This contrasts with other learned kindreds from Corcomroe such as the Clann Chruitín (McCurtins) musicians and historians at Kilmacrehy and the Meic Fhlannchadha (McClancys) law-brehons at Tuath Ghlae (Killilagh). Another local learned kindred, the Uí Dhuibhdhábhoireann lawyer-jurists, are first attested as ollamhain of Corcomroe in brehon law in 1364, and had their law school at Cahermacnaughten, some three kilometres from Cabhail Bhaile Uí Chondhuibh. The earliest reference in the annals to the Uí Chondhuibh pre-date almost all subsequent references to these professional learned kindreds, and they are the only learned family from Corcomroe who are accorded attention in the Thomond-centric fourteenth-century saga-text, the Caithréim Thoirdhealbhaigh.
A new discovery of a possible fortified house site of this learned family throws new light on the materality and dwelling-places of An t-Aos Dána (the Gaelic learned class). Furthermore, research has unveiled significant links between the Uí Chondhuibh and the late medieval church, including a speculative identification of the place(s) of their professional scholarship in the Burren region of north Co. Clare.
The Other Clare, vol. 47 , 2023
In the mid-1730s Aindrias Mac Cruitín (c.1650-c.1738), destitute and aged, wrote a remarkable poe... more In the mid-1730s Aindrias Mac Cruitín (c.1650-c.1738), destitute and aged, wrote a remarkable poem in Irish known as Donn na Duimhche (‘Donn of the Sandhills’). Mac Cruitín sums up his personal condition in full poetic vigour: Ó nár éagas i n-éinfheacht rem shinsear /Do b’fhearr liom gur báite fé’n tuinn me! (‘Since I have not died together with my ancestors / It were better for me if I sank under the waves’). This line encapsulates the predicament of Mac Cruitín who lamented the loss of patronage from the noble classes on whom literary men such as himself could depend. In common with other literary men who produced poetry and literature and cultivated classical metres in Irish, Mac Cruitín saw himself as one of the last traditional receptacles of scholarly Gaelic culture.
This perception drew on his self-conscious view that his learning derived from the curriculum of the professional bardic schools which, in the west of Ireland, operated up to the mid-seventeenth century. He saw himself as a representative of what we might term the classical Gaelic literary tradition. The fact that the family to whom he belonged, the Clann Chruitín, were hereditary seanchaidhthe with medieval origins, meant that he saw himself as a descendant of a time-honoured learned line.
Eighteenth-century Ireland Journal (vol. 37), 2022
This essay presents a literal translation of the poem, Donn na Duimhche by Clare seanchaidhe and ... more This essay presents a literal translation of the poem, Donn na Duimhche by Clare seanchaidhe and poet, Aindrias Mac Cruitín. The text presented here is intended primarily to focus on the life and activity of Mac Cruitín and his historical and literary milieu in mid-eighteenth century Clare. The discussion is not intended to provide a detailed linguistic analysis or editorial treatment of the original text in Irish. Rather, by focusing on the poet and his world, as well as some of the themes addressed in his poem, new light is cast on the classical Gaelic tradition of north Munster at a time when that scholarly tradition was becoming obsolete.
North Munster Antiquarian Journal, v.59, pp 31-48, 2019
Late-medieval church records concerning Inis Cathaigh (Scattery Island) mention clerical families... more Late-medieval church records concerning Inis Cathaigh (Scattery Island) mention clerical families who maintained a longstanding connection to the ecclesiastical site. One of these families was the Uí Ghiolla Sheanáin (anglice, Gilsenan) who served as hereditary clergy, frequently holding the priorship of the collegiate church of Inis Cathaigh. The following investigates the Uí Ghiolla Sheanáin, their lands at Kilteelin near Kilrush and its connection to the priorship of Inis Cathaigh alongside the activity of the Uí Ghiolla Sheanáin clerics both in Ireland and at Salamanca in Spain.
Luke McInerney & Katharine Simms (eds), 'Gaelic Ireland (c.600-c.1700): Lordship, saints and learning: essays for the Irish Chiefs' and Clans' Prize in history', (Wordwell, Dublin 2021), 2021
Clann Chraith (MGraths) of Munster were a pre-eminent literary family whose activities spanned el... more Clann Chraith (MGraths) of Munster were a pre-eminent literary family whose activities spanned eleventh to seventeenth century. As a hereditary learned family, their professional specialisation was in seanchas (historical lore) and filidheacht (poetry). From the late eleventh century their standing can be ascertained from the fact that they served as court poets to the royal Ui Bhriain dynasty. This paper investigates their bardic school which was established in the late medieval period at Burgess in south Tipperary. Their connections with north Waterford and the Sliabh gCua district is also investigated.
Archivium Hibernicum vol.74, 2021
The foregoing register was compiled in 1640 for the use of Barnaby O’Brien, the sixth earl of Tho... more The foregoing register was compiled in 1640 for the use of Barnaby
O’Brien, the sixth earl of Thomond. It presents, in considerable detail,
papers and legal documents relating to the Thomond estates in counties
Tipperary, Limerick and Clare. As is apparent from the front page of the
register, the constituent papers that formed the Thomond estate records
were deemed ‘evidences and writings’. These papers were, at least for a
period, held in the study of Bunratty castle. Abstracts of these ‘evidences’ were made and entered into the register transcribed here, and which is now kept at Petworth House in West Sussex, England. The register, along with the other Thomond papers, are publicly accessible, upon request, from the West Sussex Records Office in Chichester. The reason that this extraordinary archive of Irish material was deposited in England can be traced to the O’Brien earls of Thomond who relocated to England during the turbulent 1640s.
Studia Hibernica, vol. 47, 2021
One of the most extraordinary stories to have survived from seventeenthcentury county Clare is th... more One of the most extraordinary stories to have survived from seventeenthcentury county Clare is that of Dermot McBruodin, the so-called 'mad friar' of Ennis. This story has received the attention of antiquaries and historians and has come down to us primarily in translated excerpts from the original Latin text. This article provides an account of the life and ministry of the Clare-born Franciscan friar, Dermot McBruodin, who returned to Ireland from studies in Spain in 1575. The author of this life was a kinsman and confrère who published it as part of a larger work in 1669. Presented here is a full translation of the life of Dermot McBruodin which details his arrest, trial and acquittal in 1603, along with a contextualisation of his life and activities. Also presented is a discussion about the author's motivation for recording McBruodin's life, which was written some 50 years after the friar's death.
The Other Clare: Journal of the Shannon archaeological & historical society_vol. 45, pp 5-7, 2021
The Other Clare: Journal of the Shannon archaeological and historical society, vol. 45, pp 26-32, 2021
The Other Clare, vol. 44, pp.12-17, 2020
This article details the series of field trips led by Luke McInerney over the last ten years to h... more This article details the series of field trips led by Luke McInerney over the last ten years to historical sites in Co. Clare. The article details the 2019 Field Trip to a number of sites in and around Ennis/Dromoland and it includes a poem by the author that celebrates an earlier field trip to Slieve Callan in west Clare.
North Munster Antiquarian Journal, vol. 58, pp 95-110, 2018
This paper presents legal documents concerning William O’Neylon, including a certificate seeking ... more This paper presents legal documents concerning William O’Neylon, including a certificate seeking leave to travel to Spain and a last testament. This is the only survival of such a certificate for county Clare from the Interregnum. It merits attention because of the extraneous circumstance of its issuance. The certificate was issued in 1652 at a volatile period when the county had just succumbed to the Cromwellian forces, and the general population was exhausted after a decade of war and privation. It also occurred at the onset of he Cromwellian regime’s infamous policy of transplanting Catholic gentry suspected of Confederate activity to poorer lands in Clare and Connacht. The survival of this certificate adds to our understanding of the activity of an aristocratic Gaelic family in Clare. It also castes light on one of county Clare’s most (in)famous women of the seventeenth century, thrice married Máire Ruadh, ancestor of the Dromoland O’Briens.
Archivium Hibernicum, 2018
Deeds, contracts and other legal instruments compiled in Irish survive from the late medieval per... more Deeds, contracts and other legal instruments compiled in Irish survive
from the late medieval period for Thomond. Their survival owes as much
to the happy fact that a disproportionate number of Irish language deeds
survive in the Thomond collection, as to the fortuitous intervention of antiquaries such as Tadhg Ó Rodaighe (d.1706) and James Hardiman (d.1855). A significant portion of the surviving Gaelic legal instruments refer to people and places of east County Clare. Many refer to dealings of the O’Brien earls of Thomond and their predecessors, and owe their survival to the well-preserved legal records of the main branches of that family. A significant number involve matters dealing with the Meic Conmara (McNamara) whose lordship of Clann Chuiléin was the geographical locus of many of the deeds. The deeds contain information about people, events and places and they deal with matters about land acquisition, contracts and other agreements. The deeds which have survived tend to be summaries of legal cases and judgements rather than an exposé of legal reasoning or the articulation of a certain legal position. As legal documents they retain a utilitarian quality which makes them informative pieces of evidence for the practical application of Gaelic, or brehon law, in the late medieval period.
Poem on Sliabh Calláin, alias Slieve Callan or Mount Callan, in Ibrickan, west Clare. The poem al... more Poem on Sliabh Calláin, alias Slieve Callan or Mount Callan, in Ibrickan, west Clare. The poem alludes to historical lore and events around Sliabh Calláin. The poem contains historical notes to explain the context or image being invoked.
The Other Clare, vol. 42, (2018), 2018
Late-seventeenth century County Clare was in upheaval following the defeat of the Jacobite cause ... more Late-seventeenth century County Clare was in upheaval following the defeat of the Jacobite cause at Aughrim and Limerick in 1691. Many soldiers, Catholic landholders and adventurers took advantage of the terms of the Treaty of Limerick and entered foreign military service. Thousands of men, among whom were the famous Clare dragoons of Lord Clare, sought military service with the main powers in Europe – France, Spain and the army of imperial Austria. The imperial territories of Austria was where a branch of the O’Neylon family from Dysert in County Clare settled, attaining high military rank and ennoblement. This branch acquired estates in the imperial lands of northern Italy, around Mantua in Lombardy. Like other Jacobite families on the continent, the O’Neylons married into other exiled Irish families who had achieved pre-eminence in the service of the Austrian imperial army
Eolas: The Journal of the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies, vol. 11 (2018), 2018
This paper presents a list of freeholders of Kilfenora Diocese in County Clare from 1601. The for... more This paper presents a list of freeholders of Kilfenora Diocese in County Clare from 1601. The fortuitous survival of this list shows a snap-shot of Gaelic social hierarchies and landholding in an area almost wholly unaffected by anglicizing changes. The value of the list is its survey of land denominations and proprietorship and its focus on the church lands of the Corcomroe division of the diocese. It is speculated here that the list was compiled by a cleric at the cathedral chapter of Kilfenora and that its purpose was to ascertain church lands and property in order to put the administration of the diocese—including its revenues from the diocesan temporalities—on a more sure footing.
Archivium Hibernicum, 2017
This article looks at the writings of the County Clare Franciscan, Antonius Bruodin (c.1618-80), ... more This article looks at the writings of the County Clare Franciscan, Antonius Bruodin (c.1618-80), and his contention with fellow cleric, Thomas Carve (alias Carew). The writings of these two men, both clerics and living exiled on the continent in the second half of the 17th century, reveal much about Gaelic culture, native institutions and the Gaelic learned class. Bruodin was born into a learned family of the classical Gaelic tradition, the Clann Bhruaideadha (McBrodys), who had produced generations of official chroniclers and poets to the Ui Bhriain (O'Briens) of Thomond. His writings therefore contain first hand accounts of the methods of learning and the wealth and proprietorship enjoyed by the learned class in Gaelic lordships, prior to their reduction in status and loss of patronage from the early 17th century.
Friday 19th November 2021 saw the launch of the Clans of Ireland - Standing Council of Irish Chie... more Friday 19th November 2021 saw the launch of the Clans of Ireland - Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains' anthology entitled, ''Gaelic Ireland (c.600-c.1700) Lordship, saints and learning'', (Wordwell Books, Dublin, 2021), editors Luke McInerney and Dr Katharine Simms.
This is a link to the proceedings of the evening, beginning with the welcome by the Clans of Ireland Cathaoirleach, Gearóid Ó Ceallaigh, and an introductory lecture on the study of Gaelic Ireland and a discussion with four of the book's contributors, hosted by Luke McInerney.
The recording can be viewed at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAQF8cD3ySQ&t=3s
![Research paper thumbnail of Review of Culture, Contention and Identity in Seventeenth-Century Ireland (authors: Luke McInerney, Brian O Dalaigh & Giacomo Fedeli) [see. pp 50-55]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/106765625/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Seventeenth Century News Spring_Summer Vol. 81 Nos. 1&2 2023, pp 50-55, 2023
This book review appeared in the journal 'Seventeenth Century News' in Spring Summer Vol. 81 Nos... more This book review appeared in the journal 'Seventeenth Century News' in Spring Summer Vol. 81 Nos. 1&2 (2023), pp 50-55.
The review of the book was authored by Patrick M. Owens, Assistant Professor of Classics at Colgate University.
Archaeology Ireland, 2023
A review of Elizabeth FitzPatrick's, ''Landscapes of the Learned: Placing Gaelic Literati in Iris... more A review of Elizabeth FitzPatrick's, ''Landscapes of the Learned: Placing Gaelic Literati in Irish Lordships: 1300-1600'' (Oxford, 2023)