“Brian’s sword” and the “standard of the king of the Saxons” in the Irish annals: the Godwinsons, Hastings and Leinster–Munster relations (original) (raw)
Related papers
2009. ‘Medieval Ireland and the Wider World’, Studia Hibernica, 35, pp 167–86.
Studia Hibernica 35 (2009) 167–86, 2009
Review article of the following: THREE ARMIES IN BRITAIN: THE IRISH CAMPAIGN OF RICHARD II AND THE USURPATION OF HENRY IV, 1397–1399. By Douglas Biggs. Pp xvi + 295, illus. Leiden: Brill, 2006. €110 hardback (History of Warfare, vol. 39). INQUISITIONS AND EXTENTS OF MEDIEVAL IRELAND. Edited by PaulDryburgh and Brendan Smith.Pp vi, 290. Kew: List and Index Society, 2007. Distributed to subscribers: £17 members, £22.50 non-members paperback (List and Index Society, vol. 320). DE COURCY: ANGLO-NORMANS IN IRELAND, ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN THE ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CENTURIES. Pp 205, illus. By Steve Flanders. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2008. €55 hardback. IRELAND AND WALES IN THE MIDDLE AGES. Edited by Karen Jankulak and Jonathan M. Wooding. Pp 296.Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007. €55 hardback. MEDIEVAL IRELAND: TERRITORIAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DIVISIONS. By Paul MacCotter. Pp 320, illus. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2008. €55 hardback. MANX KINGSHIP IN ITS IRISH SEA SETTING, 1187–1229: KING RÖGNVALDR AND THE CROVAN DYNASTY. Pp 254, illus. By R. Andrew McDonald. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007. €55 hardback. IRELAND AND THE ENGLISH WORLD IN THE LATE MIDDLE AGES: ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF ROBIN FRAME. Pp xii + 241. Edited by Brendan Smith. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009. £50 hardback. THE ANNALS OF IRELAND BY FRIAR JOHN CLYN. Edited by Bernadette Williams. Pp 303. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007. €65 hardback.
'Irishmen and Islesmen in the kingdoms of Dublin and Man, 1052-1171', Ériu, 43 (1992), 93-133
The period between the battle of Clontarf and the Anglo-Norman invasion remains one of the most neglected in Ireland's history. Too late for the students of early Ireland, who often see Brian Boruma's death in 1014 as a convenient end-point, and too early for the later medievalists for whom the cataclysmic events of the late 1160s form a natural point of departure, it has fallen between both stools. Many aspects of this vital era may be said to have suffered as a result, but some remain more heavily shrouded in obscurity than others. One of the areas in greatest need of elucidation is the nature of the relationship at this point between the Irish and the descendants of those Vikings who had earlier settled both in Ireland and in the islands between it and Britain. This paper can claim to do little more than scratch the surface of the problem, by outlining the connectionprimarily political and military--between the two in the century or so before the fall of Viking Dublin.
Cath Ruis na Ríg for Bóinn: history and literature in twelfth-century Ireland
This paper discusses the tale Cath Ruis na Ríg for Bóinn, a sequel to the early Irish epic Táin Bó Cúailgne, in light of the historical context of the period when it was written (the second half of the twelfth century). It argues that its author drew on contemporary historical events and developments as models for episodes in the plot of his story. Specifically, his depiction of Irish kings importing foreign mercenaries from the Hebrides and struggling for influence over the midland province of Mide resonates with distinctly twelfth-century historical phenomena. As a result, although it is set in the heroic past, the images of kingship and of inter-provincial politics depicted in Cath Ruis na Ríg were shaped by the twelfth-century struggle for dominance amongst the various contenders for the high-kingship of Ireland. The paper tentatively suggests that the text might have been written as a commentary on the period of conflict between Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn, king of Cenél Eógain, and Tairdelbach Úa Conchobair, king of Connacht, during the early 1150s.
Warrior and king in early Ireland
Kings and Warriors in Early North-West Europe. Edited by Jan Erik Rekdal & Charles Doherty, 2016
This chapter was the result of a project in the Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters during 2012/2013. The project title was 'The representation of the warrior in relation to the king in the European Middle Ages (600–1200)' led by Professor Jan Erik Rekdal. The project members were the contributors to this book.
A question of timing: Walter de Lacy's seisin of Meath 1189-94
The Irish kingdom of Mide was granted by King Henry II to Hugh de Lacy in 1172. After Hugh’s death in 1186, what had come to be known as the lordship of Meath passed, after a period of wardship, to Hugh’s son, Walter. Until now, the transfer of the lordship to Walter was generally thought to have occurred in 1194; but this article examines a charter, the existence of which challenges that theory. The charter, which dates to before 1191, is an explicit example of Walter exercising lordship in Meath at least three years earlier than historians had, up to now, thought he had done. The resultant revised chronology depicts John, lord of Ireland (and future king of England), depriving Walter de Lacy of Meath in 1192; only to have this action overturned by King Richard the Lionheart upon the latter’s return from crusade in 1194. This article therefore establishes and re-dates a key development in the history of the English community in Ireland, which has consequences for how we understand Irish politics in the early years of King Richard’s reign.
Although Richard II's Irish expedition of 1394–95 has attracted considerable scholarly attention, the focus has largely been on Richard's relations with the colonial administration in Ireland, pointing mainly to the colonial government's plea for greater royal investment in the colony as the main factor underpinning Richard's decision to intervene in Ireland. Little attention, by comparison, has been devoted to exploring the king's relations with both the Gaelic Irish and Gaelic Scottish nobility. Using Richard's relations with the expanding Gaelic world as the main case study, this article reconsiders how developments in the Gaelic west influenced the king's decision to intervene in Ireland. Set against the backdrop of Anglo-Scottish relations and the Hundred Years’ War, the article draws on a broad range of Gaelic sources from Ireland and Scotland, English and Scottish governmental records, and material from the Avignon papacy. It uncovers and traces the development of the main Gaelic Irish and Gaelic Scottish dynasties during the late fourteenth century, their relationships with one another, and their unfolding connections with the English and Scottish crowns. By locating Richard's expeditions within the broader archipelagic context, this article argues that the wider Gaelic world, though on the geographic periphery of Ireland and Scotland, was capable of exerting a far greater degree of influence on the course of “British” politics than has previously been acknowledged.
Peter Crooks (ed.), Government, war and society in medieval Ireland: essays by Edmund Curtis, A.J. Otway-Ruthven and James Lydon (Four Courts: Dublin, 2008), pp 353–75
“To Serve Well and Faithfully”: The Agents of English Aristocratic Rule in Leinster, c.1272-c.1315
2003
The period between the early 1270s and ca. 1315 was a turning point in the history of the English lordship of Ireland. It was during these years that the balance of power between the English settlers in Ireland (the Anglo-Irish) and the Gaelic Irish began to change, the balance starting to tip in favor of the native Irish who consequently began to encroach on the Anglo-Irish settlements. As far as landholding in Ireland by lords based in England is concerned, the period has been seen as a critical one that led to changes in how English lords viewed their lands in Ireland, and in their capacity to administer and defend these lands from a distance. This is a view that can be challenged in various ways, and in this paper a prosopographical approach to the study of the men who administered the Irish estates of four major English lords in the province of Leinster in this period is employed. This demonstrates that these English lords maintained a close interest in their Irish lands throughout the period, taking care to employ experienced and trustworthy men as seneschals whenever possible, and to keep a close eye on the activities of these seneschals through the agency of council members, attorneys , auditors, and messengers. It concludes that English lordship in Ireland was clearly still a viable option for the lords of the substantial liberties of Leinster in this period, and that the employment of Anglo-Irish knights , particularly as seneschals, was integral to this success, bringing as they did military and political advantages to the administrations they headed.
‘King in the West? Ireland’s Myth and History in A Game of Thrones’
King in the West? Tracing the impact of Ireland’s myth and history in Game of Thrones “...the histories will open your eyes. You would do well to know about the lives of those who went before” Jamie Lannister, Feast for Crows, p. 236 2000 professional mercenaries from the east arrive to form part of an invasion force. These sellswords’ wages are paid for by the sister, well married abroad, of a deposed and supposedly tyrannical king who hopes her House can win back power. Rebellious lords and renegade members of the council plot a strategy to defeat the usurper who now holds the crown. Dublin in 1487 is frenetic with activity and tense with expectation. For despite the similarities to events and personalities portrayed in The Game of Thrones, the mercenaries in question were German and not from the Free Cities of Essos; Dowager Duchess Margaret of Burgundy was their paymaster rather than Daenerys Targaryen; Richard III was the king in question and the House of York the dynasty seeking restoration. The Earl of Kildare, Gerald FitzGerald, Lord Deputy of Ireland and the Earl of Lincoln, John de la Pole, both strong supporters of the Yorkist cause during the Wars of the Roses were the scheming nobles seeking to displace Henry VII and his recently established House of Tudor. The parallels nevertheless are striking. A contested monarchy, exiled claimants, untrustworthy magnates, military expeditions – and uncertain pretenders.
Muirchertach Ua Briain, politics and naval activity in the Irish Sea, 1075 to 1119
KEIMELIA: Studies in medieval archaeology and history in memory of Tom Delaney, ed. Geared Mac Niocaill & Patrick F. Wallace, 1988
Hc sent forth after that a naval expcdition upon (he sca, viz., thc Gaill ofAth Cliath and of Port Lairge, and ofthe Ui Chcinnselaigh, and ofthe Ui Eathach of Mumhain, and ofalmost all thc men ofErinn, such ofthem as wcrc 6t togo to sea; and they levied royal tributc from the Saxons and Britons, and the Lemhnaigh Iand] Alba, and Airir-Gaedhil, and their pledges and hostagcs along with the chieftribute.