A history of Ireland in 100 words has been shortlisted for 'best Irish-published book of the year' at the An Post Irish Book Awards 2019. November 2019. Did you know that Cú Chulainn was conceived with a thirst-quenching drink? That 'cluas', the modern Irish word for 'ear', also means the handle of a cup? That the Old Irish word for 'ring' may have inspired Tolkien's 'nazg'? How and why does the word for noble (saor) come to mean cheap? Why does a word that once meant law (cáin) now mean tax? And why are turkeys in Irish French birds? From murder to beekeeping and everything between, discover how the Irish ate, drank, dressed, loved and lied. This book tells a history of Ireland by looking at the development of 100 medieval Irish words drawn from the Royal Irish Academy's Dictionary of the Irish Language. Words tell stories and encapsulate histories and this book captures aspects of Ireland's changing history by examining the changing meaning of 100 key words. The book is aimed at a general readership and no prior knowledge of the Irish language is required to delve into the fascinating insights it provides. The book is divided into themes, including writing and literature; food and feasting; technology and science; mind and body. Readers can explore words relating to particular concepts, dipping in and out where they please.

This is a study of Ireland's people, landscape, and place in the world from late antiquity to the reign of Brian Borama. The book narrates the story of Ireland's emergence into history, using anthropological, archaeological, historical, and literary evidence. The subjects covered include the king, the kingdom and the royal household, religion and customs, free and unfree classes in society, exiles, and foreigners. The rural, urban, ecclesiastical, ceremonial, and mythological landscapes of early medieval Ireland anchor the history of early Irish society in the rich tapestry of archaeological sites, monuments, and place-names that have survived to the present day. A historiography of medieval Irish studies presents the commentaries of a variety of scholars, from the 17th-century Franciscan Micheal O Cleirigh to Eoin Mac Neill, the founding father of modern scholarship. *** "Bhreathnach draws on archaeological evidence to supply insights into a society that has left only oblique views in the written record, proposing a revised view of the place of Ireland in medieval Europe....the book features eight pages of color plates and many photos, and is a must for academic libraries, particularly those with extensive history or archaeology collections. Essential." - Choice, Vol. 52, No. 4, December 2014 *** Featured in 'Outstanding Academic Titles', a prestigious list of publications for the year 2014. - Choice, January 2015 [Subject: History, Medieval Studies, Archaeology, Anthropology, Irish Studies, Religious Studies]

Readers of this volume will be struck by the pervasiveness of the connections between the medieval and the modern in Ireland and the Irish, artists in particular, and realize why James Joyce could hardly avoid linking the modern Irish artist with the medieval Irish monk, as he does in the bitter musings of Stephen Dedalus, who walks alone into eternity along Sandymount Strand: "You were going to do wonders, what? Missionary to Europe after fiery Columbanus." Contents: Introduction, Richard Wall; The Image Of The IrishóMedieval and ModernóContinuity and Change, F.X. Martin, O.S.A.; John Bull's Other Ego: Reactions to the Stage Irishman in Anglo-Irish Drama, Heinz Kosok; Contemporary Irish Poetry and The Matter of IrelandóThomas Kinsella, John Montague and Seamus Heaney, Brian John; Early Irish Literature and Contemporary Scholarly Disciplines, Ann Dooley; Brian Friel's Translations: National and Universal Dimensions, Wolfgang Zach; Brian Moore and The Meaning of Exile, Hallvard Dahlie; Medieval Irish Poetics: Linguistic Interaction and Audience, Toni O'Brien Johnson; The Artifice of Eternity: Medieval Aspects of Modern Irish Literature, John Wilson Foster; Notes; Notes on Contributors; Index^R

• The first study of the full chronological range of Irish charms, from the Middle Ages until the present. • Includes survey articles, which give the reader a broad overview of major aspects of the subject. • Includes new discoveries in the field, information concerning which is not yet available elsewhere. • Includes articles dealing with folk medicine and traditional healing.

The notion that all Gaelic peoples were immediately and ipso facto denied access to the English royal courts in Ireland, upon the advent of the English in 1167, has become so accepted in academic and popular histories of Ireland that it is no longer questioned. This book tackles this narrative of absolute ethnic discrimination in thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century English Ireland on the basis of a thorough re-examination of the Irish plea rolls. A forensic study of these records reveals a great deal of variation in how members of various ethnic groups and women who came before the royal courts in Ireland were treated. Specifically, it demonstrates the existence of a large, and hitherto scarcely noticed, population of Gaels with regular and unimpeded access to English law, identifiable as Gaelic either through explicit ethnic labelling in the records or implicitly through their naming practices.

In this volume of the Study of Irish Historic Settlement series, scholars from the perspectives of archaeology, art history, and history offer insights into the development and consolidation of lordship in medieval Ireland as well as its demise by the advent of the 17th century. Contents include: Edel Bhreatnach (U.C. Dublin), Perceptions of kingship in early medieval Irish vernacular literature --- Howard B. Clarke (RIA), Lordship and feudalism in north-western Europe in theÃ?Â?Ã?Â?High Middle Ages --- Linda Doran (RSAI), Economic and military lordship in the Carlow Corridor, c.1200-1350 --- Emmett O'Byrne (UCD), The MacMurroughs and the marches of Leinster, 1170-1340 --- Margaret Murphy (ind.), Roger Bigod and the lordship of Carlow, 1266-1306 --- John Malcolm (U Glasgow), Castles and landscapes in UÃ?Â?Ã?Â- Fhiachrach Muaidhe, c.1235- c.1400 --- Freya Verstraten (TCD), Images of Gaelic lordship in Ireland, c.1200- c.1400 --- Paul Naessens (NUIG), The lordship of the UÃ?Â?Ã?Â- Fhlaithbheartaigh of Iar Connacht --- Connie Kelleher (DEHLG), The Gaelic O'Driscoll lords of Baltimore, Co. Cork --- James Lyttleton (Eachtra Projects), The MacCoghlans of Delvin Eathra

The pivotal role of Ireland in the development of a decidedly Christian culture in early medieval Europe has long been recognized. Still, Irish scholarship on early medieval Ireland has tended not to look beyond the Irish Sea, while continental scholars try to avoid Hibernica by reference to its special Celtic background. Following the lead of the honorand of this volume, Prof. Daibhi O Croinin, this collection of 27 essays aims at contributing to a reversal of this general trend. By way of introduction to the period, the first section deals with chronological problems faced by modern scholars as well as the controversial issues relating to the reckoning of time discussed by contemporary intellectuals. The following three sections then focus on Ireland's interaction with its neighbours, namely a) Ireland in the Insular world, b) continental influences in Ireland, and c) Irish influences on the Continent. The concluding section is devoted to modern scholarship and the perception of the Middle Ages in modern literature.

In the late twelfth century, Ireland was absorbed into the dominions of the kings of England. This transformed the social and political life of the island, with implications that resonate to the present day. How are we to interpret this formative period of Irish history? In the course of the twentieth century, three successive occupants of the Lecky chair of history in Trinity College Dublin sought to provide answers. Modern scholarship remains deeply indebted to the work of Edmund Curtis, A.J. Otway-Ruthven and James Lydon. This volume brings together twenty-one of their most influential essays on the social, institutional and political character of the English colony in medieval Ireland. The editor's introduction explores the careers of 'The Lecky Professors' and assesses their intellectual legacy. An indispensable collection of essays for all those interested in the history of Ireland and Britain in the Middle Ages, this paperback new edition contains a bibliographical essay by the editor, which offers a guide to works published between 2008 and 2018.

"A study of the lives and legacy of Picts and Britons in the Irish Church, looking at their impact on early medieval Irish society and how this impact came to be perceived in later centuries. Between the fifth and ninth centuries AD, the peoples of Britain, Ireland, and their surrounding islands were constantly interacting, sharing cultures and ideas that shaped and reshaped their communities and the way they lived. The influence of religious figures from Ireland on the development of the Church in Britain was profound, and the fame of monasteries such as Iona, which they established, remains to this day. Yet with the exception of St Patrick, far less attention has been paid to the role of the Britons and Picts who travelled west into Ireland, despite their equally significant impact. This book aims to redress the balance by offering a detailed exploration of the evidence for British and Pictish men and women in the early medieval Irish Church, and asking what we can piece together of their lives from the often fragmentary sources. It also considers the ways in which writers of later ages viewed these migrants, and examines how the shaping of the migration narrative throughout the centuries had a major effect on the way that the earliest centuries of the church came to be viewed in later years in both Scotland and Ireland. In doing so, this volume offers important new insights into our understanding of the relationships between Britain and Ireland in this period.00Oisín Plumb is originally from Edinburgh. He completed his PhD in Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh in 2016. He now lives in Orkney, where he is a lecturer at the Institute for Northern Studies at the University of the Highlands and Islands."--Page 4 de la couverture

Do you know what a Brideóg is? What could you cure if you licked a lizard nine times? Why is Whit Sunday the unluckiest day of the year? From the author of The Irish Cottage comes a new book, exploring old Irish customs and beliefs. Chapters focus on the quarter-day festivities that marked the commencement of each season: ‘Spring: Imbolc’; ‘Summer: Bealtaine’; ‘Autumn: Lughnasa’ and ‘Winter: Samhain’, and also major life events – ‘Births, Marriages and Death Customs’ – and general beliefs in ‘Spirituality and Well-Being’ and ‘The Supernatural’. Focusing on the period from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, Irish Customs and Rituals discusses a time during which many of the practices and beliefs in question went into decline. Many of these customs were rooted in residual pre-Christian beliefs that ran parallel to, and in spite of, conventional religion practised in the country. Some customs were so deep-rooted that despite continued disapproval from the Roman Catholic Church they remain with us today. It is wonderful to see so many traditions still with us, as many are worthwhile remembering, commemorating, or even reviving today. Irish Customs and Rituals will appeal to all those with an interest in Irish history, folklore, culture and social history. Marion McGarry is the author of The Irish Cottage: History, Culture and Design (2017). She has a PhD in Architectural History and an MA in History of Art and Design and is currently a lecturer at Galway–Mayo Institute of Technology. She frequently writes articles about Irish social history and customs.