Nick Maxwell By Martin Green In Finnegans Wake, the main ingredient in Shaun’s ‘stockpot dinner’ is a ‘round steak, very rare, Blong’s best from Portarlington’s Butchery’. The reference is to a butchery operated by a Blong family at the Huguenot settlement in Portarlington in the early 1700s; the Blongs were among the Huguenots (French Protestants) admitted to … Read more
By Gonzalo Franco-Ordovás On 16 March 1545, the Valladolid court of justice resolved a dispute between the inhabitants of the Castilian coastal village of Castro de Urdiales. The conflict had its origins in a disagreement over the granting of commissions to trade with the ruler of the Beara Peninsula in Ireland, Domhnall Ó Súilleabháin. Rather … Read more
By Meredith Cutrer The 7th of September 1170 marked a momentous occasion in Bergen, Norway: the relics of the Irish martyr-queen Sunniva were transferred from the island of Selja, off Norway’s western coast, to Bergen’s Cathedral of Christ Church. Sunniva’s cult played a consequential role in the ambitions of Norwegian kings and clerics and was … Read more
By Clare Marie Moriarty Revelations about philosopher George Berkeley’s historical activities have raised questions about the wisdom of having a Trinity College library named after him. The revelations are not new; Berkeley’s participation in slavery in America has been known for some time. He not only bought slaves but also hints that he helped secure … Read more
Sir,—Please allow me to congratulate your contributor Ian S. Wood, ‘Brian Nelson—the rise and fall of a double agent’ (HI 31.2, March/April 2023), for managing to write a four-page article on an aspect of the recent Troubles in the six counties without once mentioning the word ‘Protestant’. But then, why would he, when the whole … Read more