2 St Mary’s Lane, High Street, Kilkenny www.medievalmilemuseum.ie By Tony Canavan Kilkenny’s newest museum is located in one of the city’s oldest buildings, St Mary’s Church, dating back to the twelfth century. There is no attempt to hide the building’s origins and the visitor is aware of being in a former church. The main structure … Read more
HUGH II DE LACY AND THE ALBIGENSIAN CRUSADE By Paul Duffy This year marks the 800th anniversary of the foundation of the Order of Preachers, also known as the Black Friars or, more commonly, the Dominicans. St Dominic is credited with popularising that most Irish of devotions the Rosary, and a multitude of towns in … Read more
THIS YEAR MARKS THE 800th ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF ONE OF ENGLAND’S MOST NOTORIOUS KINGS, AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ENGLISHMEN IN THE HISTORY OF IRELAND, KING JOHN. By Colin Veach and Tadhg O’Keeffe John has long split historical opinion. Some see him as an evil tyrant, through whose presence Hell itself is … Read more
The inspiration for the painting was a ballad or poem ‘Hellalyle and Hildebrand’ that appeared in ‘A second batch of Danish ballads’ translated by Whitley Stokes from Danske Viser, vol. iii, 353, published in Fraser’s Magazine 51 (January–June 1855), pp 88–9. Whitley was the son of Burton’s friend William Stokes, and his note accompanying the … Read more
It is hardly surprising that Irish historians have been reluctant to engage with negative later medieval English perceptions of Ireland (see sidebar below), other than to impugn their veracity. In regard to the English Pale, for instance, studies of interaction between Gaedhil and Gaill have aimed to disprove its status as an international frontier; depictions … Read more