‘A real Irish historian’ (3:1) Seán Duffy talks to James Lydon who last year retired as Lecky Professor of Modern History in Trinity College, Dublin. SD: Tell me about your family background and early years. JL: I was born in Galway. My mother was from an Irish-speaking family not far from the city. My father … Read more
Medieval Ireland was, according to contemporaries, a country divided into two ‘nations’. On the one hand there were the descendants of the Anglo-Norman settlers of the late twelfth and early thirteenth century, on the other the successors to the older Gaelic Irish population. The church reflected this division and was split into two sections, one … Read more
On an October day in 1325, in the royal exchequer at Westminster, the accounts of the treasurer of Ireland were being audited. This was a fairly routine matter. The treasurer in question was Walter Islip, who had retired from office in September 1321. Suddenly the audit was interrupted when the routine inquiries began to reveal … Read more
A History of Ulster . Jonathan Bardon (Blackstaff Press, 1992, £14.95) and Nine Ulster Lives, G. O’Brien & P. Roebuck (eds.) (Ulster Historical Foundation, 1992, £7.95) (1:1) Tony Canavan On being presented with Jonathan Bardon’s A History of Ulster one recalls the Duke of Gloucester’s comment on being presented with Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, … Read more