The nobility of Tudor Ireland are important because the nobility were key agents of change in this revolutionary period. The movement among the English of Ireland for the political ‘reformation’ of their land during the reign of Henry VIII was essentially the product of hostility between the peerage and the gentry. Without it, the Kildare … Read more
John A. McCullen’s Illustrated history of the Phoenix Park does exactly what it says on the tin. A detailed description and time-line of the landscape management and design of Dublin’s Phoenix Park, it is published in a lavish large-format volume, and gorgeously illustrated with over 240 maps, plans and full-page colour prints. McCullen is chief … Read more
The past twenty years or so have witnessed an upsurge in the academic study of Tudor Ireland. A number of young scholars were inspired by a series of important essays dealing with the Irish reformation by Brendan Bradshaw, Nicholas Canny and Karl Bottigheimer in the 1970s and 1980s and influenced by diocesan studies undertaken by … Read more
If you are a first-time visitor to the Old Library in Trinity College, then a ticket for €9 is good value as it includes the Book of Kells exhibition as well as the Long Room, where ‘Ireland in Turmoil’ is located. This marks the transfer to a website of all the 1641 depositions with ‘translations’ … Read more
Youghal, Co. Cork, was one of the most significant maritime centres of medieval Ireland, commanding important trading routes to northern and western Europe. Like other urban centres of the time, it was surrounded by walls punctuated by defensive towers and heavily guarded gates. In time, the town expanded southwards and a new ‘base’ or outer … Read more