In 1969 a 26-year-old Belfast boy with a distinguished undergraduate record applied for a lectureship at the University of Durham. Robin Frame was then at work on his doctoral dissertation in Trinity College, Dublin, and had one published article to his name. That might have been one article too many for H.S. Offler, then professor … Read more
At first glance, the publication of a book on a medieval Manx dynasty might seem to have little to offer Irish historians. Today, the Isle of Man barely registers in the Irish consciousness, having become largely peripheral to the cultural and political milieu of modern Europe. This, however, was not always the case. In a … Read more
The wolf is as rich an image in literature as it is a reality—albeit a persecuted one—in natural history. Invariably featured as a menace in mythology and folklore, the wolf, demon or hero, is a strange and glamorous creature, the enigmatic ancestor of our domestic dog, and still roams Russian Asia, Canada and Alaska.Anyone with … Read more
The three primary dynamics of medieval society were the control of the production of wealth, the raising of armies for war, and the administration of justice for the achievement of civic order. Such functions did not operate in a vacuum but used a hierarchical spatial system, or a system of local, regional and provincial territorial … Read more
By the end of the sixteenth century Hugh O’Neill, second earl of Tyrone, had emerged as the greatest single threat to English rule in Ireland. He took advantage of royal favour, exploited crown assaults on vulnerable Gaelic neighbours and forged strategic political and marital alliances with the O’Donnells, O’Cahans and O’Reillys to construct a powerful … Read more