By Cora Crampton Up to the end of the sixteenth century the Gaelic polity relied heavily on intermarriage as a crucial means of consolidating political and military power bases. To this end, high-status Gaelic women functioned as political resources under the control of their male relatives. It is proposed to examine available traces of the … Read more
By Jesse Harrington In two parliamentary questions in June 2024, Clare TD Cathal Crowe called for a government task force to locate and recover the alleged crown of Brian Bóruma (Brian Boru), the Irish king mortally wounded at Clontarf in 1014. Crowe suggested that, if this crown existed, it might be found somewhere in the … Read more
By Damien McLellan In the second episode of the recent RTÉ TV documentary Invasion: The Normans (reviewed in HI 32.5, Sept./Oct. 2024), the romantic and anachronistic 1864 illustration by James Doyle (below) was shown to represent Henry II’s arrival in Waterford. Henry is depicted as having presumably stepped up from his ship, which is lying … Read more
By Anna Rose Garvey Cultural traditions evolve over time and may need to adapt in response to a changing world. However, it is always interesting and enjoyable to recognise ourselves today in traditions from years ago. For this edition of IFI Film Eye, we explore a selection of Gael Linn’s Amharc Éireann (A View of … Read more
By Fiona Fitzsimons The first-edition Ordnance Survey maps, 1837–46, were printed at the unprecedented scale of six inches to one mile. The maps provide the finest coverage of any nation this early in history and are a key source for family and local history. Here, however, rather than the maps, I’d like to focus on … Read more