Sir,—Being a child of the early twentieth century, I was surprised, andat first annoyed, to find the Autumn issue of History Ireland a vehiclefor the setting out of Roman Catholic opinion of itself in the newcentury, with historical justifications from the past. As a, what usedto be condescendingly described in the Ireland of my youth,‘non-Catholic’, … Read more
Sir,—I wish to commend Enda Staunton for his article, ‘The ForgottenWar: the Catholic Church and Biafra (1967-1970)’, in the Autumn 2000edition of History Ireland. I read the article with great interest. Itbrought back to me bitter memories of the civil war. I am an lgbo (Nigerian). I was six years old when the war began … Read more
Sir,—In the course of his article ‘A Church in Crisis’ (HI Autumn 2000) James S. Donnelly Jr reviewing the situation of the Irish Catholic Church today discusses the impact made on the Irish public by the RTÉ television programme States of Fear (April-May 1999). He says: For their thoroughly researched set of programmes the editors … Read more
Sir,—PatrickMaume highlights an interesting account of the 1886 visit to Ireland byWilliam Morris (‘letters’, HI Summer 2000) in response to my article inthe previous issue (HI Spring 2000). I suspect he is right to be ratherdubious of Stephen Gwynn’s reminiscence which was written fully fortyyears after the episode he so vividly recounts. Gwynn, who seemsto … Read more
Sir,—With regard to Thomas O’Loughlin’s ‘Giraldus Cambrensis’s view ofEurope’ (HI Summer 2000), would the fact that Reggio di Calabria isemphasised in the map have anything to do with the fact that the HolyRoman Emperors resided at that stage mainly in the very south of Italyand in fact later in Sicily which had come to Henry … Read more