Finding a place to start any book is difficult. It’s like looking for that one thread to unravel a knot. Luckily, when it comes to the Black Death, there is an obvious thread for me to begin with – a man called John Clyn, who grew up only a few kilometres from my hometown, Castlecomer.… Read more »
Kilkenny, Castlecomer, John Clyn, Plague, Ralph D'Ufford, Threecastles, Clinstown, Franciscans, St Francis's Abbey, Le Poer, The Black Death, The great Mortality
In the summer of 1348 the medieval world was changed forever by a crisis of apocalyptic proportions. Never before or since has humanity experienced anything like the events that unfolded as the Black Death swept through Northern Europe. Within a year, between 30 and 50% of the population had died. As the plague advanced across… Read more »
Kilkenny, John Clyn, Angolo Di Tura, Richard FitzRalph, Black Death, Great Mortality, Jean de Venette, Necromancer of Toledo, Heinrich of Herford, Liber Primus, Siena, Franciscan, Plague, Flagellants
Murder was disturbingly common in medieval Ireland with a homicide rate perhaps fifty times higher than it is today. These murders naturally preoccupied the court system of the late middle ages. Here are five of the more unusual preserved in records from the early 14th century documents. 1. Sheer bad luck In medieval Ireland crops… Read more »
Riccardi of Lucca, medieval murder., pirates, Wexford, Ardfinan
Of the hundreds of ruinous castles across Ireland, Ballymoon is among the most unusual and mysterious. Situated in the upper Barrow Valley outside Bagnelstown, Ballymoon was never completed but abandoned at midpoint in construction. What happened is unknown but given it was started during a chaotic period in Irish history the scraps of evidence we… Read more »
Strongbow is probably the most famous figure from medieval Irish history, however he wasn’t born in Ireland. As the Lord of Strigoil, he spent most of his life in Wales with Chepstow Castle (then known as Strigoil) as his seat of power.A few weeks ago I visited the castle to see where the Norman Invasion… Read more »
I spent several hours in the national archives today waiting for a lost file to be found. The tantilisingly named file that I felt was worth the wait, proved to be just that – tantilisingly named, it’s contents were remarkably boring. However with time to kill waiting for the file to be found I whiled… Read more »
De Bree, Loretta, Elena, Dionisia, Mathilda, de Morton, Morton, de Nottingham, Robert of Nottingham, de Bristol, John le Grauntsete
Movies about Ireland and Irish history have been a cinema favourite for decades. Everyone from John Ford to more recently Ken Loach have turned their hand to portraying Ireland on the big screen. Lesser known however is the German Max Kimmich. Klimmich was a Nazi era German director and as a brother in law of… Read more »
Nazi, Hitler, Kimmich, Goebbels, My Life for Ireland, World War II
Over the last few weeks Ireland has been rocked by yet another child abuse scandal. Newspaper headlines around the world have reported in disbelief details of how society in Ireland treated unmarried mothers and their children in so called “Mother and Child homes”. Child mortality rates reached over 50% in some of these institutions. While… Read more »
Tuam, Child abuse, Carrigan report, Catholic church, Mother and Child, Boystown, Industrial school, Eoin O'Duffy, Christian Brothers, Fr Flanagan
“It’s apparently haunted” he said to me. Looking around the gloomy, shadowy entrance hall of Woodlawn house its easy to see why it has a reputation for being haunted. On entering we (I was with a mate) were struck by the eerie mix of dilapidation and ruin side by side with reminders of betters times… Read more »
Woodlawn House, Galway, Haunted, Trench, Ashtown, Baron Trench
While football has a long history, it has changed a lot over the centuries. In the medieval period as supporters waited for flares to be invented they had a more hands on approach to the sport, resulting in a slightly less than a beautiful game. In what may be the earliest reference to a game… Read more »
Medieval, Dublin, Wicklow, soccer, Newcastle Lyons, World cup
When I visited Cordes-sur-Ciel last January I was blown away by this incredible medieval French town. On first appearance it seems nothing has changed in the last seven centuries. Despite the fact people continue to live within its walls, Cordes-sur-Ciel is probably the closest thing you will get to a medieval town in the 21st century.… Read more »
I wrote this piece for journal.ie originally about two years ago, but given the current revelations about ‘mother and child’ homes I think it has some relevance. As Ireland tries to deal with this scandal, an important aspect of this will be acknowledging many were aware the abuse was on-going and would not or could… Read more »
Tuam, Child abuse, Carrigan report, Catholic church, Mother and Child
This is a picture of children in the Bons Secours home in Glenamaddy shortly before the institution moved to the now infamous location in Tuam. In Tuam nearly 800 children died some of whom were buried in a septic tank on the grounds of the home. You can read an excellent summary of the story… Read more »
[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_blurb admin_label=”Blurb” url_new_window=”off” use_icon=”off” icon_color=”#ff6600″ use_circle=”off” circle_color=”#ff6600″ use_circle_border=”off” circle_border_color=”#ff6600″ icon_placement=”top” animation=”top” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_icon_font_size=”off” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” title=”Meet your medieval ancestors “] Much has changed in Dublin over the past 700 years. Long gone are the dark narrow, winding medieval lanes and alleys. The wide modern city streets are clean while the… Read more »
In the last two weeks the history of 1972 has been brought back centre stage when the prominent Irish politician and leader of Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams was arrested in relation to the murder of Jean McConville. This has had huge implications for history, as much of the case against Adams appears to have originated… Read more »
IRA, Boston College, Brendan Hughes, Ed Moloney, I.R.A., Dolors Price, Ivor Bell, Jean McConville, Operation Motorman, Bloody Sunday, Bloody Friday, Belfast, Anthony McIntyre, Boston College Belfast Project
1972 was one of the darkest yet defining years in modern Irish history. Nearly five hundred people were killed in the conflict known as “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland. Events of that year like Bloody Sunday, Bloody Friday and Operation Motorman would shape Ireland for decades to come. In many ways one death has been… Read more »
IRA, Boston College, Brendan Hughes, PSNI, I.R.A., Gerry Adams, Dolors Price, Ivor Bell, Jean McConville, Operation Motorman, Bloody Sunday, Bloody Friday, Belfast, Northern Ireland
An Empire in Crisis (the War of Independence IX)
The Fermoy Army Riots (the War of Independence VIII)
The Knocklong Ambush (The War of Independence VII)