‘Framing’ the Anglo-Norman invasion:Robin Frame on medieval Irish history and why it matters

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 […]

Manx kingship in its Irish Sea setting 1187–1229: King Rognvaldr and the Crovan dynasty

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 […]

Wolves in Ireland—a natural and cultural history

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, […]

Medieval Irish political and economic divisions

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 […]

Cáit ar ghabhadar Gaoidhil? [Where will the Irish go?]

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 […]