Castles in Ireland: Feudal Power in a Gaelic World

by T.E. McNeill

Overview

The castles of Ireland are an essential part of the study of medieval Europe, but were, until recently, a subject neglected by scholars. A lord's power and prestige were displayed in the majesty and uniqueness of his castle. The remains of several thousand castles enable us to reconstruct life in Ireland during these crucial centuries.
Castles in Ireland tells the story of the nature and development of lordship and power in medieval Ireland. Ireland formed the setting to the interplay of the differing roles of competing lordship: English and Irish; feudal European and Gaelic; royal and baronial. Tom McNeill argues that the design of the castles contest the traditional view of Ireland as a land torn by war and divided culturally between the English and Irish.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415228534
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/03/2000
Edition description:	UK ed.
Pages:	276
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dr Thomas McNeill took his doctorate in archaeology at Queen's University, Belfast, where he is currently Lecturer in Medieval Archaeology. He is the author of The English Heritage Book of Castles and The Archaeology of Ulster (with J. P. Mallory).

Table of Contents

Introduction PART I: EARLY CASTLES: TO c. 1225 1 Before 1166 2 Early castles of stone 3 Early castles of earth and timber 4 Castles and the establishing of English lordships in Ireland PART II: FROM THE EARLY THIRTEENTH TO THE MID-FOURTEENTH CENTURY 5 The central period of English lordship 6 Castles in the English fashion 7 Castles in a divergent tradition 8 Lesser stone castles 9 Castles of the Irish 10 Summary PART III: CASTLES OF THE LATER MIDDLE AGES 11 The fourteenth century 12 Enclosure castles of the later middle ages 13 Tower-houses: dates and distribution 14 Tower-houses: structure and use 15 The later middle ages and the end of castles in Ireland, Epilogue

Editorial Reviews

'This perceptive and often witty book is a challenge to the new generation of Ireland's medieval archaeologists and historians, for the answers to the many problems Tom McNeill poses lie still in the ground, or in the standing fabric of Ireland's 3,000 or so castles, awaiting the spade or the enquiring eye.' - Times Literary Supplement

'A meticulously researched and scholarly combination of archaeological investigation and interpretation of the wider socio-political context of the construction of castles and the purposes to which they were put.' - Republican News

'Castles in Ireland is the most careful and scholarly book to be written on castles for a generation. As such, it is a major step forward for castle studies.' - Antiquity

'Informed readers will be stimulated by this book and the less knowledgeable will find much to interest and surprise them. A most commendable and comprehensive study.' - Transactions of the Ancient Monument Society

'Stimulating and readable. It sets out the particular nature of Irish castelology with clarity, and, in the process, explains the nature of medieval Irish Power bases and networks the book is handsomely produced. It will be the standard work for many years to come.' - Archaeological Journal

From the Publisher