Celtic Leinster: Towards an Historical Geography of Early Irish Civilization A.D. 500-1600

Description

The objectives I have set myself in this book are limited. I have confined myself to Leinster, in the belief that significant progress can only be made in early Irish historical studies by examining the country kingdom by kingdom. As we shall see, the physical shape of each kingdom was determined by natural features in the landscape, and each region developed in isolation from its neighbour. Since the manuscript materials show an obsession with topographical lore it makes sense to study these on a regional basis. Geographers may be disappointed that I have not devoted more space to the problem of settlement in relation to the lay-out of individual communities. I have avoided this subject partly because I have approached the study as an historian and partly because so much field-work still remains to be done that any conclusions must be by nature speculative. On the other hand, I have tried by means of the maps and commentary in this volume to establish for the first time the overall picture of tribal settlement in south-eastern Ireland and some definite conclusions have emerged from this. Lists of illustrations vi Abbreviations xvi Preface xiii Introduction 1 I. History and Landscape: the Formation of the Leinster Kingdom 7 II. Geography and Tribal Genealogy 13 III. Reconstruction of the Dark Age Landscape 21 IV. Tribes and Dynasties of the Northern Region 41 V. Tribes and Dynasties of the North-Eastern Region 50 VI. Tribes and Dynasties of the Central and Southern Regions 59 VII. Tribes and Dynasties of the North-Western Region 68 VIII. Geography and Inter-tribal Marriage 78 IX. Midland Ecology in a Golden Age 84 X. Lords of the Wilderness 101 Appendix 118 Notes 127 Historical Atlas 139 List of Map Plates in Historical Atlas 140 Indexes 159 Index to Historical Atlas: English-Irish 161 Index to Historical Atlas: Irish-English 172 General Index 183