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Title |
Ulster and the Isles in the Fifteenth Century:
The Lordship of Clan Domhnaill of Antrim
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Author |
Simon Kingston |
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Details |
Hardcover, Four Courts Press, 208pp |
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ISBN |
1851827293
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The book is a comparative study of Gaelic lordships
on the margins of the emerging nation states of the later middle
ages. Kingston examines the fluctuating fortunes of the Clann
Domhnaill family and their neighbours in the fifteenth century. He
focuses on the Clann Eoin Mh�ir branch of the family that
established itself in Antrim while maintaining its role in the
affairs of the Western Isles.
By contrast to their famous and well-documented sixteenth-century
successors, the earls of Antrim, the leaders of Clann Eoin Mh�ir in
the 1400s often seem shrouded in obscurity. However, using sources
from both sides of the North Irish Sea, it is possible to sketch an
outline of the evolution of Clann Eoin Mh�ir's lordship.
The themes of the book are introduced in an examination of aspects
of the shared heritage of Ireland and western Scotland in the
centuries leading up to the period of the study. In the first two
chapters, a narrative framework of events in both Ulster and the
Isles is developed using a combination of sources.
In chapter 3, the culture of Gaelic lordship inherited by the U�
Neill and the greater Clann Domhnaill is discussed and a vocabulary
of lordship, adapted from earlier law tracts for late medieval
needs, suggested. In chapter 4, the means by which this lordship was
exercised are discussed and the institution of the council posited.
Chapter 5 considers the prosecution of warfare in the region and its
impact on lordship (and landscape); and chapter 6 provides a broader
set of comparisons from the rest of these islands and Europe.
Simon Kingston is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and Oriel
College, Oxford. He was Irish Government Senior Scholar at Oxford
University in 1997/98.
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