{"id":381582,"date":"2025-08-29T03:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T03:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/381582\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T03:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T03:10:10","slug":"a-pivotal-work-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/381582\/","title":{"rendered":"A pivotal work \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Landscapes of Kingship in Early Medieval Ireland, AD 400-1150<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Author:<\/strong> Patrick Gleeson <\/p>\n

ISBN-13:<\/strong> 978-1-80151-165-0<\/p>\n

Publisher:<\/strong> Four Courts Press <\/p>\n

Guideline Price:<\/strong> \u20ac50<\/p>\n

Every so often, a book appears that combines scientific archaeological investigation with textual evidence to form a truly holistic picture of a bygone age, in this instance the early medieval Irish past. <\/p>\n

Patrick Gleeson\u2019s Landscapes of Kingship in Early Medieval Ireland, AD 400-1150 is one such book. Meticulously researched, exceptionally detailed and utterly absorbing, Gleeson examines ways in which Ireland\u2019s early rulers used their environment to maintain power. Although the institution of medieval Irish kingship has been previously studied, invariably this has been done via analysis of extant written primary sources, with less attention paid to the results of archaeological inquiry. Given the ever-expanding evidence thrown up (literally) by excavations regularly carried out across the country, such evidence, at the very least, invites us to re-evaluate the past.<\/p>\n

Gleeson, a senior lecturer in Archaeology at Queen\u2019s University Belfast, reassesses the nature and development of early Irish kingship between the fifth and 12th centuries. His findings challenge a long-held perception of Irish kings as an odd bunch with little actual power and more in common with a distant mythical prehistory than with their medieval European counterparts. Gleeson paints instead a picture of Irish royal houses who were acutely aware of geopolitical events and who actively projected and consolidated their position through control and manipulation of the physical and historical landscape in which they lived.<\/p>\n

This is no small task, considering there were up to 600 kings operating in early medieval Ireland. Granted, many of these individuals governed modest territories and were subordinate to higher-status kings. In this context, therefore, Gleeson chooses two of the largest political confederations (the \u00c9oganachta and the S\u00edl n\u00c1edo Sl\u00e1ine) as case studies for understanding how Irish kingship developed. <\/p>\n

The book first introduces the reader to early Irish kingship with a review of scholarship on the subject. The next chapter discusses royal landscapes; their meaning and how Irish kings used them to create and govern their kingdoms. Then there is a chapter on the role of the assembly (\u00f3enach) for the practice of kingship and how this event changed in meaning over time. <\/p>\n

Four subsequent chapters are dedicated to the \u00c9oganachta, a southern dynasty based primarily at Cashel, and later eclipsed by another Munster group, the D\u00e1l Cais (of Brian Boru fame). Gleeson discusses the origins, rise and decline of the \u00c9oganachta, and Cashel\u2019s progression from fortress to royal capital. Some of Cashel\u2019s kings were clerics, like Cormac mac Cuilenn\u00e1in, compiler of Cormac\u2019s Glossary, a type of encyclopedic dictionary. <\/p>\n

Another two chapters examine the S\u00edl n\u00c1edo Sl\u00e1ine, the kings of Brega, a kingdom roughly comprising the geographical area of counties Meath, Louth and Dublin. The S\u00edl n\u00c1edo Sl\u00e1ine, part of the powerful U\u00ed N\u00e9ill confederation, used the Hill of Tara as their main site for royal activities including inaugurations, assemblies and feasting. While there is much written about Brega, Tara and the U\u00ed N\u00e9ill, Gleeson\u2019s work offers a fresh perspective to that scholarship. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Who Will Remain by Kasim Ali: A sociological message delivered through truly propulsive writingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

There is also a chapter looking at general changes to the institution of early Irish kingship over nearly 800 years. Gleeson makes a fascinating argument for the evolution of a highly stratified society, based on status and rank, that came about in response to the growth of regional royal hegemonies. This, he argues, is reflected in material culture (settlement architecture, ecclesiastic sites, burials) and the formation of a new legal and judicial system (the so-called Brehon law). A short concluding chapter reaffirms the book\u2019s central ideas and puts out a call for scholars to follow suit by researching other aspects of medieval Ireland. <\/p>\n

The book is beautifully laid out. Each chapter is divided into headed subsections and has a concise conclusion. There is a wealth of detailed images that inform and support the writing throughout. High-quality colour photographs, genealogical tables, comprehensive maps (very helpful for locating places mentioned in medieval Irish written sources), graphs, drawings, genealogical diagrams and 3D representations made using ground penetrating technology of sites such as the Rock of Cashel (where Gleeson excavated as a field archaeologist) and the hills of Uisneach and Tara. An extensive bibliography and index bring the book to a close.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Capitalism and its Critics by John Cassidy: An essential book of breathtaking scopeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Landscapes of Early Medieval Kingship is an accessible, in-depth exploration of the ever-changing institution of Irish kingship and of the all-important relationship that existed between those rulers, their people and the landscape. Gleeson concludes this pivotal book with a wish for his work \u201cto make the past of early medieval Ireland somewhat less foreign\u201d. There is certainly plenty here for the archaeologist, historian, student, expert or anyone with a keen interest in early Irish culture, society and history. <\/p>\n

Dr Chris Doyle is a lecturer in medieval history at the University of Galway<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Landscapes of Kingship in Early Medieval Ireland, AD 400-1150 Author: Patrick Gleeson ISBN-13: 978-1-80151-165-0 Publisher: Four Courts Press…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3938],"tags":[3444,77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-381582","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115109863897809743","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}