Archived: 21 October 2026
Abstract
In 1415 Irish annals recorded fragmented connected conflicts across lordship Ireland. John Talbot, Lord Furnival, the king’s lieutenant, campaigned through Leix, Oriel and other districts, seizing a castle, killing or taking livestock, and executing Gerald of Geraldine descent. Chroniclers condemned his plundering of poets and alleged disregard for churches and sanctuaries. In Umhall, rivalry within the O’Malley kindred culminated in Aed O’Malley’s defeat and death, enabling Diarmait to assume the lordship. A January night attack at Cloonshee killed Tomaltach O’Birn and devastated a household. Annals noted clerical deaths, burial, capture, ransom, and cultural commemoration, depicting authority as mobile and coercive.
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Archived: 23 October 2026
Abstract
In 1348, pestilence reached Ireland by sea, devastating Dublin and Drogheda from late summer, though its extent elsewhere remains uncertain. John Clyn recorded a fearful pilgrimage by clergy, magnates and ordinary people to St Moling’s water at Taughmoling, seeking spiritual protection amid mass mortality. Meanwhile, Fulk de la Frêne fortified and coerced Ormond tenants around Nenagh, before James Butler received the earldom. Bishop Richard of Ossory gained independence from Dublin’s archbishop. In Connacht, killings, captures and war between kindreds ravaged Moylurg, while learned poets still travelled for patronage. The year combined disease, warfare, lordship, worship and cultural continuity under strain.
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Archived: 26 September 2026
Abstract
In 1048, Ireland’s fragmented politics linked provincial kings, church families and Hiberno-Norse towns through alliance, hostage-taking, raiding and feud. Donnchad mac Briain marched through Mide and Brega, securing hostages from Diarmait mac Máel na mBó and submission from Dublin, though neither proved permanent. Diarmait raided the Déisi and, with Niall mac Eochada, attacked Mide’s churches. Conchobar Ua Máelshechlainn raided Kildare lands and captured Brega’s ruler. Áed Ua Conchobair destroyed Inis Locha Cime, beginning western expansion. Deaths of rulers, churchmen and poet Cenn Fáelad altered local power. Raids exposed cattle-based rural economies, while Dublin’s trade connected Ireland to wider Irish Sea.
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