Irish Kingship in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries

Approaches to the Study of Power
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-032-69772-7
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 228 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Studies in Early Medieval Britain and Ireland

Irish Kingship in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries examines the power of medieval Irish kings but treats ‘power’ as a complex concept worthy of study in its own right. It starts from the premise that historians of medieval Ireland have interpreted ‘power’ in a narrow way. This book engages with the rich corpus of literature on power produced by political scientists and sociologists, which reveals the sheer complexity, and vicissitudes, of ‘power’ as a concept. Where there is power, there is resistance. Hence, drawing on evidence from medieval Irish chronicles, hagiographies, saga literature, and advice texts, this book explores the largely ignored phenomena of revolt, resistance, and violence in eleventh- and twelfth-century Ireland.

It argues against a panoptic narrative of royal centralisation and suggests that the existence of a multiplicity of kings and non-royal lords has proven to be more of a problem for historians than it was for the Irish kings themselves.

This book will appeal to scholars and students of medieval Ireland, as well as those interested in the history of kingship, power, and resistance.

Zielgruppe

Academic

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mulhaire, Ronan

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Mittelalterliche, neuzeitliche Archäologie (Europa)
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction

1 ‘Power’ and the study of Irish kingship

2 Identifying the kings of medieval Ireland

3 Varieties of non-royal lordship

4 ‘There was a great murmuring against him…’: resistance in medieval Ireland

Conclusion

List of Kings

Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Ronan Mulhaire holds a PhD in medieval history from Trinity College Dublin and has taught in a number of third-level institutions in Ireland. He currently works at Hibernia College, Dublin, Ireland.