Book Series Environmental Histories of the North Atlantic World, vol. 1

Landscape and History on the Medieval Irish Frontier

The King’s Cantreds in the Thirteenth Century

Thomas Finan

  • Pages: 215 p.
  • Size:156 x 234 mm
  • Illustrations:11 b/w
  • Language(s):English, Latin
  • Publication Year:2016

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  • ISBN: 978-2-503-54292-8
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  • ISBN: 978-2-503-57055-6
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Examines one of the most important frontier regions of Europe in the thirteenth century by defining the relationship between Gaelic lords, Anglo-Norman lords, and the medieval environmental landscape of the King’s Cantreds, a space that was both the homeland of O’Conor royal authority from the eighth century and a defined holding of the English kings in the early thirteenth century. 

Review(s)

"Finan’s book is a useful addition to scholarship on the history and archaeology of medieval Ireland and of medieval frontier societies generally.” (Dianne Hall, in Parergon, 36/2, 2019, p. 212)

 

Summary

This work offers a new and innovative insight into the history of thirteenth-century Ireland by exploring the interplay between Gaelic lords, Anglo-Norman lords, and the medieval environmental landscape that connected them. Focusing on the king’s cantreds of Roscommon, a space that was both the homeland of the O’Conor royal authority from the eighth century and a defined holding of the English kings from the early thirteenth century, the book explores the frontier landscape as an active player in its own right within Irish history and discusses the way that both Gaels and Anglo-Normans interacted with, and were in turn influenced by, this environment. This unique approach to Irish history enables the author to step away from the traditional view of a dyadic relationship between Gaelic and Anglo-Norman lords and instead demonstrate that not only did both sides alter and change the environment around them according to their perceptions of their enemies and the threat posed by the land, but that the landscape itself was to play a significant role in shaping and influencing the identities and destiny of its inhabitants.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

Chapter One: The Gaelic Resurgence of the Thirteenth Century

Chapter Two: Politics, Landscape, and Climate in the King’s Cantreds

Chapter Three: The Built Environment of the King’s Cantreds

Chapter Four: A Reconsideration of English Strategy

Chapter Five: Gaelic Strategy and the King’s Cantreds

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index