Based on the recovery and analysis of the letters and private papers of the wife, daughters, daughters-in-law, and granddaughters of Richard Boyle (1566-1643), first earl of Cork, this book examines how these women perceived and wrote their lives as individuals and as members of their famous family. The book explores the theme of identity through close readings of the extant texts from a number of perspectives: the figuration of Ireland; gender; the impact of civil war rupture; Protestantism; and legacy-making. This original showcasing of the Boyle women's largely forgotten female-voiced texts further illuminates how these women used the occasion of family writing and record-keeping to develop self-presentation strategies that allowed them to situate their lives at the centre of the transformations that were taking place in early modern Ireland and Britain.
This is a revealing account of the family life and achievements of the Third Earl of Rosse, a hereditary peer and resident landlord at Birr Castle, County Offaly, in nineteenth-century Ireland, before, during and after the devastating famine of the 1840s. He was a remarkable engineer, who built enormous telescopes in the cloudy middle of Ireland. The book gives details, in an attractive non-technical style which requires no previous scientific knowledge, of his engineering initiatives and the astronomical results, but also reveals much more about the man and his contributions – locally in the town and county around Birr, in political and other functions in an Ireland administered by the Protestant Ascendancy, in the development and activities of the Royal Society, of which he was President from 1848–54, and the British Association for the Advancement of Science. The Countess of Rosse, who receives full acknowledgement in the book, was a woman of many talents, among which was her pioneering work in photography, and the book includes reproductions of her artistic exposures, and many other attractive illustrations.
Lady Louisa scoffed when James Hamilton, Lord Abercorn of Ireland, asked for her hand. They feisty, black-haired beauty would have none of it... James Hamilton, heir to the Irish dynasty, yearns for Lady Louisa. The finest beauty in all of England refuses everyone. But family scandal tests Louisa's loyalty-throwing her reluctantly into Hamilton's arms, with consequences she never expected...
Tales of the Elders of Irelandis the first complete translation of the late Middle-IrishAcallam na Sen rach, the largest literary text surviving from twelfth-century Ireland. It contains the earliest and most comprehensive collection of Fenian stories and poetry, intermingling the contemporary Christian world of Saint Patrick with his scribes; clerics; occasional angels and souls rescued from Hell; the earlier pagan world of the ancient, giant Fenians and Irish kings; and the parallel, timeless Otherworld (peopled by ever-young, shape-shifting fairies). This readable, lucid new translation is based on existing manuscript sources and is richly annotated, complete with an Introduction discussing the place of theAcallamin Irish tradition and the impact of the Fenian or Ossianic tradition on English and European literature. About the Series:For over 100 yearsOxford World's Classicshas made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
This study of Valentine Lawless, 2nd Lord Cloncurry (1773-1853) provides a fresh perspective on the life of a late eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century Irishman. During his sixty years in public life, Cloncurry was associated with almost every political or public event that occurred in Ireland. Involved at the highest levels in the United Irishmen, he went on to forsake radicalism and to embrace Irish Protestant liberalism and a view of the Irish people as a nation that was clearly ahead of its time. Throughout the first half of the nineteenth century he had a profound influence on many aspects of Irish life. Lionised during his lifetime, his contribution is often overlooked, usually misunderstood, and now almost totally forgotten. As the most senior United Irishman to be allowed to return to Ireland after serving three years imprisoned without trial in the Tower of London, Cloncurry's story serves as a salutary example of the difficulties and the challenges of someone with a radical past trying to settle in a post-Union Ireland and to deal with the prejudices and suspicions of the administration. This book examines: his struggles to ameliorate the sufferings of his fellow Irishmen throughout the 1820s and 1830s irrespective of denomination; his aspiration to separate church and state and to divert tithes to the relief of the poor; his commitment to non-divisive education; his role as benevolent landlord; and his plans for economic development through canal building and bog drainage. Moreover, this book chronicles his sometimes difficult personal life, his often-turbulent relationships with Daniel O'Connell, Robert Peel, and the Duke of Wellington, his rather unsuccessful career in the House of Lords and-what was often considered his greatest achievement-working for Famine relief during the 1845-8 period. [Subject: Biography, Irish Studies, History, 19th C. Studies, Politics, United Irishmen]
The Geraldines (or FitzGeralds) are the most celebrated of the dynastics established in Ireland at the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion; and the dynasty's most celebrated member during the Middle Ages was Gearóid Mór, the Great Earl of Kildare. This inaugural volume in the Trinity Medieval Ireland Series arises from a symposium held in September 2013 to mark the 500th anniversary of the Great Earl's death in September 1513. The book traces the history of the Great Earl's family from its origins to the sixteenth century. Some of Ireland's finest historians offer fresh appraisals of the origins of the Geraldines (Seán Duffy); the role of Giraldus Cambrensis in shaping the self-image of his own family (Huw Pryce); the significance of the Geraldines as conquerors (Colin Veach), castle-builders (Linzi Simpson) and colonizers (Brendan Smith); the astonishing ramification of the family (Paul MacCotter); the 'rebellious' reputation of the first earl of Desmond (Robin Frame); and the brutal execution in 1468 of his great-grandson, the seventh earl of Desmond (Peter Crooks). The authors also investigate Geraldine engagement with Gaelic culture (Katharine Simms) and the culture of early REnaissance Europe (Aisling Byrne), as well as the familys dealings with the native Irish (Sparky Booker), culminating in the remarkable career of the Great Earl (Steven G. Ellis) and the disastrous Desmond Rebellion (David Edwards). The book considers, too, the reception of the 'myth' of the Geraldines from the sixteenth century onwards, including the romance of 'Silken Thomas' (Ciaran Brady) and the battle for the legacy of teh Geraldines in nineteenth-century Ireland (Ruairí Cullen).