Henry was promoting the Church’s insistence on monogamous marriage. What makes him a right royal hypocrite is the fact that he was at the time estranged from his wife and conducting an affair with the Herefordshire heiress Rosamund Clifford. Continue reading Henry II – a Right Royal Hypocrite
In total, no fewer than 17 of Nest’s male descendants participated in the Norman invasion of Ireland between 1167 and 1169 Continue reading The Welsh Connection: a Feisty Princess
Henry remained in Ireland until Easter 1172. There is no record of how many of the 4500 men that accompanied him remained behind. Certainly he established garrisons in a number of places and he granted the citizens of Bristol the right to inhabit Dublin. Continue reading Henry II’s Irish Expedition
His legitimate daughter, Isabel, through her marriage to William Marshall, is the common ancestor of several subsequent Queens of England. Her husband governed England as regent to the young Henry III. In this role he masterminded the defeat of the French who had occupied a large part of southern England during the final years of King John’s reign. Continue reading Strongbow – the Invader
Men who had been unable to effectively control Wales and the Welsh border country were now given the equally difficult task of pacifying the Irish. Continue reading The Norman Invasion: an Irish Perspective.
a readable combination of genealogy and history, that everyone with an interest in Irish history, County Kerry or County Laois ought to have on his or her book shelf. Continue reading Exodus and Exile: The Seven Septs of Laois in County Kerry.
None [of the real characters in this book] is able fully to satisfy his dreams. Each seeks something more. Ryan argues that this is in the nature of humanity; of all life. Continue reading Dreams that Turn to Dust
The descendent of a man who built his home from the ruins of a Roman Catholic religious house was instrumental in the expansion of another branch of Russian Orthodox Christianity in Ireland. Continue reading The Pale, a Musical Picnic, a Pigsty and the Complex History of Religion in Ireland.
The available biographies of each of her husbands (other than Cosby) indicate she was the fourth daughter. . . a much more plausible scenario than any suggestion that she, or any of Lord Edward’s daughters, was ever married to Francis Cosby. Continue reading Who Really Was Francis Cosby’s Wife?
De Clare took my hand as he spoke and led me to an empty hut that, I supposed, had been especially prepared for us. He stepped forward and took both hands in his, lowering his head to kiss each in turn. Continue reading The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife: A Union Bathed in Blood.
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