Bibliography
Luke
McInerney
Works authored
McInerney, Luke, Learned families, scholarly networks and sites of native learning in late medieval Thomond, Dublin: Four Courts Press, forthcoming.
abstract:
This study explores the learned Gaelic families (poets, historians and physicians) and the context in which they lived. A wide-ranging survey, it looks at the landholdings and structures of individual learned families that were settled in Thomond during the late medieval period. Topics explored include the ‘production of knowledge’ as a way of legitimizing the social hierarchies and landholdings of their powerful patrons. Different types of cultural power are explored, especially how they were used by the Gaelic elite, who employed the learned class to not only preserve genealogies, dispense law and provide advice, but also to promote their interests in a variety of ways. Other topics include the remarkably cohesive esprit de corps shared by the learned families, and the type of networks these families engaged in to sustain learning. The book directs attention to the range of onomastic, archaeological and literary materials that can help build up a picture about the Gaelic men of learning.
abstract:
This study explores the learned Gaelic families (poets, historians and physicians) and the context in which they lived. A wide-ranging survey, it looks at the landholdings and structures of individual learned families that were settled in Thomond during the late medieval period. Topics explored include the ‘production of knowledge’ as a way of legitimizing the social hierarchies and landholdings of their powerful patrons. Different types of cultural power are explored, especially how they were used by the Gaelic elite, who employed the learned class to not only preserve genealogies, dispense law and provide advice, but also to promote their interests in a variety of ways. Other topics include the remarkably cohesive esprit de corps shared by the learned families, and the type of networks these families engaged in to sustain learning. The book directs attention to the range of onomastic, archaeological and literary materials that can help build up a picture about the Gaelic men of learning.
McInerney, Luke, Clerical and learned lineages of medieval Co. Clare: a survey of the fifteenth-century papal registers, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2014.
abstract:
This book takes as its core argument Robin Flower’s proposition that there was an unbroken link between hereditary learned families and the medieval Irish Church. It develops the proposition by surveying fifteenth-century church appointments in Co. Clare. The study reveals how extensive those connections were and, despite reforms, there was no clear severance between the ecclesiastical world and the custodians of the native monastic church. The old clerical lineages remained material elements in the structures of the medieval Irish Church, alongside members of the learned class and aristocratic families. This survey provides a template for bringing all of this together, marshalling an array of original source materials in Latin, Irish and English. Many of the sources are printed for the first time and will be of interest to the historian, archaeologist and genealogist alike.
abstract:
This book takes as its core argument Robin Flower’s proposition that there was an unbroken link between hereditary learned families and the medieval Irish Church. It develops the proposition by surveying fifteenth-century church appointments in Co. Clare. The study reveals how extensive those connections were and, despite reforms, there was no clear severance between the ecclesiastical world and the custodians of the native monastic church. The old clerical lineages remained material elements in the structures of the medieval Irish Church, alongside members of the learned class and aristocratic families. This survey provides a template for bringing all of this together, marshalling an array of original source materials in Latin, Irish and English. Many of the sources are printed for the first time and will be of interest to the historian, archaeologist and genealogist alike.
Contributions to journals
McInerney, Luke, “Was Caithréim Thoirdhealbhaigh written at Clare Abbey in the mid-fourteenth century?”, The Other Clare 45 (2021): 26–32.
abstract:
In one corner of Ireland the seanchaidhe of a royal clan wrote down the story of long wars against the English from the point of view of the Gael. This is the Caithreim Thoirdhealbhaigh, or ‘Wars of Turlogh’, the story of the struggles of De Clares and O’Briens in Thomond for fifty years from 1275 A.D. onwards, written by an eye-witness, the clan-historian, Seán Mac Craith, between 1345 and 1360.
abstract:
In one corner of Ireland the seanchaidhe of a royal clan wrote down the story of long wars against the English from the point of view of the Gael. This is the Caithreim Thoirdhealbhaigh, or ‘Wars of Turlogh’, the story of the struggles of De Clares and O’Briens in Thomond for fifty years from 1275 A.D. onwards, written by an eye-witness, the clan-historian, Seán Mac Craith, between 1345 and 1360.
McInerney, Luke, “A list of freeholders of Kilfenora diocese in 1601”, Eolas: The Journal of the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies 11 (2018): 60–103.
abstract:
This paper presents a list of freeholders of Kilfenora Diocese in County Clare from 1601. The fortuitous survival of this list shows a snap-shot of Gaelic social hierarchies and landholding in an area almost wholly unaffected by anglicizing changes. The value of the list is its survey of land denominations and proprietorship and its focus on the church lands of the Corcomroe division of the diocese. It is speculated here that the list was compiled by a cleric at the cathedral chapter of Kilfenora and that its purpose was to ascertain church lands and property in order to put the administration of the diocese—including its revenues from the diocesan temporalities—on a more sure footing.
abstract:
This paper presents a list of freeholders of Kilfenora Diocese in County Clare from 1601. The fortuitous survival of this list shows a snap-shot of Gaelic social hierarchies and landholding in an area almost wholly unaffected by anglicizing changes. The value of the list is its survey of land denominations and proprietorship and its focus on the church lands of the Corcomroe division of the diocese. It is speculated here that the list was compiled by a cleric at the cathedral chapter of Kilfenora and that its purpose was to ascertain church lands and property in order to put the administration of the diocese—including its revenues from the diocesan temporalities—on a more sure footing.
McInerney, Luke, “Six deeds from early seventeenth century Thomond”, Eolas: The Journal of the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies 10 (2017): 33–76.
abstract:
Presented here are six deeds that cast light on landholding and legal matters in the earldom of Thomond during the first three decades of the seventeenth century. The documents were transcribed in a form as faithful to the original texts as possible. The deeds are archived in the Inchiquin Collection at the National Library of Ireland and in the Thomond papers at Petworth House in West Sussex. At one point, they all formed part of the collection of legal documents in the hands of the O’Briens of Thomond. People and places mentioned are located within the modern boundaries of Co. Clare. Individuals alluded to, almost without exception, were members of landholding lineages — great and small — that characterized Gaelic society. The early-seventeenth century was a period of great change in the Gaelic lordships as anglicization and colonization proceeded apace across Ireland. anglicization, along with expropriation of lands, irrevocably transformed Gaelic civilization. An important agent of change was English government and legal institutions which began to replace traditional allegiances and the systems of redistributive exchange that underpinned Gaelic society during this period.
abstract:
Presented here are six deeds that cast light on landholding and legal matters in the earldom of Thomond during the first three decades of the seventeenth century. The documents were transcribed in a form as faithful to the original texts as possible. The deeds are archived in the Inchiquin Collection at the National Library of Ireland and in the Thomond papers at Petworth House in West Sussex. At one point, they all formed part of the collection of legal documents in the hands of the O’Briens of Thomond. People and places mentioned are located within the modern boundaries of Co. Clare. Individuals alluded to, almost without exception, were members of landholding lineages — great and small — that characterized Gaelic society. The early-seventeenth century was a period of great change in the Gaelic lordships as anglicization and colonization proceeded apace across Ireland. anglicization, along with expropriation of lands, irrevocably transformed Gaelic civilization. An important agent of change was English government and legal institutions which began to replace traditional allegiances and the systems of redistributive exchange that underpinned Gaelic society during this period.
McInerney, Luke, “The Síol Fhlannchadha of Tradraighe, Co. Clare: brehon lawyers of the Gaelic tradition”, Eolas: The Journal of the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies 9 (2016): 19–54.
abstract:
The Meic Fhlannchadha were an important brehon family of the classical Gaelic tradition. As brehon lawyers, they held a privileged position in Gaelic society. Their learning and practice in matters of native law conferred respect and value to them as learned men and scholars. The Meic Fhlannchadha were distinguished in native law and judgements and they produced generations of “law ollamhs” who rendered professional services to Gaelic and Anglo-Irish lords from the fifteenth century. By the time of the collapse of the Gaelic system and its institutions of law in the seventeenth century, the Meic Fhlannchadha used their social position as a means of negotiating the transition toward Anglicization.
abstract:
The Meic Fhlannchadha were an important brehon family of the classical Gaelic tradition. As brehon lawyers, they held a privileged position in Gaelic society. Their learning and practice in matters of native law conferred respect and value to them as learned men and scholars. The Meic Fhlannchadha were distinguished in native law and judgements and they produced generations of “law ollamhs” who rendered professional services to Gaelic and Anglo-Irish lords from the fifteenth century. By the time of the collapse of the Gaelic system and its institutions of law in the seventeenth century, the Meic Fhlannchadha used their social position as a means of negotiating the transition toward Anglicization.
McInerney, Luke, “A Meic Fhlannchadha fosterage document, c.1580”, North Munster Antiquarian Journal 51 (2011): 61–70.
abstract:
A deed of adoption by the Meic Fhlannchadha (McClancy) brehon family of Tradraighe, Co. Clare, is translated from Latin. The document provides details on the practice of fosterage amongst learned Gaelic families in the late sixteenth century and is reproduced in the appendices to facilitate greater interest in this oft-neglected area of research into Gaelic social organisation.
abstract:
A deed of adoption by the Meic Fhlannchadha (McClancy) brehon family of Tradraighe, Co. Clare, is translated from Latin. The document provides details on the practice of fosterage amongst learned Gaelic families in the late sixteenth century and is reproduced in the appendices to facilitate greater interest in this oft-neglected area of research into Gaelic social organisation.
McInerney, Luke, “The West Clann Chuiléin lordship in 1586: evidence from a forgotten inquisition”, North Munster Antiquarian Journal 48 (2008): 33–62.
abstract:
An unpublished inquisition of the Court of Exchequer is used to shed new light on the inner workings of a sixteenth-century Gaelic lordship prior to the collapse of the Gaelic system. As a contemporary recording of native political organisation it provides valuable evidence on social hierarchies, economic organisation and place-names.
abstract:
An unpublished inquisition of the Court of Exchequer is used to shed new light on the inner workings of a sixteenth-century Gaelic lordship prior to the collapse of the Gaelic system. As a contemporary recording of native political organisation it provides valuable evidence on social hierarchies, economic organisation and place-names.
McInerney, Luke, “Clerics and clansmen: the vicarages and rectories of Tradraighe in the fifteenth century”, North Munster Antiquarian Journal 48 (2008): 1–21.
abstract:
The printed volumes of the documents known as the Papal Registers relating to Ireland for the period 1396-1521 are utilized to study the inner-working of ecclesiastical administration in Killaloe diocese during the fifteenth century. A case study is presented on a selection of parishes in, and adjacent to, the old deanery of Tradraighe with a particular focus on the Mac an Oirchinnigh (McInerney) of Tradraighe. The registers offer a valuable perspective on the role of vassal-septs at the parish level, as well as insight into the machinations of ecclesiastical administration in Gaelic dioceses.
abstract:
The printed volumes of the documents known as the Papal Registers relating to Ireland for the period 1396-1521 are utilized to study the inner-working of ecclesiastical administration in Killaloe diocese during the fifteenth century. A case study is presented on a selection of parishes in, and adjacent to, the old deanery of Tradraighe with a particular focus on the Mac an Oirchinnigh (McInerney) of Tradraighe. The registers offer a valuable perspective on the role of vassal-septs at the parish level, as well as insight into the machinations of ecclesiastical administration in Gaelic dioceses.
