Tadhg
O'Keeffe
Works authored
Despite an ever-expanding literature on Irish castles, the relationships between the castle-building tradition in Ireland and those of contemporary Europe have attracted very little attention among Irish scholars. This books seeks to remedy this by approcahing the corpus of Irish castles as a non-Irish scholar might do. Is there a case for dating the first castles in Ireland to the later tenth century in line with the chronology of castle-building on the Continent? Are castles in Ireland typical of their periods by contemporary standards in England and France in particular? Are any castles in Ireland genuinely innovative or radical by those contemporary standards? What inferences about Ireland's place in medieval Europe can be drawn from the evidence of its castles and their forms?
Despite an ever-expanding literature on Irish castles, the relationships between the castle-building tradition in Ireland and those of contemporary Europe have attracted very little attention among Irish scholars. This books seeks to remedy this by approcahing the corpus of Irish castles as a non-Irish scholar might do. Is there a case for dating the first castles in Ireland to the later tenth century in line with the chronology of castle-building on the Continent? Are castles in Ireland typical of their periods by contemporary standards in England and France in particular? Are any castles in Ireland genuinely innovative or radical by those contemporary standards? What inferences about Ireland's place in medieval Europe can be drawn from the evidence of its castles and their forms?
Works edited
Contributions to edited collections or authored works
Hugh I de Lacy selected Trim (Co. Meath), as the caput of the vast lordship granted to him by Henry II in 1172. He built a castle, founded (or possibly refounded) an Augustinian abbey, and promoted the development of a town. Despite this impressive head-start, Trim soon declined as a place of importance in the political geography of Angevin Ireland. That decline was in large part a consequence of the fate of the de Lacy dynasty itself. This paper offers fresh readings of topographical and structural evidence from the town to gloss its documented history as a place of geo-political promise in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, and to illuminate the early indicators that its promise was destined to remain unfulfilled. It is suggested here that in the first decade of the thirteenth century Walter de Lacy, Hugh II’s older brother, had an ambitious plan for the town and its environs, but that Hugh’s return from exile and the subsequent conflict ensured that they never came to fruition.
Hugh I de Lacy selected Trim (Co. Meath), as the caput of the vast lordship granted to him by Henry II in 1172. He built a castle, founded (or possibly refounded) an Augustinian abbey, and promoted the development of a town. Despite this impressive head-start, Trim soon declined as a place of importance in the political geography of Angevin Ireland. That decline was in large part a consequence of the fate of the de Lacy dynasty itself. This paper offers fresh readings of topographical and structural evidence from the town to gloss its documented history as a place of geo-political promise in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, and to illuminate the early indicators that its promise was destined to remain unfulfilled. It is suggested here that in the first decade of the thirteenth century Walter de Lacy, Hugh II’s older brother, had an ambitious plan for the town and its environs, but that Hugh’s return from exile and the subsequent conflict ensured that they never came to fruition.
