Early Medieval Ireland, 400-1200

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Longman, 1995 - History - 379 pages
This impressive survey is the first volume in a major new six-volume series, the Longman History of Ireland, under the General Editorship of Steven G. Ellis. It offers the most up-to-date account of the early history of Ireland from the coming of Christianity to the first stages of the Norman settlement. In it, Daibhi O Croinin describes Ireland's emergence from the darkness of prehistory into the brilliant light of her 'Golden Age', as the 'Island of Saints and Scholars', and the subsequent evolution of a society comparable in achievement and sophistication with any in early medieval Europe. He examines the myths, and the reality behind them, that have gathered around Ireland's role in the formation of the 'First Europe', and he reassesses the contribution of Irish monks and scholars to that achievement. Discussions provide the social, political, religious, legal and institutional background - in many respects unique to Ireland, and very different in kind from what was going on elsewhere in Europe at the time - against which Dr O Croinin describes (for the first time in one comprehensive and authoritative volume) Ireland's transformation from a tribal society to a feudal state.

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Contents

Introduction
8
The beginnings of Irish history
14
Kingdoms peoples and politics AD400800
41
Copyright

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