Ireland’s Uncrowned Kings: Power, Intrigue, and Rebellion from the Heart of Maynooth
Historic Hibernia
In 1169 Maurice FitzGerald landed in Ireland with the Anglo-Norman invasion. He was a mercenary in the pay of Dermot McMurrough, King of Leinster and descendants would spend the next six hundred years at the centre of Irish power, the closest thing the country ever had to a royal house of its own.
This is the story of the FitzGeralds of Kildare, from those mercenary beginnings to their long dominance of the island: the bitter feud with the Butlers of Ormond, the family’s hand in the Wars of the Roses, the doomed rebellion of “Silken Thomas”, and their narrow survival of a Tudor conquest that swallowed so many of their rivals. At its heart stand Garret Mór, the “Great Earl” and the most powerful man in Ireland, and his son Garret Óg, who inherited both his father’s authority and his enemies.
From a soldier of fortune to the Dukes of Leinster, Ireland’s Uncrowned Kings follows the whole arc of the House of Kildare, and, in telling it, much of the story of medieval and Tudor Ireland itself.
€20.00
Seller Bio
Sold by: Historic HiberniaHistoric Hibernia is an independent publisher of popular Irish history.
Alan Cleary and Katherine Colthurst are working tour guides, both born and raised in Co. Kildare, who have spent years showing visitors around Ireland's castles, graveyards and ruins and telling them what actually happened there. They have given talks throughout the country, and now they write history under the Historic Hibernia label.
Alan's subject is the FitzGeralds of Kildare, and above all the 1534 rebellion of Silken Thomas and the siege of Maynooth Castle that broke it. He is also a maritime historian with a long-standing pull towards the great sea disasters, the Titanic chief among them.
Katherine studied for her master's in history at Maynooth University. Her specialist interest is the history of medicine, notably, what people relied on before there were doctors. This became the foundation for her upcoming book Before the Doctor Came.
Between them they aim to write a history that stands up to scrutiny and still reads like a story worth your evening. So far they have written Ireland's Uncrowned Kings, on the FitzGeralds and Maynooth Castle, and Alan's Thomas Andrews.
Reviews (2)
2 reviews for Ireland’s Uncrowned Kings: Power, Intrigue, and Rebellion from the Heart of Maynooth
Add a review
Related Products
OFF
Where The Faeries Dwell: Shortlisted for the 2023 Carousel Aware Prize
OFF
Longford’s Republican Story 1900-2000
Sold by Seán Ó Súilleabháin
€20.00
Stephen Campbell –
Brilliant book , very intresting learning about the FitzGeralds and how powerful they were ,very intresting if youre and irish history nerd like myself
🤣😊👏
Madeleine –
This book was very educational and a very interesting read , capturing the incredible history of the Fitzgerald family and the town of Maynooth . I would recommend, it’s a spectacular read 😃