Beatha Aodha Ruaidh Uí Dhomhnaill: The Life of Aodh Ruadh O Domhnaill. Part Ii, Introduction, Glossary, Etc.

Cur síos

Paul Walsh, Colm Ó Lochlainn (foilsithe den chéad uair / first published 1957)

VIII + 468 pp. ISBN 1 870 16645 0

This work, written about 1616 by Lughaidh Ó Cléirigh, narrates the events of Aodh Ruadh’s life, from his capture and imprisonment in Dublin Castle in 1587 to his death in Spain in 1602. It focuses particularly on the period of the ‘Nine Years War’, including the battle of Kinsale (1601), seeing in the latter the loss of ‘the authority and sovereignty of the Gaels of Ireland to the end of time.’ As such, it is one of the few native sources to have covered in detail the events that culminated in the battle of Kinsale. Combining the traditional modes of Gaelic narrative with the novel features of Renaissance biography, the real aim of this literary and political document, according to Mícheál Mac Craith, was to further the martial career of Aodh Ruadh’s nephew. Its editor, Paul Walsh, was one of the most productive Irish scholars of the early twentieth century.