Medieval Ireland: A Land Of Wonder And Mystery

In the Middle Ages, Ireland was seen as a strange and wild place full of wonder and mystery. This is in part due to the popularity of a twelfth century book by Gerald of Wales called the Topographia Hibernica (Topography of Ireland). In this video, we take a look at what the Topographia says about Ireland and its wonders and why it became so popular and influential.
Many of the images used in this video, including the thumbnail, come from an illustrated copy of the Topographia Hibernica included in the British library manuscript Royal MS 13 B VIII. It's fully digitised online so check it out!
www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer....
Recommendations for further reading:
The Topographia itself:
-Giraldi Cambrensis Opera, vol 5, Topographia Hibernica, Expugnatio Hibernica, ed. J.F. Dimock, 1867 [This is the Latin critical edition. You can find it here: archive.org/details/giraldica...]
-J.M. Boivin translation, included in L'Irlande au Moyen Âge: Giraud de Barri et la Topographia Hibernica, 1993 [The best modern translation. If you can read French, I recommend it]
-John J. O'Meara translation, The History and Topography of Ireland, 1983 [A good translation, but based on the first version of the Topographia, so doesn't include half of the content of the later versions]
-Thomas Forester translation, included in The Historical Works of Giraldus Cambrensis [...], 1905 [This translation is from the 1860s and came out before the critical edition was made, instead being based on later, corrupted editions of the Topographia. It's also old which means the translation doesn't necessarily always reflect our current knowledge of history or modern understanding of vocabulary. That being said, it's an English translation of the whole Topographia and it can be accessed online for free: archive.org/details/historica...]
Recommended secondary reading:
-J.M. Boivin, L'Irlande au Moyen Âge: Giraud de Barri et la Topographia Hibernica, 1993.
-Keagan Brewer, "Talking Wolves, Golden Fish, and Lion Sex: The Alterations to Gerald of Wales's 'Topographia Hibernica' as Evidence of Audience Disbelief?" in Parergon v37, n1 (2020): 27-53.
-Amelia Sargent, "Gerald of Wales's Topographia Hibernica: Dates, Versions, Readers," in Viator v43, n1 (2012): 241-262.
-Lindsey Panxhi, "Rewriting the Werewolf and Rehabilitating the Irish in the Topographia Hibernica of Gerald of Wales," in Viator v46, n3 (2015): 21-40.
#ireland #academic #history #medieval #middleages #educational #werewolf #poison #wonder #manuscript #irish #latin #england #wales

[@stephanieroberts4837]

Which Plutarch are you referring to at 01.02? Isn't there one thousand years between when Plutarch and Gerald of Wales lived?

[@studiumhistoriae]

That's my bad, I meant to say Petrarch, not Plutarch!

[@stephanieroberts4837]

@@studiumhistoriae Thanks for responding! I really love your videos

[@studiumhistoriae]

@@stephanieroberts4837 I'm glad to hear that!

[@puk4763]

Greetings from Dublin! Good content! Since we have become a nation of happy consumers, few people are interested in tradition/the past beyond cliche. We are all Young Americans now! Thanks... Btw the magic is still very much here if you have sufficient appetite to look for it!

[@studiumhistoriae]

I look forward to coming to see it someday

[@CambrianChronicles]

Gerald of Wales is such a fascinating guy, and his snapshot into medieval Wales is one of my favourite primary sources of the time (in fact, I have a copy of his 'Journey Through Wales' on my desk right now). It's a shame he considered the people of the time to be a bit barbaric, I'm assuming his opinions of the Irish were even worse if he didn't think they conformed to Christianity that well!

[@studiumhistoriae]

Yep that's about right. He loves Ireland, but he has a huge disdain for the people. By the way I'm a fan of your content, it means a lot that you watched this video!

[@CambrianChronicles]

@@studiumhistoriae thanks man that means a lot, love your content too can’t wait to see what else you put out!

[@paperflowers-ks6vv]

A 'bit barbaric'? He made vile accusations against the Welsh. The accusations he made against the Irish, such as them being 'lazy' and 'uncivilised' were used to justify the Norman invasion of Ireland, and these stereotypes stuck around into modern times.
Gerald also advocated the appropriated the warped Briton/ Welsh history to justify the Norman presence in Britain.
He was also vile about his own grandmother, Princess Nest (blamed her for being 'promiscuous)'- when she had in fact been kidnapped as a child by the Normans and was 'sex trafficked' in order to 'breed' Camrbo-Norman kings.
I see Gerald of Wales as just another evil Norman, and it's a shame that his name has been attached to Wales.

[@garyhenderson9303]

Great content presented in an easy to follow style. This channel is a gem and great platform for education within TH-cam.

[@beatricetreadwell5785]

Very interesting content! Well presented and enjoyable! I look forward to more of your work!😃👍

[@studiumhistoriae]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@oldcrow4301]

Well researched and presented. Thank you.

[@nicholahenry539]

Thank you for sharing when he asked for help from Henry the second that is when they had the High Kings and they were always fighting each other

[@MsUltraKawaii]

Another grreat video, thank you!

[@civilpanda9422]

Fascinating. Well researched. You shared info I had not previously heard. Well done.

[@mercianthane2503]

Ah, Ireland. I wish to move there and live there someday. Will it ever happen? Probably not. Need money, and not all dreams come true.
However, Ireland is still a land of wonder for me, that it even inspired me to write a fantasy story with the same beauty and mystery that exists in that country.

[@ryangarrett725]

Thank you for the video i am a direct descendant for Gerald of windsor ive been trying to learn more about my family tree i really apricate it.

[@studiumhistoriae]

Thanks for watching, I'm glad you liked it!

[@authormichellefranklin]

Gotta love Gerry. His Topographia Hibernica is such a trove. If you enjoy his writings, you might enjoy the old Irish Immrama, the voyage stories, particularly the story of Bran.

[@studiumhistoriae]

Absolutely! I have the voyages of Saint Brendan on my list of topics I'd like to make videos on in the future

[@authormichellefranklin]

@@studiumhistoriae Brendan is based on Bran. There's some great nonsense in there 😃

[@Kieran_McNally]

Subscribed!

[@studiumhistoriae]

Thank you so much!

[@user-hg1ky3cj2s]

Thanks. Nice video.
I subscribed.
Lynn in Naples FL 😎

[@Jimmylad.]

Great video I’m curious why Rome felt Ireland was slow to conform to Catholicism

[@thomasdavies2555]

Concubines

[@studiumhistoriae]

Irish clergy often had wives, they had a separate liturgy, and basically they didn't follow the Gregorian reforms as readily. That being said, they had done some things like reform the ecclesiastical structure of the church.

[@Jimmylad.]

@@studiumhistoriae interesting do you think maybe that this was a type of infused Celtic Christianity different from the more orthodox Rome?

[@studiumhistoriae]

@@Jimmylad. That's certainly what Roman reformers complained about. Gerald's mention of the sprinkling of holy water and cow's milk on the spring being superstitious reflects the view that Christianity in Ireland was full of pagan-esque superstition. Celtic tradition did play a big part in the "flavour" of Christianity in Ireland at a time when Rome was becoming more central to the Catholic church and regional diversity was being replaced with Roman normativity.

[@gallowglass2630]

There was an english pope at the time do you need to know more

[@KilMichael]

Aristotle called it the Sacred Isle and the ancient ones …

[@vestty5802]

Wasn’t Dublin the biggest and most profitable port in Western Europe during the time ?

[@studiumhistoriae]

It was certainly profitable, and it would have been the part of Ireland outsiders were most familiar with. But outside the Norse-Gael port cities on the coast, much of Ireland was still unfamiliar to many

[@Dishfire101]

Today's Ireland did not exist from the 1st century to the 10th century, it was called Scotia = Land of the Scots (Scotti) there were many tribes in Scotia but not a unified Kingdom, it was called Scotia by the Greeks and Romans later it was called Hibernia, and later on in 1922 it was called the Irish Republic.

[@AnnetteMurphyger]

No snakes though

[@gallowglass2630]

Irish church law didn't allow polygamy .Polygamy was allowed in the secular brehon laws but not in church law

[@studiumhistoriae]

You're right that it was the brehon laws which held polygamy to be legal, though the church in Ireland accepted these laws. Perhaps it would have been better to say that the Irish church did not oppose Irish traditions of polygamy, which was a problem for the Roman Catholic church.

[@AnnetteMurphyger]

Sounds like Greek Mythology

[@AnnetteMurphyger]

Your Irish Language pronounciation isn't that bad

[@cdunne1620]

.. so basically Gerald was a BS merchant fiction writer

[@paperflowers-ks6vv]

Yes. He was basically a mouthpiece for the Normans, who created derogatory stereotypes of the Irish and Welsh in order to justify the invasions.