User:Wasechun tashunka/sandbox/Expugnatio Hibernica
| Expugnatio Hibernica | |
|---|---|
| Conquest of Ireland | |
 Drawing of Raymond FitzGerald, from the National Library of Ireland MS 700 manuscript. | |
| Also known as | Vaticinalis Historia (Prophetic History) |
| Author(s) | Gerald of Wales |
| Dedicated to | John, King of England |
| Language | Latin |
| Date | 12th century |
| State of existence | Extant |
Expugnatio Hibernica (Latin for Conquest of Ireland), also known as Vaticinalis Historia (Latin for Prophetic History),[1] is a 12th-century depiction of Ireland and the Irish, written by the Norman writer Gerald of Wales, soon after the Norman invasion of Ireland. Accompanying the Topographia Hibernica, it was highly influential in the Middle Ages for its negative presentation of the Irish, and its justification of the conquest of Ireland.
Background[edit]
The author was born about 1146 within the aristocratic FitzGerald/de Barri family in the castle of Manorbeer in Wales with the birth name of Gerald de Barri. Gerald made his first visit to Ireland in 1183 and returned in 1185. His first visit, to see members of his family who had played a prominent role in the Angevin invasion of the country in 1169, was not more than a year long. His second visit was undertaken at the command of King Henry II, in the company of the king's youngest son, Prince John, and lasted from 25 April 1185 to Easter 1186.
All of his writings were in Latin and have been translated into English. Based on the evidence of the Topographia, it would appear that Gerald's travels within Ireland were not extensive. He spent most of this first visit in Waterford and Cork. During his second visit, he visited Dublin, Wicklow, Meath, Kildare and, possibly, Athlone and Lough Derg. Whether or not he visited some of the places he mentioned or he simply related tales he heard from others is debatable. He wrote about the island of Inishglora, off the coast of the Mullet Peninsula, Erris, that corpses on that island do not putrefy and that generations of people all in a state of perpetual 'freshness' were to be seen on that island.[2]
Text[edit]
Reception[edit]
Influence[edit]
The Expugnatio, alongside the more popular Topographia, is commonly held to blame for propagating negative stereotypes of the Irish as an uncivilised people in need of moral reformation.[3][4] The work was written in the context of the English monarchy's claim over the island of Ireland, and was to fuel later attempts to impose English customs in Ireland.[5]
Extant manuscripts[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Hudson, Benjamin T. (1996). Prophecy of Berchán : Irish and Scottish high-kings of the early Middle Ages (1. publ. ed.). Westport, Conn. [u.a.]: Greenwood Press. p. 111. ISBN 9780313295676. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ Wright, T. The Historical Works of Giraldus Cambrensis (1913) London Distinction II Chapter VI p.64
- ^ Ralston, Nikki, "There once was a Welsh priest called Gerald", blog.nli.ie, retrieved 30 September 2017
- ^ Beyond the Book of Kells - The stories of eight other medieval manuscripts from the Library of Trinity College Dublin. Trinity College Dublin.
Gerald of Wales was perhaps the principal propagandist of the 12th century English invasion of Ireland and his work was to have a lasting impact on both colonisers and the colonised.
- ^ Hadfield, Andrew (1994). Strangers to that land : British perceptions of Ireland from the Reformation to the famine. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780861403509. Retrieved 30 September 2017.