Links from another Researcher

I was given a bunch of links by someone else who is doing Irish research, so I'm attempting to go through them. It's likely going to take me a while, but here's the beginning of my foraging. Addendum: many of the following links were not directly given to me, but were links from links. I simply wanted to pull out what I could on Ireland. There are two SCA links at the very bottom of this post that many of these links originated. I only include them, because they have SCA sources for other cultures beyond Irish and they might be helpful in other avenues of research.


One of the links lead me to the Internet Medieval Sourcebook, which I'd visited before, but had forgotten was there. There is a section on the Celtic World, which is likely about as close to Ireland as we're going to get specifically on this site, but who knows, maybe with a little more digging I'll find more. (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1g.html)

There was also a site I had never seen before, The Online Medieval & Classical Library [tho this one has little to nothing to do with Irish research, I just found it an interesting site for later perusal]. (http://omacl.org/)

Directory of Sources for Women's History in Ireland is another site that was given to me, but it's simply entries for books, no real concrete information available directly online. The only entry for medieval resources appears to be in the National Archives of Ireland (Dublin), which I've linked previously. (http://www.nationalarchives.ie/wh/introduction.html#contents)

Another site I'd visited previously and found in the links she gave me was The ORB: On-line Reference Book for Medieval Studies. Just typing 'Ireland' into their search engine produced 99 matches, so this one is likely a good jumping-off place for further research and reading. (http://www.the-orb.net/)

NetSerf, now this one is interesting and I recall having been here before as well, tho it was a long time ago. Using the criteria as previously, I put in 'Ireland' and this time 78 hits came up. Worth looking through again later. (http://www.netserf.org/)

The Ecole Initiative (Early Church History on the World-Wide Web) looks like it might be an interesting site, but it only has an index and not a search function. This could make research a bit more challenging, but who knows what you can find sometimes. (http://www2.evansville.edu/ecoleweb/)

I did find this link rather interesting. It's concerning the birth of Scotland, but according to this site, it's saying Scotland was founded by the Irish (fabled anyway). Whether that's true or not remains to be seen, but adding the link here seemed appropriate. It might help sort things out concerning origins and otherwise later. (http://www.stephen.j.murray.btinternet.co.uk/scotsandpicts.htm)

Here's another site using the Irish begat Scotland tact dealing with the Scots Kings with the second link being Irish Kings. (http://www.magoo.com/hugh/scotskings.html) (http://www.magoo.com/hugh/irishkings.html)

Ireland's History in Maps - Always did like this site. (http://www.rootsweb.com/%7Eirlkik/ihm/index.htm)

The Statutes of Kilkenny - A Statute of the Fortieth Year of King Edward III, enacted in a parliament held in Kilkenny, AD 1367, before Lionel Duke of Clarnce, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (Author: unknown)(http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/~tomshoemaker/celtic/KilkennyStatutes.html)

A brief essay on the leinte of early medieval Ireland by Molly Kathryn McGinn (formerly Ni Dana) - (http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/4715/costume/clothing.html)

100 Most Popular Men's Names in Early Medieval Ireland - (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/irish100/)

Gaelic Kingdoms - Scotland & Ireland (http://www.kessler-web.co.uk/History/KingListsBritain/GaelsIreland.htm)

Brian Boru, the High King of Ireland (940-1014) - (http://www.irishclans.com/articles/famirish/borub.html)

St. Patrick's Day: The History - (http://www.saint-patrick.com/history/)

The Cattle Raid of Cooley - The Cattle-Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúalnge) is the central epic of the Ulster cycle. Queen Medb of Connaught gathers an army in order to gain possession of the most famous bull in Ireland, which is the property of Daire, a chieftain of Ulster. Because the men of Ulster are afflicted by a debilitating curse, the seventeen-year-old Cuchulain must defend Ulster single-handedly. (http://vassun.vassar.edu/~sttaylor/Cooley/)

Irish Medieval Castles and Churches - Many photos. (http://homepage.tinet.ie/~earrings/irish-castles.html)

Celtic Inscribed Stones Project (CISP) on-line database - (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/cisp/database/)


GENERAL SCA LINKS

Stefan's Florilegium - (http://www.florilegium.org/)

Resource URL list for the SCA Researcher by Isabelle de Foix - (http://scholar76.tripod.com/scholastic7.htm)

The Annals of Ulster

The Annals of Ulster (http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100001A/index.html) are, thankfully, translated into English on the CELT site (Corpus of Electronic Texts http://celt.ucc.ie/index.html). The Annals are simply a timeline from the mid-4th century to about the 1500. The CELT site has quite a lot of translated texts and touts itself as 'The Online Resource for Irish history, literature and politics.' I think it is a great site and I can't wait to dive into it a bit more when time permits.

ArchSearch Revisited

Rather than give up completely, I started thinking. That other link was simply to the Projects Page... do a search instead. Well, guess what, searching medieval ireland at http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/search/basic.cfm created 703 hits. If nothing else, it's a good starting point for finding possible archaeological records of artifacts found at those sites. Man, that's a lot of research... I think I'm going to have to figure out a way to keep track of these, because academic search engines aren't designed for the novice :P

Okay, at most I've determined that the Depositor's ID No is the SMR number that is required on the Northern Ireland Sites and Monument Record page, but I'm not getting much in the way of hits on that site. http://www.ehsni.gov.uk/built/mbr/monuments_database/mons.asp Maybe I'm looking on the wrong page, but it is stating the Northern Ireland Sites and Monuments Database. This page is hosted on the DoENI Environment and Heritage Service page. http://www.ehsni.gov.uk/built/built.shtml

You got me. I'll look at it some more later when I have a clue *sigh*

ArchSearch

I decided to take the ArchSearch Projects page apart and determine what was actually relevant to what I'm researching. Most of the United Kingdom entries are actually England, but there where a couple that were Scotland and one that is Wales. Unfortunately, taking the page apart only revealed Scotland and Wales with nothing related to Ireland. I guess that shouldn't be a big surprise, but I was hoping. Figured I might as well past the Scotland and Wales links anyway for other's use.


Scotland

Dunadd: an Early Dalriadic Capital - http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/projArch/dunadd_var_2001/ This site appears to be a neat find for 7th century brooch production. Almost wouldn't mind getting the book concerning this find if my persona were Scots. :) Dunadd: an Early Dalriadic Capital by A. Lane and E. Campell - http://www.gla.ac.uk/archaeology/news/publications/dunaddbook.html

First Farmers Project - http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/projArch/barclay_na_2003/ Six locations were investigated: Ballendrick, Claish Farm, Duncrub, Mountstewart, Nethermuir and Upper Gothens. The site work and general reporting was undertaken largely by Gordon Barclay, with the help of colleagues on some sites.

Early Medieval Monastic Cemetery at Llandough, Glamorgan - http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/specColl/llandough_cadw_2004/

Scalloway: A Broch, Late Iron Age Settlement and Medieval Cemetery - http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/projArch/scalloway_2001/


Wales

Iron Trade in England and Wales 1500 - 1815 - http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/projArch/peterking_phd_2004/

Book of Leinster

Another quick note, I have a printed page dealing with a link to The Colloquy of the Two Sages (Clannada na Gadelica) from the Book of Leinster. It's translated by Whitley Stokes. I have no idea if it's part of the Book of Leinster of which McClintock drew his references or not, but I don't have time this morning to do the research necessary to find out right now. I'll figure it out later.

http://www.clannada.org/theology_colloquy.php

Well, I try to check all the links I put up here and apparently this link has since died. I'll see if I can find it again later or transcribe it to a file and put it on my site for a good link. Kinda screwy when that happens.

Ah, Mary Jones apparently has the one in my notebook... But at least I don't have to type it in! :D

http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/colloquy.html

Web Links

I figured I might as well put here the links I have printed in a notebook. These are for various things, mostly clothing, but also history and the like.

Bog Bursts (http://www.from-ireland.net/history/bogbursts.htm) - I'd never heard of them, but considering the number of individuals found in bogs, after reading these, it didn't seem all that strange. Bogs are fairly prevalent in Ireland and this page makes that fact alone make a lot of sense if these happened fairly commonly.

Peatlands (http://www.peatlandsni.gov.uk/archaeology/bodies_details/bod_de_11.htm) - This pages lists a few of the discoveries of bog bodies over the centuries. It doesn't give a lot of detail about the dating of the bodies, but it can be used as a jumping off point for references.

ArchSearsh - the ADS Online Catalogue (http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/projArch/index.cfm) - This site lists the project archives found in the ADS catalogue. There is a lot of information to sift through, but most of it is UK as opposed to Irish, but it's still a good source.

Medieval Celtic Manuscripts (http://www.digitalmedievalist.com/urls/celtmss.html) -

Clothing of the Ancient Celts (http://web.archive.org/web/20020124190513/www47.pair.com/lindo/Textiles_Page.htm) - This site goes into detail concerning Ireland and Scotland (as to the best of resources available), so this is a good garb site to visit. There is an extensive bibliography to help her documentation.

Echna's Celtic Garb Leine Page (http://www.celticgarb.org/clothing/leine.html) - This site deals more with really early clothing worn by various Celtic peoples.

Costume in County Clare (http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/history/costume.htm) - This site has a decent grasp on the history and pictures, but no real patterns or the like. It refers to a few things by name of which I'm ignorant, but I can research them later.

What the Irish Wore (http://www.reconstructinghistory.com/irish/kilcommon.html [jacket/trews] http://www.reconstructinghistory.com/irish/shinrone.html [Shinrone] http://www.reconstructinghistory.com/irish/moy.html [Moy]) - This site is more for later period garb. It shows a jacket and trews (which were basically what soldiers and guards wore [fighting!]), the Shinrone Gown, which is dated to about the late 16th & early 17 centuries, and the Moy Gown, which is roughly 14th century. I'll have to do more research on this one to see if it's not actually earlier, because a part of this page indicates that some of the techniques used to make this gown were in play in the 15th century. Regardless, this is a decent source for gathered information on Irish dress.

Sherts, Trewes, & Hose: A Survey of Medieval Underwear (http://www.greydragon.org/library/underwear1.html) - Even tho this site isn't strictly Irish in context (that I'm aware of), I wanted to post it here in case I could find Irish links for it. Underwear is a difficult subject of which to find documentation, so I'll have to take this one a step at a time.

O Corrain: Creating the Past (http://www.ucc.ie/chronicon/ocorr.htm) - This one is based on the history of Ireland and how the past dealt with genealogies. (This is a very rough summary, but I'm running out of time this morning)

Taliesin and the bards: poetic ways to prehistory (http://www.evertype.com/misc/taliesinbards.html) - [description to come later]

Tenacity in religion, myth, and folklore: the neolithic Goddess of Old Europe preserved in a non-Indo-European setting (http://www.evertype.com/misc/basque-jies/basque-jies.html) - Yup, you guessed it, religion, but everything is based on beliefs, no matter what your timeframe, so a good frame of reference needs religion or it feels like the information is taken out of context.

Footwear of the Middle Ages: Development of Footwear (http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/shoe/DEV.HTM) - Yup, you guessed it. Shoes!

Historical Shoe Designs: Irish Slipper (pre-10th Century? "Lucas, Type 4") (http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/shoe/SHOES/SHOE56.HTM) -

Historical Shoe Designs: Irish Slipper (pre-10th Century? "Lucas, Type 3") (http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/shoe/SHOES/SHOE55.HTM) -

Historical Shoe Designs: Irish Slipper (700 - 900 "Lucas, Type 2") (http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/shoe/SHOES/SHOE2.HTM) -

Historical Shoe Designs: Irish Slipper (700 - 900 "Lucas, Type 1") (http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/shoe/SHOES/SHOE1.HTM) -

Book of Leinster

Now this appears to be an interesting subject of which I don't have a very good answer. In Old Irish and Highland Dress there is a reference in the Appendix to a Book of Leinster (Tain Bo Cualgne - accents on the a in Tain, the o in Bo and the u and Cualgne). At first, I didn't think much of the Tain Bo Cualgne, but apparently there must be some significance of which I'm currently ignorant.

I ran a search on Google for the Book of Leinster, 1150 AD and I found a redaction (with various readings ?) of the Book of Leinster, 1150 AD, but at the top it says Lebor Gabala Erren. Now, since I can't seem to find the references that McClintock made in his Appendix, this can only lead me to believe that these other Gaelic? names are likely the actual titles and there are, I assume, more than one Book of Leinster, 1150 AD. Could these separate titles be sections of the book? This is the link for the Lebor Gabala Erren for later research, since there are other links on the page.

http://members.aol.com/lochlan2/lebor.htm

Doing a little more digging, it looks like there have been several Book of Leinster that have been confused by scholars and novices. I'm finding a Lebhar Laighneach (or Lebar Na Nuachongbala with accents on the u and middle a). This new site http://www.maryjones.us/jce/leinster.html (*) is saying that there is an even earlier Book of Leinster actually called the Book of Glendalough and an even earlier Book of Leinster that was apparently lost over time.

Lebhar na Nuachongbala (which I'll refer to as Lebhar hereafter) is believed to have been produced at a monestary called Nevin. In present day, there are apparently 6 of these monastaries. The one this book is identified with is Noughaval near the town of Stradbally, Co. Waterford. Lebhar is currently housed in the Trinity College Library. It includes the Book of Invasions (Lebor Gabala Erren [okay, so this is part of the Book of Leinster, not a different book]), the major stories of the Ulster Cycle, including Tain Bo Cuailgne (my book :D), as well as kinglists for the various provinces and petty kingdoms of Ireland, stories of King Cormac mac Airt, dindsenchas, An Banshenchas, Cormac's Glossary, and saints' lives. The book would later serve as a source material for later manuscripts like The Yellow Book of Lecan.

You can view the actual pages from the Lebhar online at the Trinity College Library site, tho it is easiest to access it through Irish Script On Screen (Meamram Paipear Riomhaire) at

http://www.isos.dias.ie/

And I found a translation on the Project Gutenburg site, yay!

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16464

As to the Irish Script On Screen (ISOS), they have a rather large collection of actual book images, but they are difficult to read. Thankfully I found the PG version available online, translated by Joseph Dunn. Hopefully he's a translator of merit, but I'll research that another time. On the ISOS site there are books from Colaiste na Rinne, Mount Melleray Abbey, National Library of Ireland, National University of Ireland (Galway), Royal Irish Academy, Trinity College (Dublin), and University College (Dublin).

There are quite a few books on the above site and it will take much more research time than I currently have available, but I have scanned through a few of them. So far on the ISOS site, I have found the following:

The Book of Magauran (Duanaire Mheig Shamhradhain) - 14th cent. vellum manuscript of a family poem-book located in the National Library of Ireland, MS G 1200. The book is difficult to read online, but there is a notation that a transcript was made of the manuscript in 1870 by Joseph O'Longan. (Many of the other manuscripts on the National Library's site are still unidentified or simply are without descriptions. More research later :P)

Leabhar na hUidhre - 11th to 12th cent. vellum manuscript located in the Royal Irish Academy section, MS 23 E 25. This manuscript has pages that are much easier to read, tho it would be helpful if I could read Gaelic or otherwise.

The Annals of Connacht - 15th to 16th cent. located in the Royal Irish Academy section, MS C iii 1. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annals_of_Connacht) this book covers the years 1224 to 1544. It's apparently a rather extensive telling of the history of Connacht.

The Book of Ballymote (Leabhar Bhaile an Mhota) - 1390/1391 located at the Royal Irish Academy section, MS 23 P 12. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Ballymote)

The Stowe Missal (or Lorrha Missal) - 9th cent. located in the Royal Irish Academy section, MS D ii 3. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stowe_Missal) There is also a bookshrine on the RIA site that looks to be made of some type of silver metal and lots of decorations. It's a box in which the book would have been contained, I'm assuming for protection. Making a box of that nature would be a neat project, but I seriously doubt I could dedicate myself enough to acquire the talent necessary.

[Notes: (*) (http://www.maryjones.us/index.html) This is a very interesting site by Mary Jones and must be researched more later. Always more research to do, have you ever noticed?]

Book of Mulling

Another pic from Wikipedia, but this time of the Book of Mulling.

Book of Armagh

On the Wikipedia site, they showed a single page from the Book of Armagh. There isn't much to the picture and it's in black and white, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. To keep my research fairly completely, I figured I might as well post the pic here so as not to (hopefully) lose it over time.
Maybe I can add to this as time progresses.

Book of Kells

The Book of Kells is said to have been written in the 9th century and contains the 4 gospels as well as many illuminations. The Book of Kells is currently available on DVD for 37.95 US plus s&h. (Maybe next month if I really feel itching to get it) I have found some of the images from the Book of Kells and have posted them here. (like this image to the right and at the bottom of this post) Looking up the Book of Kells, which is currently housed in the Trinity College Library in Dublin, Ireland, I ran across two other books from the same timeframe. They are the Book of Armagh (9th century gospel manuscript) and the Book of Mulling (late 8th century gospel manuscript). Even tho these would not likely have many "current" depictions of documentable garb from that timeframe, they give a good representation of colors available and artistic stylized work. There is plenty of knotwork, illuminations, fonts, etc. (at least in the Book of Kells, haven't researched the other two yet)

I believe it will be beneficial in my research to purchase the DVD of the Book of Kells. If nothing else, it gives a good feel for how things were 'way back when'.

There are entries for each of these on Wikipedia, which I have yet to read thoroughly, but this is at least a good starting point.

The Book of Kells - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_kells
The Book of Armagh - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Armagh
The Book of Mulling - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Mulling

First things first

My main resource for Irish dress is Old Irish and Highland Dress by McClintock, but it appears to be a widely quoted book on the subject. Since there seems to be little known about Irish dress in the medieval period, then we have to go with what we find. Unfortunately, his book was only published in 1943. The only other sources that I'm aware of off the top of my head would be the Book of Kells. I know there are others, but not many. Hopefully I can find more to add to this. I know I have website information printed out at home, so hopefully I can either make a link list for all of these sites, or simply start by copying their information here, so I don't have to worry about the sites going down.

Research, so much fun

I've created this blog to keep track of the research that I'm doing on Irish garb, history and heritage. Hopefully I'll be able to remember to write everything down here so I don't lose it later. I know sometimes I do more research than is necessary, because I end up losing things I did at one point. Screwy way to do research, no?