Zombies in Medieval Ireland?

You read that right... zombies.  I am uncertain what the fascination is with zombies, but apparently the fascination or fear of them has been around since the early middle ages.  The people of medieval Europe may not have called the people they treated with aversion as "zombies", but the behavior of the early medieval period suggests that they feared people would come back from the dead or spread unwanted diseases after death, at least, according an article I found at Discovery News today entitled, "Did Zombies Roam Medieval Ireland?" (16 Sep 2011)

Farming in the Isles

I found another book that may be of future interest entitled English Farming, Past & Present by Rowland E Prothero (1917).  If my quick perusal is correct, it appears to start sometime just before the 14th century and goes on to describe how farming has changed and morphed over time.

Ireland & the Normans

I found a review (which I uploaded to my Box.net account) published in 1912 of the books Ireland Under the Normans (4 volumes) by Goddard Henry Orpen.  Mr. Orpen's books were published in 1911 and can be found at Internet Archive, a positively awesome source for public domain books.  In any case, the review inspired me to read Mr. Orpen's books, but they will have to go into the list of "Books I Need to Read".  If anyone has read these books and would care to comment, I would appreciate if they are actually worth reading after all. :D

For a glimpse into how and what he writes, Mr. Orpen also wrote "The Effects of Norman Rule in Ireland, 1169-1333", which I have, you guessed it, uploaded to my Box.net account.  Happy reading!

Tudor Constitutional Documents, 1485-1603

I found the Tudor Constitutional Documents, 1485-1603 as I was wandering around the net earlier today and I thought I would post a reminder blurb.

I find the actual laws and treatise of the time period to be fascinating.  I grant that much law verbage is dry and not worth the paper upon which it is written, but every now and then you find a unique and rather interesting bit at random that makes you question long held assumptions.  As I go through this book, I may post pieces that are pertinent to Irish research.