Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

For historians, one of the most basic challenges in terms of organizing principles is posed by periodization: where should I begin and end, and – often more testing – at what junctures should I divide my narrative so that it is presented in sensible and comprehensible modules? Despite its omnipresence in the titles of books, chapters, and essays, the hard-and-fast calendric century is rarely a sound choice of internal structural device for a work of history (hence the allure of “the long century”). Oddly enough, though, eleventh-century Ireland proves an exception in this regard. It is, in fact – and I am conscious that this is a conventional platitude – a century of special interest, one that played host to events and developments that were without precedent in Ireland and that never recurred, and yet a century that has been subjected to far more callous disregard than some of its relatively less “eventful” precursors or successors. One reason for this is that it has – historiographically speaking – fallen between two stools. Historians of early medieval Ireland, seeking to conclude their narratives on a high note, have traditionally done so after recounting the death of the famous high-king Brian Bórama (Boru) at the battle of Clontarf in 1014. On the other hand, historians of later medieval Ireland generally choose to begin proceedings with the English invasion of the 1160s. ... log in or subscribe to read full text