Witches, Spies And Stockholm Syndrome: Life in Medieval Ireland

by Finbar Dwyer

"The history of the Middle Ages [in Ireland] is so neglected that the only figure of renown is Strongbow, the man who led the Norman Invasion of Ireland in the twelfth century ... There is little written about the lives of majority of men, who held no title or land, and even less about women ... Indeed, so neglected are these people in history that many of the stories and people recounted ... haven’t been heard of in centuries.”In a society born of conquest, beset with famines and plagues, and where the staples of life were everything from spies and corruption to witch trials and warfare, life in medieval Ireland was seldom dull.In Witches, Spies and Stockholm Syndrome, Finbar Dwyer offers a unique portrait of life as it was lived in medieval Ireland. Against the backdrop of what was often a violent and chaotic period of history, Dwyer explores the personal stories of those whose recollections have been preserved, finding in them continual relevance and human interest.Finbar Dwyer is a Dublin-based historian, archaeologist and blogger. He is the founder of the successful irishhistorypodcast.ie, which focuses primarily on medieval Irish history. He organises specialist tours of medieval Dublin and Ireland, while continuing to research and write about our medieval past.

Genres: History, Ireland, Medieval, Nonfiction, Irish Literature, Politics

186 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Max Nemtsov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Очень увлекательные маргиналии к учебнику истории ирландского средневековья. Сюжеты там такие, что романистам и сценаристам больше делать нечего — бери и пиши-снимай. Плюс, конечно, изложение: Финбар Дуайер позиционируется как блогер, среди прочего, и пишет он соответственно — лихо, кратко и емко. Был бы «многотысячником» в ру-сегменте, не иначе. На все происходящее он накладывает матрицу современного взгляда, но не толкует, а поясняет, подстраивает взгляд читателя и точку сборки: например, может сказать, что норманское колониальное общество в XIII веке напоминало режим апартеида. И все приобретает четкость, какую нам, например, школьные учебники истории не давали.
В общем — очень полезное дополнение к тому, чего я не знал.

[Raj · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been listening to the Irish History Podcast for a few months now, and in that time, have clearly decided that I favoured social history over "kings and battles" history, tending to skip episodes that favoured the latter in favour of the former. When I heard that the host of that podcast had written a book that looked at the social history through a number of individual stories, I was intrigued.

The book is composed of twenty two short chapters, each on a different theme around everyday life and how it was lived in medieval Ireland, using case studies from the historical record. As I say, the chapters are pretty short, and in some cases, I actually wished for them to be longer and more comprehensive. But the book is very readable (I can't help narrating it in the author's voice in my head) and the subjects are interesting. While the first few chapters deal with violence and politics, later chapters are more diverse, covering marriage, protest, food, healthcare and more.

I found the chapter on marriage quite depressing. I know that the rich (throughout the world) used women as political pawns, marrying them off to cement various deals, but it would have been nice to have some counterbalances to that. There must have been cases where people did marry for love, but I guess such things weren't interesting enough to record. And it would have been nice to see what happened in the lower classes, where there was less politicking. Did poor women have more say in their marriages than the rich?

I was intrigued by the line that Dywer drew from the fall of the Knights Templar (due to the money woes of the king of France at the time) to the rise of a particularly intolerant kind of Christian theology and to the burning of women as witches. That's not a connection I was aware of before and it's a fascinating one. The book is filled with little nuggets like this, making it a fun thing to dip in and out of.

I'm usually really bad at reading non-fiction, but I raced through this. It's a great overview of the social history of medieval Ireland, something that very often gets missed in favour of the big battles and the various kings and nobles at war. It's not exactly comprehensive, but if you're interested in the subject, it's a good book to start with.

[Kieran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Examines a range of stories from the Anglo-Norman colony in Ireland from the 12th to the 14th centuries. Commonly explored topics like the role of the Church, the Knights Templar, and the Black Death were interesting enough, but it was the chapters looking at lesser known areas, such as Irish monks in medieval China, or the impact of decades of warfare on people’s psychological state, which I found really fascinating.

[Gianluca Tettamanti · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2

[Kevin Burke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plenty has been written about daily life in mediaeval times - Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger's The Year 1000 stands out, while SJ Parris and CJ Sansom are two who have brought the late mediaeval ages to life in detail in historical fiction - but little enough of it relates to Ireland. Dwyer's book is a welcome exception in that regard, focussing on daily life in 13th and 14th century Ireland.

One problem, acknowledged at the start, is that one reason there hasn't been much written is that there unfortunately isn't a huge amount of source material to draw on. Most of the windows opened here relate to the Normans, and the native Irish usually feature either when fighting, or being hanged by, the Normans, who were at this stage far from being "more Irish than the Irish themselves". Surnames such as Freysel, Cachfrens, Suerbeer, Cuanteton and Madoc feature far more often than O'Ryan or O'Byrne, giving the past an unexpected feeling of being a foreign country.

This, of course, means the material is heavily skewed towards the wealthier sections of society, with some bits on the urban poor and almost nothing about the majority peasant class. There is a feeling at times that Dwyer is stretching his anecdotes out as much as possible, and that the seven pages on food in mediaeval Ireland is close to all that's known on the topic. But there's quality there, if not quantity - the poor often lost teeth because they couldn't afford bread without bits of stone in it, while the rich could spend a peasant's annual salary on a single slap-up meal.

A minor criticism is that measures, particularly of money, could be better explained. We have pounds and marks (what's a mark?), a theft of goods worth five shillings 12 pence (is this not six shillings?), annual salaries of 60 pence (is this not five shillings? Or did the £ s d system differ to later centuries?), while crops are sold by the crannock (but it's not clear what a crannock is).

But if Dywer doesn't quite succeed in creating a Technicolor image of his subject, this is definitely a book better put out than held in, and well worth the read.

[Iamreddave · Rating 4 out of 5]

A peoples history of the east of Ireland around 1300. The title isn't great the spies and kidnappings are not nearly as interesting as the executions, famines and murders. The book could also do with an index.

But it is an entertaining and informative read.

[A.K. Frailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative, while highlighting some of the most dramatic events in Irish history, this book offers a clear-eyed view of the horrific struggles the Irish people have faced throughout their long existence. There are clear delinations between the original native Irish and the invaders/colonists that came in later. Still, no one seemed to be spared when it came to famine, war, pestilence, injustice, and cruelty. It strikes me as remarkable that anyone survived to give birth to a notable lineage. The Irish have been tried by fire and, it seems, by just about everything possible to destroy them as a race of people. It says something just as profound that they have had such an outsized influence on the entire world.

[Michaela Gonzales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like others, I'm a fan of the podcast and was excited to pick this up. It is very accessible and I finished it quite quickly, despite the fact that it is so well researched. The aim of the book is to take a look at daily life of everyday people and it does that through little annecdotes and vignettes. Everything is backed by some documentation that I'm sure - if I had the inclination - I could find myself thanks to his notes. Def going into my permanent collection to be reffered back to if/when I take a deeper dive into the broader history of the time.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything I've wanted to know about medieval Ireland and more! This was a fast and enjoyable read. I didn't know Ireland was the first place women were burned for witchcraft, or people played soccer. There is also a John wick type story about a man getting revenge for his dog...This is a must read for anyone interested in history.

[Eoin Tabb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing history recount of medieval Ireland. Told through thematic, individual stories rather than in a chronological sense gives you an insight into the impacts of Gaelic Irish life.

[Kathleen (itpdx) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains a lot of fascinating information about medieval Ireland. Dwyer tries to give a picture of what life was like for the common person. But as he acknowledges at the beginning most of the records were kept by the Norman colonists and by the landed families, merchants and religious orders. This period was marked by famine, plague and almost constant warfare. Dwyer tells the story of the times by relaying the tales of individuals often from records of legal proceedings. This is where Dwyer is at his best.
My guess is that this book started as some of Dwyer's podcasts. Each chapter can stand alone and the development of the through story of the impact of violence is uneven. It is rather disconcerting to have a person or incident that was well described in a previous chapter be introduced as if the reader had never heard of it before.
The book is well foot-noted and there is a good bibliography. I would have liked an index especially because people and incidents repeatedly come up in different chapters.
I recommend this book for those interested in Irish history and medieval European history.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, with fascinating details that really colored the Irish medieval world for me. While the content was good, I felt like there was a lot missing; it's not very in-depth but that makes it perfect for someone just dipping their toes in the historical record. From a technical sense, it could have been better written and more well-organized.

[Nicole Tenzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

There aren’t many books out there on medieval Ireland so this was a good find. I am a big fan of Fin Dwyer’s Irish History podcast and the book is equally well researched and interesting. Some minor editorial errors that should have been caught but oh well.

[Deirdre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting series of essays on aspects of life in Medieval Ireland, more from the Norman side than the Native side, well that's where the documentation is.