The Twilight Lords

by Richard J. Berleth

s/t: The fierce, doomed struggle of the last great feudal lords of Ireland against the England of Elizabeth I.
Maps & Genealogies
Acknowledgments
Preface
The English-Whitehall, 1579
The Irish-Munster, 1565
Lord of the South-Askeaton, 1573
Resolution-Youghal, 1579
Pursuit-Kilmore, 1580
Siege-Smerwick, 1580
Ruin-Slieve Mish, 1583
The Broken Land-Kilcolman, 1588
Lord of the North-Dungannon, 1594
The Passing-Whitehall, 1599
Genealogies
Select Chapter Bibliographies
Index

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ireland, European History, 16th Century, Tudor Period

316 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

Don't be put off by the alternative subtitle (the first Irish Holocaust) that some editions appear to suffer from, this is actually an unsensational and serious history of the Elizabethan wars in Ireland suitable for the general reader and written in an easy engaging style and unlike the promise implicit in that alternative subtitle fairly balanced, unless of course there have been later editions with radically revised texts.

The narrative runs from the fighting between the Earl of Ormond and the English in the south of Ireland, to the long war against the O'Neils in the north of Ireland and the abortive Spanish landings in the west with a detour chapter on Edmund Spenser who was one of the English colonists in the south. The later books of The Faerie Queene and "Colin Clouts Come Home Againe" were written while Spenser was active in the colonisation of Munster, and it is in the chapter of Spenser that I got a sense of how the intensity of the fighting was due to the differences in how the Irish had been using the land in a largely pastoral economy and the attempts of the English to impose patterns of land usage that they were familiar with from Devon and the rest of the West country (the source apparently of many of the settlers). My lasting impression from this book is indeed of how love was the basis of vicious hostilities, love of hedgerows and wheat fields versus love of grazing cattle and whiskey drunk from egg shells. Eventually as Ormond and his supporters are beaten they drift off into legend - the Twilight Lords of the title.

The chapters on the O'Neils are fascinating, particularly compared with the similar though much earlier attempts of the Princes of Gwynedd to transform their little polity in North Wales into something capable of competing against the English Crown. In this case the O'Neils sought to strengthen their lordship by transforming traditional law and by cosying up to Lord Burghley well beloved advisor and de facto chief minister to Queen Elizabeth I whose support for the O'Neils plans to build a brand new Tudor style great house with big Tudor roof, chimneys, and windows with acres of lead flashings allowed them to stock pile enough lead to keep their forces well supplied with bullets for a few years.

The following generation would see Ulster pacified though as one notes, not conclusively through mass plantation of Protestant settlers from Scotland - fresh from that country's late religious wars.

[Walter Maier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely a book I need to read again.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2010075.html[return][return]I had got this 1977 account of the Elizabethan wars in Ireland in the expectation that it might be a somewhat traditionalist approach to the period, to counterbalance the more revisionist accounts I had been reading over the last few years. In fact it's more of a hobbyist's labour of love, concentrating very much on the sequence of events in Munster and trying boldly if not completely successfully to tie England's Irish policy to Queen Elizabeth's state of mind. I actually found Berleth's exposition of the detail of events pretty good, and enjoyed his chapter on literature, especially The Faerie Queene (which I have been reading at not quite a canto per day since July). But the internal chronology is a bit weird, jumping back and forth through decades (thus weakening the basic story which is of cycles of devastation and resettlement), and the entire Ulster war and Flight of the Earls is tacked on very hastily in a final chapter. He also combines a juicy eye for the personal detail with less convincing psychoanalysis of some of the key players, though I suppose that's a game we can all play. The maps are disappointing as well.

[D Hendrix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truly the only shortfall of this book is the limited accounting of the Nine Years war. The author goes into great detail on the Desmond wars. By contrast, the Nine Years War is almost an afterthought. The Nine Years War changed the face of Ireland for the next four hundred years, to leave out so much seemed a bit questionable.

[DoctorM · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine account of the late-Elizabethan wars in Ireland--- not just the wars of the Irish lords against English rule, but the overlap of those wars with the wider wars of England and Spain.

[David Andreas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I could give this book a 3.5 - there’s a lot it does well, and some things that could’ve been improved greatly.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the initial chronology is odd - starting with a review of Elizabeth’s court and politics before diving into the Desmond Wars. I would have preferred the various court figures and their perspectives to be introduced in relation to the Desmond Wars as they come up, rather than in a standalone chapter. The structure may lead a reader to forget the politician’s goals when they are brought up later.

Additionally, Hugh O’Neill’s rebellion (the Nine Years War) is not given enough attention, especially since the conflict was intrinsically linked to the Desmonds. For this I recommend Sean O’Faolain’s incredible biography of O’Neill. It works well as a companion piece - Berleth covers the Desmond Wars in length, and the biography of O’Neill covers the end of an era for Ireland.

Even with it’s flaws, Berleth’s book is interesting and worth a read.

[Jorja Grael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative but hard to read. You have to be really interested in the Irish rebellions to get through it.

[James Griggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

The text wasa bit dry, but a very detailed history of Elizabethean Ireland and the politics that led to three rebellions leaving Ireland in ruins for at least a century.

[Matt Ryan]

Very good. I agree with the general criticism, that the author skims over the northern lords' rebellion almost as if he is in a hurry to finish the book. But the story of the Earl of Tyrone and the Baron of Tryconnell can be found in other places. The detail spent on the first and second Desmond rebellion is amazing. I would recommend this book.

[Shannon Haire · Rating 1 out of 5]

meh

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a light read. I read it for my History of Ireland class. There is a lo t of content, and a lot of names that become very confusing. Not something I would recommend.