Fascinating talk on the de Burgo dynasty in Connacht
Dr Catherine Swift will deliver a fascinating lecture on the de Burgo dynasty.
Mayo Historical and Archaeological Society will host a talk this evening, Tuesday, December 5th, by Dr Catherine Swift.
Dr Swift's lecture is entitled: 'A house with more golden jewels has never been built -Early Burke dynasties of Munster and Mayo.'
The talk will be at the ATU Campus, Castlebar, commencing at 7.30pm.
Dr Swift obtained a First Class Honours BA in History and Archaeology in UCD before receiving scholarships to Durham and Oxford where she completed her D. Phil on the early Mayo bishop Tírechán of Killala and the seventh-century kingdoms of Connacht. She currently teaches in medieval studies in Mary Immaculate College, Limerick and her research concentrates on medieval Ireland and its interactions with the wider world.
She has published widely on topics ranging from Ogham stones to Viking fleets and from St Patrick through to Brian Boru and William de Burgo and her paper this evening is on the origins and nature of the early de Burgo dynasty and their settlement in Mayo.
The de Burgos or Burkes arrived in Ireland in the first tranche of settlers to be granted lands by King John in 1185. A tendency to concentrate on military conquest has ignored the fact that many in this early group married royal Irish women and were given lands once controlled by their fathers-in- law. Within a generation, the half-Irish, half Norman, Richard de Burgo was responsible for the foundation of Galway City and the settlement of south Connacht and was being lauded by Irish bards.
Dr Swift looks at the dynasty of the de Burgos up to the era of the founder of the Mayo dynasty, Edmond Albanach, and considers the mixed cultural world of the western frontier in which they operated.
All welcome.
