De Courcy: Anglo-Normans in Ireland, England and France in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries, by Steve Flanders
2011; Oxford University Press; Volume: CXXVI; Issue: 520 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/ehr/cer088
ISSN1477-4534
Autores Tópico(s)Historical Studies of British Isles
ResumoIt has long been recognised that men of Norman descent, by becoming lords not only in England, but also in Wales, Scotland and Ireland, played an important role in shaping relationships between the various territories of Britain and Ireland. Since 1966 there have been valuable studies of some of the families involved in this aristocratic diaspora: W.E. Wightman on the Lacys, Keith Stringer on the de Vescis, Mark Hagger on the de Verduns. But, while they wrote for a small readership of fellow-scholars, and with the appropriate array of footnotes, Steve Flanders has bravely decided to write for the general reader. Hence his book is liberally provided with explanatory phrases, such as ‘a cartulary is a hand-written manuscript containing copies of grants, confirmations and other documents’. He was perhaps tempted to reach out to a wider audience by the fact that ‘his’ family included the dashing hero of one of the most dramatic episodes, the conquest of Ulster by John de Courcy. Flanders begins his book with John's surprise attack on Downpatrick in 1177 (which he misdates), and returns to John's career in his last and longest chapter, finishing with a flourish: ‘John stepped into history as the prophetically-foretold star of his own wild romance and, at its end, he disappeared back into the realms of adventure, tale-telling and legend’.
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