Edmund Burke and the heritage of oral culture

The dissertation proposes that one of the more fruitful ways of interpreting Burke's work is to evaluate him as an oral performer rather than a literary practitioner and it argues that in his voice can be heard the modulations of the genres and conventions of oral composition of eighteenth-century Gaelic Ireland. The first chapter situates Burke in the milieu of the Gaelic landed class of eighteenth-century Ireland. The next chapter examines how the rich oral culture of the Munster Gaelic gentry, where Burke spent his childhood days, was to provide a lasting influence on the form and content of Burke's work. His speeches on the British constitution are read in the context of the historical and literary culture of the Jacobites, specifically the speculum principis, Párliament na mBán. The third chapter surveys the tradition of Anglo-Irish theoretical writings on oratory and discusses how Burke is aligned with this school. The focus is on how Burke's thought and practice, his 'idioms', might be understood as being mediated through the criterion of orality rather than literature. The remaining chapters discuss Burke's politics and performance in the light of Gaelic cultural practices such as the rituals of the courts of poetry, the Warrant Poems or Barántas; the performance of funeral laments and elegies, Caoineadh, the laments for the fallen nobility, Marbhna na daoine uaisle, the satires and the political vision allegories of Munster, Aislingí na Mumhan; to show how they provide us with a remarkable context for discussing Burke's poetical-political performance. In hearing Burke's voice through the body of Gaelic culture our understanding of Burke's position in the wider world of the eighteenth century (and hence his meaning) is profoundly affected.

A social history of sport in Cork, Tipperary and Waterford, c. 1880-1930

This thesis seeks to explore the development of sport in Munster in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by comparing developments in three counties: Cork, Tipperary and Waterford. In particular this thesis considers the development of rugby and soccer in comparative perspective across these three counties, asking what local factors impacted on their uneven development in the region and considering the extent to which the traditional model of diffusion applies to the reception of these sports in the three counties. By giving consideration to these two particular non-indigenous sports, the thesis will, through answering that question, explore ideas of cultural reception, national identity and class as expressed at local level. These themes will be explored by placing the comparative analysis of these two sports into a wider context of sporting development regionally and nationally in the period, in particular the emerging commercialisation of sport, and also the diverse sporting culture of which these two sports were a part. Utilising a wide range of archival sources from local, national and sporting newspapers, to club records, official publications and ephemera this thesis builds a picture of sport in Munster that is deeply rooted in the community, and that forms an important facet of the social world of Cork, Tipperary and Waterford from 1880-1930.

Landscapes of kingship in early medieval Ireland, AD 400–1150

This thesis explores the evolution of kingship in early medieval Ireland (AD 400–1150) through a kingdom based and multi-scalar approach to royal landscapes. Through exploring the role of place and landscape in the construction of early medieval Irish kingship, this study will assess the relationship between the social, economic and ideological roles of the king in Irish society. Kingship in Ireland was vested in places, such that royal landscapes were the pre-eminent symbol of regality and authority. As such, an interdisciplinary study of kingship grounded in archaeological methodologies has a unique potential to contribute to our knowledge of the practice of kingship. Consequently, this research considers the material apparatus of different scales of kingships and explores the role of landscape in the construction of kingship and the evolution of kingdoms. It takes two major case studies; (i) Cashel, Munster and the Éoganachta federation; and (ii) the Uí Néill, Tara and the Síl nÁedo Sláine kingdom of Brega. Through interdisciplinary methodologies it charts the genesis and development of political federations, focusing specifically on the role that royal landscapes’ played in their evolution. Similarly, this thesis engages critically with the nature of assembly places and practices in Ireland, and focuses specifically on issues pertaining to the nature of assembly and the archaeological manifestation of such practices. It includes a list of 115 landscapes identified as assembly places, and through the analysis of this material, this thesis examines the ways in which different types of royal sites articulated together to create royal landscapes implicated in the exercise of kingship, and the construction and maintenance of authority. Moreover, through the analysis of assembly places within the context of the development of kingdoms, and structures of jurisdiction and administration, it also investigates the evolution of supra-regional scales of identity and community associated with the emergence of major political federations in early medieval Ireland.

Four nations feminism: Una Troy and Menna Gallie

The emergence of four nations framework in literary and historical scholarship has helped us to arrive at a fuller understanding of the complex and overlapping histories of the islands of Britain and Ireland, while recent research into Wales and Ireland in particular has helped to make the map of our relations more fully comprehensible. But what is the relevance and meaning of the four nations context for womenâ s writing in Ireland and Wales? What part does gender play in the interconnected histories of Wales and Ireland, and how are questions of sexual and artistic identity addressed within texts that imagine British-Irish history in gendered terms? This lecture identifies finds evidence of a feminist reimagining of archipelagic relationships by two writers: Munster novelist and playwright Una Troy, and Welsh writer Menna Gallie, born into a mining community on the western edge of the South Wales coalfields. Both Troy and Gallie wrote novels that deploy plots of female friendship to interrogate the relationship between gender and national affiliation in a four nations context.

The IHS monogram as a symbol of Catholic resistance in 17th century Ireland

It has been suggested that the presence of religious images and scenes in secular buildings of sixteenth-century date can be viewed as an expression of resistance by the native Irish to English colonial activity in the aftermath of the Munster Plantation (J. A. Delle, 1999, International Journal of Historical Archaeology 3: 11–35). Such images, however, may merely represent a continuation into the early modern period of a Medieval tradition of adorning secular houses with devotional images. If a religious symbol of native Catholic resistance to English colonization and Protestantism in Munster is to be sought then perhaps a more appropriate image would be the I.H.S. monogram—a symbol associated with the Counter Reformation and the Jesuits. The paper presents an example of the monogram located within a tower house at Gortnetubbrid in County Limerick, Ireland.

One-Pot, High-Yield Synthesis of Convex Au Octahedra by H2O2 - Mediated Process In Solution Phase

A simple, non-seeding and high-yield synthesis of convex gold octahedra with size of ca. 50 nm in aqueous solution is described. The octahedral nanoparticles were systematically prepared by reduction of HAuCl4 using ascorbic acid (AA) in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the stabilizing surfactant while concentrations of Au3+ were fixed. The synthesizing process is especially different to other wet synthesis of metallic nanoparticles because it is mediated by H2O2. Mechanism of the H2O2 – mediated process will be described in details. The gold octahedra were shown to be single crystals with all 8 faces belonging to {111} family. Moreover, the single crystalline particles also showed attractive optical properties towards LSPR that should find uses as labels for microscopic imaging, materials for colorimetric biosensings, or nanosensor developments.

Mélanges historiques.

Contient : Traité sur la charge d'ambassadeur ; « De la prélation et retenue feudale, pour messire Henry de La Tour, duc de Bouillon, premier mareschal de France, vicomte de Turenne, demandeur, contre le sieur de Noailles, deffendeur » [par Nicolas Rigault], et autres pièces, inventaire de productions, etc., concernant le procès Bouillon-Noailles ; Pièces concernant les biens et dépendances de l'abbaye de Saint-Wandrille ; « Très humble et très importante remonstrance au Roy [Louis XIV] sur la remise des places maritimes de Flandres entre les mains des Anglois », au temps de Cromwell ; « Journal de ce qui s'est passé à la conférence pour la paix..., à Munster..., l'an 1644 », et autres pièces concernant les négociations de Münster, etc., 1639-1644 ; Pièces diplomatiques, concernant diverses questions de préséance ; Extrait d'une lettre de Charles Brulart, prieur de Léon, à Villeroy, Venise, 1611 ; « Estat par estimation des train et suitte, livrées, équipage et ameublement d'ambassadeur à Rome », etc

Recueil de pièces concernant l'Allemagne, et en particulier le Palatinat, et les relations diplomatiques de la France avec l'Allemagne et la Suède, principalement sous le règne de Louis XIII. (1339-1645).

Contient : « Estat particulier de chacun des princes et Estats du sercle de la Basse-Saxe, par M. [Théodore ?] GODEFROY », 1643 ; Pièces concernant les relations de la France et de l'Allemagne, 1551-1552 ; « Discours du Palatinat et de la dignité électorale appartenant au prince Charles-Louis, électeur Palatin du Rhin, contre les prétentions... du duc de Bavière », et autres pièces et mémoires concernant l'affaire de la succession Palatine ; Copies et extraits de diverses pièces, bulles d'or, chartes de rois de Bohême, etc., concernant l'Allemagne et principalement le Palatinat, 1339-1619 ; « Propositions des ambassadeurs du roy de la Grand-Bretagne, de monsieur l'électeur Palatin et duc de Wirtemberg, faictes à Leurs Majestez Très-chrestiennes, touchant l'estat d'Allemagne », et réponse, 1613 ; « Intérests de la Couronne de France au restablissement de la maison électorale Palatine en ses estatz, pays et dignitez » ; Recueil de pièces, traités, lettres, etc., concernant les relations diplomatiques entre la France et l'Allemagne, 1631-1640 (f. 126), — et entre la France et la Suède, 1631-1644 (f. 275) ; « Description de la ville de Munster en Wesphalie..., par le sieur L'ESCALOPIER », aumônier du duc de Longueville, 1645