Reviews for The History and Topography of Ireland

The average rating for The History and Topography of Ireland based on 1 review is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-01-31 00:00:00 Terry Lee The wonderful happenings of our own time...a wolf that talked with a priest. A woman with a beard and a mane on her back. A man that was half an ox and an ox that was half a man. A cow that was partly a stag. A goat that had intercourse with a woman. A lion that loved a woman... I was led back to reread The History and Topography of Ireland by the mention of the eight forms of marriage recognised by the traditional Brehon law of Ireland in chapter four of W.L. Warren's Henry II, and the distinctive features of Ireland and Irish life are the subject of his short book dedicated to Henry II and read aloud to Baldwin of Ford, the Archbishop of Canterbury, while he was touring Wales preaching for the Third Crusade. The work is divided into three parts: a geographical overview, miracles and wonders and finally a brief history and account of the Irish who although good-looking and musically skilled are also in Gerald's opinion treacherous, lecherous, lazy, incestuous, "a filthy people, wallowing in vice" and more inclined to bestiality than other people. The reader is not surprised to learn that Gerald was in Ireland the first time as the guest of his Norman-Welsh kin who were busy conquering the country and the second time as Tutor to the future King John. The subtext that the barbarous Irish need to be civilised by people like Gerald's extensive and land hungry family and that the clergy need to be reformed and guided by a conscientious and educated churchman such as Gerald himself is not far from the surface. Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain is cited to demonstrate that the Kings of Britain have authority over Ireland and that Stonehenge came originally from Ireland (Merlin moved it to Salisbury plain in case you were wondering). Aside from his probably politically motivated ethnography the book is a listing & brief description of Ireland's geography, wonders both natural and miraculous as well as the vindictive nature of Irish saints. Gerald's animal are light and entertainingly bizarre - according to Gerald a dead Kingfisher put in your clothes chest will keep them smelling fresh and he's keen to tell us about the birds that are seeded by fir-tree trees, then grow off logs and thus are permitted to eat during lent. Some of the stories, like the talking wolf, appear in other sources too. In this case the story was discussed by a synod, the wolves wanted to receive communion and the question of whether a Priest should share the sacraments with animals - even if they did say some reasonable things about God - clearly needed to be debated at a high level. As a whole the work is less interesting and much less sympathetic than Gerald's books The Journey Through Wales The Description of Wales for the simple reason that Gerald of Wales was much less familiar with Ireland and unlike Wales where he had deep family roots he was much less involved and much more critical towards Ireland. It's worthwhile seeking out editions of this book with illustrations taken from one of the early manuscripts which whether of Gallowglasses treacherously murdering each other with axe blows to the skull, the woman loved by a lion or the Falcon that lived on top of a Church tower add to the colour of the reading experience.