A full house again at our stunning venue (thank you Wood and Bell Café!) last Wednesday evening as locals and visitors alike crowded in to hear Professor Howard Clarke explain the nature of medieval kingship as it related to Brian Boru. With an attendance of just under sixty, we were just about good for chairs!

Professor Clarke posed the initial question of whether Brian Boru ‘saved’ Ireland from a ‘Viking conquest’. He then carefully broke down each part of that question so that we understood just what Ireland looked like at that period in time, and what role Brian Boru played in it. He gave a detailed and illustrated picture of both England and Denmark from the same period, so that we could compare Brian to his colleagues there. We also heard about some fascinating characters such as Sitric Silkbeard and the coins he minted, a couple of which are in the photo above. The lecture concluded with the answer of ‘no’, but the journey we took with Professor Clarke to reach that conclusion was both entertaining and educational. If you missed the lecture, you can catch up on some of the arguments in this Irish Times article.

Professor Clarke’s book on the subject unsurprisingly sold out on the night, but you can buy it online for a great price at this link. The book contains a lot of local information about Brian Boru and Killaloe-Ballina too. Some genealogical questions were raised in the audience after the talk, and you can find a custom guide to tracing your roots in the Killaloe-Ballina area by local genealogist Paddy Waldron here.

A huge thanks to Professor Clarke for travelling to give us this lecture, and to Kincora Guesthouse for providing him with free accommodation on behalf of the society. Our venue for the night was also provided free of charge by Wood and Bell Café. Without the support of these generous local businesses, we would not be able to showcase such wonderful scholarship, so please do support them.

The July lecture is very early in July – check out all the details here!

Our speaker on the night is the eminent Professor Howard B. Clarke. Professor Clarke, MRIA, is a former lecturer with the School of History in University College Dublin. He is now the honourable editor of the journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries Ireland, a director of the Medieval Trust in Dublin, and continues to publish extensively on the world of medieval Ireland. He is also well known as the author of the Irish Historic Towns Atlas by the Royal Irish Academy on the Viking town.

One of the persistent myths about Brian Boru is that he saved Ireland from a Viking conquest. This illustrated talk focuses on the nature of kingship in Ireland a thousand years ago, and on the course and consequences of the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. This Irish Times interview on the topic with Professor Clarke will give a flavour of the evening’s topic.

Professor Clarke’s book Dublin and the Viking World will be available to purchase on the night, so bring a few bob for that!

We will see you on the evening of Wednesday 27th June at 7.30pm (new later starting time!) in the back room of our venue at Wood and Bell café. Wood and Bell continue to provide our Society with this venue for free, and we thank them for this sponsorship. Please go in and have your lunch there if you want to thank them! Professor Clarke is travelling for this lecture, and we thank Kincora House guesthouse on Main St, Killaloe, for sponsoring his accommodation. Without the support of these generous local businesses, we would not be able to bring speakers such as this to our twin towns.

Entry to our June lecture is FREE as usual, and everyone of all ages and levels of interest is welcome. Help us promote this event by clicking ‘Going’ on the Facebook event here, or sharing this blogpost, or even by putting up a poster for us – you can print out one from this link. See you at the lecture – don’t forget the later starting time of 7.30pm!