Review: 'Early Medieval Ireland 431 - 1169'
Interested in medieval Ireland? Start with Matthew Stout's book
There was a lot going on in the early medieval period in Ireland: St. Patrick, ringforts, The Vikings, Brian BorĂº, Saints and scholars, art, metalwork, manuscripts, missionaries, monasteries, high crosses, round towers, rivalries between kingdoms and much more, all interwoven and none entirely isolated from the others. Given the wide breadth, it is hard to learn about a particular aspect independently and without context. Where do you start? There is an easy answer now, this book by Dr. Matthew Stout, The first, and only, narrative history of early medieval Ireland.
Matthew Stout's book 'Early Medieval Ireland 431 - 1169' covers all of the above and much more. It is suitable for the interested amateur and student alike, it provides, as the cover explains, a "one stop shop" for the history of early medieval Ireland covering the period from just before the arrival of St. Patrick to the invasion of the Normans. A narrative history, it does not dwell laboriously on topics, but provides a summary with informative notes and an extensive bibliography at the end of the book for those who wish to dig deeper. Personally, I have always found that the worth of a book like this can be measured by the number of annotations, notes and underlined sentences I deface the pages with while reading it. There is scarcely a page in the book that I have not so defaced.
'Early Medieval Ireland 431 - 1169' is very much suitable for the beginner and "visual learners". Each chapter begins with a map showing the location of places discussed in the coming chapter, a list of the names of prominent people discussed and most invaluably, the book is peppered, both in the aforementioned lists and scattered in the margins throughout, with a guide on how to pronounce the various early and middle Irish place-names, names of people and other important words. There is an anonymous quote fluttering around the internet that goes something like "never make fun of someone for mispronouncing a word, it means they learned it by reading". As someone who learns about most things by reading the pronunciation guide is much appreciated.
'Early Medieval Ireland 431 - 1169' is also chock full of wonderful photographs, maps and diagrams of places and artifacts. The narrative is broken up at times with information boxes about particular important topics such as historical artifacts, places or buildings, such as 'Cormac's Chapel'.
The book occupies that very rare territory where it can be picked up and enjoyably read with a cup of coffee and also studied by the more serious reader with both finding the book worthwhile. It is both a wonderful starting point for learning about this period of Irish history and a great aid to setting specific aspects of this period within a proper context. I certainly will be frequently dipping into the book as a reference, for instance, Patrick's Confessio is reproduced in full, with the text colour coded to explain which portions of the text refer to Patrick in Ireland, personal details, Biblical quotes and paraphrases of the Bible. The book has many useful features like this and I can't think of any reason it should not be on the shelf of anyone interested in Irish history.
As one who appreciates the aesthetics and design of a physical book itself, these boxes are ticked here too: an attractive hardback with good quality pages, excellent printing quality, binding and the book even survived, with very minimal damage, a pint of water being accidentally spilled over it! Wordwell, the publisher, have done an excellent job.
'Early Medieval Ireland 431 - 1169' by Matthew Stout is available directly from Wordwell books for €35.00. However, keep an eye out as Wordwell regularly do sales and free delivery options. I got the book for almost half price.