Irish Kingship in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries

<p><i>Irish Kingship in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries </i>examines the power of medieval Irish kings but treats ‘power’ as a complex concept worthy of study in its own right. It starts from the premise that historians of medieval Ireland have interpreted ‘power’ in a narrow way. This book engages with the rich corpus of literature on power produced by political scientists and sociologists which reveals the sheer complexity and vicissitudes of ‘power’ as a concept. Where there is power there is resistance. Hence drawing on evidence from medieval Irish chronicles hagiographies saga literature and advice texts this book explores the largely ignored phenomena of revolt resistance and violence in eleventh- and twelfth-century Ireland.</p><p>It argues against a panoptic narrative of royal centralisation and suggests that the existence of a multiplicity of kings and non-royal lords has proven to be more of a problem for historians than it was for the Irish kings themselves.</p><p>This book will appeal to scholars and students of medieval Ireland as well as those interested in the history of kingship power and resistance.</p>