Medieval Dublin XIX

Seán Duffy, editor

This volume contains a wealth of new scholarly research on Dublin’s medieval past, including a fascinating examination by Catherine Swift of traders and trading by Dublin’s merchants in the late Viking and early Anglo-Norman era. Bruce Campbell has a ground breaking study of the places of origin of Dublin’s population in the aftermath of the Anglo-Norman conquest in 1170 and Grace O’Keeffe compiles a prosopography of the priors of the hospital of St John the Baptist. Bernadette Williams shows what the annals of John de Pembridge, soon to be published, can tell us about the city’s history in the age of the Black Death. Randolph Jones makes a remarkable discovery of the last will and testament of William Hogeson, Dublin’s mayor in 1514–15, and Lenore Fischer reconsiders the identity of the Old English of the Pale, as seen through the writings of Christopher St Lawrence, seventh baron of Howth. Studies relating to archaeological findings include Paul Duffy’s report on two major excavations at Aungier Street and George’s Street, including the discovery of a rare Hiberno-Norse sunken-floored structure and the partial foundations of the medieval church of St Peter. Studies of skeletal remains are also presented here by Joseph Harbison and René Gapert, who re-examine skulls found in the vicinity of the Hospital of St John the Baptist, Thomas Street which may point to an earlier cemetery there. Maeve Tobin examines the human remains found at the site of the great medieval abbey of St Thomas the Martyr, and Jennie Coughlan studies the skeletons from excavations near St Peter’s parish church in Aungier Street and Stephen’s Street. Ruth Johnson also presents an art-historical examination of a remarkable incised slate found in The Coombe, which makes a striking image on the cover of the current volume.

Seán Duffy is professor of Medieval Irish and Insular History at Trinity College Dublin and chairman of the Friends of Medieval Dublin.