Landscapes of Kingship in Early Medieval Ireland AD 400-1150

Patrick Gleeson

This book represents the first interdisciplinary study of early Irish kingship. Kingship represents the core institution and central problem of early medieval Ireland and its study, but to date has mainly been analyzed through documentary sources. Yet, archaeological studies have offered a boon of rich data in recent decades that have transformed our understanding of royal places and wider society. Because kingship was vested in places in Ireland, a fundamental question is how the development of royal landscapes illuminates the evolution of kingship and that institution’s wider societal roles. This volume harnesses this interdisciplinary evidence for the evolution of kingship through the prism of how societies formed and governed kingdoms, and the role that royal landscapes played in these discourses particularly. Framed around two major case studies, the Uí Néill and Éoganachta, and their regional hegemonies centred on the kingships of Tara and Cashel, it traces the evolution of diverse kingdoms throughout Ireland, and the role that places of power played in strategies of rulership and governance. 

Patrick Gleeson is a senior lecturer in Archaeology at QUB, where his research focuses on religion, rulership and governance in first millennium AD Northern Europe. He is a leading expert on later prehistoric and early medieval royal landscapes, leading fieldwork at a range of major ‘royal’ landscapes, including the Rock of Cashel and Navan Fort. He was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize in 2022 for the international significance and impact of this work.