10th century

[Nell]

Hi, all,

I'm new here and my request may seem unusual. I'm currently writing a novel set in the second half of the 10th century. I've already done a great deal of research, e.g. on "Ireland's history in maps" or "Early Irish tribes, septs and clans", but I'd like to have more precise information about the territory of the Corco Mruad, as many of the names I found date from later periods.
Here are my questions:

1) What settlements, forts, monasteries and convents, market places or fairs did already exist around 980?
2) What clans lived in the area, and where? I only know about the chief, Mael Seachnaill, son of Coscrach, and his son Lochlainn, who died in 983.
3) Did the area always belong to Munster, or have there been periods when it paid tributes to the king of Connacht? I found contradictory opinions about that.
4) A very stupid one: How did people live in the Burren? What was the interest in building stone forts there? What about the use of horses on that stony ground? That kind of thing.

Thank you for any help or advice, and sorry for my mistakes in English (I'm not a native speaker).
Nell

[Paddy Casey]

Hi Nell,

Re. your Q.4, it's not stupid at all. If you walk over the barren crags of limestone which cover the Burren you may well ask yourself how people eked out an existence there. My great-grandparents lived next to Moyrhee Commons, which is at the southern end of the Burren and I've taken a bit of an interest in the area (see http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtop ... it=ciseach ). The Commons are very inhospitable but, possibly because they were inhospitable, anyone could set up a house/cabin/shelter there without paying rent to anyone. By carting in earth to fill the limestone cracks it was possible to create very small gardens and potato patches to subsist on but they would have been rapidly blasted away by the rain and wind so any serious long-term agriculture would have been impossible. It was a hand-to-mouth existence. When the earth was blasted away you simply gritted your teeth and lugged in another few tons from the surrounding countryside.

Nowadays there are herds of horses grazing on the vegetation in the cracks. They are a bit wild, although they belong to local farmers, and become a little aggressive if one gets too near them. I'm not a horse person but I was amazed at how they could trot over the deeply fissured limestone without catching a hoof in a crack and breaking a leg.

Anyway, that's my two penn'orth.

Paddy

[Nell]

Hello, Paddy,

This is precious information, thank you so much! I'll do a bit more research in this direction and -maybe - organise my summer holidays around the Burren to see those horses myself!
The fact that people settling there had no rent to pay to anyone gave me a great idea for my plot, so thanks again for sharing your knowledge with me!

Nell

[Paddy Casey]

You're welcome, Nell.

A general feature of life in that part of the world in times gone by (or possibly in any part of the world) was that the inhabitants were constantly at the mercy of marauding armies. It must have made it very difficult to establish any kind of long-term agriculture from which to eke a living. Every couple of years some chieftain or other, either indigenous or from abroad (e.g. Norse, Barbary) would sweep through the locality with a band of followers burning and pillaging and raping. They would carry off any stores which the locals had built up, kill their poultry and steal their herds. Great background for a novel !

Paddy

[Nell]

Yes, Paddy, those things play definitely a role in my story. You are very attentif to what I need.
Well, as for clan and place names, apparently I'll have to invent a few on my own!

Greetings
Nell

[mcreed]

Nell, I would recommend that you continue your research with The Book of the Burren by Richard Broad and Anne Korff. There's a chapter there called "The Burren in Early Historic Times" by Paul Gosling which covers the period in which you are interested.

Another book that looks like it would suit is The Burren And The Aran Islands: Exploring The Archaeology by Carleton Jones, a highly respected archaeologist who has done a lot of work in the Burren recently.

You could then also take a look at the Clare Library's bibliogaphy of the Burren.

Best of luck with your research,
Mike

[Polycarp]

Hello Nell,

There are references to Corca Modhruadh in Patrick Nugent's book "The Gaelic clans of Co. Clare and their territories 1100 - 1700 A.D." (Dublin, 2007).

This is from the twelfth century forwards, but there may be material there to help you.

Polycarp

[Paddy Casey]

Nell,

There are at least two texts with titles starting with "A General History of Ireland........" to be found in Google Books (just type in "A General History of Ireland" and hit Enter).

Thanks to that superb desktop search tool Copernic I had discovered that I have one of them stored on my hard disk (a PDF, 16mb).

I'm not a professional historian so I don't know whether they are based on serious research but you might like to look at them.

Paddy

[Nell]

Thank you very much, Mike, Polycarp and Paddy! I knew I was right in posting my questions here. You are great! Those books seem to be the very thing I was looking for. Can't wait to discover more about my protagonists and their "real" life.

I'll keep you posted once my actual problems with my internet connection are solved.
Nell

[mcreed]

Nell, you could bear in mind that Europe was entering a relatively warmer period at that time which would have influenced settlement and agricultural patterns.

"10th – 14th century: The Medieval Warm Period (MWP) or Medieval Climate Optimum: In Europe the warm conditions had positive effects. Summer after summer the harvests were good and the population increased rapidly. As a result thousands of hectares were cleared of woodland and farmers expanded their fields high into the hills and on mountain slopes..." from http://www.eh-resources.org/timeline/timeline_me.html.

For more on that warm period you could take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Warm_Period and http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Medieval:Warm:Period.htm.
Regards,
Mike

[Nell]

Thank you, Mike. I just read the articles linked to the MWP - a really interesting topic I didn't even think of in this context. I'm reassured now that my female main caracter can sleep in the woods without getting chilblains!
I ordered one of the books you recommended me, "The Burren and the Aran Islands". I could consult the contents online and there is a chapter about the period I'm interested in and even about the Corco Mruad chiefdom. The whole book will be an amazing reading anyway!
I'm thrilled by how well things work out here. Go raibh mile maith agat/ agaibh, guys!

Nell