The Anatomy of a Siege: King John's Castle, Limerick, 1642 [Hardcover]

Kenneth Wiggins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2001

King John's Castle, Limerick, survives today as an impressive Anglo-Norman fortress in a commanding position along the eastern edge of the river Shannon. In the early months of 1642, when the Munster army of the Irish rebellion was admitted to Limerick, the Protestant and Anglo-Irish citizenry fled to the king's castle for protection, and were immediately besieged. To breach the masonry the besiegers used miners to make tunnels for the placing of timber props, ready for firing, underneath the foundations. The castle's defenders reacted by opening countermines to intercept the encroaching mines, hoping to save the walls from ruin. Substantial evidence for this 'military mining,' unusually, has survived to yield their secrets to today's archaeologists and military historians, providing a fascinating record of the exceptional events of the siege. Kenneth Wiggins brings together detailed documentary sources and unique archaeological discoveries in an expert assessment of the siege, embracing the drama central to the story while highlighting technology and strategies characteristic of 'underground' siege warfare'.KENNETH WIGGINS is an archaeologist based in Limerick; his master's thesis, undertaken at University College, Cork, was on the subject of military mining.

Editorial Reviews

Review

An important contribution to the archaeology of warfare in the seventeenth century. POST-MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY

About the Author

Kenneth Wiggins is an archaeologist based in Limerick. He was born in 1959 in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone, and in 1981 completed an honours degree in archaeology and ancient history at Queen's University, Belfast. He gained experience as an archaeologist in Belfast, Dublin and Waterford before settling in Limerick in 1988. His master's thesis, submitted in 1996 to University College Cork, examined in detail the subject of military mining, with special reference to the siege of Limerick Castle, and forms the basis for this book.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 328 pages
• Publisher: Boydell Press (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0851158277
• ISBN-13: 978-0851158273
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,516,571 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost like being there, October 12, 2002

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Chris Sterling "Castle maven" (Annandale, VA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Anatomy of a Siege: King John's Castle, Limerick, 1642 (Hardcover)

Based on extensive excavations in the 1980s and 1990s, this is a vivid reconstruction of a medieval siege. More than that, it relates the special problems involved when siege warfare involves the digging of mines underneath castle walls in an attempt to bring them down. In this example, the Irish rebels sought (eventually with success) to undermine the castle walls while the English defenders dug numerous counter-mines in an attempt to stop the besieging miners. Wiggins demonstrates with photos, clear diagrams, and vivid text what the excavation record today tells us of these military methods of more than four centuries ago. We learn that even a siege of mere weeks, such as this one, usually cost many lives. He shows how military engineers relied on the available technology of the time (siege miners were often miners in real life and used the same techniques) as each side sought to bring the siege to a successful conclusion---naturally differing on what that meant!

When I last visited Ireland in 1990, none of this excavation work had been done. You could only see the outside walls of the castle by the river, and could not get inside. The work described here was done as part of a long process of clearing modern buildings to make the Limerick castle an educational tourist site. Based on this volume, I very much want to go back and see the remains of the siege mines and counter-mines which only rarely survive into modern times. After reading this interesting study, you will want to go see the site as well.