Customer Reviews

Tribes and Customs of the Hy Many

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Covering the Golden Age of the Gaels, the Viking Raids on the ancient territory of Ui Maine , the Norman Conquests and Land Wars of the 1100's through to the gealic resurgence of the 1300's, this must rate among one of the definitive guides to the history of western Ireland from 1000AD to 1600AD. It covers the history of the clanns of Hy Many focusing on the O'Kelly & O'Madden clanns with clear, well documented factual accounts of not only geneaologies of the families but also their daily lives, customs and traditions. A must read for the professional reseacher and enthusiast.

Many of the Annals books, including this one, of Ireland are essentially unreadable. The prose is so dry so as to dessicate the history it purports to record. They are bogged down (no Irish pun intended) in tribal minutiae so arcane and irrelevant that the books could almost be spoofs. Judging from its prevalence in these books, it must have been the style of that format at that time, but it is still deadly. Most buy these books because of a family affiliation. I am confident that the vast majority of these books end up on shelves unread past the fifth page. If you want to own this book so you can have a complete collection of annals from your part of Ireland do so, but don't even think about reading it.