#OTD in Irish History | 29 September:

29/09/2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

Old Michaelmas Day – Celtic holiday. According to an old legend, blackberries should not be picked after this date. This is because, so folklore goes, Satan was banished from Heaven on this day, fell into a blackberry bush and cursed the brambles as he fell into them. Michaelmas, the Feast of St Michael the Archangel […]

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#OTD in 1678 – ‘Popish Plot’ is alleged in England.

28/09/2023.Reading time 13 minutes.

The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy concocted by Titus Oates that gripped England in anti-Catholic hysteria between 1678 and 1681. Oates alleged that there existed an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate Charles II, accusations that led to the execution of at least 15 men and precipitated the Exclusion Bill Crisis. Eventually Oates’ intricate web […]

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#OTD in 1912 – Ulster Covenant | Edward Carson, leader of Ulster Unionists, stages signing by 500,000 Ulster Protestant Unionists of “Solemn League and Covenant” against Irish Home Rule.

28/09/2023.Reading time 5 minutes.

The Ulster Covenant, was signed by just under half a million Irishmen and women, mainly from Ulster, on and before 28 September 1912, in protest against the Third Home Rule Bill introduced by the British Government in the same year. Sir Edward Carson was the first person to sign the Covenant at Belfast City Hall […]

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Brehon Laws | Children and the status Women in early Ireland

28/09/2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

Prior to the Anglo-Norman invasions Ireland was home to between 80-140 independent petty kingdoms called túatha. A person’s idea of nationhood was local to their home túath and kin-group (fine). Each túath had its king elected from among its noble grades, each had their own customs and traditions, styles of dress, particular songs and legends […]

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#OTD in 1889 – Birth of painter, Seán Keating (born John Keating), in Limerick.

28/09/2023.Reading time 1 minute.

A noted portrait and figure painter, influenced by both Romanticism and Realism, Seán Keating was an Irish nationalist painter who executed several iconic images of the Irish Civil war era, and of the ensuing period of industrialisation. One of the great exemplars of representational painting in Ireland, Keating was an intellectual artist in that he […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 28 September:

28/09/2023.Reading time 15 minutes.

1678 – ‘Popish plot’ is alleged in England. The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy concocted by Titus Oates that gripped England in anti-Catholic hysteria between 1678 and 1681. Oates alleged that there existed an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate Charles II, accusations that led to the execution of at least 15 men and precipitated […]

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#OTD in 1922 – The Free State’s Provisional Government puts the “Public Safety Bill” before the Dáil.

27/09/2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

Dáil Éireann passed emergency legislation which allowed for the execution of those captured bearing arms against the Free State. The legislation passed to the National Army powers of punishment for anyone “taking part in or aiding and abetting attacks on the National Forces”, having possession of arms or explosives “without the proper authority” or disobeying […]

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Faoladh | Werewolves of Ireland

27/09/2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

The Irish werewolf is different from the Teutonic or European werewolf, as it is really not a “monster” at all. Unlike its continental cousins, this shapeshifter is the guardian and protector of children, wounded men and lost persons. According to some ancient sources, the Irish werewolves were even recruited by kings in time of war. […]

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