Irish History, Culture, Heritage, Language, Mythology
In the Liturgical Calendar, today is the Feast Day of St Manchán mac Silláin, Manchianus in Latin sources, is the name of an early Irish saint, patron of Liath Mancháin, now Lemanaghan, in Co Offaly. He is not to be confused with the scholar Manchán or Manchéne, abbot of Min Droichit (Co Offaly). There are […]
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Ó Máille was a founder member of Sinn Féin and of the Gaelic League in Galway. He was a member of the Irish Volunteers from 1917 to 1921. He was born in Kilmilkin, in Maam Valley in Co Galway and was a farmer. He was elected as a Sinn Féin MP for Galway Connemara at […]
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1003 – Death of Abbot, Kilian of Cologne. Kilian was a native of Ireland. In 974, he and a group of Irish missionaries, led by Minnborinus of Cologne (died 986), arrived at Cologne where they established St. Martin’s Abbey in an island on the Rhine. Minnborinus ruled as first abbot; upon his death, Kilian succeeded […]
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1667 – Cattle exports to England are prohibited. 1671 – Catholic gentry present petition to Charles II. 1688 – Birth of Lionel Cranfield Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, PC. He was an English political leader and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Dorset served twice as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, from 1731 to 1737 and again from […]
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1649 – Marquis of Ormond James Butler and the confederates sign a peace treaty which grants toleration for Catholics in exchange for troops. 1814 – One of the earliest references to ‘Irish Stew’ is in ‘The Devil’s Drive: An unfinished Rhapsody’ by Lord Byron: “The Devil return’d to hell by two, And he stay’d […]
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Dublin Castle originally built as a defensive fortification during the Norman period, evolved into the seat of British power, housing the mechanisms of the British government in Ireland. The Lord Lieutenant or the Viceroy of Ireland, the representative of the British crown, resided in the Castle. Parliament and the royal courts also took place in […]
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1362 – Birth of Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, Marquess of Dublin, and 9th Earl of Oxford KG. He was a favourite and court companion of King Richard II of England. He was the ninth Earl of Oxford and the first and only Duke of Ireland and Marquess of Dublin. 1700 – Richard Levinge, an […]
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In the Liturgical calendar, today is the Feast of St Ita (Íte of Killeedy). Ita, called the ‘Brigid of Munster’, born in present-day Co Waterford. She became a nun, settling down at Cluain Credhail, a place-name that has ever since been known as Killeedy–that is, ‘Church of St. Ita’, in Co Limerick. There, she was […]
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1753 – Death of George Berkeley, Irish philosopher and Anglican. 1775 – John Hely-Hutchinson, Provost of Trinity College, fights a duel with William Doyle over abusive newspaper articles. Doyle is ill and has to lean on a crutch at the duel; on being challenged he had initially complained of sore eyes, and ‘objected to stand […]
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1695 – Jonathan Swift was ordained as a priest in the Church of Ireland. 1702 – Birth of Thomas Arthur Lally in Romans, France. He was a French General of Irish Jacobite ancestry. Lally commanded French forces, including two battalions of his own red-coated Regiment of Lally of the Irish Brigade, in India during the […]
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