Public-domain ebook
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In: History - British·History - European·History - Medieval/Middle Ages
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #36193.
The Viceroys of Ireland is a comprehensive historical study that traces the succession of English representatives governing Ireland from the Norman invasion in 1171 through the early twentieth‑century political climate. The author, Charles Kingston, opens with a declaration of his work’s scope, noting that it is the first complete account of the viceregal line, surpassing the earlier, more limited treatment by Sir John T. Gilbert. He frames the narrative within contemporary concerns, suggesting that the book will attract attention as Irish affairs dominate public and parliamentary debate. The opening chapters already set a tone of detailed biographical sketches, illustrated with photographs of notable figures and key Dublin sites, while the early pages recount the chaotic beginnings of Henry II’s conquest and the first appointees such as Hugh de Lacy, painting them as ambitious, often unscrupulous adventurers tasked with imposing English authority.
Written in the formal, scholarly prose of the early 1910s, the text combines exhaustive archival research with a vivid, sometimes polemical voice that reflects the imperial historiography of its time. Its extensive use of contemporary photographs and a dense chapter structure will appeal to readers interested in Irish political history, colonial administration, and biographical studies of the individuals who shaped Anglo‑Irish relations. Scholars, graduate students, and enthusiasts of early‑modern British‑Irish dynamics will find the work a valuable, if stylistically dated, resource for understanding the long‑running viceregal institution.
The opening · free to read
This is the first complete history of the viceroys of Ireland, the only other book on the subject being the late Sir John T. Gilbert's, which was published in 1864. But as he dealt with the viceroys between 1172 and 1509 only, his book has no claim to completeness. In common with all writers on Ireland, however, I must express my acknowledgments to Gilbert. His keen and discerning research work, covering the first two hundred years of the viceroyalty, has been of the utmost value to me.
Irish affairs appear certain to monopolize public and parliamentary attention this year, and on this account I think that the history of the men who have ruled Ireland for nearly seven hundred and fifty years will be read with interest.
Of the illustrations, that of Lord Aberdeen is from a photograph by M. Lafayette of Dublin and London, who has also supplied the photographs of Lady Aberdeen, Lords Dudley, Spencer, Londonderry, Cadogan, and Crewe, King Edward at the {x} Dublin Exhibition, and those of the Viceregal Lodge, St. Patrick's Hall, and the Throne Room in Dublin Castle. All the other illustrations are from photographs of the originals in the National Portrait Gallery, Dublin.
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