Biblio Ireland

Author: SLAVIN, Michael.

Dublin: Wolfhound Press, 2002. 173 pages. Illustrated. Paperback.

Tara’s landscape reverberates with a deep sense of history. Ancient springs bubble up from the fertile Meath soil. Wells such as ‘Dark Eye’ form jewels in the stone.

In The Book of Tara, this fascinating Hill and its demesne are made accessible to the general reader for the first time. With an eclectic use of wide-ranging sources, author Michael Slavin combines anthropology, archaeology, and ancient, medieval and modern day history with geology, legend, myth and local folklore. He draws from scholarship across the centuries, right up to the very latest archaeological finds, made during the 1990s investigations of the Hill.

Wonderful colour photographs capture the pagan moods of Tara. Celtic monuments, Viking artifacts, Norman castles and contemporary clanspeople are portrayed among the many black and white pictures. The last chapter contains a walkabout guide, so visitors to Tara can follow the author’s favourite route.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword by Conor Newman
Director of the Tara Project Discovery Programme
Introduction

Chapter 1 / Tara and the Invasion Legends
Tuan’s Visions — The Partholons — Evil Formorians — Fir Bolg from Greece — First Kings at Tara — The Tuatha De Danaan — Legendary Battles — Arrival of the Milesians — History or Fable? — New Interpretations of the Legends

Chapter 2 / The Sacred Hill
Gateway to Mystical Realms — Shrines of the Earth Mother Goddess — Festivals of the Gods — Vestal Virgins? — Patrick at Tara — Battle of Old and New Beliefs

Chapter 3 / Women of Tara
Named for a Woman — Maeve the Warrior Queen — Search for the Great Bull — Conflict with Cuchulainn — Victory over Ulster — The Love of Etain and Midhir — Escape to Tir na nog — Flight of Grainne and Diarmaid — Death on Ben Bulben — The Heroine Molly Weston

Chapter 4 / Home of Heroes
Sreng of the Fir Bolg — Confronting the De Danaan — First Battle of Moytura — Lugh, Son of Light — In the Land of the Ever Young — Under Formorian Tyranny — Lugh’s Return — Second Battle of Moytura — The Giant Fionn Mac Cumhaill — Chieftain of the Fianna — Oisin, Last of the Fianna

Chapter 5 / Tara of the Kings
The Roll of Kings — Local Kingships and Tuaithe — Sacral Kings — The Royal Legends — First King of the Fir Bolg at Tara — The De Danaan Takeover — Historical Manipulations

Chapter 6 / Priest Kings and Ancestors
Otherworld Origins — The Taboos — Saviour Warrior — Tax on the Leinstermen — The Triennial Feis of Tara — Birth of Conn of the Hundred Battles — Conn Comes to Tara — Cormac Conceived — Right Judgement by Cormac — A Mill for Cormac’s Lover

Chapter 7 / Rise of the Ui Neill
Origins of the Sept — Niall of the Nine Hostages — Meeting the Hag at the Well — Laoghaire and the Leinstermen — Sin Drowns Muircheartach — Christianity and Kingship in Conflict — King Diarmaid: Half-Christian, Half-Pagan — The Cursing of Tara — Abandonment of the Sacred Hill

Chapter 8 / Quest for High Kingship
Northern and Southern Ui Neill — The Sil nAedo Slaine — Kingship at Lagore — Domhnall, King of Ireland Loingsech Mac Oengusso — Aed Allen, a Warrior King — Religion and Politics

Chapter 9 / The Munster and Viking Challenge
The Invasion of Turges — Victory for Malachy I — Munster Ambitions — Feidhlimid Attacks Tara — Defeat of a Dictator — The Vikings Remain

Chapter 10 / Two Kings in Conflict
Malachy II of the Ui Neill — Malachy’s First Victory Over the Vikings — Brian Boru, King of Munster — Coronation at Cashel — Allies Then Enemies — Confrontation at Tara — Submission of Malachy — Death of Brian Boru — Malachy Restored

Chapter 11 / Tara and the Norman Knights
Celtic Concept of Kingship — Norman Conquest — Last King of Tara — New Rules of Ownership — Hugh de Lacy and His Knights — The Barony of Skryne — Tara Owned

Chapter 12 / Still a Hill of Hostings
A Place of Muster — Meeting of 1641 — Red Hugh O Domhnaill — Battle of Tara 1798 — Lord Fingall — The First Lord Tara — One Million on the Hill — O’Connell’s Monster Meeting — The Final Hosting

Chapter 13 / Ownership of Tara
Heart of the Golden Triangle — Stronghold at Trim — Dillons — Prestons — Duke of Bedford — Prime Minister Lord Russell — Nieces to the Cardinal — Inherited by the Briscoes — Bill Tormey — The OPW Takeover — Tara United Again

Chapter 14 / The Tara Landscape
Legends of the Wells — Birth of the Hill — Tara and the Ice Age — The Outer Ring — Mound of the Hostages — Archaeology at Tara — Seat of Kings — Rath of Laoghaire — Sloping Trenches — Ceremonial Entrance — Ancient Roads to Tara — Rath of the Synods — In the Churchyard

Bibliography
Index

ISBN: 0863274722

Related titles: Tara
Categories: Ancient & Medieval History, Meath, Archaeology.