The Ormond Lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642: The Rise and Fall of the Butler Family.

Ormond LordshipAuthor: EDWARDS, David.

Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2003.  xiv, 378 pages. Illustrated. Hardback.

DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY Ireland was dominated by a handful of great feudal dynasties controlling entire regions of the country by ancestral descent and military might. By the beginning of the seventeenth century several of these dynasties had collapsed, forced into rebellion and exile by the re-emerging power of the English monarchy. This book tells a contrasting story - that of the Butlers, earls of Ormond, a dynasty that managed not only to survive but to profit from the growth of English royal power. But the Ormond lordship, too, eventually disintegrated. This is a book of the first rank, written with elegance and assurance.

ISBN: 1851825789