Hello Everyone. I would like to use this blog to announce the publication of my new book The Kings of Aileach and the Vikings, AD 800-1060. The book is published by Four Courts Press and is available on their website for €22.45 (Normal retail price €24.95). The book tells two intertwined historical stories – the early medieval history of the Cenél nEógain population group – and Viking activity in the north of Ireland. The book grew out of a lot of background research into the Cenél nEógain people, my own family history since the McGettigans were a branch of the Cenél nEógain in early medieval times, and the history of Viking interaction with Ireland, particularly in the early Viking Age before the time of the great Irish high-king Brian Boru (d.1014). I learnt a great deal of new information while writing this book, in particular about some wonderful discoveries of Viking material dredged by archaeologists from Northern Ireland from the bed of the River Blackwater. I also very much enjoyed learning in detail for the first time about many of the Cenél nEógain kings, who were a remarkably talented group of people. I hope readers enjoy the resulting book accompanied as it is by sets of maps, genealogies and 16 pages of colour illustrations. Here is the link to my book on the Four Courts Press website.
Dr Darren McGettigan ~ Historian and Author
Medieval and Early Modern Irish History
