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Description of  Witches, Spies and Stockholm Syndrome: Life in Medieval Ireland

This book presents over two dozen fascinating portraits of life in medieval Ireland, focusing on unusual and diverting individuals, topics, and events from the 13th and 14th centuries. Against the backdrop of the violent and chaotic history of Ireland during this period, fascinating stories of controversial events and scandals - such as heresy trials, spying, corruption, and murder - make the book interesting and accessible, even to readers unfamiliar with medieval history. It offers a fascinating flavor of life in medieval Ireland, covering everything from female spies in the 14th century, through the journey of an Irish monk to China in the 1330s, the peasant strikes of 1299 and 1349, to a riot over a dead dog, and the thieves who inhabited this chaotic world"The history of the Middle Ages [in Ireland] is so neglected that the only figure of renown is Strongbow, the man who led the Norman Invasion of Ireland in the twelfth century There is little written about the lives of majority of men, who held no title or land, and even less about women Indeed, so neglected are these people in history that many of the stories and people recounted havent been heard of in centuries. In a society born of conquest, beset with famines and plagues, and where the staples of life were everything from spies and corruption to witch trials and warfare, life in medieval Ireland was seldom dull. In Witches, Spies and Stockholm Syndrome, Finbar Dwyer offers a unique portrait of life as it was lived in medieval Ireland. Against the backdrop of what was often a violent and chaotic period of history, Dwyer explores the personal stories of those whose recollections have been preserved, finding in them continual relevance and human interest.