Description

Nestled beneath the historic slopes of Slievenamon, Kilcash Castle stood for centuries as a vital seat of the Butler family—one of the most politically dominant Anglo-Norman dynasties in Irish history. In Kilcash and the Butlers of Ormond, acclaimed historians John Flood and Phil Flood deliver a data-driven, exhaustive chronicle detailing the family’s trajectory from the medieval frontier through to the catastrophic era of the Great Famine.

The text looks deeply past romantic folklore to evaluate the practical functional operations of aristocratic estate management, religious identity conflicts, and high-stakes family networks. The authors guide researchers systematically through private family papers, land charters, and state archives to reveal how the Kilcash Butlers navigated changing land laws, confiscations, and complex civil wars while maintaining their cultural prestige. It stands as a mandatory reference cornerstone for advanced academic tracks, Munster historians, and research libraries worldwide.

Critical historical frameworks evaluated within this volume:

• Dynastic Kinship Logistics: Details the intricate political marriages, inheritance strategies, and legal maneuvers that preserved the Butler lineage.

• Socio-Economic Land Analytics: Documents historic estate rent rolls, tenant obligations, agricultural output variations, and famine-era management.

• Gold-Standard Scholarly Quality: Meticulously annotated with deep primary source citations, structural family trees, and extensive archival appendices.