Gerald of Wales (–1223)

An extremely entertaining look at medieval Ireland, written by a clergyman with a very low opinion of the Irish and their distasteful habits (irreverency, drunkenness, bad temper, heretical leanings, and a fondness for bestiality are among the many).

The joy of this book lies in the lively narrative, and its jumbled combination of folk tales, superstition, and earnest psuedo-science. The author scoffs at the idea that St. Patrick mystically drove the snakes from Ireland, and then follows show more that up with a perfectly serious story about a magic talking fish with three gold teeth. The illustrations are also fabulous - my favorite, adorning the subsection entitled 'Bestiality, a Particular Vice of the Irish', features a woodcut of a goat making out with a lady!

A true crowd-pleaser, with something in it for everyone. show less

Gerald had a lively mind, but can get carried away from strict reportage by his serious self promotion. He is also not overly prone to examine his sources, so a good deal of hearsay both secular and religious seeps into these narratives. An entertaining, but not totally reliable source.

This book is a reminder that modern travel books are often better organized than their ancestors. Gerold had an axe to grind, feeling that the Welsh are better than the Irish, and a book I read on the Norman Conquest... err...Invasion of Ireland has a good deal to say about Gerald's connections with the Norman warlords involved in that action. It's a fun book, but should not be used by the serious historian

With the benefit of Jeffrey Cohen's On Difficult Middles, I noticed something this time around that I hadn't before: the multiple 'origins' of the Irish Gerald records in the third book. It was the bestiality that first grabbed me, but it's the historiographical and ethnic anxiety that keeps me coming back for more.