Aidan Breen examines two key manuscripts from the National Library of Ireland, written in the late 12th century by Giraldus Cambrensis in defence of the Norman conquest of Ireland.
Aptly described as ‘a born gossip, as well as an earnest reformer, who took himself and all his works far too seriously’, Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald de Barri c. 1146-1223) was born at the castle of Maenor Pyr or Manorbier in Pembrokeshire of mixed Norman and Welsh ancestry, the youngest son of William de Barri and Angharad, the daughter of Nesta, daughter of Rhys ap Tudor, Prince of South Wales.
