'Clare Downham's Medieval Ireland offers a fresh and stimulating perspective on culture, politics, religion, and the arts during a crucial period in Irish history. Combining her own researches with the latest studies, Downham's lively and engaging narrative makes this book accessible to the general reader as much as the rigour of her scholarship presents new vistas to the specialist.' Benjamin Hudson, Pennsylvania State University 'This thought-provoking work is the first of its kind in over a generation to survey a full millennium of Ireland's medieval history. Drawing on the latest research, the author bridges the conventional historiographical boundary marked by the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1169 and presents Ireland's social and cultural experience during the Middle Ages in all its richness. This is a subject that has fascinated generations of students who have not had, until now, a reliable textbook to guide further exploration.' Peter Crooks, Trinity College Dublin 'Clare Downham's Medieval Ireland is by far the most up-to-date, balanced and scholarly introduction to the whole history of Ireland in the millennium from the beginnings of literacy to the end of the Middle Ages. It is quite remarkably successful in its coverage not just of all periods but of all the main strands of history, religious and artistic as well as economic and political. For any course that seeks to cover the medieval history of these islands, it will be a foundational text.' Thomas Charles-Edwards, University of Oxford 'Surprisingly few histories of medieval Ireland have ever been written, almost all of which focus on either the early or the later Middle Ages. The great benefit of Downham's book is that it straddles both, and does so on the whole skilfully, knowledgeably and accurately.' Sean Duffy, Trinity College Dublin