Topographia Hibernica

Topographia Hibernica (Latin for Topography of Ireland), also known as Topographia Hiberniae, is an account of the landscape and people of Ireland written by Gerald of Wales around 1188, soon after the Norman invasion of Ireland. It was the longest and most influential work on Ireland circulating in the Middle Ages and its direct influence endured into the Early Modern period.

Giraldus Cambrensis was born about 1146 AD within the aristocratic FitzGerald/de Barri family in the castle of Manorbeer in Wales with the birth name of Gerald de Barri. Gerald made his first visit to Ireland in 1183 and returned in 1185. His first visit to see members of his family who had played a prominent role in the Angevin invasion of the country in 1169 was not more than a year in duration. His second visit was undertaken at the command of King Henry II in the company of the king's youngest son Prince John and lasted from 25 April 1185 to Easter 1186.

All of Geraldus Cambrensis's writings were in Latin and have been translated into English. Based on the evidence of the Topographia, it would appear that Gerald's travels within Ireland were not extensive. He spent most of this first visit in Waterford and Cork. During his second visit he visited Dublin, Wicklow, Meath, Kildare and, possibly, Athlone and Lough Derg. Whether or not he visited some of the places he wrote about or whether he simply related tales he heard from others, is debatable. He wrote about the island of Inishglora off the coast of the Mullet Peninsula in Erris that corpses on that island do not putrefy and that generations of people all in a state of perpetual 'freshness' were to be seen on that island.

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