History of Ireland and Waterford (431 - 1014)

Duration: 10 weeks, Monday 7-9pm
Qualification: WIT Certificate of Completion
Cost: €175
Closing Date of Application: 15 September 2006

This course aims to introduce students to some key developments in the history of Ireland and Waterford from the arrival of Christianity to the battle of Clontarf.This is the period when Ireland is often characterised as 'the land of Saints and Scholars' but it is also the period of the high-kings of Tara and Cashel, the arrival of the Vikings and the creation of Ireland's first cities.

Abroad, the Irish developed colonies in south Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man and western Scotland during this era and sent Christian missionaries all over western Europe. The Déise of Waterford were major players in these events with early cults of St Declán of Ardmore and Mo-Chuta of Lismore and an important colony, which became the kingdom of Dyfed in West Wales. In the Viking period, they were the focus of what appears to be the first attack on Ireland by a major Viking fleet (in 811-12) and the subsequent settlement of Waterford was, for many years, one of the most important cities in Ireland, second only to Dublin in political importance. By the time of Brian Boru and the rise of the Dál Cais, control of the allegiances of Waterford and more especially, its fleet, were key elements in any campaign to dominate Ireland.

On completion of this course, students should have acquired some knowledge of the basic chronology of this period in Irish history and:

> an understanding of some of the sources to have survived from this period
> an appreciation of how different historians interpret the period
> an insight into Waterford's role in Irish history in the pre-Norman period.