Claíomh: July 2012

Irish pikeman c.1600 in Killery type 'cóta mór' and munition grade cabasset helmet

Historical Era

The group specialises in interpretations of warriors and soldiery c.1480-1660 A.D. of Irish Gaelic lineage (in which we include the galloglasses or gallóglaigh who were originally of Norse-Highland descent although who were by sixteenth-century times largely populated by native Irishmen), seasonal 'redshank' mercenaries from the Scots Highlands/Western Isles, those of Anglo-Irish - or 'Old English' - extraction, and Anglo-Scots Borderers. The period of speciality covered by Claíomh stretches from the last quarter of the fifteenth century with the final death throe of the Wars of the Roses at the Battle of Stoke Field in 1487 - which involved the invasion of England by a combined Hiberno-German force - carrying through to the epoch of the tumultuous sixteenth century under the shadow of the powerful Tudor dynasty, and onwards into the seventeenth century to the end of the Irish Confederate Wars fought in the 1640’s. Particular focus centres round the military personnel who participated in three main areas of study:

Pages

Wednesday, 18 July 2012