Owning a lot of books is great. Packing and moving with a lot of books is not great.
Dr Ciarán McDonnell
@drciaranmcdonnell.bsky.social
Historian: 18thC war & society (Jacobites, French Revolution & Napoleonic Wars), Irish in foreign armies (Wild Geese), Medieval history (Crusades). Also interested in archaeology & heritage management. https://ciaranmcdonnell.weebly.com/
If you'd like to know more, I highly recommend this book, which I was lucky enough to have contributed a chapter to, on the battle's aftermath. The book brings lots of fresh insight into the battle from different disciplines. 7/8 www.fourcourtspress.ie/books/2021/v...
Four Courts Press | Vinegar Hill
The last stand of the Wexford Rebels of 1798 by Ronan O'Flaherty & Jacqui Hynes, editors
fourcourtspress.ie
On this day in 1798 the United Irishmen of Wexford were decisively defeated at Vinegar Hill by a large government army. A short 🧵on the Donegal Militia in the battle. #18thC #IrishHistory 1/8
Happy #Bloomsday to those who celebrate!
Dr Ciarán McDonnell@drciaranmcdonnell.bsky.social · last yr."Billy Pitt had them built, Buck Mulligan said, when the French were on the sea." Joyce's Ulysses opens at the Martello tower at Sandycove. Tower No. 11 South, built in 1804 as one of 29 towers defending Dublin bay. 1/2 #Bloomsday
#DIBLives 'He acted from the greatest, the purest motives.' Betrayed by Francis Magan for a £1000 reward, Lord Edward Fitzgerald was shot in the shoulder while being arrested & died of his injuries #OTD 1798. His capture dealt a serious blow to the United Irish leadership. www.dib.ie/biography/fi...
William Burton Conyngham, colonel of the Donegal Militia, died #OTD in 1796. William was a very interesting figure involved in politics, economics, the military & the arts, including a founding member of the @ria.ie #18thC #IrishHistory
The Battle of Tara, fought on this day in 1797. #18thC #skystorians #IrishHistory
Dr Ciarán McDonnell@drciaranmcdonnell.bsky.social · last yr.On this day in 1798, the Battle of Tara. Having gathered at the ancient & symbolic Hill of Tara in the preceding days, the United Irishmen and Defenders of Meath (including two of my ancestors) were finally defeated when government forces attacked the camp that evening. #18thC #IrishHistory 1/8
On this day in 1455 the War of the Roses began with the First Battle of St Albans. King Henry VI and his army held the town centre, and the Duke of York's army attacked from the east. Fierce fight took place here on Sopwell Lane, the Yorkists attack here led by the Earl of Salisbury. 1/6
Daniel Charles had left the Brigade by this point. He returned to France during the Peace of Amiens but then found himself under house arrest. With the Restoration he was able to retire, with two pensions: as a colonel in the British army & a general in the French army. 7/7
However Protestant opposition to this Catholic brigade meant that the regiments had to serve outside of Britain, Ireland or even Europe. Pitt's Irish Brigade was forced to garrison British possessions in the West Indies and Nova Scotia, and most were lost to tropical disease. 6/7
After the royalist defeats he sailed to London, where he lobbied & was eventually successful in convincing William Pitt to authorise the recreation of the Irish Brigade in British Army, using Franco Irish émigré officers & Irish Catholic rank and file. 5/7 journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
A ‘Fair Chance’? The Catholic Irish Brigade in the British Service, 1793–1798 - Ciarán McDonnell, 2016
The Irish Brigade in the British service, formed in the 1790s, was composed of Irish Catholic soldiers, who had recently regained official permission to serve i...
journals.sagepub.com
Daniel served in Minorca (1781) & saved the life of the Comte d'Artois (future Charles X) at the Siege of Gibraltar in 1782. Initially he tried to ride out the storm of the Revolution & was appointed to brevet general, but he eventually left & joined the Army of the Princes. 4/7
Daniel Charles emigrated & joined the French army in 1761, initially in the Royal Swedish Regiment, then the Irish Brigade, back to the Swedish and finally being appointed to the Salm-Salm German regiment. 3/7
Daniel Charles was uncle to Daniel 'the Liberator' O'Connell and part of the O'Connell clan of Derrynane Co. Kerry who had built their fortune on smuggling to France and Spain in the 18thC. Daniel Charles' brother was Maurice 'Hunting Cap' O'Connell, & clan patriarch. 2/7
Born #OTD in 1745, Comte Daniel Charles O'Connell. A career officer in the Bourbon army who left France during the Revolution, he masterminded the new but ultimately ill-fated Catholic Irish Brigade in the British Army. #18thC #WildGeese #IrishDiaspora 1/7
Fontenoy was the high water mark for the Irish Brigade in the French army, and was evoked many times in later nationalist rhetoric, right up to the early 20thC. It still is to an extent, but has been superceded by later events. My thanks to @ria.ie for helping fund this research. #RIAgrants 6/6
Irish also fought on the Allied side, incl. the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons. Some of the Irish Brigade would end up facing the same regiments (& Cumberland) a year later at Culloden. Lt Col Walter Stapleton, promoted to Brig. General after Fontenoy, would be killed at Culloden. 5/6
The Irish Brigade lost 1/4 of its officers & 1/3 of its men at Fontenoy, one of the bloodiest battles of the decade. The Irish Brigade captured the only Allied colours that day (later burned in Les Invalides by Napoleon's men in 1814 to deny its possession by the Russians). 4/6
Fontenoy was quickly framed as a distinctly French (royal) victory, despite Marshal Maurice de Saxe being the real architect of victory, and Voltaire's poem in praise of the victory ignored the Irish Brigade in favour of French troops. 3/6
The French were in a strong position: the regiments of Lally, Dillon, Roth, Bulkeley, Clare & Berwick (c 3800 men) were on the French left (no. 9), & led an important counterattack when the British column penetrated the French first line. A British victory turned into defeat. 2/6
OTD in 1745 the Irish Brigade led a charge at Fontenoy, helping secure victory for the French over an allied army led by Britain's Duke of Cumberland. Louis XV wrote the next day describing the battle that restored France's military prestige.(📷 NAM London) #WildGeese #18thC #c18th #Jacobite (1/6)
Our illicit whisky still bit is featured at 25mins in to the programme www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
Reporting Scotland - News at Seven: 11/05/2026
More from the day’s top stories and communities across Scotland.
bbc.co.uk
Quick reminder: when someone says, “May the Force be with you,” the Vatican updated the response to be more in line with the OG Latin. Don’t forget to say “and also with your spirit.”
yoda and obi wan are standing next to each other in a dark room
Alt: yoda and obi wan are standing next to each other as ghosts
media.tenor.com
A lovely stroll (and climb) around Bective Abbey this morning.
The Battle of Culloden, fought #OTD in 1746. #WildGeese #skystorians #JacobiteHistory #18thC
Dr Ciarán McDonnell@drciaranmcdonnell.bsky.social · 2y agoThe Battle of Culloden was fought OTD in 1746. Among the Jacobite army were some #WildGeese: Fitzjames Horse & the Irish Piquets, volunteers from the regiments of Dillon, Rooth, Lally & Berwick. Have a look through some material I gathered in Paris at the military archives (📷 SHD Vincennes).. #18thC
As part of the #JacobiteNations workshop this past weekend, we were treated to a special viewing of some of @uoacollections.bsky.social's gorgeous artifacts. Here I'm gingerly holding a pristine scroll butt pistol believed to be owned by Col John Roy Stuart during the '45. #museums #scottishhistory
We have a new episode of Amplify Archaeology Podcast out today! I was delighted to be joined by Dr Daniel Curley as we discussed the Uí Chellaig lords of Uí Maine and Tír Maine, and the landscapes of Medieval Gaelic Ireland. #Ireland #SpéirGhorm #Archaeology 🏺 #IrishHistory #IrishPodcasts
