From Carrickfergus to Carcassonne

Paul R. Duffy, Tadhg O'Keeffe, Jean-Michel Picard

"Hinging upon the personal story of a charismatic individual - Hugh de Lacy, earl of Ulster, 'From Carrickfergus to Carcassonne' explores the wider interplay between the Gaelic, Angevin, Capetian and Occitan worlds in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. This book brings to light new research linking de Lacy to a conspiracy with the French king and details his subsequent exile and participation in the Albigensian Crusade in the south of France. The combined papers in this volume detail this remarkable story through interrogation of the historical and archaeological evidence, benefitting not just from adept scholarly study from Ireland and the UK but also from a southern French perspective. The ensemble of papers describe the two realms within which de Lacy operated, the wider political machinations which led to his exile, the Cathar heresy, the defensive architecture of...