J. T. Gilbert, Esq., History of the Viceroys of Ireland, with notices of the Castle of Dublin and its chief occupants in former times (Dub:James Duffy 15 Wellington-Quay 1865), 613pp.

12 Chps. covering history from 1166 ad., deposal of Dermod, to 1509, close of reign of Henry VII. [Library of Herbert Bell.]

The introductory chapter, dealing with relevant pre-conquest history of Ireland, begins: ‘From the earliest period of our authentic history, Ireland was divided into five provinces—Leinster, Ulstr, Connaught, and the two Munsters. Each province was governed by its own king, and from the five provincial rulers was elected a Monarch, or nominal high king of the entire island, enjoying as such the central territory of Meath. The government was that [styled] the clan-system, requiring warlike kings and chiefs to defend the rights of the tribes, which, owning the territories, elected them to rule only so long as they should continue to evince the sagacity and prowess demanded of their position. Under the clan-system the people led mainly a pastoral life, in the interior of the island; but in the course of ages, towns sprang up on portions of the coasts, where the commodities of England, France, and Spain were bartered for the products of Ireland. / Of these towns Dublin became the most important ...’

Enthusiastic notices on Gilbert’s Viceroys from Athenaeum, Dublin Review, Fortnightly Review, Dublin Univ. Mag., London Review, Tablet, Dublin’s Freeman’s Journal, Saunder’s Newsletter, Dublin Evening Mail, and Irish Times, attached.