[Jay Davis]

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

I will be visiting Ireland in June for 3 weeks. I'll be spending time in Dublin and the Southwest (Killarney, but I'll have a car, so I can get to Cork, and other nearby cities.) I would very much appreciate your advice. I am looking for museums that would be in the areas that I am visiting that would have swords, and other arms on display. Anyone else who's traveled there and would like to give me any other recommendations or advice is welcome to do so!

Thanks, Jay Davis

[B. Fulton]

I'll be there around next week.

Here's where we're hitting in Dublin:


Kilkenny Castle
Rothe House
Rock of Cashel
Malahide Castle
Trinity College
Dublin Castle
National Gallery
Rothfarnham

1 or two of those are in the "outside Dublin area" but we're based out of there for the time. I think Rothe House and Trinity College are actually garb musuems (wife's stuff, she makes garb) but that's a decent starter list.

[Shayan G]

I'm here right now! Haha.

Most of the list sounds great, except I'd minimize the time in Dublin Castle. It's kind of disappointing, at least it was to me--it's been fiddled with and modernized so much that the inside looks mostly like a very classy hotel or antiquey tea-room. The outside is interesing--largely thanks to the creative use of paint--but I wouldn't spend more than ten minutes looking at it, especially not with the Chester Beatty Library 200 yards away.

Incidentally, though not STRICTLY about medieval weapons, The Chester Beatty Library is probably my favorite history-oriented attraction in Dublin. In one short visit, you can see some of the first recorded Gospels of the Bible, some of the most beautiful illuminated Qurans in the Western World, and amazing calligraphy and prayers from Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian sources. I go there often, and I cannot recommend it enough.

The National Museum (the archaeological/historical one) has an AMAZING selection of swords and spears, ranging from the bronze age to the Renaissance. I lingered there for hours, flabbergasted that I could recognize so many of them from Albion or Windlass reproductions! ULFBERHT is there, and some particularly amazing ring-hilts. I was surprised by the elegance of the bronze age spears, I--and I suspect many others in this age of 58HRC performance swords--marginalized that entire era in my head as nothing but a transition from stone-age barbarity to Medieval craftsmanship. I was taken aback by how aesthetically pleasing and also deadly they appeared. More so than most medieval weapons I've seen!

One thing that confused me though is that for "materials" they listed iron for all of the (non-bronze) swords, even those that were clearly steel...oh well. I'm sure some WERE iron, but not, for example, the 16th century ringhilt, which was definitely steel.

One more place you might try, if you want to swing over to the West counties a bit, is Kylemore Abbey:
http://www.kylemoreabbey.com/

Fáilte go Éire!!

[Doug Strong]

I would greatly appreciate it if you found yourself in the National Museum in Dublin and you could obtain photographs or information about the fragmentary bascinet they have in their collection. It is references in passing on page 54 of John Hunt's Irish Medieval Figure Sculpture: 1200-1600. It may not be on display. If you ask a docent about it they may be able to point you in the right direction
It is one of two know pieces of medieval armour ever found in Ireland. The other is a barbute in Ulster. I am cataloging as many possible surviving examples of plate armour from the age of the transition from mail to plate (1250-1430) This would fill a nice gap in my research.

[Jay Davis]

Thanks for your time, gentlemen.

Doug, I would be happy to ask about the Bascinet and take photos or gain other info if I am reasonably able to do so.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated. I'm 35 and never had a chance to travel abroad, so as you can imagine, even with the trip 2.5 months away, I'm really excited.

[B. Fulton]

On another forum I posted the complete list of where we're going (pretty much every single major museum in London, Dublin, York, Paris, plus Versailles, Bayeux, and Normandy).

I'll get the description off here and do my best. Anything else you want covered? I'll make a seperate post.


Jay, I've been to dang near half the countries in the world (at last count.... Korea, Canada, Mexico, England, Israel, Lebanon, Qatar, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, The Vatican, Germany...probably missing one or two) and traveling never quite gets dull. Europe is so full of neat stuff to see, I've been here nearly 3 years and still haven't seen enough. San Marino was worth a day, and I could have spent two.... tiny little republic full of original castellated towers and armor.

Bring comfortable shoes, and "Euroflage". Button down shirts, khakis or cargo pants, a good weatherproof jacket and a small/medium shoulder bag will let you blend in nearly anywhere unless you're a 6'9 NBA player.

[Shayan G]

[Jay Davis]

Not to get too far OT, but tell me more of this "Euroflage". I rarely wear jeans (olive slacks or cargos) and I usually have a messenger bag on me, but I prefer Tshirts to button downs. I'm guessing you are saying, don't go over there in jeans/sneakers/loud tshirt/baseball cap that screams "I'M AMERICAN".

[B. Fulton]

What I described is fairly common wear for European males in our age range (25-40ish), especially if you wear a hat for some reason (despite hats not being as common as they used to be). I've been asked in numerous Italian cities (in Italian) where various places are, the same in Austria and even Slovenia. This despite the fact that visually at least, I look very Asian (from my mom's side of the family).

Wearing "business casual" more or less, polo shirts or button downs, with cargo pants or khakis, some decent hiking boots, and a jacket and bag is very common. Jeans are fairly common if you're working and much more common among the younger people so you can get away with it, but to REALLY blend in, that's what I wear.

[Merv Cannon]

[Doug Strong]

[Shayan G]

Sorry for the delay in my response! I'll definitely be able to go to the museum sometime at the end of this week (two essays due Wednesday have knocked out the rest of it as a possibility)

I'll look for the bascinet, and go on a picture raid into the Viking and medieval Irish sword and armor exhibits.

Be forewarned! My photographic skills are...wanting. I'll do my best, but it may take multiple trips if they don't show up on my monitor without looking like blurry atrocities.

If you have any other requests, send them on in!

[B. Fulton]

We'll be there tomorrow I believe. ALready have a ton of Viking/Celtic stuff from the Brit Museum and a few other places though I didn't get to go to the Jorvik.

Anyone needing pics from Kilkenny Castle or the Rock of Cashel, we'll be there today. Malahide in a day or two as well.