This is Part 37 of our Ireland trip, the second part of our tour through King John's Castle. Built in the 13th century by King Johns Castle has had a very long and turbulent history.
HENRY VIII CONNECTION - Tom is an amateur historian on the English Tudor dynasty history and we found a connection to Henry VIII here.
Henry VIII display and Tom
There is some debate about why Henry VIII decided to re-conquer Ireland.
However the most immediate reason was that the Fitzgerald dynasty of Kildare, who had become the effective rulers of Ireland in the 15th century, had become very unreliable allies of the Tudor monarchs.
Rob and Henry VIII
A look from the inside of King John's Castle
The funny sign
In 1536, Henry VIII deposed the Fitzgerald dynasty as Lords Deputies of Ireland (the new Kingdom of Ireland
was declared by Henry VIII in 1541) and 1691, when the Irish Catholic
Jacobites surrendered at Limerick, confirming British Protestant
dominance in Ireland. This is sometimes called the early modern period.
THE SIGN WITH A TWISTED SENSE OF HUMOR - Right after the display about Henry VIII, there were several (fake) heads on pikes, hung on the wall. During Henry's reign, whenever someone was beheaded, they would put their head on a pike on the London Tower Bridge. What I found oddly funny, was just 25 feet away from that display was a sign telling people what direction to walk for the next exhibit. The sign said "Head this Way!" OUR SHORT VIDEO: We took a quick video (22 seconds) pan around the castle. It was extremely windy, and you'll hear the wind in this video!
This is part 36 of our Ireland Trip, where we drove to the city of Limerick and visited King John's Castle Museum. This was truly one
of the best-ever castle visits. It was in the ruins of a castle that
also housed a new museum. The outlying castle wall remained in place as
did part of the original castle. A new museum was built inside that had
historic displays, short videos, lots of amazing history, and you even
got to walk under the castle and see an archeological dig that uncovered
different walls, and outlines of rooms.
King John's Castle museum was by far one of the best museum-type
attraction we've ever visited. So, come along with us as we take you
through some of the castle!
Tom as a Viking in King John's Castle
WHAT IS KING JOHN'S CASTLE? It's a 13th-century castle located on King's Island in Limerick, Ireland, next to the River Shannon.
Rob as a Knight in King John's Castle!
The site of the castle actually dates back to 922 when the Vikings lived there. The castle was built on that old Viking site by order of King John
in 1200. It's called one of the best preserved Norman castles in Europe, the walls,
towers and fortifications remain today. The remains of a Viking settlement were uncovered during archaeological excavations at the site in 1900 - which you can see on a walk under the castle museum!
WHAT IS BREHON LAW? -Early Irish law, also called Brehon law,
comprised the statutes which governed everyday life in Early Medieval
Ireland. What's interesting is that when it comes to women's rights it
was much more modern and progressive than any other law at the time. In
fact, the U.S. didn't "catch up to it until the 1900s.
Brehon law provided women equality!
They were partially eclipsed by the Norman invasion
of 1169, but underwent a resurgence in the 13th century and until the
17th century, over the majority of the island, survived into Early
Modern Ireland in parallel with English law. Some of these laws
conflicted with canon law of the Catholic church. The laws were a civil rather than a criminal
code, concerned with the payment of compensation for harm done and the
regulation of property, inheritance and contracts; the concept of
state-administered punishment for crime was foreign to Ireland's early
jurists.
model of what the castle and town looked like
WOMEN'S RIGHTS: Women could divorce and they also had property rights under this ancient Irish law. It appears that once canon law from the church took over, it removed a lot of women's rights and brought society went backward. It took 500 years to reclaim those rights for women.
I'm a simple guy who enjoys the simple things in life, especially our dogs. I volunteer for dog rescues, enjoy exercising, blogging, politics, helping friends and neighbors, participating in ghost investigations, coffee, weather, superheroes, comic books, mystery novels, traveling, 70s and 80s music, classic country music,writing books on ghosts and spirits, cooking simply and keeping in shape. You'll find tidbits of all of these things on this blog and more. EMAIL me at Rgutro@gmail.com - Rob
This is Part 37 of our Ireland trip, the second part of our tour through King John's Castle. Built in the 13th century by King Johns Castle has had a very long and turbulent history. 
