Journeying Beyond Westeros

Medieval Ulster was characterised by a series of lordships each competing for domination over their territories against internal and external rivals. Within this number are the “Thirteen Lordships of Medieval Ulster” fighting for supremacy, not unlike the rulers of the seven mythical Kingdoms of the Game of Thrones, much of which was filmed against a backdrop of Ulster’s medieval castles, monasteries and timeless landscape. Today we can enjoy both the mythical world of Westeros and go beyond Westeros to the real events and the real lords who played out their power struggles here. 

Gaelic Ulster had systems of kinship, landholding, tribute and wealth accumulation at odds to the Anglo-Normans who entered the political landscape in the 12th century. When John de Courcy defeated the MacDunleavys in 1177 it ushered in a new era. The English established the Earldom of Ulster. They brought with them new religious orders, new forms of landownership and inheritance practices, and a new kind of wealth creation that relied on the extraction of rents. A later resurgence of the Gaelic chiefs saw the Maginneses and the Clandeboye O‘ Neills rise to power and hold swathes of territory until the end of the 1500s.

StoryMap created by Dr Siobhán McDermott, Queen's University Belfast.