The Kingdom of Leinster is one of the Kingdoms of Hibernia, a political division among the Changelings of Ireland.
Overview[]
The Eastern counties of Louth, Longford, Meath, West Meath, Dublin, Offaly, Kildare, Laois, Wicklow, Carlow, Kilkenny, and Wexford make up the province of Leinster. From its midlands (often called the cradle of Irish civilization) to its southeastern shores (close enough to England to invite invasion), this varied land of pastures, hills, rivers, lakes, and bogs bears the burden of history with dignity and humor.
Dublin[]
The capital of the Republic of Ireland, Dublin holds nearly one-third of the Republic’s population. From its origins in the ninth century as a Viking outpost, the city’s strategic location at the mouth of the River Liffey facing England’s west coast has placed Dublin in the forefront of Irish history. The seat of British power for many centuries, it was also the center of the doomed Easter Rising of 1916. Its contradictory nature, which combines Nationalist sentiment with an appreciation for the best of British culture, has resulted in the blend of Anglo-Irish and Roman Catholic traditions that set Dubliners apart from the rest of the Republic’s population.
The River Liffey, spanned by no fewer than seven bridges, divides the city along an east-west axis. North of the Liffey are several buildings and sites associated with the Easter Rising and the Irish Civil War of 1920-21, including the Dublin GPO (General Post Office), O’Connell Street with its statue of “The Liberator,” the Four Courts and the Custom House. Here, too, the James Joyce Cultural Centre celebrates the life and works of Dublin’s greatest writer, while the Abbey Theatre, founded in 1898 under the support of W.B. Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory, provides a venue for dramatic productions by Irish playwrights. St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Dublin’s major Catholic church, is home to the illustrious Palestrina Choir.
Even more monuments to Dublin’s rich culture and history lie south of the Liffey. Trinity College, founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I, now serves as the repository for Ireland’s greatest treasure, the Book of Kells. In addition, Trinity Chapel has the distinction of being the Republic’s only interdenominational church. Trinity College is a favorite gathering place for Ireland’s Kithain drawn to scholarly and cultural means of gathering Glamour. Sir Odhran, King Bran’s archivist, occupies a curatorial position here in his mortal guise.
The National Gallery house many works by Irish painters, including an entire room devoted to the paintings of Jack Yeats, considered to be one of the country’s most important artists. Dublin Castle, the heart of British rule for 700 years, has undergone numerous renovations and reconstructions since its erection in the 13th century. Today, it is a national monument and conference center. Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin’s premier Protestant establishment, houses the remains of Richard de Clare, known as Strongbow, leader of the Anglo-Irish nobles whose arrival in Ireland signaled the beginning of English rule.
Architecturally, Dublin reflects a kaleidoscope of styles, from remnants of the medieval city to the splendid 18th century Georgian town houses of the Age of Elegance. Wide thoroughfares such as O’Connell and Parnell Streets give way to narrow, mazelike back-streets. In addition to a cosmopolitan collection of shops that range from major department stores to specialty shops and boutiques featuring traditional and contemporary wares, Dublin hosts a boundless supply of restaurants and drinking establishments, many of which feature traditional music in addition to more modern bands.
- See also Leinster House
Wexford[]
The capital of County Wexford, southernmost of Leinster’s territories, is noteworthy as the site of the Wexford Opera Festival, an international affair that supplies the local Kithain with a yearly infusion of Glamour, and of Selskar Abbey, where King Henry II was alleged to have repented for the murder of Thomas à Becket. The nearby Wexford Wildfowl Preserve hosts a variety of swans, waders, and birds of prey as well as serving as the winter home for a large number of Greenland white-fronted geese.
Wicklow Mountains[]
- Main article: Wicklow Mountains (WOD)
South of Dublin, in County Wicklow, lie the Wicklow Mountains, long a refuge for rebels against the British Crown. Once part of the area known as the Pale, these mountains served as a home for warlords of the O’Toole clan. After the abortive uprising of 1798, many rebels hid out here until the British carved its Military Road through the landscape in an attempt to get at the fugitives.
The mountains themselves are watered by several rivers and lakes and include Powerscourt Waterfall, Ireland’s highest cascade, where the River Dargle flows over a granite escarpment to its base 130 meters below. The Sally Gap, Vale of Clara (with its miniscule village consisting of a church, a school, and a pair of houses), the monastery ruins of Glendalough, and the glen of Glenmacnass are other noteworthy sites in the area.
Warlords of Wicklow vs. Caretakers of St. Kevin[]
The Wicklow Mountains hold two rival groups of Kithain, one Unseelie and the other nominally Seelie but more eccentric than anything else. Within the hills bear the Sally Gap lies a freehold created in secret by Kithain disaffected with King Bran’s assumption of the rule of Leinster. Kindled by stolen balefire, the ruins of a cottage thought to be associated with Michael Dwyer, one of the leaders of the 1798 rebellion, serve as the headquarters of the Warlords of Wicklow. Led by a clurichaun calling himself O'Toole, this collection of nockers, boggans, redcaps, and pooka plot the overthrow of Bran and Ravage the tourists to the region under the guise of “friendly locals” eager to give tours of the area’s historic sites. Many who succumb to them come away thoroughly depressed instead of revitalized by their connection to Irish history.
On the other end of the spectrum, the area near Glendalough monastery is home to the Caretakers of St. Kevin, a group of Kithain drawn by the various legends associated with the holy hermit. A member of the royal house of Leinster in the 5th century, Kevin renounced his heritage to dwell in a cell (or cave according to some tales) near Glendalough, where he founded a monastery dedicated to healing the sick and illuminating manuscripts. His extraordinary lifespan (120 years) has convinced the Caretakers that St. Kevin was actually one of the fae.
This circle, led by the ascetic sidhe Iarfhlaith (pronounced YAR-lath) Finleigh, occupies a freehold atop the site of St. Kevin’s Cell, the ruins of a beehive hut in which the saint was thought to make his home (when he wasn’t living in a cave, presumably). They devote themselves to contemplation and to undoing the work of the Warlords, attempting to re-inspire mortals drained by the Unseelie Ravagers. They owe nominal fealty to the King of Wicklow (one of Bran’s nobles), but prefer not to go crying to their liege, feeling it is their duty to wage their campaign against the Warlords in private, as their namesake would have done.
Valley of the Boyne[]
The fertile valley of the River Boyne, which flows through County Meath, contains a wealth of landmarks significant to Ireland’s past. Megalithic structures such as the passage tombs of Newgrange, Dowth, and Knowth jockey for the limelight with the faded splendor of the Hill of Tara, once the seat of Irish high kings, and Christian monuments such as the Hill of Slane, the location of St. Patrick’s famous paschal flame.
Later history catapulted the Boyne Valley into prominence as the site of William of Orange’s decisive victory over the Irish armies loyal to James II. The banks of the river are home to all sorts of wildlife, including kingfishers, herons, and cormorants. In places, stretches of whitewater provide a challenge for canoers.
Hill of Tara []
The low, grassy hill where once the high kings of Ireland held court houses a collection of Iron Age forts and other earthwork structures, although their original purposes are not readily apparent to viewers unfamiliar with what they are seeing. An oval fort, the Royal Enclosure, surrounds an earthen structure known as Conor’s House, site of the Lia Fail or “stone of destiny” upon which the high kings were crowned.
Newgrange to Dowth: The Court of Leinster[]
Although it is Ireland’s most celebrated passage tomb, the impressive mound of Newgrange has had its inherent Glamour, invested by its original creators, greatly weakened by its popularity as an archaeological dig and tourist attraction. Before the Sundering, the Seelie Court of Leinster met within its vast underground chambers from Beltaine to Samhain. Symbolic of the renewal of life and the coming of spring, on the Winter Solstice, sunrise sends a shaft of light down the 65-foot passage to light the central chamber.
At Samhain, honoring the twofold tradition of Winter and Summer Courts, the now Unseelie Court would move their location to Dowth, where the setting sun illuminated its innermost chamber on the Winter Solstice. Linked to an ancient Druid curse, the name Dubad (or “darkness”) was placed on Dowth, a fitting name perhaps for the darkness of the Unseelie Court.
Upon their return from Arcadia, the sidhe of Leinster attempted to recover their original court at Newgrange but found it sadly unsuitable. Now the full-time Seelie Court meets in the formerly Unseelie chamber beneath Dowth in an area chimerically reconstructed to give the impression of a forest glade under Arcadian skies.
A secret trod connects Newgrange and Dowth, and it is this passage that the Court uses to enter, rather than approach their new home directly.
References[]
- CTD: Immortal Eyes: Court of All Kings, pp. 62-66.