Emmett O'Byrne

Who is Emmett O'Byrne?

Emmett O'Byrne is an Irish historian whose primary research interests are the history of Medieval Ireland and Early Modern Ireland, focusing in particular on Gaelic Ireland. Further research interests include the development of the common law in Ireland from 1169, competing laws among the marches of medieval Ireland and the peoples and frontiers of medieval Europe.

O'Byrne was educated at De La Salle College, Wicklow and at St Peter's College, Wexford. From 1992 to 19955 he read history and classics in University College Dublin, receiving his BA in 1995. He attended Trinity College Dublin to study for an MPhil in medieval history, completing his masters in 1996. He spent much of 1997 working in northern Israel on Kibbutz Ga'aton, travelling widely through the Middle East. In late 1997, he returned to Ireland to begin his doctoral thesis on the Irish of Leinster 1156–1606 for which he was awarded his doctorate in July 2001.

During the years 1999–2003, OByrne worked as a contributor to the Royal Irish Academy's forthcoming Dictionary of Irish Biography, completing some two hundred and twenty eight biographical articles on Irish historical figures. Further publications have appeared in various collections of essays on Irish history and contributions to the Medieval Encyclopaedia of Ireland. His book War, politics and the Irish of Leinster, 1156–1606 was published by Four Courts Press in 2003, receiving critical acclaim in a number of international journals such as Speculum, The English Historical Review and Celtica.