Expugnatio Hibernica
| Expugnatio Hibernica | |
|---|---|
| The conquest of Ireland | |
| Also known as | Vaticinalis Historia; The Prophetic History |
| Author(s) | Gerald of Wales |
| Dedicated to | Richard I of England, John, King of England |
| Language | Latin |
| Date | 1189 |
| State of existence | Extant |
| First printed edition | 1577 |
| Genre | Narrative history |
| Subject | Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland |
The Expugnatio Hibernica, or The Conquest of Ireland, is a medieval historical narrative by Gerald of Wales on the twelfth-century Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. Completed in c. 1189, a second recension was issued c. 1209.
It was a popular medieval work and survives in thirty-six manuscripts, most in Latin but some in English and Irish. It was first published, abridged, in the 1577 edition of Holinshed's Chronicles and then in full in the 1587 edition. A 1602 publication by William Camden brought it to wider attention and triggered broad attacks on its veracity by Irish apologists who considered it a concoction of lies, though modern scholarship is more sympathetic.
Though a flawed work, biased towards Gerald's family and against the Irish, it is considered the main source regarding the invasion and one of the most important works for the history of medieval Ireland.