The escape of the beauteous Alice Le Kyteler
In 1324, Alice Le Kyteler — original owner of this Kilkenny inn — was accused with various accomplices of witchcraft. Beauteous and clever, the daughter of a Norman banker, Alice had survived four husbands and amassed no small fortune. All this excited the jealousy of powerful contemporaries. Alice was tried, found guilty, and condemned to be…
Read MoreIt’s not all that far to Tipperary
It’s not that far to Tipperary — not if you start in Kilkenny. That’s what we did. The statue to the left commemorates John and Patrick Saul, two boys abandoned by their parents at the docks in Dublin. The butcher and his wife boarded a ship for Australia after first telling their sons, ages 15…
Read MoreThis ship carried thousands across the Atlantic
Here we have the Dunbrody Famine Ship in New Ross, County Wexford — one of the finest memorials of the Great Hunger in all Ireland. I’ve posted about visiting the EPIC emigration museum, the exhibition at St. Stephen’s Green, and the Jeannie Johnston. Since then the biggest surprise has been the Famine Exhibition in the…
Read MoreHow the Irish Famine Changed the World
The terrible parallels hit you like a bucket of cold water in the face — at least if you have been immersed for a while in Scotland’s Highland Clearances. Check out the image to the right. Looks like it could be from a Scottish Clearance in Sutherland or Glengarry, or perhaps Lewis, Uist or Barra.…
Read MoreA merciless takedown of Mackenzie King
I was taken with Roy MacLaren’s new book about Mackenzie King and said as much in this review that turned up on May 13 in the Globe and Mail. (Special to the Globe) After talking privately with Adolf Hitler in Berlin, Wailliam Lyon Mackenzie King concluded that the German Fuhrer was a fellow mystic who…
Read MoreFur-trade rascals are making for McMaster
So here is an early heads-up on a Hamilton event where I will be giving a talk on June 4. What happened is that the library at McMaster University acquired an extraordinary collection of papers from the estate of the late Dr. William Bensen. Dr. Bensen was a medical doctor with a passion for Canadian history, and…
Read MoreWriters’ retreat set to go at Tamarack in July
So that one-week writing-workshop-retreat in the Haliburton Highlands? I have been remiss in not reminding folks that it is happening from Sunday July 7 to Friday July 12. Yes, I will be serving as writer-in-residence at Tamarack Lodge Cottage Resort and Art Centre, which is two and a half hours north of Toronto. Situated on a…
Read MoreCeltic Life International looks to Highlanders
The latest edition of Celtic Life International is turning up at newsstands around the world. It features an excerpt from my forthcoming book Flight of the Highlanders: The Making of Canada, which is now available for pre-order. The excerpt begins like so: In his bestsellers How the Scots Invented Canada and Celtic Lightning, Ken McGoogan wrote…
Read MoreArctic Expedition makes John Rae history
THEY MADE IT! Today at 3:45 p.m. Mountain Time, David Reid and Richard Smith called me in Toronto from the John Rae plaque overlooking Rae Strait. They had just completed a 650-km trek from Naujaat (Repulse Bay) to Point de la Guiche. They took just 29 days to complete this prodigious feat in blizzards and…
Read MoreArctic Return Expedition nears objective
Veteran explorer Frank Wolf took this classic shot of the two still-active members of Arctic Return dealing with rough ice. After a tough day of slogging through foggy conditions, David Reid (in red) and Richard Smith got their first glimpse of Rasmussen Basin, which lies off the west coast of Boothia Peninsula. Translation: they are…
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