Angela’s Ashes
Frank McCourt
Non Fiction- Autobiography- Memoir
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Frank McCourt was born in 1930 in Brooklyn,
New York, to Irish immigrant parents, grew up in
Limerick, Ireland, and at the age of nineteen,
returned to the United States. Surviving initially
through a string of casual jobs, spending every
spare minute reading books from the public
library, Frank began a process of self-education
and improvement that led, eventually, to a career
as a high-school teacher. For twenty-seven years
he taught in various New York City public
schools, the last seventeen of which were spent
at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan.
After retiring from teaching, Frank and his brother
Malachy performed a two-man show titled "A
Couple of Blackguards," a musical review about
their Irish youth. Then, in his sixties, Frank
McCourt sat down and began writing about his
past. The tales of his childhood that he had told
many times to his classes at school and in the
bars of New York soon took shape as the highly
acclaimed memoir that is Angela's Ashes (1999).
Published initially in the United States, it went
straight into the bestseller lists and then crossed
the Atlantic to take the bookshops by storm in
Ireland, in the rest of Europe, and around the
world. Frank McCourt lives with his wife Ellen in
New York City and Connecticut.
• Critical Reputation
New York Times best
seller list NOS 1 for
52 weeks
The National Book
Critics Circle Award
The LA Times Award
Winner Pulitzer Prize
1999 (USA Only)
Background
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Irish question
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Irish Question)
Jump to: navigation, search
The Irish Question is the phrase used for the internal
dispute in Britain concerning rational Irish nationalism
and calls for independence. This ended in the separation
of an independent republic, at first known as the Irish
Free State, now called Ireland, from Northern Ireland
which remained part of the United Kingdom. The Irish
Question is a term from the early nineteenth century, and
the height of the independence movement was from the
Easter Rising of 1916 and the Irish Civil War in 1921,
although independence has been a political aim of Irish
nationalists since the time of Wolfe Tone. Key nationalist
leaders include O'Connell, Parnell and de Valera. Many
British politicians tried to resolve "The Irish Question",
including Disraeli, Gladstone and Peel. However, it was
such a multi-faceted conundrum that conflict remained
prevalent throughout the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries.
The Red
Branch
The Ulster
Knights
Background
The Title “Angela’s Ashes”
• Ashes were often symbolic of mortality, mourning or penance.
– Hebrew Scriptures.. Jonah and the destruction of Nineveh “the
king…lays aside his robes, puts on sackcloth and ashes….”(
Jonah 3:1-6 )
– Jeremiah 6:26 “…O daughter of my people…. roll in the ashes.
Mourn as for an only child with bitter wailing, for sudden upon us
comes the destroyer…”
– Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, the forty days before
Palm Sunday the Sunday before Easter and is always a
Wednesday. Catholics place an ash cross on their foreheads to
represent the mourning and repentance and reflection required
of the faithful.
The First Page…..
• When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I
survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood:
the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse
than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable
Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish
Catholic childhood.
. . . nothing can compare with the Irish version:
the poverty; the shiftless loquacious alcoholic father; the
pious defeated mother moaning by the fire; pompous
priests; bullying schoolmasters; the English and the
terrible things they did to us for eight hundred long years.
Above all – we were wet.
• This passage introduces McCourt’s memoir. It is one of the only
times in the narrative that we hear the adult McCourt expressing a
strong, clear opinion. From this point on, the narration proceeds
from a child’s point of view. While we are able to infer implied
opinions, the narrator never again expresses his views overtly.
Young Frank simply reports events objectively.
• In this opening passage, the author’s humour contrasts with the
bleakness of his subject matter: a child with an unhappy family life
who encounters oppressive authoritarians at church and at school,
and who is further demoralized by the historical injustices done to
his country. Throughout the autobiography, the author reports on his
trouble as he does here—with good-natured humour, and without
self-pity.
Setting
• Place
• Ireland - Limerick
• America- New York
• Time
• 1934-1949
• World war II
• Social
• Lower classes
Frank, the protanganist
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Frank McCourt
McCourt writes his memoir in the present tense from the perspective of a young boy.
The memoir often distances Frank, the young boy who simply reports on events
without forming opinions, from McCourt, who offers the reader a deeper, more adult
perspective on those events. Frank is lively and streetwise, thoughtful and sensitive.
Though physically weak and prone to infection, he has emotional strength and a
survivor mentality. He is also a highly intelligent, diligent student and a quick thinker.
As the narrative progresses, Frank strives to reach beyond the limitations forced
upon him by poverty. He becomes determined to achieve success in life and to
provide for his family and, indeed, he is relieved to leave school at age fourteen in
order to get a job. Though he does not explicitly acknowledge it, Frank is burdened by
the necessity of acting as a father figure for his family.
As Frank matures, he starts to suffer from an overwhelming sense of guilt. He worries
that by sinning he has doomed himself and the people he loves. Frank channels the
disappointments of his difficult life into self-recrimination. Frank escapes his fears and
guilt by reading, watching movies, listening to the radio, and daydreaming. He also
thinks optimistically about the future, gradually focusing not just on what he wants to
do for his family, but on what he wants to achieve for himself. Frank reconciles
himself to the fact that in order to reach America, he will have to take risks, pass up
safe jobs, and perform ethically dubious tasks such as writing threatening letters for
Mrs. Finucane and delivering Protestant newspapers.
“I’m a victim of history in Ireland and I’m a
beneficiary of history in America.”
(Pulitzer Interview)
His Father Malachy, the antagonist
• Malachy McCourt (Sr.)
• In some ways, Frank’s father can be considered the antagonist of
Angela’s Ashes, because his actions keep the McCourts destitute.
– (An antagonist is a character or obstacle in a literary work that opposes
the protagonist and causes the major conflict.)
– “I know when Dad does the bad thing. I know when he drinks the dole
money and Mam is desperate and has to beg . . . but I don’t want to
back away from him and run to Mam. How can I do that when I’m up
with him early every morning with the whole world asleep?”
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While his family suffers from crippling hunger, and his children
contract diseases caused by weakness and malnutrition, Malachy
drinks excessively and comes home roaring that his sons must be
ready to die for Ireland.
Malachy McCourt
• Frank’s father drinks himself into a stupor partially to dull the pain of
the deaths of his twin sons and baby daughter. But McCourt
emphasizes that Malachy’s drinking is more than just a means of
coping with bereavement; it is an illness that constantly jeopardizes
the survival of his family. Despite the burdens that Malachy’s
alcoholism places on Frank’s shoulders, Frank almost always
remains loyal to his father. He treasures the times that he and
Malachy sit chatting and drinking tea in front of the fire and loves his
father’s way with words, his lively imagination, and his flair for
storytelling.
• When Malachy goes to work in England, he uses his physical
distance to justify abandoning his family, leaving them without his
emotional or financial support.
His mother Angela
• Angela McCourt
• Despite constant poverty, a criminally irresponsible husband, and
the death of three of her children, Angela is a loving mother who
retains her sense of humour. Angela must sacrifice her standards of
dignity and class in order to provide for her children. Still, she never
lowers her expectations for her sons—she raises them to be wellbehaved, conscientious, kind, and hardworking men.
• Frank often reacts harshly to the measures Angela takes to help her
family, condemning her for begging outside a church and later for
sleeping with Laman Griffin. However, despite Frank’s hostility to
some of her decisions, it is clear that Angela is simply struggling to
cope under highly difficult and painful circumstances. McCourt
makes it clear that Angela’s first priority is her sons’ welfare.
His Brothers
• Malachy McCourt (Jr.) - Frank’s younger brother by
one year. Malachy is named after his father. He is more
physically attractive than Frank, and manages to charm
his way into the hearts of cantankerous people.
• Oliver and Eugene McCourt - Frank’s younger twin
brothers. They die within several months of one another,
shortly after the McCourts arrive in Limerick. Their
deaths devastate Angela, who is already grieving over
the loss of her baby girl, Margaret.
• Michael McCourt - Frank’s second youngest brother,
born in Limerick, whom Frank believes was left by an
angel on the seventh step of their house.
• Alphie McCourt - Frank’s youngest brother.
His inspirations
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Mr. O’Halloran - Frank’s headmaster and teacher during his final year at
school. “Hoppy” encourages Frank to go to America and find good
employment rather than stay in a dead-end job in Ireland.
Patricia Madigan - A young diphtheria patient whom Frank meets in the
hospital while he is recovering from typhoid. Patricia reads poems to Frank
and jokes with him.
Seamus - The hospital janitor who helps Frank and Patricia communicate,
and who later recites poetry to Frank in the eye hospital.
Mr. Timoney - An old eccentric to whom Frank reads Jonathan Swift’s
satirical essay “A Modest Proposal.” Mr. Timoney becomes a close friend of
Frank’s, in part because he respects Frank and treats him like an adult.
The Hannons - Bridey Hannon is Angela’s neighbor in Roden Lane and
her favorite confidante. Bridey gives her friend much-needed support and
empathy. Bridey’s father is Mr. Hannon, whom Frank grows to love like a
father after the old man gives him his first job delivering coal.
The women
• Grandma - Grandma helps the McCourts whenever she can,
although she remains suspicious of Malachy Sr.’s northern Irish
roots and insists that Frank has inherited his father’s “odd manner.”
• Aunt Aggie - Angela’s sister and Frank’s miserly aunt. Aunt Aggie
initially resents the McCourt children. Although she never ceases to
be rude and unpleasant, she proves her loyalty to the family by
helping them through tough times. p283
• The MacNamara sisters - Angela’s cousins who live in New York.
The MacNamara sisters are bossy, burly women who keep their
husbands in check and interfere in everyone else’s business.
• Theresa Carmody - A seventeen-year-old consumptive girl with
whom Frank has a sexual relationship. Frank desperately worries
about the fate of Theresa’s immortal soul, which he thinks he is
jeopardizing by having premarital sex with her.p378..
• Patricia Madigan - A young diphtheria patient whom Frank meets
in the hospital while he is recovering from typhoid. Patricia reads
poems to Frank and jokes with him.p219
The others
• Pa Keating - Frank’s warm and caring uncle. Pa
Keating bolsters Frank’s confidence and encourages him
to follow his own instincts in adulthood.
• Ab Sheehan - Angela’s brother and Frank’s uncle.
Uncle Ab was dropped on his head as a child, which
damaged his brain. Frank moves in with Ab when he
fights with his mother and Laman
• Laman Griffin - Angela’s cousin and lover for a short
time. Frank has a fight with Laman that causes Frank to
move in with his Uncle Ab.
• Peter Dooley - Frank’s hunchbacked friend who wants
to work for the BBC as a radio
Themes
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Fear
Poverty
Religion
Social Injustice
Social inequality of women
Alcoholism
Family
Love and the lack of Love
Rite of Passage
Themes
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Religion
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Ever present in Angela's Ashes is the Catholic Church.
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In what ways does the Catholic Church of McCourt's Ireland hurt its members and
limit their experience?
How does the Church protect and nurture its followers?
What is Frank's attitude toward the Church?
Fear of sin
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“It’s a sin to question what’s sent “ Peter Dooley p 212.. The Dooley sisters
“everytime I pass the graveyard I feel the sin growing in me like an abscess
and if I don’t go to confession soon I’l be nothing but an abscess riding around
on a bicycle with people pointing and telling each other, There he is, there’s
Frankie McCourt, that dirty thing that sent Theresa Carmody to hell.”
Fear of doom
Inhibition of demonstrative emotion
The role of the Priests and Nuns
Keeping the members of the church in ignorance p409
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Birth control…”the filth”.in John O’Londons Weekly ..
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Roman Catholic Religion
Salvation
Sin
Richness of culture
Holy family
The Trinity
Absolution
Communion
Prayers
Confessions
The Saints
• Seven deadly Sins
• The Seven Sacraments
• Catechism
• Stations of the cross
• The Ten Commandments
Theme
• Poverty
• Poverty makes things precious. It turns everything into jewellery (Interview for Pulitzer
Prize)
• The stink of poverty
– Shame
• To ask for help
• Angela begs – Frank pretends he didn’t see her
– Misery
• “Concurrent with shame is anger”
• He hits his mother in anger for the shame of having to sleep with……
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Contrasts
The Clohessy p183
America and Ireland
The priests and nuns
• “If you waited for tips from priests and nuns you would die on their doorstep.”
Theme
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Alcoholism-
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McCourt writes: "I think my father is like the Holy
Trinity with three people in him, the one in the morning
with the paper, the one at night with the stories and
prayers, and then the one who does the bad thing and
comes home with the smell of whiskey and wants us to
die for Ireland."
Was this your impression of Frank McCourt's father?
How can Frank write about his father without
bitterness? What part did Malachy play in creating the
person that Frank eventually became?
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Theme
• Rite of Passage
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Starts when Frank is 4
Finishes when he reaches 19
Explores his development as a person.. Using 1st person
Growth physically
• Interaction with siblings
• Friends
• Sexuality “The excitement” Masturbation
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Growth socially
– Family
– School
– work
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Growth emotionally
– Relationships
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Family
Father
Mother
Extended family
Sexually
The Church
Theme
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Persecution
Prejudice
Shame
Concurrent with shame is anger
Theme
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Survival of extreme challenges
Poverty
Hunger
Typhus
Blindness
Style
• Autobiography
• The first page…
• Discuss the originality and immediacy of Frank McCourt's
voice and the style he employs -- i.e., his sparing use of
commas, the absence of quotation marks.
• How, through a child's voice and perspective, does McCourt
establish and maintain credibility?
• 1st person narrative
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Naivety
Voice Childlike Simple sentences
Grammar No punctuation
Syntax Running sentences
Example
• The master says it’s a glorious thing to die for
the Faith and Dad says it’s a glorious thing to die
for Ireland and I wonder if there’s anyone in the
world who would like us to live. My brothers are
dead and my sister is dead and I wonder if they
died for Ireland or the Faith. Dad says they were
too young to die for anything. Mam says it was
disease and starvation and him never having a
job. Dad says, Och, Angela, puts on his cap and
goes for a long walk.
Example
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P 219
Conversation with Patricia Madigan
Childlike
Single word responses
Death is not an issue
Exploring what makes Frank and Patricia
important.
• Humour.
• “You won’t be able to stop marching and
saluting”
Style
• Story telling Irish tradition
• Use of Irish Mythology
– Cuchulain
– Use of Irish songs and lyrics
– Songs and lyrics are prominently featured in Angela's
Ashes.
• How do these lyrics contribute to the unique voice of this
memoir?
• How does music affect Frank's experiences?
• How do you think it continues to influence his memories of
his childhood?
Style
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Tone
Humour compassion
Mood
sombre
Conclusion
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Reaction to the text
Despite the McCourts' horrid poverty, mindnumbing starvation, and devastating losses,
Angela's Ashes is not a tragic memoir. In fact,
it is uplifting, triumphant even. How does
McCourt accomplish this?
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Anger
Sadness
Frustration
Absolution?
America Land of Hope and Glory
• I’m on deck the dawn we sail into New
York. I’m sure I’m in a film, that it will end
and lights will come up in the Lyric
Cinema. . . . Rich Americans in top hats
white ties and tails must be going home to
bed with the gorgeous women with white
teeth. The rest are going to work in warm
comfortable offices and no one has a care
in the world.
The denouement..
• Frank’s arrival in America at the conclusion of Angela’s Ashes is
presented as a dream sequence. The narrator’s surreal perceptions
of American life—men dressed in top hats and accompanied by
beautiful women—are more poignant than ridiculous, for they show
how Frank has come to idealize the country of his birth.
• We assume that Frank’s vision will be tainted once he gets off the
boat, but a few pages later, he actually does go home to bed with a
gorgeous woman, and we begin to have hope that his life in America
will be more successful than even he ever dreamed.
• The church in the from of the priest can not make him feel any
shame for the act of sex with a married woman… America is the
land of hope
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Tis…….
• Ten Commandments
BACK
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The Seven Sacraments
The Sacraments in General
Form
Intention
Matter
Sacraments
Baptism
Baptism
Baptismal Font
Baptismal Vows
Christian Names
Confirmation
Confirmation
The Holy Eucharist
Communion of Children
Communion of the Sick
Communion under Both Kinds
Eucharist
Early Symbols of the Eucharist
Frequent Communion
Holy Communion
Real Presence
The Blessed Eucharist as a Sacrament
The Blessed Eucharist as a Sacrifice
Viaticum
Holy Anointing
Extreme Unction
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Holy Matrimony
Banns of Marriage
Betrothal
Civil Marriage
Divorce (in Moral Theology)
Divorce (in Civil Jurisprudence)
History of Marriage
Mixed Marriage
Moral and Canonical Aspect of Marriage
Ritual of Marriage
Putative Marriage
Sacrament of Marriage
Validation of Marriage
Holy Orders
Anglican Orders
Bishop
Deaconesses
Deacons
Holy Orders
Minor Orders
Priest
Priesthood
Penance
Absolution
Attrition
Contrition
Reserved Cases
Sacrament of Penance
Seal of Confession
Seven Deadly sins
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Vice
Lust (undesired love)
Gluttony (overindulgence)
Greed (avarice)
Sloth (laziness)
Wrath (anger)
Envy (jealousy)
Pride (vanity)
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Virtue
Chastity (purity)
Moderation (self-restraint)
Generosity (vigilance)
Labor (zeal/integrity)
Meekness (composure)
Charity (giving)
Modesty (humbleness)
BACK
CLICK and view the punishments
for committing these sins
Punishments
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Sin
Pride
Envy
Wrath
Sloth
Greed
Gluttony
• Lust
Punishment in Hell
Broken on the Wheel.
Placed in freezing water.
Dismembered Alive.
Thrown in Snake Pits.
Put in pots of boiling oil.
Forced to eat rats, toads, and
snakes.
Smothered in Fire and
Brimstone.
BACK
Way of the cross
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Way of the Cross
Catholic Encyclopedia on CD-ROM
Contains 11,632 articles. Browse off-line, ad-free, printer-friendly.
Get it here for only $33 plus FREE shipping worldwide(Also called Stations of the Cross, Via Crucis, and Via Dolorosa). These names
are used to signify either a series of pictures or tableaux representing certain scenes in the Passion of Christ, each corresponding to a
particular incident, or the special form of devotion connected with such representations.
Taken in the former sense, the Stations may be of stone, wood, or metal, sculptured or carved, or they may be merely paintings or
engravings. Some Stations are valuable works of art, as those, for instance, in Antwerp cathedral, which have been much copied
elsewhere. They are usually ranged at intervals around the walls of a church, though sometimes they are to be found in the open air,
especially on roads leading to a church or shrine. In monasteries they are often placed in the cloisters. The erection and use of the
Stations did not become at all general before the end of the seventeenth century, but they are now to be found in almost every church.
Formerly their number varied considerably in different places but fourteen are now prescribed by authority. They are as follows:
Christ condemned to death;
the cross is laid upon him;
His first fall;
He meets His Blessed Mother;
Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross;
Christ's face is wiped by Veronica;
His second fall;
He meets the women of Jerusalem;
His third fall;
He is stripped of His garments;
His crucifixion;
His death on the cross;
His body is taken down from the cross; and
laid in the tomb.
The object of the Stations is to help the faithful to make in spirit, as it were, a pilgrimage to the chief scenes of Christ's sufferings and
death, and this has become one of the most popular of Catholic devotions. It is carried out by passing from Station to Station, with certain
prayers at each and devout meditation on the various incidents in turn. It is very usual, when the devotion is performed publicly, to sing a
stanza of the "Stabat Mater" while passing from one Station to the next.
BACK
Chuculain
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Hero Myths of the British Race II.
Cuchulain, Champion of Ireland
AMONG all the early literatures of Europe, there are two which, at exactly opposite corners of the continent, display
most strikingly similar characteristics. These are the Greek and the Irish, and the legend of the Irish champion
Cuchulain, which well illustrates the similarity of the literatures, bears so close a resemblance to the story of
Achilles as to win for this hero the title of “the Irish Achilles.” Certainly in reckless courage, power of inspiring dread,
sense of personal merit, and frankness of speech the Irish hero is fully equal to the mighty Greek.
Cuchulain was the nephew of King Conor of Ulster, son of his sister Dechtire, and it is said that his father was no
mortal man, but the great god Lugh of the Long Hand. Cuchulain was brought up by King Conor himself, and even
while he was still a boy his fame spread all over Ireland. His warlike deeds were those of a proved warrior, not of a
child of nursery age; and by the time Cuchulain was seventeen he was without peer among the champions of
Ulster.
Upon Cuchulain’s marriage to Emer, daughter of Forgall the Wily, a Druid of great power, the couple took up their
residence at Armagh, the capital of Ulster, under the protection of King Conor. Here there was one chief, Bricriu of
the Bitter Tongue, who, like Thersites among the Grecian leaders, delighted in making mischief. Soon he had on
foot plans for stirring up strife among the heroes of Ulster, leaders among whom were the mighty Laegaire, Conall
Cearnach, cousin of Cuchulain, and Cuchulain himself. Inviting the members of King Conor’s court to dinner, Bricriu
arranged that a contest should arise over who should have the “champion’s portion,” and so successful was he that,
to avoid a bloody fight, the three heroes mentioned decided to submit their claims to the championship of Ireland to
King Ailill of Connaught.
Ailill put the heroes to an unexpected test. Their dinner was served them in a separate room, into which three
magic beasts, in the shape of monstrous cats, were sent by the king. When they saw them Laegire and Conall rose
from their meal, climbed among the rafters, and stayed there all night. Cuchulain waited until one cat attacked him,
and then, drawing his sword, struck the monster. It showed no further sign of fight, and at daybreak the magic
beasts disappeared. As Laegire and Conall claimed that this test was an unfair one, Ailill sent the three rivals to
Curoi of Kerry, a just and wise man, who set out to discover by wizardry and enchantments the best among the
heroes. In turn they stood watch outside Curoi’s castle, where Laegire and Conall were overcome by a huge giant,
who hurled spears of mighty oak trees, and ended by throwing them over the wall into the courtyard. Cuchulain
alone withstood the giant, whereupon he was attacked by other magic foes. Among these was a dragon, which flew
on horrible wings from a neighboring lake, and seemed ready to devour everything in its way. Cuchulain sprang up,
giving his wonderful hero-leap, thrust his arm into the dragon’s mouth and down its throat, and tore out its heart.
After the monster fell dead, he cut off its scaly head. As even yet Cuchulain’s opponents would not admit his
championship, they were all three directed to return to Armagh, to await Curoi’s judgment. Here it happened that all
the Ulster heroes were in the great hall one night, except Cuchulain and his cousin Conall. As they sat in order of
rank, a terrible stranger, gigantic in stature, hideous of aspect, with ravening yellow eyes, entered. In his hand he
bore an enormous axe, with keen and shining edge. Upon King Conor’s inquiring his business there, the stranger
replied:
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Red Branch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology the Red Branch was the name of two of the three royal houses of the king of
Ulster, Conchobar mac Nessa, at his capital Emain Macha (Navan Fort, near Armagh), later used as a name of an
order of warriors, the Red Branch Knights. The name is thought by some to derive from the practice of cutting off
their enemy's heads and displaying them on the branches of trees.
The names of two of Conchobar's houses can be translated as "Red Branch", as Old Irish had two words for "red".
The Cróeb Ruad or Craoibh Ruadh ("dull red branch") was where the king sat; its name has survived as the
townland of Creeveroe in County Armagh. There is a small debate over whether the name was, in fact, Red
Branch or Royal Branch, with at least one historian[citation needed] pointing out that a scribe could have mistranscribed riadh ("royal") as ruadh. The Cróeb Derg or Craoibh Dearg ("bright red branch") was where the
severed heads and other trophies of battle were kept. His third house was called the Téite Brec or "speckled
hoard", where the heroes' weapons were stored.
In later stories the Red Branch was taken to be the name of the order of warriors, known as the Red Branch
Knights, who fought for and protected Conchobar. Cúchulainn was said to be their greatest warrior. The stories of
the Red Branch Knights and the Ulster court at Emain Macha are aristocratic in nature - the warriors being high
born and in some cases semi-divine, or nemed in Old Irish. Tales of their combat, particularly in the Táin Bó
Cúailnge, describe how the Red Branch warriors were driven to battle in chariots and fought either mounted or
dismounted with spears and swords. A major feature of their warfare was the description of single combat, where
a champion such as Cúchulainn fought a nominated champion of the opposing army to decide the outcome of a
battle.
The stories of the Red Branch Knights, though centred around Emain Macha in Ulster, take place all around
Ireland and even further afield. For instance, the hero Cuchulain gets his warrior training from a woman named
Scathach in the Western Isles of Scotland.
The legends of the Red Branch Knights were originally part of a Gaelic bardic or oral tradition. With the coming of
Christianity and Literacy to Ireland in around the fifth century AD they were written down by Christian monks. The
oldest written account of the stories are in the Book of the Dun Cow, composed in the monastery at
Clonmacnoise. Another early account appears in the Book of Leinster. Although written by Christian monks, the
essentially pagan character of the myths seem to have been preserved, complete with traditional Irish deities.
Modern usage
Both Irish nationalists and Irish Unionists have found the stories of the Red Branch Knights appealing in modern
times. Nationalists because they believed that the stories encapsulated a "pure" Gaelic Irish culture before English
or British influence, unionists because they liked the imagery of warriors defending Ulster from the rest of Ireland.
The name Red Branch Knights was used by a loyalist paramilitary group from Northern Ireland in September 1992
to claim responsibility for incendiary devices and a blast bomb left in a Dublin- based bank in Newtownabbey.
Statements were sent to the media threatening action against anyone with political or economic links with the
Republic of Ireland. They are not known to have been responsible for any casualties during the Troubles.