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Spenser was known for his experience in several wars. His reputation in this regard helped secure him the nomination of Sheriff of Cork soon before his death. The Munster planters were responsible, in part, for their own security, including supplying…

On the main banqueting table in the Great Hall sits a “mether,” which is a four-sided, four-handled Irish drinking vessel carved of wood. See also the methers in the Tower House Parlor. An example from the 16th century with the provenance…

The only woodcut to be published in the 1590 and 1596 editions of The Faerie Queene is this woodcut of St George, which appeared facing the opening of Book II. It had been used by the printer of The Faerie Queene, John Wolfe, in earlier publications.…

Spenser was known for his experience in several wars. His reputation in this regard helped secure him the nomination of Sheriff of Cork soon before his death. The Munster planters were responsible, in part, for their own security, including supplying…

Many well-to-do Elizabethans, like other Europeans, would have had tapestries on their walls, both for decoration and for the purpose of keeping their rooms warm. Many tapestries were woven in France and the Netherlands. We do not know the true…

Spenser’s second wife, Elizabeth Boyle, would likely have lived at Kilcolman with him from the time they married, on June 11, 1594 (the date identified in his wedding poem, “Epithalamion”). If so, she would have managed many aspects of the household…

The sheela-na-gig is a “female exhibitionist figure” carved in stone and found most often in the walls of medieval Irish and British buildings, usually castles or churches. Over one hundred are known to exist in Ireland, roughly twice the number as…

Remains of this south-facing, ogee-headed window still exist in the wall of the tower house. For a contemporary picture from the castle exterior. The view from the window would be of the marsh adjacent to the castle. The window is dubbed “Raleigh’s…

Archaeological remains from Spenser’s privy indicate an ample and healthy diet enjoyed by his household, including various game and high-quality wheat. Moss could have served for wiping. Waste would have fallen down a two-story chute, exiting out…

This portrait of a middle-aged man is modeled loosely on that painted by Benjamin Wilson in 1770, long after Spenser’s death, which was based on an engraving made in 1727 by George Vertue of a supposed portrait of Edmund Spenser in the collection of…