Browse Items (581 total)

It is unclear how large of a library Spenser had. Like the “Library” of Eumnestes in The Faerie Queene (II.ix.59.3), it may have been large and full of worm-holes, or small and well-cared for, or anywhere in between. It is hard to imagine Spenser…

A good place to put money or other precious objects in a tower house was on the top floor, because that would be the hardest place for an invader or thief to reach. The metal chest here is of the kind with elaborate locking mechanisms. The chest is…

Near the fireplace was a logical place to stay warm at all times of year in chilly Ireland. Spenser raised at least three children at Kilcolman: from his second marriage (in 1594, to Elizabeth Boyle), a son, Peregrine; from his first marriage (in…

The date stone over the door to the Great Hall commemorates the wedding in 1594 of Edmund Spenser and Elizabeth Boyle. Date stones with the initials of the owners of a house were common in England and Ireland and followed the fashion in other…

Hunting was an aristocratic pursuit in Tudor England and Ireland, as well as an important source of meat and hides. Many estates in Ireland had deer parks dating back to the later middle ages (from the Anglo-Norman invasion in the 1170s-80s on…

Hunting was an aristocratic pursuit in Tudor England and Ireland, as well as an important source of meat and hides. Many estates in Ireland had deer parks dating back to the later middle ages (from the Anglo-Norman invasion in the 1170s-80s on…

This desk, with a pouch and various papers and letters on and around it, indicates Spenser’s background as both a messenger and a secretary to Lord Deputy of Ireland Arthur, Lord Grey (from 1580-82). The letters are sealed with red wax. In the…

This desk, with various papers on and around it, indicates Spenser’s life as a creative writer. In the Ground Floor Parlor of the castle complex is another desk. That area functions as Spenser’s “office” for administrative writing. Both desks are…

On the table sit wooden plates. The household may have used pewter plates instead. Spenser would have had a good diet consisting of different kinds of meat, including deer, sheep, domestic and wildfowl, goat and (more rarely) pork; seafood; various…

No traces of a garden have been found at Kilcolman. Very little of its bawn area has been excavated, however, and so something may yet be found comparable to what exists at Barryscourt, Co. Cork; Rothe House, Kilkenny; and Drimnagh Castle, Dublin…