|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries: |
Research categories | Follow us on Twitter |
Research categories
View all topics in the newsView all reference sources at Encyclopedia.com |
|||
Kilkenny cats
Kilkenny cats. The once well-known Irish folktale of the two cats who fight until only their tails and nails are left masks an allusion in medieval Irish history. At issue is the enmity between the Anglo-Norman or ‘English’ settlers in Ireland and the native Gaelic Irish who were separated by only a small stream in the town of Kilkenny, Leinster. As they had the upper hand legally, the Anglo-Normans sought to preserve their privileged status with the Statute of Kilkenny, 1367. This attributed all lawlessness to the Irish, proscribed intermarriage between the two communities, prohibited the English from entertaining Irish minstrels, or even from riding horseback in the Irish manner.
Modern commentators now dismiss the once current explanation of the story as pertaining to actual rather than to metamorphic cats. This asserted that Hessian troops stationed in Kilkenny during the 1798 rebellion would tie two cats together by their tails, hang them over a line, and watch them fight to the death. |
|
|
Cite this article
JAMES MacKILLOP. "Kilkenny cats." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JAMES MacKILLOP. "Kilkenny cats." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O70-Kilkennycats.html JAMES MacKILLOP. "Kilkenny cats." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O70-Kilkennycats.html |
|
Kilkenny cats
Kilkenny cats two cats from Kilkenny in Ireland which, according to legend, fought until only their tails remained.
|
|
|
Cite this article
ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Kilkenny cats." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Kilkenny cats." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Kilkennycats.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Kilkenny cats." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Kilkennycats.html |
|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries:
HighBeam™ Research, Inc. © Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
The Encyclopedia.com advertising network includes:
