This volume is one of the largest and most authoritative collections of essays that have been published in many years on the theme of medieval Ireland. Presented to mark the retirement of Katharine Simms, the doyenne of studies of Gaelic Irish society in the later Middle Ages, the book's contents congregate around themes that have characterized Simms' landmark contributions to the field - from the changing function of kingship and lordship in Gaelic and Anglo-Norman Ireland, to the organization of the medieval Irish church, to the examination of the formation and achievement of Ireland's learned classes, particularly the poets.