Very few documentary sources survive from twelfth-century Ireland. The Latin charters issued by Irish kings are therefore an especially valuable body of evidence. This book is the first modern edition and commentary on these charters and sheds valuable light on the political and religious history of twelfth- and early thirteenth-century Gaelic Ireland.

This book draws together a collection of essays looking at the ways in which charters and charter scholarship in different areas of Britain and Ireland, highlighting comparisons and contrasts in charter production and use. The book shows the crucial importance of charters as sources for understanding the history of royal administration and, more broadly, the perceptions and portrayals of kingly power, as well as developments in written culture.