Kenneth Nicholls

{{Short description|Irish academic and historian (1934 or 1935 – 2025)}}

{{For|the U.S. Army officer|Kenneth Nichols}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}

{{Use Hiberno-English|date=June 2021}}

Kenneth W. Nicholls (1934 or 1935 – 25 May 2025) was an Irish academic and historian, notable for his work on the late medieval and early modern period. He was the subject of a festschrift in 2014.

Work

Nicholls worked at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies for a period during the 1960s. He was a member of staff of the history department in University College Cork until his retirement in 2004.{{Cite web |title=Nicholls, Kenneth |url=https://www.dias.ie/2010/09/16/nicholls-kenneth/ |website=DIAS}} He came to national and international prominence as the author of Gaelic and Gaelicised Ireland in the Middle Ages, first published in 1972, and reprinted in 2003.{{Cite book |last=Nicholls |first=K. W. (Kenneth W. ) |url=http://archive.org/details/gaelicgaelicised0000nich |title=Gaelic and Gaelicised Ireland in the Middle Ages |date=1972 |publisher=[Dublin] Gill and Macmillan |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-7171-0561-8}} He was particularly regarded among his peers for his deep knowledge of late medieval and early modern historical sources in the Irish, Latin, French and English languages.{{Cite web |title=Council {{!}} Irish Genealogical Research Society |url=https://www.irishancestors.ie/council |access-date=2025-05-26 |website=www.irishancestors.ie |language=en-GB}}

Nicholls' areas of professional interests included:{{Cite web |title=Retired staff |url=https://www.ucc.ie/en/history/staff/retiredstaff/ |access-date=2025-05-26 |website=University College Cork |language=en}}

  • Late medieval and early modern Ireland, including topics such as genealogy, population studies, place-names, marriage, law, institutions
  • Scottish history, particularly legal and institutional
  • extinction of animals within historical times
  • agrarian history

Recognition

His work was honoured in the festschrift Regions and rulers in Ireland, 1100-1650: essays for Kenneth Nicholls (David Edwards, editor; Dublin, 2004), which is a collection of essays by several of the leading Irish historians of today.

Select bibliography

=Articles=

  • Tuath Bailenangeadh (Twoghballyneges etc.) in "Dinnseanchas", 2/3, 1967, p. 89.
  • Tobar Finnmhuighe - Slan Padraig, Dinnseanchas, 2/4, 1967, p. 97-98.
  • Some placenames from The Red Book of the Earls of Kildare, Dinnseanchas, 3/2, (1968), p. 25-37.
  • The descendants of Oliver FitzGerald of Belagh, in The Irish Genealogist, 4/1 (1968), p. 2-9.
  • The Lisgoole agreement of 1580, in Clougher Record 7/1 (1969), p. 27-33.
  • Some documents on Irish law and custom in the sixteenth century, in Analaecta Hibernica, #26, (1970), pp. 27–33.
  • The Kavanaghs, 1400-1700 (I), in The Irish Genealogist, 5/4, (Nov 1977), pp. 435–47.
  • The Kavanaghs, 1400-1700 (II), in The Irish Genealogist, 5/5, (Nov 1978), pp. 573–80.
  • The Kavanaghs, 1400-1700 (III), in The Irish Genealogist, 5/6, (Nov 1979), pp. 730–334.
  • The Kavanaghs, 1400-1700 (VI), in The Irish Genealogist, 6/2, (Nov 1981), pp. 189–203.
  • Kinelmeaky and the Munster Plantation, in O'Mahony Journal, 10 (1980), p. 10-14.
  • Notes on the genealogy of Clann Eoin Mhoir, in West Highland Notes and Queries, 1991, p. 11-24.
  • Richard Tyrell, Soldier Extraordinary, in The Battle of Kinsale, ed. Hiram Morgan, pp. 160–78, Dublin, 2004.

=Books=

  • Gaelic and Gaelicised Ireland in the Middle Ages, Gill History of Ireland 4, Dublin, 1972; revised and reprinted by Lilliput Press, Dublin, 2003.
  • The O'Doyne (Ó Duinn) Manuscript, Irish Historical Manuscripts Commission, Dublin, 1985.

Death

Nicholls died aged 90 on 25 May 2025.{{Cite web |title=Death Notice of Kenneth W. Nicholls (Templemartin, Cork) {{!}} rip.ie |url=https://rip.ie/death-notice/kenneth-w-nicholls-cork-templemartin-595106 |access-date=2025-05-26 |website=rip.ie |language=en}}

References