The rear cover of Mighty Oaks - The Story of a Celtic Kingdom informs as per the following....



Julius Caesar’s Roman Legions defeated the Celtic tribes of France and England a generation before the birth of Christ. The remaining pockets of Celtic culture that survived in Ireland held steadfastly to their traditions until the Gaelic Order was closed by Lord Mountjoy in 1601. Mythology and historical records facilitate the tracking and development of that Celtic tradition and the Hy-Tuirtre Kingdom until the conquest of Ulster.



By following the progress of the Hy-Tuirtre Kingdom over the course of their millennia, enables the reader to gain an understanding of Celtic and Gaelic practice in ancient Ireland. The Hy-Tuirtre although not alone in the Oirghiallian Federation (Oriel) experienced many changes to their country and Kingdom throughout the period of their existence in the Ulster heartland. Insurmountable force and change had a lasting impact on the traditions of the Hy-Tuirtre people. This occurred when the Hy-Tuirtre found their Kingdom at a point in time at the front line of the Anglo Norman expansion in East Ulster. That expansion hampered and prevented them from executing their traditional Celtic survival strategy.



Patrick J Flynn observing the landscape, the semi mythical and politics of early Ireland over some three millennia sets the stage for the establishment and development of the Hy-Tuirtre Kingdom. He assembles and follows the real story of that early Kingdom from Conn of the Hundred Battles in A.D. 123 to the final collapse of the Kingdom, and the death of Thomas O'Flynn the last King of Hy-Tuirtre in 1365.