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Brendan, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Brendan, Saint, d. 577?, Irish abbot of Clonfert, Co. Galway. A popular medieval story told how he traveled westward to wonderful islands—an Irish version of a widespread legend. His feast is May 16...

Meagher, Thomas Francis

(Encyclopedia)Meagher, Thomas Francis mär [key], 1823–67, Irish revolutionary and Union general in the American Civil War, b. Waterford, Ireland. A leader of the Young Ireland movement, he was arrested and conde...

Fitzgerald, Lord Edward

(Encyclopedia)Fitzgerald, Lord Edward, 1763–98, Irish revolutionary; son of James Fitzgerald, 20th earl of Kildare and 1st duke of Leinster (see Kildare, James Fitzgerald, 20th earl of). After an early career in ...

Wilde, Oscar

(Encyclopedia)Wilde, Oscar (Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde), 1854–1900, Irish author and wit, b. Dublin. He is most famous for his sophisticated, brilliantly witty plays, which were the first since the come...

Maginn, William

(Encyclopedia)Maginn, William məgĭnˈ [key], 1793–1842, Irish writer. Some of his best stories and essays appeared in Blackwood's Magazine. His short story “Bob Burke's Duel with Ensign Brady” is considered...

Berenson, Bernard

(Encyclopedia)Berenson, Bernard bĕrˈənsən [key], 1865–1959, American art critic and connoisseur of Italian art, b. Lithuania, grad. Harvard, 1887. An expert and an arbiter of taste, he selected for art collec...

Sinn Féin

(Encyclopedia)Sinn Féin shĭn fān [key] [Irish,=we, ourselves], Irish nationalist movement. It had its roots in the Irish cultural revival at the end of the 19th cent. and the growing nationalist disenchantment w...

Bruton, John

(Encyclopedia)Bruton, John bro͞oˈtən [key], 1947–, Irish politician, b. Dublin. A lawyer and farm owner, he is a member of the centrist Fine Gael party. Bruton was first elected to the Irish parliament in 1969...

Parnell, Charles Stewart

(Encyclopedia)Parnell, Charles Stewart pärˈnəl, pärnĕlˈ [key], 1846–91, Irish nationalist leader. Haughty and sensitive, Parnell was only a mediocre orator, but he possessed a marked personal fascination an...

O'Mahony, John

(Encyclopedia)O'Mahony, John ōmăˈhənē [key], 1816–77, Irish patriot. He attended Trinity College, Dublin, and became a proficient Irish scholar. After taking part in the unsuccessful Young Ireland rebellion ...