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RELIGION, WAR, and CHANGING LANDSCAPES: an HISTORICAL and ECOLOGICAL ACCOUNT of the YEW TREE (Taxus Baccata L.) in IRELAND

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RELIGION, WAR, and CHANGING LANDSCAPES: an HISTORICAL and ECOLOGICAL ACCOUNT of the YEW TREE (Taxus Baccata L.) in IRELAND RELIGION, WAR, AND CHANGING LANDSCAPES: AN HISTORICAL AND ECOLOGICAL ACCOUNT OF THE YEW TREE (Taxus baccata L.) IN IRELAND By J. L. DELAHUNTY A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2002 This work is dedicated to the Lord and Mickey. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I cannot thank my assistants, both friends and family, in Ireland enough: Colin McCowan, Richard and Judy Delahunty, Con Foley, Tom Millane, and Dr. Lee. I also wish to thank my family and friends in America who aided tremendously in this endeavor: Olivia Perry-Smith, Art Frieberg, Desiree Price, Terry Lucansky, Tim Burke, and John Stockwell. Of course, I could not have done this without help from my mentors at the Geography Department: Mike Binford, Pete Waylen, and Ary Lamme. Other academics who aided in this research were William Kenney, Mark Brenner, Jason Curtis, David Dilcher, Fraser Mitchell, Edwina Cole, Tara Nolan, Bob Devoy, Mike Baillie, and David Brown. Finally, I give thanks to the Lord for creating the majestic yew tree and the beautiful island of Ireland and blessing me with the finest of family and friends. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iii LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................1 The Yew Tree--A Cultural Icon.......................................................................................1 Nature and Civilization....................................................................................................2 The Yew Trees (Genus Taxus) ........................................................................................3 The Common Yew (Taxus baccata L.)............................................................................4 Substance and Organization of Dissertation....................................................................6 2 THE CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE YEW TREE PREHISTORY TO THE 19TH CENTURY...................................................................................................11 Introduction....................................................................................................................11 The Yew in Place Names (Toponyms) ..........................................................................11 Celtic Reverence of Yew Trees .....................................................................................16 Christian Reverence of Yew Trees ................................................................................21 The Yew and Craftsmanship in Northwestern Europe ..................................................22 The Yew in Literature....................................................................................................23 Yew Longbows ..............................................................................................................25 The Yew in Heraldry .....................................................................................................29 The Yew in Art ..............................................................................................................30 Summary .....................................................................................................................30 3 THE YEW ON THE PREHISTORIC AND HISTORIC LANDSCAPE .....................36 Introduction to the Yew in Palynological Analyses ......................................................36 Section 1: The Prehistoric and Historic Abundance of Yew in Ireland and the Political and Economical Environment that Influenced its Eventual Decline.........................................................................................................39 The Early Postglacial/Boreal and Mesolithic Culture............................................ 42 iv The Atlantic Period and Neolithic Culture............................................................. 43 The Sub-Boreal Period and the Copper and Bronze Ages..................................... 46 The Sub-Atlantic Period, the Celtic Culture, and the Iron Age ............................. 47 The Celts and the Coming of Christianity ............................................................. 48 The Changes of the 12th Century and the Norman Invasion.................................. 50 The House of Tudor and the House of Stuart ........................................................ 52 Ireland’s Losses...................................................................................................... 54 A Changed Icon ..................................................................................................... 56 Summary of the Regional Analysis ....................................................................... 56 Section 2: The Prehistoric and Historic Presence of Yew in Youghal and the Physical, Political, and Economical Environment that Influenced its Eventual Decline .........................................................................................57 Introduction to Youghal ......................................................................................... 58 A brief history..................................................................................................58 A town with many names ................................................................................58 The geological landscape and its origins .........................................................59 The area’s shoreline .........................................................................................61 Youghal’s shoreline .........................................................................................62 The Yew in Youghal’s Prehistory - Paleoecological Evidence ............................. 63 Core site locations............................................................................................64 Pollen concentration.........................................................................................66 Pollen counting ................................................................................................67 Radiocarbon dating ..........................................................................................67 Pollen data........................................................................................................67 Interpretation and discussion of the pollen data retrieved from the cores .......69 Comment..........................................................................................................74 The Yew in Youghal’s History - Archeological and Archival Evidence............... 74 Eochaill and its yews to 830 A.D.....................................................................74 The latter 9th century to the Norman invasion .................................................77 The 12-15th centuries ......................................................................................78 16th century Youghal........................................................................................81 A landscape transformed: The 17th century .....................................................83 Denudation to reforestation: Descriptions of Youghal in the 1700s and 1800s ..................................................................................................85 Summary of the Local Analysis............................................................................. 88 4 THE CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE YEW TREE IN THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURIES.........................................................................................................98 The Yew and the Contemporary Craftsman ..................................................................98 The Yew’s Infamous Role .............................................................................................99 The Yew in 20th and 21st Century Literature ...............................................................100 Taxol and Cancer .........................................................................................................100 Recent News ................................................................................................................101 The Yew’s Natural Pesticide .......................................................................................101 The Yew and Wastewater Treatment...........................................................................102 Yew Wood and Dendrochronology .............................................................................102 v Biodiversity in a Yew Forest .......................................................................................104 Genetic Variation Studies ............................................................................................104 Yew Conservation........................................................................................................105 Miscellaneous Yew Happenings..................................................................................106
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