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The discovery of what proved to be a Norse site at L'Anse aux Meadows, an isolated location on the north coast of Newfoundland, near the eastern opening of the Strait of Belle Isle, in i960 brought a new dimension to the history and archaeology of European contacts with North America, apart from the long-debated literary-historical authority of the Sagas. Helge Ingstad, lawyer, traveller and scholar, and his wife, the archaeologist, Anne Stine Ingstad, found it in i960, and presided over its excavation during seven seasons between 1962 and 1968. To their skill, scholarship and tenacity lasting credit is due. Helge provided the drive in getting resources for the project and searching for comparable materials with which to assist in its identification, while Anne Stine carefully worked over the ground, organizing the excavation professionally and commanding successive teams of helpers during a long and arduous dig. Initial scepticism gradually gave way to acceptance of the discovery as what the Ingstads claimed it to be, and by 1968 it had been almost universally accepted as the first authenticated indication of the Norse presence in North America in the early years of the eleventh century, and proving that something, at least, of the Sagas was history rather than fiction. At last Vinland had a presence and a name. Anne Stine Ingstad published a preliminary report on the excavations in 19701 and a

During the past generation substantial changes in perspective have taken place with regard to the sixteenth century in Irish history. European and British studies on this period have done much to confirm the continuance of essentially medieval society well into what it had become customary to regard as the modern period, while the clarification of successive stages of growth and change in the early modern period has also enabled Ireland in the later sixteenth century to be seen rather more clearly in its European context. Intimations of this change may be seen in the treatment of Ireland in this period in J. C. Beckett’s A short history of Ireland (1952 and subsequent editions), and more specifically in the most recent composite book on Ireland, The course of Irish history, edited by T. W. Moody and F. X. Martin (1967), where the contributions by Art Cosgrove on ‘ The Gaelic resurgence and the Geraldine supremacy, c. 1400–1534 ’ and by G. A. Hayes-McCoy on ‘ The Tudor conquest, 1534–1603 ’, bring out very well the place of sixteenthcentury Ireland in the general sequence of its past. At the same time, it is clear that although the main contributions of this generation to the detailed understanding of sixteenth-century Ireland have added much that is new in information and interpretation they have yet not quite reached a position where a complete new synthesis of the period has seemed possible, however necessary it may be. There is no doubt that the understanding of the growing group of Irish historians interested in this period has been steadily expanding, that this understanding increasingly informs their specialist articles, and that it also finds its ripest expression at the level of synthesis rather in their university lectures than in print.

In attempting a study of local government in Ireland at the beginning of the Tudor period, it must be stated that only very tentative conclusions can be made as to its nature and effectiveness. This is due on the one hand to lack of materials and difficulty in interpreting what there are, and on the other to the absence of detailed studies of Anglo-Irish feudalism and of Irish society in the later medieval period.In theory, the royal administration, established in Dublin and organised on English lines, was competent to provide law and government for the whole island. In practice, its effectiveness diminished successively in four groups of territories.

Under this heading we intend from time to time to publish articles dealing with work to be done on various periods and subjects of Irish historyWriters in the series are free to treat their respective sections in their-own way, and the articles will appear as they become available.

The act of the Irish parliament of 1494-5, known as Poynings’ Law, was of outstanding importance in the history of that parliament down to its virtual repeal in 1782, but, owing to the brevity of its text, the changing nature of the relations between the English government and the Anglo-Irish administration and the development of the organisation of the Irish parliament, it passed through various stages of interpretation and significance which require to be studied separately.

OMETIME about I603, Thomas Hariot (I56o-i62I)1 reflected on fame and reputation and on references and allusions that had been made to him personally by contemporary authors. On the back of the final folio of his nearly finished work 'The Doctrine of Nauticall Triangles Compendious,'2 Hariot jotted down a series of references to books which, on examination, seem surely to refer to Hariot or his beliefs. Such a list could have been compiled from curiosity or vanity or for use in conversations with his friends. But it may have had a more specific purpose, since Hariot was a controversial figure frequently called on to account for his ideas or his associations. The making of such a list could therefore have been to forearm himself against the kind of evidence which might be adduced against him from printed sources. Covering the years I587 to I602, this book list contributes a substantial amount of material for the biography of a man who left few personal memoranda, and, more significantly, the included items enable us to see how far he responded to oblique references to himself which may, or may not, have been previously remarked. The authors began reviewing this list and seeking identifications, many with scant clues, two decades ago. Most of these items have now been identified, and the present article is designed to shed the light contained therein on Hariot's contacts and reputation during the central period of his life from age twenty-seven to forty-two.