Kilkenny Castle: Two Modern Sieges in a Medieval Castle

https://wildrovertours.com/private-tours/private-tour-dublin-kilkenny-glendalough-wicklow-mountains/

Kilkenny Castle was first built in 1172 under the Anglo-Normans.  James Butler, the 3rd Earl of Ormonde, purchased the castle in 1385.  The castle was featured in the reconquest of Ireland in 1650 as well as in Ireland's Civil War in 1922.  William Marshall, one of the most successful and fearless Norman knights, took over the property and built a stone castle to replace the wooden one in 1213.

Thousands of tourists visit Kilkenny Castle every year and they notice that one of its four walls is missing.  The eastern wall, along with the northeastern tower, were blown to bits during William Cromwell's siege in 1650.  William Cromwell, a devout Protestant, was bent on reconquering the predominantly Catholic island.  In the bloody battle, anywhere from 15 to 50% of the Irish population was wiped out.  Although James Butler was Protestant, his castle was seized and used as the Parliament of the Irish Confederate.

Butler, who was exiled to France, returned later to his castle with plans to restore it along the lines of a chateau.  His descendants, however, decided to demolish the castle's chateau elements in the 20th Century and return the structure to its medieval roots.

http://www.theirishstory.com/2016/04/11/

In 1922, Kilkenny Castle was again seized, this time by the Republican forces during the Irish Civil War.  Twenty two men, armed with rifles and bombs, descended on the Butler family.  The siege ended two days later when Free State forces crashed a car into the castle.  While the structure sustained significant damage, no one was hurt.

In 1935, with the Butler family in financial straits, they abandonned the castle and moved to London. Fjor thirty years, the castle fell into a state of disrepair.  Nature started to reclaim it.  In the 1960's, the Butler family sold the castle to the Irish Ministry of Public Works for the nominal sum of 50 pounds. It reopened in 1967 as a museum and hosts about 185,000 visitors each year.

http://www.kilkennycastle.ie/media/305x415xt4_5655673798650915035.jpg.pagespeed.ic.zaWfH9CIzG.jpg

Bells of St. Mary's Minutae

Here are ten facts you may not know about the movie "The Bells of St. Mary's", starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman.

1.  A priest acted as an off screen adviser during production of the movie, based at a Catholic convent and school.  As a prank, Ingrid Bergman and Bing Crosby share a passionate kiss during the closing scene; the priest roars his disapproval of the kiss, only to find out it wasn't in the script.

2.  "Varvindar Friska", or "Spring Breezes", is a traditional Swedish folk song sung by Ingrid Bergman in the film.

3.  "The Bells of St. Mary's", which earned 3,715,000 at the box office, was RKO's most profitable film ever produced.

4.  Ingrid's Bergman's character, Sister Mary Benedict, purchases Gene Tunney's boxing manual at the sports store to train one of her students who is being harassed by a playground bully.  While Gene Tunney was a true boxer, he never wrote a book called The Art of Boxing.

5.  "The Bells of St. Mary's" served as a sequel to "Going My Way", also starring Bing Crosby as a priest.

6.  Leo McCarey, the movie's director, was inspired to write the script by his aunt, Sister Mary Benedict, who helped build Immaculate Heart Convent in Hollywood.  As Sister Mary in the movie suffered from tuberculosis, real life Sister Mary suffered from typhoid fever, which led to her death.

7.  "The Bells of St. Mary's" is considered a Christmas movie in large part because of the Christian theme and the Christmas play staged by the schoolchildren in which they sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, complete with a real baby in a basket.

8.  The Pledge of Allegiance did not contain the words "under God" at the time of filming; hence the children did not recite that version.

9.  Many of the theatrical posters for "Bells of St. Mary's" contained shots of Bergman and Crosby in non-clerical garb.

10.  At the 1945 Academy Awards, Leo McCarey won Best Director for "Going my Way" and Bing Crosby won Best Actor.  When Ingrid Bergman went onstage to receive her best actress award for "Gaslight", she said:  "I'm glad I won because tomorrow morning, I start shooting the sequel to "Going My Way", with Bing Crosby and Leo McCarey, and I was afraid that if I didn't have an Oscar, they wouldn't speak to me."

For more information, visit my post "The Bells of St. Mary's" at
http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2011/12/bells-of-st-marys.html.