Before you raise a pint to Saint Patrick, stop by Third Window Brewing on March 13 to hear about the beginnings of Ireland and Irish identity. 

At the end of the eleventh-century an Irish monk sought to write a history of his people from the creation of the world until his present day. He called his work, The Book of Invasions, and described the lengthy conflicts between mythical and supernatural beings, including gods, giants, and eventually the Gaelic Irish as they sought to control the island. This sense that Irish identity was forged through conflict and opposition did not end in the eleventh century. Rather, the pace of conflict seemed to quicken as missionaries, Vikings, Irish, and English kings all vied for Ireland. Professor Bouley will seek to uncover this early history, which has become so important in popular conceptions of being Irish, in a narrative that will focus on some of the myths of Irish origins.