Topographia Hibernica

It was the longest and most influential work on Ireland circulating in the Middle Ages, and its direct influence endured into the early modern period.

His first visit, to see members of his family who had played a prominent role in the Angevin invasion of the country in 1169, was not more than a year long.

The first primarily deals with the landscape, flora and fauna of the country; the second with the miracles and marvels of Ireland and the third with the history of the people and their culture.

Chapter XX Of a woman who had a beard, and a hairy crest and mane on her back " Chapter LII (Of the mill which no women enter) Distinction III (On the inhabitants of this country) "Of the character, customs and habits of this people" Gerald appears to have added to the work throughout his life with the result that four principal versions of the text have come down to us.

[5] The work is known to have been read to Archbishop Baldwin of Exeter by Gerald while both were travelling in Wales to preach the Third Crusade in March 1188.

The text is generally acknowledged to have played a key role in shaping early British attitudes to the Irish.

The 17th century saw the production of several prominent attacks on Gerald, including Cambrensis Eversus (1662) by John Lynch,[7] and works by Geoffrey Keating, Philip O'Sullivan Beare, and Stephen White.