Attention at all passengers. You can now book your train tickets on Uber and get 10% back in Uber credits to spend on your next train journey.

So no excuses not to visit your in-laws this Christmas.

Trains now on Uber. T's and C's applyyn dewir.

Hello and welcome to the Irish History Podcast.

My name is Finn Duwara and this is Fatal Feudes Part 1, the Rise of the Red Earl.

Today's show is the first of a four-part series that returns to the Middle Ages and looks at one of the most lethal

feuds in Irish history. This episode sets the stage, introducing the main characters and

bring you into the front lines of the airy battles.

So with no more delay, let's get on with it. Brooklyn Castle in North Wales at Christmas 1283 was not exactly the location the

24 year old Richard de Berg would have chosen for his

investiture as a night. An important and normally momentous occasion for a man in

the Middle Ages, it would be a trial of endurance at Rudlin in winter.

That the castle was safe was undeniable.

Stone towers soared above two massive defensive walls.

Its gatehouse, a terrifying gauntlet where death could be rained down on any unwelcome guest,

but it was the climate of the surrounding countryside of North Wales. That was the challenge.

The wind howled down the valley of the cleared river, bringing with it freezing rain, sleet and snow

from the mountains of Snowdonia and dumping them on the formidable

walls of Rudlin.

The biting wind penetrated through every arrow loop, window and imperfection in the stone walls.

It was in these drafty freezing conditions that Richard de Bourg's ritual began with a bath

the night before the ceremony itself. while the freezing drafts picked at his naked body, the hardest part of the ritual, lay ahead of him.

...