The book begins with a long poem, giving a genealogical history of the Irish people and the English monarchy, justifying the right of the English to rule Ireland, and describing the conflicts between Sidney's forces and the Irish "woodkarne", landless guerrilla fighters who emerged from their mountain and forest retreats to plunder English settlements. There follows a sequence of twelve double-page woodcut illustrations, meauring between 313 and 320mm wide and 180mm high, with accompanying verse narration and occasional captions and speech, telling the story of the subjugation of the Irish woodkarne rebels by Sir Henry Sidney, complete with hostile commentary on Irish customs, religious practice and even dress, ending with the submission of Turlough Luineach Ó Neill, king of Tyrone, in 157