The rapid acquisition of knowledge about Ireland in Tudor times constituted a discovery of no small importance for the development of the early modern English state. How the Tudors, and the most influential members of the political establishment who served them, came to be acquainted with Ireland - with its history, with its politics and economy, with its people, and with its geography - and how that acquired knowledge was applied is the subject of this book. It includes in its analysis an edition of a previously unexamined 16th-century manuscript - the Hatfield Compendium - as a means of exploring the phenomenon of knowledge acquisition and its relationship to the determination of Tudor policy. The book shows that before the Tudor conquest of Ireland there was the Tudor discovery of Ireland. *** "...an impressively well written work of exceptional scholarship.... A welcome and very highly recommended addition to personal, community, and academic library Irish History, Medieval Studies, Renaissance Studies, and Irish Archaeology reference collections and supplemental studies lists." -- Midwest Book Reviw, Reviewer's Bookwatch: January 2016, Mason's Bookshelf [Subject: History, Medieval Studies, Renaissance Studies, Irish Studies, Archaeology]

The history of the British Isles is the story of four peoples linked together by a process of state building that was as much about far-sighted planning and vision as coincidence, accident and failure. It is a history of revolts and reversal, familial bonds and enmity, the study of which does much to explain the underlying tension between the nations of modern day Britain. The Making of the British Islesrecounts the development of the nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland from the time of the Anglo-French dual monarchy under Henry VI through the Wars of the Roses, the Reformation crisis, the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, the Anglo-Scottish dynastic union, the British multiple monarchy and the Cromwellian Republic, ending with the acts of British Union and the Restoration of the Monarchy.

Explores the relationship between England and Ireland in the Tudor period using William Cecil as a vehicle for historical enquiry. Argues that Cecil shaped the course and character of Tudor rule in Ireland in Elizabeth's reign more than any other figure, and offers a major reappraisal of this crucial period in the histories of England and Ireland.

Challenges the argument that the English Pale was contracting during the early Tudor period.A key argument of this book is that the English Pale - the four counties around Dublin under English control - was expanding during the early Tudor period, not contracting, as other historians have argued. The author shows how the new system, whereby "the four obedient shires" were protected by new fortifications and a newly-constituted English-style militia, which replaced the former system of extended marches, was highly effective, making unnecessary money and troops from England, and enabling the Dublin government to be self-financing. The book provides full details of this new system. It also demonstrates how direct rule by an English army and governor, which replaced the system in the years after 1534, was much more costly and led on in turn to the policy of "surrender and regrant" under which Irish chiefs became subject to English law. The book highlights how this policy made the English Pale's frontiers redundant, but how ideologically ideas of "English civility" nevertheless survived, and "the wild Atlantic way" remained "beyond the Pale".t, but how ideologically ideas of "English civility" nevertheless survived, and "the wild Atlantic way" remained "beyond the Pale".t, but how ideologically ideas of "English civility" nevertheless survived, and "the wild Atlantic way" remained "beyond the Pale".t, but how ideologically ideas of "English civility" nevertheless survived, and "the wild Atlantic way" remained "beyond the Pale".

`A study of both Tudor Anglo-Irish relations and the 16th century, Morgan's work is first rate, thoughtful, well-researched and subtle.' ARCHIVES As a study of both Tudor Anglo-Irish relations and the sixteenth-century, Morgan's work is first rate, thoughtful, well-researched and subtle. ARCHIVES Fascinating piece of detective work... No serious student of late Tudor Ireland can afford to ignore this rigorous and painstaking analysis. HISTORY Between 1594-1603 Elizabeth I faced her most dangerous challenge - the insurrection in Ireland known to British historians as the rebellion of the earl of Tyrone, and to their Irish counterparts in the Nine Years War. This study examines the causes of the conflict in the developing policy of the Crown, which climaxed in the Monaghan settlement of 1591, and the continuing resilience of the Gaelic system which brought to power Hugh Roe O'Donnell and Hugh O'Neill. The role of Hugh O'Neill, the earl of Tyrone, was pivotal in the conspiracies leading up to the war and in the leadership ofthe Irish cause thereafter. O'Neill's acceptance of an alliance with Spain rather than a fragile compromise with England is the terminal point of the study. By exploiting all the available source material, Dr Morgan has not only provided a critical reassessment of the early career of Hugh O'Neill but also made an original and lasting contribution to both Irish and Tudor historiography. HIRAM MORGAN is lecturer in history, University College, Cork.

The second edition of Steven Ellis's formidable work represents not only a survey, but also a critique of traditional perspectives on the making of modern Ireland. It explores Ireland both as a frontier society divided between English and Gaelic worlds, and also as a problem of government within the wider Tudor state. This edition includes two major new chapters: the first extending the coverage back a generation, to assess the impact on English Ireland of the crisis of lordship that accompanied the Lancastrian collapse in France and England; and the second greatly extending the material on the Gaelic response to Tudor expansion.

This book provides the first systematic analysis of the whole range of treatises written on the 'reform' of Ireland in Tudor times. By assessing approximately six-hundred extant treatises it demonstrates how the Tudors viewed Ireland and how they arrived at the policies which they chose to implement there during the sixteenth century.

The thousand years explored in this book witnessed developments in the history of Ireland that resonate to this day. Interspersing narrative with detailed analysis of key themes, the first volume in The Cambridge History of Ireland presents the latest thinking on key aspects of the medieval Irish experience. The contributors are leading experts in their fields, and present their original interpretations in a fresh and accessible manner. New perspectives are offered on the politics, artistic culture, religious beliefs and practices, social organisation and economic activity that prevailed on the island in these centuries. At each turn the question is asked: to what extent were these developments unique to Ireland? The openness of Ireland to outside influences, and its capacity to influence the world beyond its shores, are recurring themes. Underpinning the book is a comparative, outward-looking approach that sees Ireland as an integral but exceptional component of medieval Christian Europe.

This book provides the first systematic analysis of the whole range of treatises written on the ‘reform’ of Ireland in Tudor times. By assessing approximately six-hundred extant treatises it demonstrates how the Tudors viewed Ireland and how they arrived at the policies which they chose to implement there during the sixteenth century.

This volume offers fresh perspectives on the political, military, religious, social, cultural, intellectual, economic, and environmental history of early modern Ireland and situates these discussions in global and comparative contexts. The opening chapters focus on 'Politics' and 'Religion and War' and offer a chronological narrative, informed by the re-interpretation of new archives. The remaining chapters are more thematic, with chapters on 'Society', 'Culture', and 'Economy and Environment', and often respond to wider methodologies and historiographical debates. Interdisciplinary cross-pollination - between, on the one hand, history and, on the other, disciplines like anthropology, archaeology, geography, computer science, literature and gender and environmental studies - informs many of the chapters. The volume offers a range of new departures by a generation of scholars who explain in a refreshing and accessible manner how and why people acted as they did in the transformative and tumultuous years between 1550 and 1730.