Making Ireland English : The Irish Aristocracy in the Seventeenth Century

by Ohlmeyer, Jane

• ISBN13: 9780300118346
• ISBN10: 0300118341
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-06-26
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

This groundbreaking book provides the first comprehensive study of the remaking of Ireland's aristocracy during the seventeenth century. It is a study of the Irish peerage and its role in the establishment of English control over Ireland. Jane Ohlmeyer's research in the archives of the era yields a major new understanding of early Irish and British elite, and it offers fresh perspectives on the experiences of the Irish, English, and Scottish lords in wider British and continental contexts. The book examines the resident peerage as an aggregate of 91 families, not simply 311 individuals, and demonstrates how a reconstituted peerage of mixed faith and ethnicity assimilated the established Catholic aristocracy. Tracking the impact of colonization, civil war, and other significant factors on the fortunes of the peerage in Ireland, Ohlmeyer arrives at a fresh assessment of the key accomplishment of the new Irish elite: making Ireland English.

Author Biography

Jane Ohlmeyer is Erasmus Smith's Professor of Modern History and Vice-Provost for Global Relations, Trinity College, Dublin. She is the author of Civil War and Restoration in the Three Stuart Kingdoms and Ireland from Independence to Occupation. She lives in Dublin, Ireland.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. x
List of Illustrations	p. xiii
Conventions	p. xvii
Glossary	p. xviii
Abbreviations	p. xxi
Introduction	p. 1
Definitions
Making Ireland English
Structure
The Archives
Historiography
The Reconstitution of Ireland's Aristocracy, 1590s-1670s
The Transformation of the Peerage	p. 27
Tudor Peerage
Peerage in 1603
Inflation of Honours
Resident Peerage in 1628
Resident Peerage in 1641
Mid-Century Elevations
Mid-Century Creations
Resident Peerage in 1670 and 1685
Securing the Succession
Conclusion
The Transformation of Noble Culture	p. 64
Nobles in Irish Society
Honour
Contesting and Defending Honour
Conclusion
Landed Nobility	p. 84
Tided Landholders in 1641 and c.1670
Tided Landholding in County Dublin
Tenure
Plantations
The Munster Plantation
The First Earl of Cork
The Roches and MacCarthys
The Butlers
The Ulster Plantation
The Earls of Antrim
The Informal Plantations
The Formal Plantations
Other Early Stuart Settlements
Conclusion
Religion	p. 135
Catholicism and Kingship
The Catholic Church
Lay Patronage of the Catholic Church
Clerical Connections
Presbyterianism and the Peers
The Church of Ireland and the Peers
Personal Piety
Wardships and Conversions
Sincerity of Conversions
Conclusion
Marriage	p. 169
Women in Stuart Society
Courtship
Frequency of Marriage
Age at Marriage
Geographic Origin of Brides
Mixed Marriages
Social Status of Brides
The Economic Importance of Marriage
Relationships
Conclusion
The Peerage in Politics
Power, Politics and Public Office	p. 211
The Stuart Court
The Exercise of National and Local Power
Law and Order
Conclusion
Early Stuart Parliaments	p. 232
The 1613-15 Parliament
The Graces
The 1634-5 Parliament
The 1640-1 Parliament
The Opposition Peers
Conclusion
Civil War	p. 250
A Military Caste
War in Scotland and Rebellion in Ireland
The Impact of the 1641 Rebellion
The Baronial Context of the Civil Wars
War and Politics
Confederate Catholics
Baronial Leadership
Conclusion
Survival	p. 280
Exile
Reprisals
Catholic Survival
Transplantation
The Case of Antrim
Protestant Survivors
Architects of Restoration
Conclusion
The Restoration Land Settlement	p. 301
A Revolution in Titled Landholding?
The Winners
The Survivors
The Losers
Conclusion
Political Life	p. 336
The Irish Parliament, 1661-6
The Politics behind the Land Settlement
Restoration Dublin
Later Stuart Politics
The Army
James II
Conclusion
The Sinews of Power
Income	p. 361
Levels of Wealth
Landed Entrepreneurs and Improving Landlords
Urbanization and Commercialization
Overseas Expansionism
Conclusion
Expenditure	p. 389
Levels of Borrowing
Aristocratic Borrowings
Expenditure
Capital Expenditure
Personal and Domestic Expenditure
Legal Expenditure
Conclusion
Lineage and Formation	p. 419
Kinship and Clientage Networks
Children
Schooling and Education
Grand Tours arid the Exercise of Arms
Conclusion
Death and Memory	p. 448
Preparing for Death
Cause of Death
Funerals
Memorializationand Posterity
Conclusion
Conclusion	p. 475
Notes	p. 483
Lands held by resident titled nobles in 1641, ranked according to size	p. 572
Office holding and political activity of resident peers, c.l600-c.l690	p. 575
Military and political activity of resident peers during the 1640s	p. 599
Peers recorded in the 1660 poll tax (the so-called `1659 census')	p. 606
Attendance and activity in the House of Lords, 1661-6	p. 608
The land settlement and the process of restoration	p. 614
Select Bibliography	p. 617
Index	p. 628
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