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Oxford History of Early Modern Europe
Contested Island: Ireland 1460-1630
Between the 1460s and the 1630s Ireland was transformed from a medieval into a modern society. A poor society on the periphery of Europe, dominated by the conflicts of competing warlords--Irish and English--it later became a centralised political unit with a single government and code of laws,
and a still primitive, but rapidly developing, market economy. These changes, however, had been achieved by brutal wars of conquest, while large scale colonisation projects had created lasting tensions between old inhabitants and recent settlers.
At the same time the great religious divide of the Reformation had introduced a further source of conflict to Ireland, dividing the population into two hostile camps, while at the same time giving it a new and dangerous role in the conflict between England and its continental enemies. Against this
confused and constantly changing background, individuals and groups had repeatedly to adapt their customs and behaviour, their political allegiances and aspirations, and their sense of who they were. A long and complex story, with many false starts and numerous dead ends, it is the story of the
people who became the modern Irish.
and a still primitive, but rapidly developing, market economy. These changes, however, had been achieved by brutal wars of conquest, while large scale colonisation projects had created lasting tensions between old inhabitants and recent settlers.
At the same time the great religious divide of the Reformation had introduced a further source of conflict to Ireland, dividing the population into two hostile camps, while at the same time giving it a new and dangerous role in the conflict between England and its continental enemies. Against this
confused and constantly changing background, individuals and groups had repeatedly to adapt their customs and behaviour, their political allegiances and aspirations, and their sense of who they were. A long and complex story, with many false starts and numerous dead ends, it is the story of the
people who became the modern Irish.
440 pages, Hardcover
First published September 13, 2007
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214 people want to read
About the author
S.J. Connolly
8 books3 followersSean Connolly has taught at Queen’s University Belfast since 1996. Prior to his appointment, Connolly taught at the University of Ulster, and worked as an archivist in the Public Record Office of Ireland, now the National Archives of Ireland. He has been the editor of Irish Economic and Social History, and a member of the Council of the Royal Historical Society, and became a Vice President of the RHS in 2013. He has served on the AHRC Medieval and Modern History Postgraduate Awards panel.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 14, 2019
From the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, as S. J. Connolly argues in the introduction to this book, Ireland experienced a profound transformation that shaped the contours of the modern nation. This transformation, and the adaptation of the Irish people to it is the theme of this work, the first of a two-volume history of early modern Ireland. In it, he describes Ireland’s evolution over a century and a half from a fractious land of competing cultures to one in which English rule was in the ascendant.
Connolly begins with a nuanced portrait of Ireland in the late 15th century, one that challenges the clichés of declining English rule and political dependency upon the Irish lords. He argues that the descendants of the medieval English conquest were not as Gaelicized as traditionally thought, as the cultural boundaries between the Gaelic and English lands were blended rather than sharply divided. Moreover, he sees English rule expanding rather than contracting during this period, with “a mutually acceptable balance of interests” established between the English crown and the leading Irish nobility. It was during this time that the Kildares emerged as the dominant political power, a position they would hold for the next three generations. This, Connolly notes, illustrates the paradox of English power in Ireland at that time, that rule on the cheap was only possible by relying upon a powerful local magnate, yet such reliance on these “overmighty subjects” left English rule vulnerable to challenges from these figures.
It is this paradox which helps to explain why the English rulers abandoned a working governing relationship in the early 16th century, as Henry VII and his ministers, particularly Thomas Cromwell, sought to expand English control and the rule of English law. Their goal was to transform Irish nobles from autonomous lords to magnates who exercised local power on behalf of the crown. Yet Henry and his successors still proved unwilling to invest the resources necessary to achieve control. Even after the suppression of the Kildare revolt in 1535, Henry’s governors – most notably Anthony St Leger – pursued assimilation on the cheap, using a mixture of bribes and occasional force to Anglicize Ireland gradually.
Yet the Gaelic system persisted, largely because of the failure of the English to provide the resources necessary to establish a central authority necessary to make it obsolete. By the 1580s, the English government decided to adopt a new policy – colonization. Beginning with the Munster Revolt, the English confiscated land from the leading rebels and awarded it to “undertakers” – Englishmen who pledged to settle the land in return for their allocation. Unlike earlier English settlers these new transplants were Protestant, injecting a stable population of recusants into a land which until then had experienced the Reformation only superficially.
It is within this context of the growing extension of English control, coupled with the rapaciousness of English officials in dealing with Gaelic lords, that Connolly sees as critical to understanding the circumstances of Tyrone’s rebellion. He depicts Tyrone himself as a man of two worlds – Gaelic by birth, yet heavily influenced by English culture in his upbringing. Tyrone’s nine-year campaign against the English served in retrospect as the last major Gaelic effort to overthrow English rule; its defeat paved the way for its ultimate establishment throughout the island, which Connolly describes in clear yet succinct detail.
Yet the end of Tyrone’s rebellion had even more far reaching consequences. The final defeat of the Gaelic lords made the role of the Old English as a loyal alternative to the Gaels less important, and their recusancy correspondingly more so. Connolly concludes by describing the religious changes Ireland underwent in the decades that followed, and their role in shaping and changing Irish identities, with a epilogue that foreshadows the turmoil that lay ahead, turmoil for which the new Protestant ruling class was ill-prepared to face.
Well written and convincingly argued, Connolly’s book is a superb survey of the era. While particularly strong on the religious and political developments of the period, his examination leave little out, encompassing its economics, society, and culture as well. I finished the book eager for Connolly's second volume. Given that it will cover the years that are the focus of Connolly’s previous research I expect it to be an even more impressive work, creating what is certain to be the standard text on early modern Ireland for decades to come.
Connolly begins with a nuanced portrait of Ireland in the late 15th century, one that challenges the clichés of declining English rule and political dependency upon the Irish lords. He argues that the descendants of the medieval English conquest were not as Gaelicized as traditionally thought, as the cultural boundaries between the Gaelic and English lands were blended rather than sharply divided. Moreover, he sees English rule expanding rather than contracting during this period, with “a mutually acceptable balance of interests” established between the English crown and the leading Irish nobility. It was during this time that the Kildares emerged as the dominant political power, a position they would hold for the next three generations. This, Connolly notes, illustrates the paradox of English power in Ireland at that time, that rule on the cheap was only possible by relying upon a powerful local magnate, yet such reliance on these “overmighty subjects” left English rule vulnerable to challenges from these figures.
It is this paradox which helps to explain why the English rulers abandoned a working governing relationship in the early 16th century, as Henry VII and his ministers, particularly Thomas Cromwell, sought to expand English control and the rule of English law. Their goal was to transform Irish nobles from autonomous lords to magnates who exercised local power on behalf of the crown. Yet Henry and his successors still proved unwilling to invest the resources necessary to achieve control. Even after the suppression of the Kildare revolt in 1535, Henry’s governors – most notably Anthony St Leger – pursued assimilation on the cheap, using a mixture of bribes and occasional force to Anglicize Ireland gradually.
Yet the Gaelic system persisted, largely because of the failure of the English to provide the resources necessary to establish a central authority necessary to make it obsolete. By the 1580s, the English government decided to adopt a new policy – colonization. Beginning with the Munster Revolt, the English confiscated land from the leading rebels and awarded it to “undertakers” – Englishmen who pledged to settle the land in return for their allocation. Unlike earlier English settlers these new transplants were Protestant, injecting a stable population of recusants into a land which until then had experienced the Reformation only superficially.
It is within this context of the growing extension of English control, coupled with the rapaciousness of English officials in dealing with Gaelic lords, that Connolly sees as critical to understanding the circumstances of Tyrone’s rebellion. He depicts Tyrone himself as a man of two worlds – Gaelic by birth, yet heavily influenced by English culture in his upbringing. Tyrone’s nine-year campaign against the English served in retrospect as the last major Gaelic effort to overthrow English rule; its defeat paved the way for its ultimate establishment throughout the island, which Connolly describes in clear yet succinct detail.
Yet the end of Tyrone’s rebellion had even more far reaching consequences. The final defeat of the Gaelic lords made the role of the Old English as a loyal alternative to the Gaels less important, and their recusancy correspondingly more so. Connolly concludes by describing the religious changes Ireland underwent in the decades that followed, and their role in shaping and changing Irish identities, with a epilogue that foreshadows the turmoil that lay ahead, turmoil for which the new Protestant ruling class was ill-prepared to face.
Well written and convincingly argued, Connolly’s book is a superb survey of the era. While particularly strong on the religious and political developments of the period, his examination leave little out, encompassing its economics, society, and culture as well. I finished the book eager for Connolly's second volume. Given that it will cover the years that are the focus of Connolly’s previous research I expect it to be an even more impressive work, creating what is certain to be the standard text on early modern Ireland for decades to come.
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October 21, 2007http://nhw.livejournal.com/1034779.html[return][return]I found this a much more interesting and well-structured book than Colm Lennon's Sixteenth Century Ireland. By the end of it I had a much better idea of the two key narratives - the shift of the Old English areas to permanent alliance with Gaelic Ireland, and the growth in power of the state apparatus centred in Dublin. The general failure of the Reformation to take hold in Ireland is a part of this story, but Connolly admits after surveying the various theories that he does not have a good explanation of why it failed. The least satisfactory thing about the book is that the six maps at the end are horrendously mislabelled; only one is published with the correct caption.[return][return]An unexpected benefit of reading about this period of Irish history is that it gives me a slightly different insight into international relations today. Reading how various English military expeditions tended to end not with the defeat of the Irish enemies, but with them being bought off with recognition of their authority and (often temporarily) converted to allies, has obvious parallels with today's Iraq and Afghanistan. And the gradual extension of the central govenment's authority across the whole island has many resonances with state-building efforts around the world up to the present.[return][return]It is fascinating that the British government in Ireland was utterly unable to cover its costs from locally raised revenue. At the start of the book, roughly 90% of Dublin Castle's budget had to be met from Westminster; by the end of the book it was down to roughly 30% but that is still a heck of a lot - and the cost of this improvement in the finances was the loss of identification with English interests of the vast majority of the previously loyal population. One question that is rarely asked is, given the huge costs of Ireland to England, why bother? I guess there was a certain amount of protecting existing investments of property and prestige, but the question of securing a geographical back door to the English realm must have been even more important - just before the start of the sixteenth century, you have Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck, and just after the century ends you have thousands of Spanish troops landing in Kinsale.[return][return]Anyway, somewhat heavy going in places, but enlightening all the same.
July 7, 2019
The first two thirds of the text traverse a period Connolly admits, in an Author's Note, he is not expert in. This shows. The writing is often opaque, mainly because he goes back and forth giving all possible interpretations of people and events, leaving the reader perplexed rather than enlightened. In the last third, covering from approximately 1550 to 1630, the writing is more fluent, the argument more confident. What disappointed, indeed saddened me, was the narrative's heavily Anglocentric viewpoint: Ireland and its people, as portrayed here, exist mainly as impediments to higher English purposes. Yes, there is acknowledgement of English perfidy in massacres and land seizures, punitive laws and corrupt dealings, but always Connolly seems to suggest the native Irish provoked it. He uses the phrase 'corrosive disillusionment' to explain the repeated recourse to state-sponsored violence, i.e. the English high hopes were disappointed by Irish disdain, which, in turn, 'encouraged' (his word) the English backlash. Colonial apologists have taken this line for centuries. I did not expect to find it in a modern history.
November 14, 2025
S. J. Connolly writes very clearly about the complexities surrounding Ireland’s troubled history. One of the key takeaways is to recognise that the period 1460-1630 was not inevitably leading to what we know happened in Ireland. There were other potential outcomes which have not always been acknowledged by later nationalists or unionists. The reality was much more tangled than many of us realise and Ireland was not necessarily destined to break from Britain.
November 12, 2020
A comprehensive study of Ireland between the late fifteenth and early seventeenth centuries, covering political, social, economic, religious, and legal histories, along with significant analysis of Ireland's culture and literature (for the Gaelic, Old English and New English). A fantastic introduction to Ireland's early modern history that is nevertheless academically solid.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews