The Fall and Rise of the Irish Nation

by Thomas Bartlett

This is a survey of the origins and development of the Catholic Question in 18th and early 19th century Ireland. One of the Beresford family remarked in 1820: "When I was a boy the 'Irish People' meant the Protestants, now it means the Roman Catholics." In essence this book traces how that change came about and explains its causes.
The Seventeenth Century Background, 1600-1690; The Penal Politics and the Protestant Nation, 1690-1750; The Emergence of the Catholic Question in the 1750s; European Enlightenment, English Perceptions and Irish Politics, 1750-1775; The Catholic Relief Acts of 1778 and 1782; The Catholic Question and Parliamentary Reform in the 1780s; The Catholic Relief Act of 1792; The 1793 Revolution; "Catholic Defenderism...Protestant Ascendancy": Ireland 1784-95; "To Rally the Protestants": Ireland 1795-98; Rebellion and Union, 1798-1801; The Rise of the Catholic Nation, Part 1, 1801-12; The Rise of the Catholic Nation, Part 2, 1813-23; The Winning of Catholic Emancipation, 1823-29; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

Genres: History, Ireland

448 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 1992

Reviews

[Mathieu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I can't really "review" this book since it was the basis for my own MA thesis and since it was Mr. Bartlett himself who suggested that I work on Charles O'Conor correspondence as the main primary source for my MA thesis.

Still, this book details how the sense that an Irish nation existed emerged during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Bartlett's prose is impeccable as well as his method, two qualities that, besides my own interest for this subject, place this book as a major work that I recommend to anyone interested in Irish history and the Irish "Question."