Brief outline of content
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This lecture course assesses the various policies pursued by the Tudor monarchs to extend English rule throughout Ireland. The changing role of Ireland within the English state and the growing importance of Ireland in Tudor policy are also discussed, as also the gradual development and particular manifestations of Irish resistance to Tudor reform. By the 1580s, Tudor attempts to 'civilize' Ireland by shiring the coutnry, plantation, cultural imperialism and religious reform were sparking off strenuous political and religious opposition both among Gaelic Irish and Old English, leading in turn to the creation of novel forms of Irish nationalist sentiment. Eventually, what Henry VIII had hoped to achieve 'by sober ways, politic drifts and amiable persuasions' had to be accomplished by military conquest which almost bankrupted the crown. This course assesses why things went so badly wrong.
Core texts:Ellis, S.G., Ireland in the Age of the Tudors (London, 1998)
Lennon, C. Sixteenth-century Ireland (Dublin, 1994)
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