Nick Maxwell The concentration by historians on the more exciting events of the last two decades of the eighteenth century has contributed to the neglect of Lucas, and where he has been noticed he has frequently been portrayed as an extravagantly antiCatholic bigot. Hence R.R. Madden described him as ‘a bigot of rampant, puritanical, intolerant principles’, while … Read more
Medieval Ireland was, according to contemporaries, a country divided into two ‘nations’. On the one hand there were the descendants of the Anglo-Norman settlers of the late twelfth and early thirteenth century, on the other the successors to the older Gaelic Irish population. The church reflected this division and was split into two sections, one … Read more
Yet it is through participation on these occasions that diverse classes of Protestants have come to express and interpret their political position in a locality, their understanding of specific political issues, and their group identity. At various times the Twelfth of July has been used both by and against the state, by those demanding parliamentary … Read more
Current developments in women’s history did not just happen. They grew directly from the contemporary feminist movement. The roots of feminism lie in the behaviour-patterns societies have prescribed for women and men. While these have differed over time and place, feminism has always grown from women’s perception that the sex roles prescribed by their own … Read more
Popular culture has long been used in Europe in the construction of ‘national’ ideologies. With the development of the strong nation-state in Europe, elites have also tried to suppress or assimilate elements of popular culture which they regarded as threatening to order, whether civil or moral. In many countries, dance has been prominent in this … Read more