Nick Maxwell In the Tudor period England had done its best to keep Scotland out of any dealings with the third of James VI and I’s kingdoms, Ireland. Those who had attempted plantations under Elizabeth did not want the Scots involved. The helpful offers of Archibald, earl of Argyll, in the 1560s to support the English viceroy … Read more
Sir Cahir O’Doherty’s short-lived rebellion in 1608 took almost everyone by surprise. He had shown himself to be a very willing collaborator with the English Crown in the decisive phase of the Nine Years’ War (1594–1603) and afterwards. Yet O’Doherty was driven to conclude that his earnest efforts to integrate himself into the Stuart … Read more
A chara, —Joost Augusteijn (Letters, HI 17.4, July/Aug. 2009) states that the Sinn Féin manifesto in the 1918 general election ‘did not call for a republic’. Not so. The relevant passage in the manifesto reads: ‘Sinn Féin gives Ireland the opportunity of vindicating her honour and pursuing with renewed confidence the path of national salvation … Read more
Sir, —Re your editorial, ‘Up the Republic/Commonwealth!’ (HI 17.3, May/June 2009), Ulster for some signifies nine, Three more than others can muster. Take one from t’other and all’s fine, As six adds up to UKster. —Yours etc., JOHN MORGAN Dublin 24
Sir, —In your entertainingeditorial on the perils of putting names to places in Ireland, you saythat nationalists find obnoxious the use of ‘Ulster’ for NorthernIreland (‘Up the Republic/Commonwealth!’, HI 17.3, May/June 2009). Butthat was not always the case. De Valera, for example, in August 1921,when questioned in the Dáil about possible talks between Sinn Féin … Read more