Walter Devereux, first earl of Essex, and the failure of plantation in Elizabethan Ulster, c. 1573–6. By David Heffernan Walter Devereux, first earl of Essex, was a paradoxical figure. When he died in Dublin on 22 September 1576 at the age of just 37 he was surrounded by some of the leading political figures of … Read more
By Fiona Fitzsimons This collection, the earliest run of travel documents, survives in the Augmentation Office papers in the Exchequer records of the UK National Archives. The Office derived from the Court of Augmentation, a financial court; the safe conduct of travellers was guaranteed by the Crown, for which it was also a useful source … Read more
A new calendar of documents, commissioned by the Irish Jesuits for the bicentenary of the order’s restoration in 1814. By Vera Moynes An anti-clerical edict proclaimed by the president and council of Munster on 18 August 1604 contained the following description: ‘[the] Jesuittes, Seminaries and massinge priestes have bene … so much harkned unto and … Read more
A complex, sophisticated instrument that can deliver a unique form of traditional music. By Terry Moylan In early December 2017, at their general assembly in South Korea, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) inscribed uilleann piping in their Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It joins an extensive list … Read more
Duke Leopold’s Irish subjects and Jacobitism in Lorraine, 1698–1727. By Stephen Griffin and Jérémy Filet The duchy of Lorraine reclaimed its sovereignty from France in 1697 under the terms of the Treaty of Ryswick. Lorraine, a small state situated between France and the Holy Roman Empire, had suffered depopulation and economic ruin throughout the seventeenth … Read more