In the aftermath of the Williamite revolution religious persecution intensified. In 1697 the Irish parliament, an exclusively Protestant assembly since 1691, enacted a law to banish all Catholic bishops and others exercising ecclesiastical jurisdictions, as well as regulars (religious orders), from Ireland. In 1704 ‘an act to prevent the further growth of popery’ demanded the … Read more
Ware’s accumulation of manuscripts is significant not only because of its scale but also because it reveals the breadth of his scholarly interests. In 1648 he published Librorum manuscriptorum in bibliotheca Jacobi Waræi equities aur. catalogus—apparently the only book printed in Dublin in that year—which details many of the documents that were in his personal … Read more
Ware possessed an enormous collection of manuscripts. The vast majority of these are housed in the National Library of Ireland, Trinity College, Dublin, the British Library and the Bodleian Library in Oxford. It is not hard to understand what Ussher meant when he praised his friend for being ‘an industrious searcher of ye antiquities of … Read more
‘How lies about Irish “barbarism” in 1641 paved way for Cromwell’s atrocities. Conference hears how seventeenth-century “dodgy dossier” spread stories about Catholics ripping open pregnant Protestant women.’ These headlines appeared in the Guardian On-line in February 2011. The ‘dodgy dossier’ angle was a good headline-grabber, but the truth of the matter is that the Language … Read more
‘Terrible queer creatures’: a history of homosexuality in Ireland Brian Lacey (Wordwell Books, €25) ISBN 9781905569236 With a title referencing James Joyce, this book takes one down a hundred avenues of Irish gay history and a greater number of characters. Whether their homosexuality is documented or the subject of reasoned speculation, Brian Lacey, a noted … Read more