In his 1911 Labour in Irish history, James Connolly dismissed King James II as ‘the most worthless representative of the most worthless race ever to sit on a throne’. Many Stuart candidates could claim this unflattering accolade during their 500-year stewardship of Scotland and 85-year reign over the three kingdoms. Their bloodied history comprises a … Read more
In 1689 Irish men and women were drawn into the struggle between the Catholic James II and the Protestant William III for the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland. This was the most ‘conventional’ war between the Nine Years’ War and the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland, with two major European-scale battles in the field and … Read more
It is hardly surprising that Irish historians have been reluctant to engage with negative later medieval English perceptions of Ireland (see sidebar below), other than to impugn their veracity. In regard to the English Pale, for instance, studies of interaction between Gaedhil and Gaill have aimed to disprove its status as an international frontier; depictions … Read more
The first direct talks between the IRA and the Nazis began in 1937, when Tom Barry, the then chief-of-staff, travelled to Germany. The legendary leader of the Cork flying columns was accompanied on his travels by a German agent, Jupp Hoven. While posing as a TCD student, Hoven undertook spying work in Belfast, Dublin and … Read more