Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T01:10:30.700Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ireland and the Monarchy in the Early Stuart Multiple Kingdom*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

M. Perceval-Maxwell
M. Perceval-Maxwell
Affiliation:
McGill University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Ireland's position as a kingdom in early modern Europe was, in some respects, unique, and this eccentricity sheds light upon the complexity of governing a multiple kingdom during the seventeenth century. The framework for looking at the way Ireland operated as a kingdom is provided, first by an article by Conrad Russell on ‘The British problem and the English civil war’ and secondly by an article by H. G. Koenigsberger entitled ‘Monarchies and parliaments in early modern Europe – dominium regale or dominium politicum et regale’. Russell listed six problems that faced multiple kingdoms: resentment at the king's absence, disposal of offices, sharing of war costs, trade and colonies, foreign intervention and religion. Koenigsberger used Sir John Fortescue's two phrases of the 1470s to distinguish between constitutional, or limited monarchies, and more authoritarian ones during the early modern period. Both these contributions are valuable in looking at the way the monarchy operated in Ireland because the application of the constitution there was deeply influenced by Ireland's position as part of a multiple kingdom and because Englishmen, looking at Ireland, wanted her to be like England, but, at the same time, did not wish her to exercise the type of independence that they claimed for England.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , June 1991 , pp. 279 - 295
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Russell, C., ‘The British problem and the English civil war’, History, LXXI (1987), 395–415CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Koenigsberger, H. G., ‘Monarchies and parliaments in early modern Europe – dominium regale or dominium politicum et regale’, Theory and Society, V (1978), 191–217CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Ellis, Steven G., ‘Parliament and community in Yorkist and Tudor Ireland’, in Cosgrove, Art and McGuire, J. I. (eds.), Historical Studies, XIV (Belfast, 1983), 43–4, 56–7Google Scholar; Ellis, Steven G., Reform and revival: English government in Ireland, 1470–1534 (London, 1986), pp. 143–54Google Scholar; Quinn, D. B., ‘Anglo-Irish local government 1485–1534’, Irish Historical Studies, I (1938–1939), 381Google Scholar; Quinn, D. B., ‘Parliaments and great councils in Ireland’, Irish Historical Studies, III (1942–1943), 60–71CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 Ellis, , ‘Parliament and community’, p. 56Google Scholar.

4 The statutes at large, passed in the parliaments held in Ireland… 1301 to7… 1800 inclusive (hereafter Slat. Ire.), I, 176Google Scholar.

5 Edwards, R. D. and Moody, T. W., ‘The history of Poynings'; law: part I, 1494–1615’, Irish Historical Studies, II (1940–1941), 415–16Google Scholar.

6 Slat. Ire., I, 44.

7 Ellis, , ‘Parliament and community’, pp. 52, 56Google Scholar.

8 Calendar of state papers relating to Ireland, 1633–47 (hereafter Col. S.P. Ire.), p. 299. In 1640, in order to cover the cost of raising the new army to attack the Scots on their western flank, Ireland once more had to draw on the English treasury. See Russell, C., ‘The British background to the Irish Rebellion of 1641’, Historical Research, LXI (1988), 173Google Scholar. This situation, however, was clearly exceptional, and had the Irish parliament permitted the collection of the subsidies at the rates originally anticipated, the drain on the English treasury would have been minimal.

9 Clarke, A., The old English in Ireland 1625–42 (Worcester and London, 1966), p. 146Google Scholar.

10 Cat. S.P. Ire., 1599–1600, pp. 279–80.

11 Acts of the parliament of Scotland (hereafter A.P.S.), V, 337–43; Statutes at large of England and Great Britain, V, 121–6.

12 Ibid.Cal. S.P. Ire., 1599–1600, pp. 279–80; Galloway, Bruce, The union of England and Scotland 1603–1608 (Edinburgh, 1986), pp. 43, 68–71Google Scholar.

13 N[ational] L[ibrary] of S[cotland], Adv. MS 33.4.6, fos. 131, 131V., 133V.; N.L.S., Wodrow MS Quarto 25, no. 147; Laing, D. (ed.), The letters and journals of Robert Baillie, 1637–62 (3 vols., Edinburgh, 1841), I, 306Google Scholar; Bodl[eian] Lib[rary], Nalson MS C 172N, fos. 67–73.

14 Casway, J. I., Owen Roe O'Xeill and the struggle for catholic Ireland (Philadelphia, 1984), p. 33Google Scholar.

15 Clarke, , Old English, pp. 34–9Google Scholar; Cal. S.P. Ire., 1625–32, p. 190.

16 Cal. S.P. Ire., 1599–1600, p. 279.

17 Slat. Ire., I, 240–1, 438–41.

18 Gillespie, R., ‘The end of an era: Ulster and the outbreak of the 1641 rising’, in Brady, C. and Gillespie, R. (eds.), Natives and newcomers (Bungay, Suffolk, 1986), pp. 193–4Google Scholar.

19 For a useful discussion of the extent to which colonization in Ireland fitted into the North American pattern or belonged more to the centralizing process taking place in Tudor England, see Canny, Nicholas, Kingdom and Colony: Ireland in the Atlantic world 1560–1800 (Baltimore and London, 1988), pp. 8–18Google Scholar. A comprehensive comparison between English government in Ireland and that in the more remote areas of England is supplied in Ellis, Steven G., The Pale and the far north: government and society in two early Tudor borderlands (The O'Donnell Lecture, Galway, 1986)Google Scholar.

20 Moody, T. W., The Londonderry plantation 1609–41 (Belfast, 1939), pp. 287–93, 390–405Google Scholar.

21 Ranger, T. O., ‘The career of Richard Boyle, first earl of Cork in Ireland’ (unpublished D.Phil, dissertation, University of Oxford, 1959), pp. 228–9Google Scholar, 248–50, 366–70; Cat. S.P. Ire., 1633–47, PP. 269–70; Whitaker, T. D., The life and original correspondence of Sir George Radcliffe (London, 1810), p. 212Google Scholar; Dictionary of national biography, LIX, 128.

22 Clarke, , Old English, pp. 55–6Google Scholar; Clarke, A., ‘Selling royal favours, 1624–32’, in Moody, T. W., Martin, F. X., Byrne, F. J. (eds.), A new history of Ireland (9 vols., Oxford, 1976-), III, 239–40Google Scholar.

23 Kent Archives, Maidstone, De L'Isle MS, pt. 2, V1475, Z 1/9. I am grateful to Viscount De L'Isle, V.C., K.G., for permitting me to consult his family's muniments, and to Conrad Russell for directing me to this source.

24 For similar misunderstanding between the Spanish monarch and his subjects outside Castile, particularly in Catalonia, see: Elliott, J. H., Imperial Spain, 1469–1716 (London, 1963), pp. 247–50Google Scholar; Elliott, J. H., ‘Revolution and continuity in early modern Europe’, Past and Present, LXII (1969), pp. 49–53Google Scholar; Elliott, J. H., ‘The king and the Catlans, 1621–1640’, Cambridge Historical Journal, XI (1955), PP. 253–71CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

25 SirDavies, J., ‘Sir John Davies's speech to the lord deputy of Ireland … 2nd May 1613’, in Historical tracts (London, 1786), p. 297Google Scholar.

26 Spedding, J., The letters and life of Francis Bacon (7 vols., London, 1861–1874), IV 27Google Scholar.

27 Cat. S.P. Ire., 1625–32, p. 47.

28 P.R.O., S.P. 16/527, fo. 104V. I am grateful to Conrad Russell for directing me to this source.

29 Register of the privy council of Scotland, 1607–10, pp. 497–8, 504–5.

30 Cal. S.P. Ire., 1625–32, pp. 57–8.

31 Calendar of Carew MSS 1603–24 (hereafter Cat. Carew MSS), p. 290; Moody, T. W., ‘The Irish parliament under Elizabeth and James I’, Royal Irish Academy Proceedings, sec. C, XLV (1939), 41–81Google Scholar.

32 Stat. Ire., I, 432–4, 438–41, 443, 460–77.

33 Cal. Carew MSS, 1603–24, p. 291.

34 Ibid. pp. 155–6.

35 Davies, , Historical tracts, pp. 309–10Google Scholar.

36 Moody, , ‘;The Irish parliament’, p. 65Google Scholar.

37 Russell, , ‘The British problem’, p. 398Google Scholar.

38 Clarke, , Old English, pp. 56–8Google Scholar.

39 Acts of the privy council of England, 1628, pp. 393–401.

40 Ford, A., The protestant reformation in Ireland, 1590–1641 (Frankfurt am Main, 1985), pp. 49–50, 260Google Scholar.

41 Knowler, W., The earl of Strqfforde's letters and dispatches [hereafter Knowler, Strqffbrd] (2 vols., Dublin, 1739), IGoogle Scholar, 148.

42 Bodl. Lib., Clarendon MS 17, fos. 82–3.

43 Knowler, , Strafford, I, 72–3Google Scholar; Andrews, C. M., The colonial period of American history (4 vols., New Haven and Yale, 1964), II, 223–4Google Scholar.

44 Knowler, , Strafford, I, 65–7Google Scholar; Journals of the house of commons of the kingdom of Ireland (hereafter C. J. Ire.), I, 163; Kearney, H. F., Strafford in Ireland 1633–41: a study in absolutism (Manchester, 1959) P. 92Google Scholar.

45 Clarke, A., ‘The history of Poynings' law, 1615–41’, Irish Historical Studies, XVIII (1972), 211Google Scholar.

46 Clarke, , Old English, p. 106Google Scholar; Wedgwood, C. V., The king's peace, 1637–1641 (London, 1955), p. 287Google Scholar.

47 Castle to Bridgewater, 12 Nov. 1639, Huntington Library, Calif., Ellesmere MS 7811.

48 A.P.S., v, 342.

49 Ibid. p. 343.

50 Ibid. p. 343.

51 B[ritish] L[ibrary], Harl[eian] MSS 163, fo. 209V.

52 C. J. Ire., I, 162–3.

53 Perceval-Maxwell, M., ‘Protestant faction, the impeachment of Strafford and the origins of the Irish civil war’, Canadian Journal of History, XVII (1982), 235–55CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

54 B.L. Add. MSS 6521, fo. 73V.

55 Laing, , The letters and journals of Robert Baillie, I, 336Google Scholar.

56 Bruce, J. (ed.), Notes of proceedings in the long parliament by Sir Ralph Verney, Camden Society, first series (London, 1845), pp. 60, 64Google Scholar.

57 Notestein, W. (ed.), The journal of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (New Haven, 1923), p. 442Google Scholar.

58 Ibid. p. 487.

59 B.L. Harl. MSS 163, fo. 351. The issue arose as early as 3 March 1641, when the Irish lord chancellor wrote to the speaker of the English house of commons reporting that an Irishman had petitioned in England against the bishop of Ardagh. The bishop had been summoned to appear in England, whereupon the Irish lords forbade him to depart.

60 Russell, , ‘The British background’, p. 176Google Scholar; B.L. Harl. MSS 6424, fo. 87V.; Lords Journals, IV, 348.

61 Clarke, , Old English, pp. 148–9Google Scholar.

62 The negotiations of the committees of the Irish lords and commons extended from December 1640 to August 1641. The agents of the Irish parliament returned to Ireland with bills giving effect to the king's concessions on 25 August 1641: P.R.O., S.P. 63/260, fos. 102, 107; Cal. S.P. Ire., 1633–47, PP. 339–40.

63 Clarke, , Old English, p. 145Google Scholar; Kearney, , Strafford in Ire., p. 210Google Scholar; Russell, , ‘The British problem’, p. 406Google Scholar.

64 Kearney, , Strafford in Ire., p. 194Google Scholar.

65 Darcy, P., An argument delivered by Patrick Darcy esquire, by the express order of the house of commons in the parliament of Ireland, 9 June 1641 (Waterford, 1643), PP. 65–129Google Scholar.

66 Ibid. pp. 19–21.

67 Ibid. pp. 65–6.

68 Ibid. p. 66.

69 Ibid. p. 130. The commons issued its Declaration on the Queries on 26 July 1641: see C. J. Ire., I, 270–1. When this Declaration was published by the Confederate catholics, together with Darcy's speech, in 1643, it was described as ‘propounded “in” parliament’, not ‘by’ parliament, because, although sent to the lords, the upper house had not approved it before the lords justices prorogued parliament early in August.

70 Ibid. p. 105.

71 Clarke, , ‘The history of Poynings' law’, p. 213Google Scholar.

72 C. J. Ire. I, 184–5.

73 Clarke, , Old English, p. 105Google Scholar.

74 P.R.O., S.P. 63/258, fo. 298; P.R.O., S.P. 63/259, fos. 91V., 133; Cal. S.P. Ire., 1633–47, pp. 280, 296.

75 Mervin, A., Captain Audley Mervin's speech …,24 May 1641 concerning the judicature of the high court of parliament (London, 1641), p. 16Google Scholar.

76 See chapter vi of my The outbreak of the Irish rebellion in preparation.

77 Privy council registers preserved in the Public Record Office reproduced infacsimile (London, 1968), XII, 188–9Google Scholar; Cal. S.P. Ire., 1633–47, p. 341.

78 C. J. Ire., I, 191.

79 SirWarner, G. E. (ed.), Nicholas papers, Camden Society, new series (London, 1886), p. 57Google Scholar; H.M.C., Ormond MSS, n.s., II, 19.

80 B.L., Egerton MSS 80, fos. 33V–34.

81 Limerick depositions, T[rinity] C[ollege] D[ublin], 829, fo. 310V.

82 Gilbert, J. T. (ed.), History of the Irish confederation and the war in Ireland, 1641–1643 (7 vols., Dublin, 1882–1891), I, 279, 289Google Scholar.

83 Kelly, James, ‘The origins of the Act of Union: an examination of unionist opinion in Britain and Ireland, 1650–1800’, Irish Historical Studies (1987), xxv, 238–40Google Scholar.