This module examines political, social and cultural developments in Ireland during the early modern period within a narrative and thematic framework, starting with Tudor political reform and continuing through to the Act of Union in 1800.

 

The principal issues dealt with include the impact of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation; the wars/rebellions of the sixteenth century and the demise of Gaelic Ireland; the ‘colonisation’ and ‘civilisation’ of Ireland by the English and the Scots; Confederate Ireland and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms; the Cromwellian and Restoration land settlements; the War of the Three Kings; the ‘Protestant Ascendancy’ and the Penal Era; the impact of the American and French revolutions; the rebellion of the United Irishmen; the formation of ‘Irish’ and ‘British’ national identities; Irish migration to continental Europe; and Ireland's place in the British Empire.