Elizabeth I and Ireland

The last generation has seen a veritable revolution in scholarly work on Elizabeth I, on Ireland, and on the colonial aspects of the literary productions that typically served to link the two. It is now commonly accepted that Elizabeth was a much more active and activist figure than an older scholarship allowed. Gaelic elites are acknowledged to have had close interactions with the crown and continental powers; Ireland itself has been shown to have occupied a greater place in Tudor political calculations than previously thought. Literary masterpieces of the age are recognised for their imperial and colonial entanglements. Elizabeth I and Ireland is the first collection fully to connect these recent scholarly advances. Bringing together Irish and English historians, and literary scholars of both vernacular languages, this is the first sustained consideration of the roles played by Elizabeth and by the Irish in shaping relations between the realms.

1. Elizabeth I and Ireland: an introduction Brendan Kane and Valerie McGowan-Doyle; 2. Ireland's Eliza: Queen or Cailleach? Richard A. McCabe; 3. Elizabeth on Ireland Leah S. Marcus; 4. A bardic critique of queen and court: 'Ionmholta Malairt Bhisigh', Eochaidh Ó hEodhasa, 1603 Peter McQuillan; 5. Recognizing Elizabeth I: grafting, sovereignty, and the logic of icons in an instance of bardic poetry B. R. Siegfried; 6. Coming into the weigh-house: Elizabeth I and the government of Ireland Ciaran Brady; 7. An Irish perspective on Elizabeth's religion: reformation thought and Henry Sidney's Irish lord deputyship, c.1560 to 1580 Mark A. Hutchinson; 8. Elizabeth I, the Old English and the rhetoric of counsel Valerie McGowan-Doyle; 9. 'Base rogues' and 'gentlemen of quality': the earl of Essex's Irish knights and royal displeasure in 1599, Paul E. J. Hammer; 10. 'Tempt not God too long, O Queen': Elizabeth and the Irish Crisis of the 1590s Hiram Morgan; 11. War poetry and counsel in early modern Ireland Andrew Hadfield; 12. Elizabeth on rebellion in Ireland and England: semper eadem? Brendan Kane; 13. Print, Protestantism and cultural authority in Elizabethan Ireland Marc Caball; Bibliography; Index.

Brendan Kane is Associate Professor of History at the University of Connecticut.
Valerie McGowan-Doyle is Associate Professor of History at Lorain County Community College.