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Chapter Seventeen Colonizing Irish History Canny Sets the Agenda () “The period – in Irish history, though an age of economic advance and intellectual activity, was above all an age of disruption. Prolonged and fundamental conflict over sovereignty, land, religion and culture produced changes more catastrophic and far-reaching than anything Ireland had experienced since the Anglo-Norman invasion of the twelfth century, or was to experience again till the great famine, the land war, and the struggle for national independence.” Such are the concluding words of the late T. W. Moody in his introduction to volume III of A New History of Ireland (). In his brilliant new book, Making Ireland British, Nicholas Canny provides his own interpretation of this revolutionary period, but whereas Moody was able to call upon the services of nearly a score of specialists, in the tradition of the Cambridge Modern History, Canny has worked as an individual scholar over three decades and more. The publication of this book thus provides the occasion to contrast the approach of an individual scholar with that of a well-organized team. It also gives us the opportunity to compare two generations of Irish historians. Moody’s judgment about the significance of the period – does not include the concept “revolution” but it is implied in his overall tone. Canny is in full agreement about the revolutionary character of the changes involved but his emphasis is different. Canny’s theme, following upon the approach of his mentor, David Quinn, is to stress the deliberate conquest and colonization of Ireland. Canny’s argument in fact is that Spenser set the agenda for this policy, which was followed up by others, including Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, and later carried to completion by 280 Oliver Cromwell. Radical changes would have come to Ireland without doubt in the wake of the invention of gunpowder and the printing press. Nor could Ireland have expected to remain immune from the impact of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. In Canny’s view, however, what differentiated the history of Ireland from other areas of these islands was its exposure to systematic colonization. It was this experience which distinguishes Irish history from that of Wales and Scotland, though it perhaps links it with that of Bohemia and Andalusia. Colonization was not the only option available. The Crown often preferred to proceed upon the basis of agreement with such magnates as Ormond, Thomond, and even, at one phase of his career, with Hugh O’Neill. What marked a distinct shift was the publication of the papal bull Regnans in Excelsis (), followed by the rise of a Puritan faction led by Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, at Elizabeth’s court. Mary Queen of Scots, now living in exile in England, became the focal point of plots against Elizabeth. It was these years which witnessed Leicester’s expedition to the Netherlands (), the execution of Mary (), the defeat of the Spanish Armada () and in Ireland the revolt of the earl of Desmond (–) which was crushed by the lord deputy Grey with the utmost severity. In an unforgettable passage of his view Edmund Spenser described the impact of Grey’s scorched-earth policy on the local inhabitants: Out of every corner of the woods and glens they came creeping forth upon their hands, for their legs could not bear them. They looked anatomies of death, they spake like ghosts crying out of their graves, they did eat of the dead carrion, happy were they could find them, yea and one another soon after in so much as the very carcasses they spared not to scrape out of their graves, and if they could find a plot of watercress or shamrocks, there they flocked as to a feast for the time, yet not able long to continue therewithal, that in short space there was none almost left and a most populous country suddenly left void of man or beast. Canny wants us to believe that the policy of conquest and colonization adumbrated in Spenser’s View of the State of Ireland, and also implied, he believes, in The Faerie Queen, represent the main thrust of English policy. This is Canny’s judgment in the conclusion to his book but in earlier chapters he himself provides material which indicates that other options were available. Thus he shows how Gaelic Irish lords such as the earl of Clancar (MacCarthy Mór) successfully opposed in the law courts the administration ’s attempts to seize their lands. Even after Mountjoy’s...

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