Beyond the Pale and Highland Line - (Studies in Early Modern Irish History) by Simon Egan (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book explores how events within the Gaelic-speaking world of Ireland and the Highlands and Islands of Scotland shaped the affairs of the wider Irish and British Isles during the later medieval and early modern periods.

Book Synopsis

This book offers important new insights into the history and culture of the Gaelic-speaking world from the mid-fifteenth century through to the reign of James VI and I. Throughout this period, the reach of the English and Scottish crowns within these western regions was limited. The initiative lay with local communities and royal power was contingent upon negotiating with well-established and largely autonomous aristocratic lineages. Moreover, events within this western world could exert a powerful, often unpredictable, influence upon the affairs of the wider archipelago. Using a series of case studies, this collection examines the evolving relationship between Ireland and Scotland in rich detail. It demonstrates how this world interacted with the encroaching English and Scottish states and underlines the importance of paying closer attention to this neglected area of Irish and British history.

From the Back Cover

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in the interconnected histories of the pre-modern archipelago. Nevertheless, scholarship has overwhelmingly focused on the expansion of the early modern English (and subsequently British) state as the main methodological framework for understanding these complex interactions.

The limitations of such an approach become increasingly apparent when one considers the range of challenges facing both the Tudors and their Stewart counterparts within the western section of the archipelago. At the dawn of the sixteenth century, over a third of the Irish and British Isles was controlled by autonomous Gaelic-speaking lineages. These families could exert a powerful magnetic pull upon the politics of the wider archipelago, yet their ability to do so remains a sub-theme within the historiographies of later medieval and early modern Ireland and Britain.

Using a series of case studies, this collection offers important new perspectives on the history and culture of this lost world. Particular emphasis is placed upon Gaelic source material and the chapters investigate a variety of themes and topics including lordship, dynasticism, political culture, resistance and resilience. The contributions not only demonstrate the vibrancy of Gaelic political life in Ireland and Scotland in the later medieval and early modern periods, they also explore the rich outpouring of the Gaelic literati and underline the enduring nature of Gaelic culture following the eventual Tudor conquest of Ireland.

About the Author

Simon Egan is Lecturer in Medieval Irish History at Queen's University Belfast