The Amity Papers, 1690 - (Records of Social and Economic History) by Thomas M Truxes & John Shovlin (Hardcover)

About the Book

The Amity Papers, 1690 reproduces 74 documents captured from the Irish vessel Amity in 1690, and rediscovered in 2016 at the British National Archives. Merchant letters highlight civilian hardships, and commercial difficulties during the 1690 siege of Limerick, and illuminate Catholic-Irish and Quaker commercial networks trading with France.

Book Synopsis

The Amity Papers, 1690 reproduces 74 documents seized from the Irish vessel Amity trading with France at the height of the Williamite War (1689-1691). Mostly letters written by merchants (with a smaller number penned by Jacobite soldiers), the ship's papers illustrate particularly the plight of civilians during the 1690 siege of Limerick, which ended just weeks before the Amity sailed. The writers and their correspondents-mostly living in France-were part of two mercantile networks, one Catholic and the other Quaker. The collaboration between the two enabled Franco-Irish trade to continue despite wartime challenges. The letters also illuminate the economic consequences of wartime conditions in Ireland: requisitioning, the forced circulation of rapidly depreciating brass money, and the risks of buying or selling goods in this context.

About the Author

Thomas M. Truxes, New York University, John Shovlin, New York University

Thomas M. Truxes is Clinical Professor of Irish Studies and History at New York University.

John Shovlin is Professor of History at New York University.