This book examines the creation of a clearly Protestant Church of Ireland during the crucial decades from 1590 to 1641.

"The religious division of Ireland into Catholics and Protestants is basic to modern Irish history. It originates in the the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in the conflict between the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation which led to the creation of two separate churches. This book examines one side of that process of division and confessionalisation: the creation of a clearly Protestant Church of Ireland during the crucial decades from 1590 to 1641." "The Church's policy towards the Reformation in Ireland, though it failed signally to win over the native population, did succeed in creating a distinctive Protestant identity amongst the new English settlers and officials. The roots of that new identity lay in a complex combination of predestinarian theology, apocalyptic, history and cultural elitism, all of which were ultimately strengthened and confirmed by the shock of the Irish rising in 1641."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The study of the Reformation in England and Wales, Ireland and Scotland has usually been treated by historians as a series of discrete national stories. Reformation in Britain and Ireland draws upon the growing genre of writing about British History to construct an innovative narrative of religious change in the four countries/three kingdoms. The text uses a broadly chronological framework to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the pre-Reformation churches; the political crises of the break with Rome; the development of Protestantism and changes in popular religious culture. The tools of conversion - the Bible, preaching and catechising - are accorded specific attention, as is doctrinal change. It is argued that political calculations did most to determine the success or failure of reformation, though the ideological commitment of a clerical elite was also of central significance.

The 1641 Depositions are among the most important documents relating to early modern Irish history. This essay collection is part of a major project run by Trinity College, Dublin, using the depositions to investigate the life and culture of seventeenth-century Ireland.

Historians agree that the 1641 Irish rebellion had profound significance outside of Ireland, but Perceval-Maxwell shows in detail how it did so. He considers negotiations between the Irish and English parliaments, how events in Ireland influenced public opinion in both England and Scotland, the delay in sending the Irish army against the Scots, how the Irish rising contributed to the outbreak of the English Civil War, and other factors. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

How did the Protestants gain a monopoly over the running of Ireland and replace the Catholics as rulers and landowners? To answer this question, Toby Barnard: - Examines the Catholics' attempt to regain control over their own affairs, first in the 1640s and then between 1689 and 1691 - Outlines how military defeats doomed the Catholics to subjection, allowing Protestants to tighten their grip over the government - Studies in detail the mechanisms - both national and local - through which Protestant control was exercised Focusing on the provinces as well as Dublin, and on the subjects as well as the rulers, Barnard draws on an abundance of unfamiliar evidence to offer unparalleled insights into Irish lives during a troubled period.