Sword, Word and Strategy in the Reformation in Ireland

Abstract

The single most intriguing problem posed by the history of the Reformation in Ireland is the failure of the state-sponsored religion to take root in any section of the indigenous population. Perhaps because this outcome has been taken so much for granted a satisfactory explanation of it has yet to be offered. Historians are now coming to recognize that the central question cannot be properly discussed without a prolegomenon ranging over the political, social and intellectual history of the period. What follows is intended as a contribution to such a series of preliminary studies. It investigates the sources of tension within reforming circles in sixteenth-century Ireland and considers the implications of this aspect of its internal history for the external history of the movement.

Three Faces of Civilization: ‘In the Beginning All the World was Ireland’

“…In principle demilitarization involved both the exercise of violence and attempts to transform the psychology of the Irish population, an important part of which was the placement of all conflict within the framework of English law. The disciplining and pacification of a population generally drew on two different strategies – the word and the sword, persuasion and coercion (Bradshaw, 1978). In England a particular combination of the two worked more or less successfully, but in Ireland the sword became the English strategy of choice.…”

The Anglo-American Colonial Experience

“…41 She also makes a valid point when she concludes that among eye-witness commentators 'differences in assessments of Indian culture were individual' and bore no relation to religious, social or educational factors. In arriving at this conclusion she puts paid to the view, which received its most recent airing in this journal, 42 that negative appraisal of a primitive people was associated with the Calvinist doctrine of predestination. Such could not logically have been the case, she contends, since ' the division between the elect and the rest of mankind whether Indians or Englishmen was absolute'.…”

A inglória ilha de Gloriana: Elizabeth I, responsabilidade e honra na Guerra dos Nove Anos na Irlanda

“…4 Embora Filipe considerasse os holandeses (Bradshaw, 1978). Elizabeth, como já mencionei, herdara uma entidade política instável.…”