Institute of Historical Research Seminar

Professor Alan Ford (University of Nottingham):Making Ireland Protestant: the campaign to enforce religious uniformity in Ireland, 1603-1633

Modern Ireland had—indeed, still has—a habit of testing the policies of English governments to destruction. This was particularly the case in matters of religion. In England, anti-recusancy legislation, though always delicately balanced between the sweeping rhetoric of its enactment and the messy compromises of its enforcement, nevertheless had by the end of the sixteenth century reduced Catholicism to a small though influential minority. In Ireland, however, by 1600 the country was overwhelmingly Catholic, and determined to remain so.

This posed a dilemma for English governors. Those in Dublin wanted to use the full power of the state—finally extended to the whole island after the victory over the native Irish in the Nine Years War—to impose conformity. Those in England, worried at the danger of alienating the Catholic population and the threat of further rebellion, repeatedly reined in the authorities in Dublin arguing, whether by conviction or pragmatism, that persuasion was better than coercion. This paper analyses the competing religious and political perspectives of this three-decade long attempt to turn Ireland Protestant, and places it in the wider context of the reluctant, Realpolitikacceptance of toleration by European states with divided religious loyalties.

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket via Eventbrite or email archives@churchofengland.org no later than Monday 1 December.

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