Red Hugh's captivity: A picture of Ireland, social and political, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth [Unknown Binding]

Standish O'Grady (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1889

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889. Excerpt: ... RED HUGH'S CAPTIVITY. INTRODUCTION. The history of Ireland during the sixteenth century is the history of a revolution, of the successive steps by which a radical and organic reconstitution of society was effected. In the beginning of this century Ireland was mediasval and feudal to the core. In the beginning of the seventeenth the rule of the chiefs was replaced by the absolute authority of the Crown. The petty dynasts were gone; the supremacy of universal law was established; peace reigned, and in peace all that we mean by modern civilisation began to germinate. Out of the feudal Ireland which then perished modern Ireland was born--might we not say, born according to the Cesarean method, ript with steel from the mother's side?--for indeed the naked sword, more than all else, is visible through all the confusions of this terrible century. The B revolution was social and organic; by it the clan system was swept away. It was also political. Ireland, for the first time, was ruled, and ruled by the English king; Ireland, for the first time at peace with herself, was united with the Empire as an integral and loyal member of the same. The valour and genius of that remarkable race of meii, the Tudor Viceroys, who presided over and guided this revolution, has, I think, never been adequately recognised, nor the magnitude of the task, nor the thoroughness with which it was completed. With the next century came new problems and new troubles, but the work which had been appointed for the Tudor Viceroys was finished. When Henry VIII. ascended the throne, Ireland was but the habitat of some sixty distinct and warring nations, the seat of sixty independent units of authority called "monocracies" by contemporary writers. To some of them the Crown was tributary, over non...

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Unknown Binding: 295 pages
• Publisher: Ward and Downey (1889)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00088R79Q