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Ireland in the Renaissance, C.1540-1660
This book brings to life the cross-currents of European 'Renaissance' culture in Ireland, primarily outside the Pale. Essays focus on institutions such as Peter White's grammar school in Kilkenny; monuments, including the funeral art of Kilkenny and Lord Deputy Sir Henry Sidney's decorated stone bridge at Athlone; buildings such as the fortified houses of Laois-Offaly, the decorated Butler mansion at Carrick-on-Suir, and Sir Walter Raleigh's house in Youghal; maps, including the sinister colonial cartography of Richard Bartlett; texts such as Counter-Reformation polemic and nationalist historiography, women's writing from the 1641 rebellion, and the published Dublin celebrations of King Charles II's Restoration.
284 pages, Hardcover
First published December 6, 2007
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August 17, 2025
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/ireland-in-the-renaissance-1540-1660-ed-thomas-herron-and-michael-potterton/
There are sixteen substantial essays here, with an introduction by co-editor Herron, and none of them is a dud, which is really unusual for any book with separately commissioned pieces by that many authors. All of them address the proposition that there are many interesting things to say about Ireland and the Renaissance, two words that are not often used in the same sentence.
Eight of the chapters are about learning and literature (including one about the Counter-Reformation). Topics covered include the teacher Peter White (who I suspect may have been a distant relative of my family), Sir Henry Sidney of course, and the contemporary literary treatment of the glamorous Thomas Stukley.
Six chapters then look at artefacts, mostly architecture – the front cover features Sir Walter Ralegh’s place in County Cork, which still survives as a private residence! – with a bit of art as well, including Bartlett’s maps of the Nine Years War. The standout chapter for me was on the bridge at Athlone constructed by Sir Henry Sidney and demolished in 1844, or rather on the sculptures and inscriptions that adorned it.
Two final chapters examine the personal accounts of two aristocratic women who unsuccessfully defended their castles in 1641, and the celebrations in Dublin of the restoration of Charles II twenty years later. (Your regular reminder that the first recorded Indian immigrant to Ireland was burned out of his home by Irish nationalists.)
One last comment – this is a particularly heavy book, with lovely plates and illustrations, well produced from Four Courts Press. It will last for the ages. A grim comparison with the previous book I finished, Not So Quiet… by Helen Zenna Smith.
There are sixteen substantial essays here, with an introduction by co-editor Herron, and none of them is a dud, which is really unusual for any book with separately commissioned pieces by that many authors. All of them address the proposition that there are many interesting things to say about Ireland and the Renaissance, two words that are not often used in the same sentence.
Eight of the chapters are about learning and literature (including one about the Counter-Reformation). Topics covered include the teacher Peter White (who I suspect may have been a distant relative of my family), Sir Henry Sidney of course, and the contemporary literary treatment of the glamorous Thomas Stukley.
Six chapters then look at artefacts, mostly architecture – the front cover features Sir Walter Ralegh’s place in County Cork, which still survives as a private residence! – with a bit of art as well, including Bartlett’s maps of the Nine Years War. The standout chapter for me was on the bridge at Athlone constructed by Sir Henry Sidney and demolished in 1844, or rather on the sculptures and inscriptions that adorned it.
Two final chapters examine the personal accounts of two aristocratic women who unsuccessfully defended their castles in 1641, and the celebrations in Dublin of the restoration of Charles II twenty years later. (Your regular reminder that the first recorded Indian immigrant to Ireland was burned out of his home by Irish nationalists.)
One last comment – this is a particularly heavy book, with lovely plates and illustrations, well produced from Four Courts Press. It will last for the ages. A grim comparison with the previous book I finished, Not So Quiet… by Helen Zenna Smith.
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February 12, 2026review text for 4390
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews