Modern Irish History: 1600-1800

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course explores the main themes in Irish histories from the plantation of Ulster, after 1603, to the rebellion of 1798 and the Act of Union with Great Britain in 1800. Attention focuses on plantation, colonization, and religious conflict; the Cromwellian reconquest and the Williamite wars in the 17th century, and the anti-Catholic penal laws and rise of Protestant Ascendancy in the 19th century. This dramatic and formative period witnessed the emergence of many of the forces and rivalries that shaped modern Irish politics and society and continues to generate lively disagreement among historians today.