5 Towards a cultural geography of the 1641 rising/rebellion
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William J. Smyth
Abstract
This chapter seeks to illustrate the role that cartography and geography can play in understanding and contextualising the 1641 rising/rebellion. Geographic techniques and concepts as well as some anthropological theory will be used to explore the tumultuous, frenetic and often violent activities of the less powerful people. The chapter adopts a ground-up view of the rising/rebellion, based on the evidence of the depositions. The depositions are profoundly important to our understanding of the experiences and fears of the often-uprooted Protestant English settlers. Estimates of the size of the settler population in Ireland in 1641 vary widely, but the greatest settler impact was clearly in Ulster. English imperial ideology, characterised by a discourse of cultural supremacy, 'improvement' and reform, 'othered' the Irish. Kenneth Nicholls argues that much more precise information on atrocities committed against the Irish can be found in pamphlet literature after February 1642.
Abstract
This chapter seeks to illustrate the role that cartography and geography can play in understanding and contextualising the 1641 rising/rebellion. Geographic techniques and concepts as well as some anthropological theory will be used to explore the tumultuous, frenetic and often violent activities of the less powerful people. The chapter adopts a ground-up view of the rising/rebellion, based on the evidence of the depositions. The depositions are profoundly important to our understanding of the experiences and fears of the often-uprooted Protestant English settlers. Estimates of the size of the settler population in Ireland in 1641 vary widely, but the greatest settler impact was clearly in Ulster. English imperial ideology, characterised by a discourse of cultural supremacy, 'improvement' and reform, 'othered' the Irish. Kenneth Nicholls argues that much more precise information on atrocities committed against the Irish can be found in pamphlet literature after February 1642.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of figures ix
- List of contributors xi
- Series editors’ preface xv
- Acknowledgements xvii
- 1 Introduction – 1641 1
- 2 Early modern violence from memory to history 17
- 3 The ‘1641 massacres’ 37
- 4 1641 in a colonial context 52
- 5 Towards a cultural geography of the 1641 rising/rebellion 71
- 6 Out of the blue 95
- 7 News from Ireland 115
- 8 Performative violence and the politics of violence in the 1641 depositions 134
- 9 Atrocities in the Thirty Years War 153
- 10 Why remember terror? 176
- 11 Language and conflict in the French Wars of Religion 197
- 12 How to make a successful plantation 219
- 13 An Irish Black Legend 236
- 14 Afterword 254
- Index 274
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of figures ix
- List of contributors xi
- Series editors’ preface xv
- Acknowledgements xvii
- 1 Introduction – 1641 1
- 2 Early modern violence from memory to history 17
- 3 The ‘1641 massacres’ 37
- 4 1641 in a colonial context 52
- 5 Towards a cultural geography of the 1641 rising/rebellion 71
- 6 Out of the blue 95
- 7 News from Ireland 115
- 8 Performative violence and the politics of violence in the 1641 depositions 134
- 9 Atrocities in the Thirty Years War 153
- 10 Why remember terror? 176
- 11 Language and conflict in the French Wars of Religion 197
- 12 How to make a successful plantation 219
- 13 An Irish Black Legend 236
- 14 Afterword 254
- Index 274
