11 Ireland’s militarised itinerant court and the Tudor state
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R. Malcolm Smuts
Abstract
Malcolm Smuts draws comparisons between viceregal courts in Ireland and Continental Europe. With the Act for the Kingly Title (1541), the viceregal court in Dublin took on a new importance and shared many similarities with other such courts spread about the expanding land-based empires of the continent. A crucial distinction, however, was the presence of military men in the Irish iteration of this pan-European phenomenon, necessitated by the functional rather than ceremonial requirements of the court. The aggrandisement of this subaltern court by means of its (vice)regal progresses, functional though it may have been in origin, served in the end to hinder good governance of the local population and soured relations with London’s courtiers envious of an ‘overmighty’ governor promoted from their own ranks.
Abstract
Malcolm Smuts draws comparisons between viceregal courts in Ireland and Continental Europe. With the Act for the Kingly Title (1541), the viceregal court in Dublin took on a new importance and shared many similarities with other such courts spread about the expanding land-based empires of the continent. A crucial distinction, however, was the presence of military men in the Irish iteration of this pan-European phenomenon, necessitated by the functional rather than ceremonial requirements of the court. The aggrandisement of this subaltern court by means of its (vice)regal progresses, functional though it may have been in origin, served in the end to hinder good governance of the local population and soured relations with London’s courtiers envious of an ‘overmighty’ governor promoted from their own ranks.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Series editors’ preface x
- Acknowledgements xi
- Abbreviations xiii
- Introduction – Contiguous court societies 1
- I Indigenous court society in Ireland 27
- 1 Bouncers, stewards and gatecrashers 29
- 2 Court society in the south of Ireland, c.1430–c.1620 45
- 3 The Gaelic court and Irish country-house poetry 65
- 4 Latin letters and Renaissance civility in sixteenth-century Ireland 86
- II Made in Whitehall 103
- 5 Debating Irish policy at the court of Elizabeth I, c.1558–80 105
- 6 How to govern Ireland without leaving your armchair 123
- 7 Court discourse, the mid-Elizabethan polity and Ireland, 1571–75 142
- 8 Magnificence and massacre 166
- 9 Counsel in extremis 195
- III Positioning Ireland in the Renaissance court world 213
- 10 Our men in Scotland 215
- 11 Ireland’s militarised itinerant court and the Tudor state 238
- 12 ‘Winning hearts and minds’ 261
- 13 From court to courtliness 278
- Index 297
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Series editors’ preface x
- Acknowledgements xi
- Abbreviations xiii
- Introduction – Contiguous court societies 1
- I Indigenous court society in Ireland 27
- 1 Bouncers, stewards and gatecrashers 29
- 2 Court society in the south of Ireland, c.1430–c.1620 45
- 3 The Gaelic court and Irish country-house poetry 65
- 4 Latin letters and Renaissance civility in sixteenth-century Ireland 86
- II Made in Whitehall 103
- 5 Debating Irish policy at the court of Elizabeth I, c.1558–80 105
- 6 How to govern Ireland without leaving your armchair 123
- 7 Court discourse, the mid-Elizabethan polity and Ireland, 1571–75 142
- 8 Magnificence and massacre 166
- 9 Counsel in extremis 195
- III Positioning Ireland in the Renaissance court world 213
- 10 Our men in Scotland 215
- 11 Ireland’s militarised itinerant court and the Tudor state 238
- 12 ‘Winning hearts and minds’ 261
- 13 From court to courtliness 278
- Index 297
