Manchester University Press
12 Brinkmanship and bad luck
Abstract
The motivations that animated the conflict that marked the final nine years of Elizabeth's reign in Ireland are obscure. This chapter argues that political brinkmanship related to the royal succession played a very prominent role in shaping the conflict, a role hitherto unappreciated. The succession informed the strategic thinking of many of the most prominent actors in the ‘Nine Year's War’ at critical junctures. It is argued that Tyrone and Essex each sought to gather around himself a wider interest among the Irish aristocracy and gentry in the hope of using that political capital to advance his own aim in the context of a foreseen Jacobean succession. The battle lines of the conflict hid the strategic games being played in the context of anticipated dynastic change.
Abstract
The motivations that animated the conflict that marked the final nine years of Elizabeth's reign in Ireland are obscure. This chapter argues that political brinkmanship related to the royal succession played a very prominent role in shaping the conflict, a role hitherto unappreciated. The succession informed the strategic thinking of many of the most prominent actors in the ‘Nine Year's War’ at critical junctures. It is argued that Tyrone and Essex each sought to gather around himself a wider interest among the Irish aristocracy and gentry in the hope of using that political capital to advance his own aim in the context of a foreseen Jacobean succession. The battle lines of the conflict hid the strategic games being played in the context of anticipated dynastic change.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I v
- Dedication vi
- Contents vii
- Notes on contributors ix
- Acknowledgements xii
- Abbreviations and conventions xiii
- Genealogical charts xiv
-
Part I Contexts and approaches
- 1 Introduction 3
- 2 The earlier Elizabethan succession question revisited 20
-
Part II Religion and politics
- 3 The Puritan, the Jesuit and the Jacobean succession 47
- 4 Taking it to the street? 71
- 5 Bishop Richard Bancroft and the succession 92
-
Part III The court
- 6 Essex and the ‘popish plot’ 115
- 7 The Scottish King and the English court 134
-
Part IV Imaginative writings and the wider public world
- 8 The succession in sermons, news and rumour 155
- 9 Hamlet and succession 173
- 10 The poetics of succession, 1587–1605 192
-
Part V Britain and beyond
- 11 Polemic and prejudice 215
- 12 Brinkmanship and bad luck 236
- 13 A view from abroad 257
- 14 States, monarchs and dynastic transitions 276
- Afterword 295
- Select bibliography 304
- Index 314
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I v
- Dedication vi
- Contents vii
- Notes on contributors ix
- Acknowledgements xii
- Abbreviations and conventions xiii
- Genealogical charts xiv
-
Part I Contexts and approaches
- 1 Introduction 3
- 2 The earlier Elizabethan succession question revisited 20
-
Part II Religion and politics
- 3 The Puritan, the Jesuit and the Jacobean succession 47
- 4 Taking it to the street? 71
- 5 Bishop Richard Bancroft and the succession 92
-
Part III The court
- 6 Essex and the ‘popish plot’ 115
- 7 The Scottish King and the English court 134
-
Part IV Imaginative writings and the wider public world
- 8 The succession in sermons, news and rumour 155
- 9 Hamlet and succession 173
- 10 The poetics of succession, 1587–1605 192
-
Part V Britain and beyond
- 11 Polemic and prejudice 215
- 12 Brinkmanship and bad luck 236
- 13 A view from abroad 257
- 14 States, monarchs and dynastic transitions 276
- Afterword 295
- Select bibliography 304
- Index 314
