Civil War and Restoration in the 3 Stuart Kingdoms: The Political Career of Randal Macdonnell, Marquis of Antrim (Four Courts History Classics)

Randal MacDonnell, first marquis of Antrim (1609-83), was an important Irish statesmen of Scottish extraction, a Caroline loyalist, Catholic confederate, Cromwellian collaborator and Restoration pragmatist. His career highlights three important truths about early modern Britain. It illustrates the elastic nature of the concept of 'patriotism' in the turbulent years of the mid-17th century; it demonstrates that Ireland was and must be viewed as part of the triple monarchy of the Stuart kings; and finally, it shows that Ireland - at least in the 1640s - was seen, for the first and last time before 1922, as part of the European state system. Jane Ohlmeyer's biography of MacDonnell, first published in 1993 (Cambridge UP), is the only book which examines these crucial issues of the period 1635-65 from a primarily Irish stance.