Abstract
Abstract: Sixteenth century Gaelic Ireland is not normally associated with Celtic Studies. The aim of this paper is to show that not only can it be included, but it can also produce many useful insights for Celtic Studies. Using as an illustration a minor skirmish which occurred during the Nine Years War in Ireland, this paper will show how what at first may seem straightforward questions can be problematised, while also shedding a light on identity in sixteenth-century Ireland. Finally, the question of Gaelic contractualism is examined. This concept was quite widespread in Europe during the Renaissance and the later Medieval period, and in the works of sixteenth-century Spanish writers, notably Vitoria and Suárez, it gained a sophistication and radicalism not found in Hobbes or Locke. In Gaelic contractualism, the contract was not something rhetorical, or established in a distant past, rather it was dynamic, and allowed for a change of allegiance.
Highlights
In March 1597, there was a minor skirmish outside Sligo town in the Northwest of Ireland between Hugh Roe O’Donnell, the most powerful Gaelic lord in the Northwest of Ireland, and a government force
The fighting was inconclusive and both sides would claim victory. It was one of many conflicts during the Nine Years War (1594-1603) when a Gaelic Confederacy led by Hugh O’Neill — supported by O’Donnell — came near to defeating Queen Elizabeth in what was probably the most serious threat to English control of Ireland since the lordship of Ireland had been assumed by the English monarchy in the late twelfth century
This minor conflict in the late sixteenth century, which does not even have a name, would seem to have little to offer the field of Celtic Studies
Summary
In March 1597, there was a minor skirmish outside Sligo town in the Northwest of Ireland between Hugh Roe O’Donnell, the most powerful Gaelic lord in the Northwest of Ireland, and a government force. In relation to the Early Modern period, Hill has argued in a number of works (1986, 1992) that there was a distinctive Gaelic/Celtic (both words are used in different publications) form of warfare He believes that “primitive” shock tactics, notably some form of aggressive charge, constitute a “Celtic” way of warfare, common to the Nine Years War and the Confederate Wars in Ireland, and the Scottish Jacobite rebellions. It should as well be noted that, in this period, Gaelic Ireland witnessed the unprecedented political and military unification of most of the traditionally divided Gaelic septs, especially the O’Neills of Tyrone and the O’Donnells of Tirconnell, whose rivalry ran back into the far distant past In addition to this unprecedented unity, there was an unprecedented equivalence between Gaelic Ireland and England in terms of military potential — the first time this had happened since the Norman invasions of the twelfth century. Their influence on a “Gaelic contractualism” is highlighted
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