James Ussher : Theology, History, and Politics in Early-Modern Ireland and England

Abstract

The fractured identities of Ireland — religious, racial, cultural, and political — lie at the heart of modern Irish history: Catholic vs Protestant, Irish vs English, Nationalist vs Unionist. This book explores the nature and intellectual origins of one of these competing and mutually-hostile identities, Irish Protestantism, by examining the life and ideas of its effective creator, Archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656). Born in Ireland of Anglo-Irish stock, Ussher — educated at Trinity College Dublin and the leading bishop of the Church of Ireland — became the dominant intellectual figure in early-modern Ireland and, almost single-handedly, mapped out the distinctive features of Irish Protestant identity: partly English, partly Irish, dependent on England yet proud of its separateness, deeply hostile to ‘popery’, yet living in a Catholic country. In exile in England in the 1640s, he contributed to the discussions about the nature of episcopacy and the government of the English church. After his death, he was feted by all, high and low churchmen, royalists, and parliamentarians, all of whom sought the posthumous endorsement of his saintly reputation. By looking at Ussher in three different contexts — as Protestant Irishman in Ireland, as an Irish scholar in England, and in terms of his posthumous reputation — this work brings out the tensions and ambiguities inherent in Ussher's life work, and in the relationship between Ireland and England.