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James Murray, Enforcing the English in Ireland: Clerical Resistance and Political Conflict in the Diocese of , 1534–1590. Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History Series. General Editors, Anthony Fletcher, John Morrill, Ethan Shagan, Alexandra W alsham. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. xvi+353pp. £60/US$ 108. ISBN 978-0-521-77038-5

The past three decades have witnessed a wide-ranging debate amongst historians of Tudor Ireland concerning the precise date at which the failure of the Reformation there should be placed. W hile traditionally the mid-Tudor period when the unambiguously Protestant reigns of, first Edward VI, and later commenced, was identified as the pivotal period, more recent studies have variously dated the crucial time at virtually any decade in the sixteenth century, the reign of James I, or even as late as the nineteenth century. This debate, in which Brendan Bradshaw and Nicholas Canny have figured prominently, has never been satisfactorily concluded, perhaps not least because the Reformation may well have failed in various parts of Ireland, and within distinct communities, at different times. The failure to establish within a specific region and community, namely the diocese of Dublin and the Old English clergy therein, is the subject of James Murray’s Enforcing the in Ireland: Clerical Resistance and Political Conflict in the Diocese of Dublin, 1534–1590. Moreover, Murray not only attempts to find this elusive date but has as the central theme of his work an explanation for why the Reformed Faith failed to take hold in the principal city of the Irish kingdom. His hypothesis is that the clergy of the diocese of Dublin were ultimately too conservative-minded and much too adherent to canonical orthodoxy to accept the religious settlements of, first, Henry VIII, and then more crucially, his children, Edward VI and Elizabeth I. Furthermore the clergy of the diocese of Dublin are identified as sharing a common belief that the Bull, Laudabiliter, which Adrian IV issued in 1155 granting Henry II the lordship of Ireland, had also imposed upon the colonial

community there a mission to reform the native Irish in the name of the Pope and along strict canonical lines. Thus the problem wrought by the religious changes was, in Murray’s own words, that the ‘Reformation challenged their very raison d’être: their traditional role of reforming Ireland, under papal sanction, according to conventional canonical standards and according to English ecclesiological norms’ (88). The process by which this desire for continuity with the medieval past undermined the attempts of successive archbishops of Dublin, in tandem with the Tudor viceroys, to establish the Reformed Faith is detailed at length in Murray’s book (82–316). The reluctance of the Dublin clergy to act in opposition to the rebellion of Silken Thomas, for instance, is attributed to disenchantment with Henry’s split with Rome and the sundering of the papal-led reform mission, allegedly enshrined in Laudabiliter, which this implied (83–91). In contrast it is posited that the Lord Deputy, Anthony St Leger, was able in the 1540s to build support for the religious settlement by convincing the clergy of the diocese that the split with Rome did not imply an abandonment of canonical orthodoxy (136–58). There is much to commend Murray’s thesis, not least his detailed examinations of the responses of the clergy of Dublin’s two cathedrals, Christ Church and St Patrick’s, to the religious changes. W hat is revealed is a deeply conservative establishment which fought bitterly with both George Browne and , two of the three archbishops of Dublin during the period covered. For example, it is shown that when Henry began a clampdown on clerical marriage in the 1540s, during a period of renewed religious conservatism, Browne had to enlist the aid of St Leger in obtaining a divorce from his wife Katherine Miagh, which had to be granted by the Dublin clergy whom Browne had severely alienated during the 1530s (136–49). However, despite these strengths, Murray’s central thesis of a Laudabiliter-inspired clergy, dedicated to the orthodox, canonical reform of Ireland, does not stand up to scrutiny. In places there is

2 quite simply no evidence to support certain conclusions. The arrest and subsequent release of James Humphrey, a member of the Cathedral Chapter of St Patrick’s, in 1538, is a case in point. Although the cause of his arrest is clearly outlined, Murray admits that in relation to the Lord Deputy, Leonard Grey’s, decision to release Humphrey, ‘the surviving records give no indication as to why the deputy acted in this way’; however, ‘circumstantial evidence suggests that it was an attempt to pacify all those adherents of the “old faith”’ (110). A similar lack of evidence is acknowledged and then ignored in relation to a clerical debate which allegedly took place over the Elizabethan religious settlement. For this, ‘no documentary evidence now survives’, yet, ‘there are still a number of assumptions that we can make about it’ (255). Furthermore, Chapter Three, which sets out to establish the character of the clergy of Dublin in the late medieval period—orthodox, canonical and reform-minded—does not present sufficient evidence to this effect, though this may well be a product of the characteristic sparseness of documentary material for the period. Ultimately then, Murray’s hypothesis is too elaborate to be accepted wholesale on the basis of the evidence cited. On the other hand, further analysis might reveal more corroborative details. In particular, it would be interesting to see how this ecclesiastical, canonical reform movement might have affected the contemporary political reform initiative identified by Brendan Bradshaw, and vice versa. Additionally, an exploration of how the perceived reform movement correlates with other religiously driven attempts at societal and political amelioration in the Late Medieval period would be pertinent. Much of Murray’s work stands on firmer ground. Chapter Two is a study of the physical makeup of the Tudor diocese of Dublin along the lines of similar monographs by Henry Jefferies and Brendan Scott for the dioceses of and Meath, respectively. Particular attention is paid to Dublin’s two cathedrals, while the most salient feature of the diocese, its sheer wealth by comparison with its

3 equivalents elsewhere in Ireland, is given close attention. A sixteenth- century valuation of Irish bishoprics is presented which indicates that only Meath stood in any proximity to Dublin in terms of material wealth, while many more geographically remote dioceses were valued at as little as one-twentieth of it. Murray’s work has also added significantly to our knowledge of some of the key personalities involved in the Tudor in Ireland, notably the three archbishops of Dublin in the period covered: George Browne, Hugh Curwen and Adam Loftus, and the mid-century , . His study of Curwen, though brief by comparison with that of Browne or Loftus, is particularly welcome, casting significant light on the Irish career of an individual who has previously been depicted ‘as a shadowy, almost anonymous, figure’ (243). The sketch of Curwen presented here will undoubtedly be questioned and revised but, for the present, it significantly adds to our understanding of the only to oversee successive restorations of Catholicism and Protestantism. The most succinct analysis is of Adam Loftus who filled the post of archbishop from 1567, when he was preferred from Armagh, until his death in 1605. Murray presents an image of Loftus as an ardent reformer in his early years in the diocese who, in alliance with the Lord Chancellor, Robert W eston, and the Vicar General, John Ball, oversaw a vigorous campaign to protestantise Dublin in the late 1560s and early 1570s which met with significant success. However, the persuasive strategy favoured by these reformers is identified as being overturned in the late 1570s by the Lord Deputy, Henry Sidney, whose advocacy of coercion, exhibited in the priority given to a commission to prosecute recusants, led to the fatal estrangement of the clergy and the Pale community. Thus Murray dates the ultimate failure of the Reformation in Dublin to the collapse of the Loftus-W eston reform initiative in the early 1570s although, in keeping with his central thesis, it is maintained that the ‘decisive turning point’ was during Curwen’s tenure (1555–67) when the restoration of Catholicism, with

4 its inherently orthodox, canonical values brought about a renewed dedication to the Old Faith (319). Following the collapse of his persuasive strategy Loftus is seen abandoning his older values and settling on establishing his own powerful faction within the diocese through the marriage of his numerous offspring to the sons and daughters of prominent members of the Pale and New English community. This appraisal is satisfying and can only be criticised for not being more expansive, especially for the 1580s which are traversed in a few pages (313–6). One final aspect of Murray’s work which merits attention, and indeed praise, is his endeavour to weave the ecclesiastical history of the diocese of Dublin into the wider narrative of contemporary politics. George Dowdall’s rôle in the government’s strategy to incorporate the O’Neill’s of Ulster into the kingdom following the ennoblement of Conn O’Neill as first Earl of Tyrone, for instance, is examined in some detail (181–8). Similarly, the rôle played by Browne in a campaign to bring down the Lord Deputy, Leonard Grey, in the late 1530s by undermining him at court is investigated, revealing that those who opposed the governor at this time did so in part by appealing to suspicions concerning his religious persuasion, Grey being held to be a papist (113–24). There are some failures of judgement when it comes to political events. For example, religion is given as the major unifying factor among members of the anti-Grey campaign; but it seems more likely that the primary motive of those who brought about the Viceroy’s downfall was a desire for a more aggressive military strategy in the areas bordering the Pale, commonly referred to as the ‘Reduction of Leinster’ in the correspondence of the time (88). Similarly, is identified as the leader of the opposition to Grey and his successor, St Leger, though W illiam Brabazon, who orchestrated the invasion of the Midlands during St Leger’s absence from Ireland in 1546, is a more likely candidate (192). Nevertheless Murray’s ability to consider

5 both religious and political events so extensively, and in one breath, is one of the major achievements of his work. Though flawed by an overly conceptual framework, specifically that the Reformation failed in the diocese of Dublin as a result of the adherence of the conservative clergy there to an orthodox, canonical faith which involved a papal-led reform mission in Ireland, Murray’s work nonetheless recommends itself considerably. It provides a modern analysis of the physical makeup of the Tudor diocese of Dublin and also illuminates the careers of the individuals who headed that diocese following Henry VIII’s split with Rome. Furthermore it supplies one of the most succinct accounts yet written of how the religious changes enacted by the Tudors impacted upon the wider public life of Dublin and the Irish kingdom. As such it marks an important advance in our understanding of many aspects of the Tudor Reformations in Ireland and contributes significantly to the debate thereon. David Heffernan School of History University College Cork [email protected]

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