Empire and Enterprise Money, Power and the Adventurers for Irish Land During the British Civil Wars
Produktdetaljer
Om bidragsyterne
David Brown is a research fellow at the Department of History, Trinity College Dublin<p>'[...] this is a thoughtful and innovative study that exploits a broad range of sources to achieve Brown’s stated aim: to relate “the story of a singular group of English merchants” (1). It is quite the story indeed.'<br /><i>The Seventeenth Century</i><br /><br />'[...] will be essential reading for those concerned with a range of fields including Irish history, of course, but just as significantly the War of the Three Kingdoms, early imperialism, economic history, and Britain’s expanding role in global trade including slavery. In this meticulously researched work, Brown argues confidently for an even greater appreciation of the deeply linked relationship between these areas, a relationship driven by the Adventurers. [...] Brown’s study is organized chronologically in a groundbreaking and compelling narrative<br />that contributes significantly to this period’s developments and fundamentally to the later course of British colonial policy and practice.'<br /><i>Journal of British Studies</i></p>
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Introduction
1 Atlantic Oligarchy
2 The Three Kingdoms
3 The Adventure for Irish land
4 Grocers Hall
5 Commonwealth
6 Republic
7 Restoration
Conclusion
Index
At the start of the English Civil War, a small group of merchants quickly gained an iron grip on the country’s trade. They dictated key policies for Ireland and the colonies and financed the struggle against Charles I, raising £250,000 to send an army to Ireland but sending it instead to fight for parliament in England. These merchants were the Adventurers for Irish land.
Although they supported Cromwell’s military campaigns, the leading Adventurers rejected his Protectorate in a dispute over their Irish land entitlements and eventually helped to restore the monarchy. Charles II rewarded them with one million confiscated Irish acres, despite their role in deposing his father. Empire and enterprise is the first book to explain this great paradox in Irish history, and to recognize the centrality of Ireland to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It examines the background and relentless rise of the Adventurers, the remarkable scope of their trading empires and their profound political influence.
Empire and enterprise is essential reading for students and scholars working on Britain and Ireland in the mid-seventeenth century, the origins of England’s empire and the Cromwellian land settlement.