Kildare rebellion (1534-1535) in the Annals of the Four Masters

In: Open Military Studies, Band 1, Heft 1, S. 36-43

Abstract

One of the most important Irish historical sources, which are the Annals of the Four Masters, written in the modern period, provide us with unusually valuable information about the history of the Emerald Island. In addition to data from the ancient or medieval periods, it also contains material from the difficult 16th and 17th centuries for Ireland, when it came under the yoke of English Protestants, who were initially represented by the Tudors and then by the Stuart dynasty. The Annals of the Four Masters also witnesses the resistance of the Irish, both those from Hiberno Normans and Gaelic Irish, to the demands of new authorities, including the rejection of Catholicism and total submission to the power of the kings of England. One such attempt, although unsuccessful, was the Kildare rebellion undertaken by Silken Thomas Earl of Kildare in the late 1630s. The laconic nature of Annales' accounts, as well as the omission by this source of many important data, makes it an auxiliary material related to military history in the case of the Kildare rebellion. This is interesting because, in the context of later revolts that broke out in Ireland against the authority of the Tudors or Stuarts, in the era of further conquest of the island, this source is very valuable research material in this field.