Siege, not pitched battle, was the predominant military tactic used by all sides during the Irish Confederate Wars, the conflict that devastated Ireland between 1641 and 1653. Many walled towns and castles across the country endured siege, with its accompanying horrors of blockade, deprivation, famine, disease, bloodshed and despair.
In a siege, neither combatant nor civilian are spared but, in the mid-17th Irish context, non-combatants suffered violence disproportionately. It is no exaggeration to say that this near 12-year war so profoundly impacted early modern Irish society that its consequences reverberate to the present day. Indeed, some of the key events and figures encountered in this outstanding new book from Pádraig Lenihan are seared into Ireland’s collective historical and cultural memory.
Of the siege accounts Lenihan writes about, some are especially well known – Drogheda, Wexford, Clonmel, Limerick. Others are perhaps less familiar – Croaghan, Co Cavan; Cullen, Co Tipperary and Dysart, Co Laois. Similarly, there is a host of characters (the good, the bad and the very ugly) who played pivotal roles in these often bloody affairs. For instance, Sir Phelim Rua O’Neill, Major John Pigott, Sir Arthur Aston, Lord Deputy Henry Ireton and Earl James Tuchet of Castlehaven.
However, one figure alone looms large throughout Lenihan’s study: the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, Oliver Cromwell. His short stay in Ireland (1649-50) coincided with some of the worst massacres of the entire war.
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It is important to note that atrocities were committed by every side in this bitter conflict. Therefore, it is testament to Lenihan’s professionalism as a historian that he does not shrink from discussing this uncomfortable truth. A retired university history lecturer, former Irish army artillery captain and highly respected scholar with an intimate knowledge of early modern Irish society, culture, warfare and fortifications, Lenihan is well placed to tell this story. He aims to put the reader at the centre of the siege experience by using first-hand accounts of the people involved.
[ Donald Clarke: The enduring divide over Oliver CromwellOpens in new window ]
A gripping and, at times, unnerving read, Lenihan’s forensic approach to historical detail, military logistics and everyday practicalities shows that, if anything, the reality of Irish siege warfare was even more brutal than we could possibly have imagined.
Dr Chris Doyle is Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Galway
