History - Doctoral Theses

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'Its inhabitants are a reading people': from Cork city bookshops and voluntary libraries to the Cork Public Library, c.1792–1920
(University College Cork, 2022) Lantry, Margaret; O'Halloran, Clare; Roszman, Jay; University College Cork; Higher Education Authority
This thesis investigates the local reading culture of Cork city over the long nineteenth century, focusing on bookshops, libraries and reading rooms. It considers the question of the affordability of reading material and the ways it was accessed by the city’s population. It begins by looking at the city’s bookshops and book auctions and, by analysing booksellers’ catalogues, establishes what was available to purchase. The high cost of books and journals put these beyond the means of most of the city’s population. Borrowing from voluntary libraries was cheaper, which was reflected in the high, if fluctuating numbers of such libraries throughout the course of the century. The thesis establishes that this patchy provision was due to funding difficulties in what was a very small market of readers who could afford the borrowing fees. It was also because access to such libraries was stratified along class and sectarian lines. For the first time, a full picture is provided of the scale and range of voluntary libraries and reading rooms established over the long nineteenth century in Cork, including commercial circulating libraries, subscription or institutional libraries, as well as some standalone reading rooms; extant catalogues have been used to assess the range and changing nature of their holdings. An important milestone in Irish library history is the passing of the Public Libraries Act in 1855, although it was to be almost four decades before the Cork Public Library opened. This delay, which was not unique to Cork, is fully investigated in this thesis as are the reasons why eventually it was decided to open the public library. Although no archive survives relating to the pre-1920 public library, fortunately the printed annual reports do and excavating these provides a wealth of data from which to ascertain the services and reading material supplied to the people as well as how much use was made of the Cork Public Library. The advent of this facility resulted in an information store that was open to all, of any religion, class, gender or economic background. Furthermore, research shows that the Cork Public Library responded to the changing demands of the society in which it was embedded. During the nineteenth century increased educational provision enabled citizens to expand their economic prospects but, as this thesis highlights, the Irish public library in particular played an, up to now, under-investigated role in the self-improvement and autonomous development of citizens. This study principally aims to demonstrate the value of focusing on libraries and reading rooms in general so as to draw attention to their key role in providing intellectual stimulation and an educational resource for people over and above that which the state was prepared to furnish for much of the long nineteenth century.
Life from above? An investigation into the genesis and deployment of no-fly zones during the 1990s
(University College Cork, 2022-07-01) O'Brien, Liam David; Ryan, David; Fitzgerald, David; Irish Research Council
This thesis examines how the “no-fly zone” emerged as a distinct and recognisable foreign policy tool in the years immediately following the Gulf War. Based primarily on a close reading of archival sources collected from the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas, and the British National Archives at Kew, London, it provides a detailed analytical narrative of how key officials in the George H.W. Bush administration, along with their British and French allies, came to “invent” no-fly zones over Iraq as they grappled with Saddam Hussein’s post-Gulf War survival and resurgence. By providing the first monograph-length, primary source-based investigation of these events, this thesis demonstrates that the creation of the first no-fly zone over Kurdish-held northern Iraq in April 1991 was not a conscious, humanitarian decision by Bush and his advisers, as often claimed, but instead the first, initially self-serving act in the untidy, gradual emergence of a concept now frequently discussed, but rarely understood, by observers of US foreign policy. As this thesis documents, from the beginning the relationship between the ban on Iraqi flights over northern Iraq and the Kurdish people on the ground was more complicated, and less altruistic, than many assumed, and by the Bush administration time had decided to create a second no-fly zone, over southern Iraq, in August 1992, its motives had shifted entirely. Frustrated with Hussein’s stubborn endurance, Bush and his advisers planned the new no-fly zone as part of their effort to “win back the peace” in post-war Iraq, cynically using humanitarian rhetoric to sell an operation premised on punishing the Iraqi president with military force. As will be shown, a rushed, heedless planning process ensured the wider plan faltered, leaving behind the no-fly zone over southern Iraq as a vain, long-lasting reminder of the Bush administration’s failure.
Brides of Christ, royal marriage and the conversion of the English in Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica
(University College Cork, 2007) MacCarron, Máirín; O'Reilly, Jennifer
This thesis is an attempt to determine the role of marriage and women in the overall context of Bede’s HE. It is not intended to comment on the position of women or the importance of marriage in Anglo-Saxon society, although at times this will be referred to, but will endeavour to read Bede’s text in the light of his scriptural commentaries, based on his biblical and patristic inheritance. Bede’s understanding of marriage is firmly based on the Christian conception of this institution and this underlies everything that he writes about marriage in the HE. Christian marriage is important because the earthly institution is a figure of the relationship between Christ and the Church, and within this the relationship between every Christian soul and Christ can be identified. This thesis will demonstrate that the different levels at which marriage can be understood in a Christian context are at work in Bede’s HE. In reading the book, the proper practice of Christian marriage is revealed in Bede’s descriptions of real marriages (usually royal examples). Marriage as an image of the union between Christ and his Church is also revealed in the book through Bede’s presentation of the conversion of new peoples to Christianity. A third level, that is the spiritual view of marriage, which teaches that every Christian soul is united in holy matrimony to Christ, the true Bridegroom, is also evident in his accounts of people dedicated to the virginal life from love for their heavenly spouse, Christ. These different aspects repeatedly interlink, as without the physical marriages discussed the peoples would not have been brought into the Church and, similarly, as every Christian soul is the Bride of Christ, all these souls together make up the Church, which is the true Bride of Christ and will be joined to him at the end of time. These three levels are at play throughout the book, so that Christian instruction is provided to every reader depending on their capacity to receive it. Chapter One introduces the biblical and patristic understanding of marriage imagery as it relates to Christ’s union with the Church, and the union of the divine and human natures in Christ, and argues that this ecclesiological image underlies Bede’s presentation of Anglo-Saxon conversion in the book. Chapter Two examines the marriage of Edwin and Æthelburh in detail, as Bede’s narrative reveals that this marriage brought the king to Christianity. Within this it suggests that Bede is instructing his audience about the proper practice of Christian marriage, and the role of a Christian wife. Chapter Three considers Bede’s account of the conversion of Northumbria following Edwin’s baptism and examines his use of marriage imagery in presenting Paulinus’ mission. It also discusses Eanflæd’s role in the build-up to the Synod of Whitby and suggests that her marriage to Oswiu helps the reader to understand the division caused by the Easter controversy in the whole kingdom. Chapter Four is concerned with Bede’s account of Æthelthryth, which has received much comment in recent years. It will focus on his description of the former Northumbrian queen as a bride of Christ, assessing what that means in patristic thinking, and the influence of this on Bede’s presentation of her life. These three central chapters recognise the role that queens played in the development of the Church in Northumbria and follow a chronological sequence, as they are successively presented as queens of Northumbria in Bede’s book. Chapter Five considers Bede’s account of Hild and her role in the Northumbrian Church, as her life spanned the most important decades in its early development and she personally knew many of the most significant figures of this period. It will continue to demonstrate that various other holy women, who are introduced (often very briefly) throughout the book, are important in understanding the building up of a Church among a new people. They reveal that Christianity extends to all peoples, in all walks of life, who are simultaneously at very different levels of conversion. It will argue that Bede’s presentation of marriage and women in the HE can tell us much about his view of the Christian life and that an understanding of these women’s lives in the overall context of the book can help us to understand Bede’s view of the importance of Christian salvation in the life of a new people of God.
In His Majesty’s Service: the career of Captain Francisco de Cuéllar in the armed forces of the Spanish Monarchy (1578-1606)
(University College Cork, 2017) Kelly, Francis; Morgan, Hiram; Boyd, Stephen; National University of Ireland
Captain Francisco de Cuéllar was a military officer who served in the armed forces of the Spanish Monarchy during the late sixteenth century. He is known to Irish history through a remarkable account (Carta) that he composed about his experiences in Ireland and Scotland following shipwreck on the Sligo coast in September 1588. While Cuéllar and his Carta became synonymous with the story of the Spanish Armada in Ireland, virtually nothing else was known about him. This thesis has two objectives: to present the first comprehensive study of Captain Cuéllar’s career, which spanned the years 1578-1606, and to assess his military service within the broader context of soldierly life of the period. Using a rich haul of previously undiscovered documentation from Spanish and Belgian archives, the progression of Captain Cuéllar’s military service has been retraced. Divided into two sections, Part I comprises three chapters that retell the story of his career. The aim of the section is not just to document Cuéllar’s activities, but also to reflect on the strategic designs of the Spanish Monarchy that shaped the context in which Cuéllar’s military service was played out. Part II also consists of three chapters. In this section the discussion will focus on analysis of his military service. Cuéllar served as an officer for most of his career. As a captain he was a member of a cohort of officials whose responsibility it was to recruit, maintain, and lead the troops with the task of ensuring that the policies formulated by the Spanish Monarchy, in the international sphere, would succeed. Through additional topics: promotion, remuneration, discipline etc., Cuéllar’s experiences and activities are evaluated in relation to established assumptions about military life. Thereby, the study seeks to garner new insights about the livelihood of the average military officer of the time.
Law, poetry and medicine: the literate professionals in autonomous Gaelic Ireland, c.1250 - c.1630
(University College Cork, 2016) Sheehan, Máire Áine; Edwards, David; Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences
This thesis is about a class of literate professionals that served as hereditary brehons, poets and doctors to the Gaelic aristocracy over a period from c.1250-c.1630. My investigation into these families brings together evidence from Gaelic and English sources to highlight the work these families did for their patrons, their status in society and their subsequent fall in the seventeenth century. Such a broad canvas allows us to observe the vibrancy of Gaelic literary culture as these families adapted to the changing political landscape to absorb new Anglo-Norman patrons and assimilated English and Continental ideas while maintaining their distinctive identity. I want to look beyond the ideology espoused by these families to look at the practical choices members of these families made to maintain their status and relevance in a changing social context. To do this I have chosen to focus on each of the three professions in individual chapters to highlight the continuities and changes within the professions and ultimately by comparing the three groups to gauge the success or failure of these professional families to adapt to the encroachment of the New English and the ultimate collapse of the Gaelic world. This thesis takes a holistic approach to these families by including branches of these families not engaged in the hereditary profession. It seeks to provide a broader picture of Gaelic society below the level of the aristocracy by looking at the geographic distribution of these families, their proximity to centres of power, and to land and sea routes that can indicate their involvement in alternative economic activities.

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