1. May 2015 – The University of Chicago
DisunityInthe Face of Atrocity: The Lawes and Order of Warre and the Failure of Confederate Ireland,
1641-1649
A paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in the Master
of Arts Program in the Social Sciences.
By WilliamCarl Scupham
FacultyAdvisor:ConstantinFasolt
Preceptor:Darcy Heuring
Abstract:
The schismbetweenthe militaryandpolitical historiographiesof seventeenth-centuryIreland has
obscuredthe eventsthatcausedthe downfall of the Confederate Catholicsof Ireland,Ireland’snative
government,andcausedthe deathsof fortypercentof the island'spopulation duringthe Warsof the
Three Kingdoms(1639-1651). Thispaperseekstoreconcile these disparateaccountsbyre-
contextualizinganddeeplyanalyzingasetof previouslymisunderstoodand undervalued Confederate
Irishmilitaryarticlescreatedbythe Earl of Castlehavenin1643. Renewed analysisof Irishmilitarylaw
helpstoexplainthe confused,bloodyhistoryof Ireland,castingfreshlightonthe institutional stressors -
bothmilitaryandpolitical - thatcontributedtothe failure of the ConfederateIrishexperiment.
Comparative analysisof Castlehaven'sarticleswith the much-studiedarticlesof his English
contemporariesrevealsstrikinginsights intothe uniquelyprecarious Confederate efforttounifyIreland
ina periodof socio-political upheaval andbloodycivilwar.Thisanalysisjustifiestwoconclusions:first,
that Castlehaven’sattempttoforge unity amonganarmy divided byethno-confessional tensions
mirroredthose of the Confederation;second,thatthisresultedinattemptstoenforce unitythrough
appealstopersonal authoritythatwere entirelyunequal tothe task.