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Irish Parliaments

of Elizabeth I

 

Held within the precincts of

Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin

 

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Johanna Lowry O’Reilly

 

 

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ISBN: 978-1-913275-87-7

 

Price:  € 16.95 plus P&P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Book:

 

 

 

The calling of parliament was not something Elizabeth acquiesced to easily. She declared in 1567, ‘we have small disposition to assent to any parliament’.

In Dublin they sat in the house called Christ Church, situate in the high place of the same, like as Poules in London.

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The Irish legislative assembly in the Elizabethan era was intrinsically tied to its English counterpart, both in composition and modus operandi.

This linkage had continued despite the change in status of Ireland following enactment under Henry VIII in 1542, which saw Ireland no longer a Lordship but a Kingdom, with a parliament that operated under constrictions and vested interests.

The monopoly of power of individual groupings, particularly those of the Pale, ostensibly precluded the majority of the ‘Irishry’ from parliamentary participation.

However, it is hypothesised that Elizabethan parliaments were to demonstrate cracks in the mould of vested interests and narrow Pale representation, with an increase in Gaelic Members.

Historic descriptions of the location of the parliaments of 1560, 1569 and 1585, led to a search for evidence regarding the purported holding of these assemblies in Christ Church Cathedral.

 

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About the Author:

 

 

Dr Johanna Lowry O’Reilly has worked in public relations, research, freelance journalism and photography. .While this book is focused on the Early Modern period in Ireland, her previous publication, Inside the Castle: Senior civil servants of the final Dublin administration, 1920-1922, focuses on the years preceding the foundation of the Irish Free Sate.

Johanna was married to the late RTE broadcaster, Brendan O’Reilly. Together they have one daughter and two sons.

 

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See previous publication: Inside the Castle: Senior civil servants of the final Dublin administration, 1920-1922