Richard Cox
London: J. Watts, 1689
[Rare] Cc.5 [Cox] fol.
The king of England had been ‘lord of Ireland’ since Henry II’s time, a title which depended on papal grant. In 1541 Henry VIII changed the position to ‘king of Ireland’, in order to secure his position, and became head of the Church in Ireland. Henry, Edward VI and Elizabeth imposed Protestantism on the country. About half the Irish monasteries were dissolved; office-bearers in the Irish church or government had to take the Oath of Supremacy; attendance at Church of Ireland services was obligatory. Trinity College Dublin was established in 1592 to produce ministers to preach the reformed faith. Yet whilst rulers could demand degrees of outward conformity, they could not convert a hostile populace to accept religious change. Much education took place in Catholic institutions, schools at home and universities abroad. Recusancy and revolts were common. English and Scottish immigrant had to be planted in Ireland to secure the future of Protestantism. Richard Cox (1650-1733), lord chancellor of Ireland, notes the merging of national and religious viewpoints as Papists are equated with the Irish and Protestants with the English (leaf c2r), with ‘irreconciliable antipathy’ between the two faiths: antipathy which would throw a shadow across centuries.