Irish Political Thought in Seventeenth Century Spain

Abstract

The defeat of the Spanish-Irish allied forces at Kinsale (1602) and the beginning of the plantations in Ulster (1607) marked the final collapse of the Gaelic system in Ireland. Thousands of Irishmen left the country with their lords bound for the Spanish Monarchy’s territories. The Irish needed to be presented at Court with dignity, denying in this way those cultural clichés about Gaelic society that were common at the time; besides, they were striving to reach a real integration into the Spanish society. That is why they worked out a complex political ideology in order to legitimate their aspirations. This ideology based itself upon three main principles: a continuous reference to their supposed Iberian origin, their loyalty to Catholicism and their services rendered to the Spanish Monarchy.