Irish was the principal language spoken in eighteenth-century Ireland. Throughout the century, most Irish people had only a limited understanding of English and were illiterate in both languages. During the same period, the linguistic division in Irish society closely paralleled the ethnic division between those of Old Irish and New English descent, the religious division between Catholics and Protestants, the political division between opponents and supporters of the Williamite revolution, and the social division between the rural populace and more affluent and urbanised elites.

Vernacular songs and poems were most often transmitted by oral means in the eighteenth century, but an active scribal culture existed in certain regions – notably in Munster and along the Ulster-Leinster border. It was common for scribes in these areas to compile manuscript anthologies of popular compositions, either for their own use or in return for payment. It is estimated that a thousand manuscripts in Irish are extant from the eighteenth century, while many of the 3,000 manuscripts in the language which survive from the nineteenth century also contain texts that were composed during the previous century. The production of such manuscripts was discreet enough for scribes to be able to record sentiments that would have resulted in the printers of comparable texts in English being prosecuted for seditious libel. The literary manuscripts therefore provide a unique and uncensored window into the mental world of the Irish-speaking community.

For these reasons, it might be expected that historians of eighteenth-century Ireland would devote considerable attention to the evidence of the vernacular literature – reflecting, as it does, the outlook of a numerous and distinct section of the population that had little or no opportunity to express its views in any other medium. This has not been the case. Instead, primary sources in Irish have received scant attention in the historiography of the eighteenth century. Historians of the period have frequently passed over the vernacular literature in silence. At times, indeed, they have dismissed its value as an indicator of political sentiment in the Irish-speaking community: RB McDowell wrote that “the great output of Gaelic poetry ... does not contain any formulated political ideas”; LM Cullen claimed that the popular aisling genre was “meaningless as a political message”; and SJ Connolly argued that the views expressed by Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin in a well-informed song about the American revolutionary war “should perhaps be considered part of a society’s folklore rather than its politics”.

The Popular Mind in Eighteenth-century Ireland represents a departure from the anglophone methodology and perspective that has hitherto prevailed in the historiography of eighteenth-century Ireland. It examines the collective assumptions, aspirations, fears, resentments and prejudices of the Irish-speaking community as they are revealed in the vernacular song and verse of the period. Successive chapters consider such important topics as: Ireland’s constitutional status as a kingdom; the politics of religion in the Penal era; literary representations of the Irish past; Irish perspectives on the European wars of the eighteenth century; attitudes towards the Anglo-Irish gentry and agrarian unrest; popular responses to the American and French revolutions; and the initial impact of the Union with Great Britain in the opening decades of the nineteenth century.

Recognising the difficulty that the use of sources in Irish will pose for readers who are unfamiliar with the language and its literature, the book incorporates unabridged texts and full translations of eight lengthy works composed between 1691 and 1830. Although the poems and songs in question were selected for their historical interest rather than their literary merit, they will provide English-speaking readers with an opportunity to assess the style and range of Irish literature in the eighteenth-century. Only one of the sample texts was previously available in an English translation. The eight texts comprise: a lament for a Jacobite officer killed at the battle of Aughrim; a description of the effects of Penal legislation on the Catholic community; a synopsis of Irish history from the earliest mythical invaders to the Williamite conquest; a poem celebrating British reverses during the War of Austrian Succession; a song from the period of the American revolution; a song associated with the Rightboys’ campaign against the payment of tithes and clerical dues in the 1780s; a song from 1795 applauding French victories in the Low Countries and the establishment of the Batavian Republic; and a song celebrating the election of the first Catholic member of parliament for Co Galway in the wake of Catholic Emancipation.

The Popular Mind in Eighteenth-century Ireland identifies the core beliefs that characterised the political outlook of Irish Catholics during the eighteenth century. These included the belief that Ireland was an ancient and distinct kingdom which rightfully belonged to the descendants of Milesius; the belief that true religion had been brought from Rome by St Patrick and that the Irish people had ever since remained steadfast in the faith of their ancestors; and the belief that the political and religious establishment imposed by the Williamite revolution was illegitimate and would be dismantled in due course. By the early decades of the nineteenth century, it was already evident that the Irish popular mind would pose a serious threat to the survival of the established church, the Anglo-Irish landed class, and the Union with Great Britain in the more democratic age that was quickly approaching.

The Popular Mind in Eighteenth-century Ireland by Vincent Morley is published by Cork University Press