Date of Award
9-2010
Document Type
Master Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (Research)
Department
Humanities and Social Science
First Advisor
Dr Peter Van De Kamp
Abstract
Using primary material in a manner unprecedented at the time, James Anthony Froude was an English historian of the Victorian era whose histories encompassed Ireland. Among his works relating to Ireland was a ten-book study of the eighteenth century that extended from the penal era to the Union of 1800. While such scholars as W. E. H. Lecky objectified their histories by accumulating data, Froude supplemented his with anecdote, maintaining that the perfect history was told in the words and deeds of those who acted it out.
His methodology was not determinately structured: he laboured with vast quantities of primary material in order to produce a ‘track’ that his age could follow. Froude’s interpretation of material inflamed scholars as well as the reading public and controversy plagued the historian’s professional life from his first publication to his last. Modern historians have carried Froude’s perceived reputation into current literature whereby he has been largely dismissed.
Froude travelled to Ireland frequently and during the period 1869 to 1872, took up summer residence there. His engagement with the country was not confined to his Irish history; it also informed his historical fiction, and his essays. This thesis explores Froude’s personal involvement with Ireland and the Irish by working chronologically through four texts pertaining to the country which span a period of forty years.
The texts have been ordered under the following chapters:
A Victorian Refugee (The Nemesis of Faith)
A Victorian Resident (A Fortnight in Kerry)
A Victorian Rebel (The English in Ireland in the Eighteenth Century)
A Victorian Swansong (The Two Chiefs of Dunboy)
My research has led to a reappraisal of Froude and has demonstrated how England’s most controversial historian enriched Ireland’s literature.
Recommended Citation
Murphy, Janet, "The Ireland of James Anthony Froude: A Nineteenth Century Drama" (2010). Theses [online].
Available at: https://sword.cit.ie/allthe/806
Access Level
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Coverage
July 2024