In this lecture, Why the Reformation failed in Ireland: A Reconsideration from the Wild West, Steven Ellis, Professor Emeritus of History, National University of Ireland, Galway, considers why the Reformation failed in Ireland. As a case study, the lecture focuses on the Reformation in Tudor Galway. Professor Ellis concludes that if Tudor reform had been introduced more sensitively and been consistently enforced, as it was in Galway, the overall outcome of the Reformation in Ireland might well have been different. An authority on Tudor Ireland, Professor Ellis’s publications include ‘Ireland in the Age of the Tudors, 1447-1603: English Expansion and the End of Gaelic Rule’ (1998).
Armagh Robinson Library organised the lecture as the first in a series to mark the 250th anniversary of its second building at No 5 Vicars’ Hill (formerly the Armagh Diocesan Registry). We are grateful to the Social Enterprise Academy and the National Lottery Heritage Fund for its support.
All the lectures in the Lecture Series – 250th Anniversary are available online.
