The Church of Ireland under the Stuarts and the crisis of British Protestantism

The blurb on the rear cover of The Church of Ireland under the Stuarts observes that there has never been a satisfactory study of the church through the turbulent seventeenth century and it declares that '[t]his book fills the gap'.Yet, this book is not as comprehensive as its title and blurb might lead one to expect.The editor, Patrick Little, acknowledges that further detailed work is needed on various matters, including the 'relationship of the Irish Church with the larger, domineering, Church of England' (19).His conception that the Church of Ireland under the Stuarts was the Irish Church, 'separate from its overbearing English neighbour' (16), is fundamentally problematic.Just before James VI of Scotland became the supreme governor of the Church of Ireland in 1603, almost seven decades after it was first established by Henry VIII, a 'native' Protestant reckoned that there were about 120 Irish Protestants among the 1 million inhabitants in Ireland. 1 Alan Ford has acknowledged that the 'natives' of Ireland, with remarkably few exceptions, would not willingly attend the Church of Ireland's services. 2 He stated repeatedly that the 'natives' 'abandoned' the church, 3 'deserted' it, 4 'defected' from it, 5 and/or 'withdrew' from it. 6 Yet, Ford insists that the established church was still 'the Irish Church' despite having no more than a 'handful' of Irish people. 7 In alluding to that