General & Miscellaneous Irish History, Revolutionaries - Biography

Robert Emmett : The Making of a Legend

Name: Robert Emmett : The Making of a Legend
Author: Marianne Elliott
ISBN: 9781861976437

by Marianne Elliott

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Overview

Robert Emmet was the leader of the doomed July 1803 Irish rebellion. After a rapidly convened trial he was executed for treason by the British government in September 1803. He quickly became a legend, fuelled by his speech from the dock after the judge pronounced sentence, his doomed romance with Sarah Curran, the moving scenes from his last night in prison, and his courage and defiance at the scaffold. 200 years after his death, many nationalists can still recite by heart his famous death oration. In Robert Emmet: The Making of a Legend, Marianne Elliott unravels the myth. She shows it to have all the elements of a classic story: a well-born young man struck down in the prime of his life, a tragic love affair, conspiracy and betrayal, and an unmarked grave. She shows, for the first time, how myth-makers and patriots created one of the most powerful legends in modern history.

Synopsis

Robert Emmet was the romantic hero of the 1803 Irish Uprising. This is the definitive, thrilling account of his life and legend, published to coincide with the bicentennial celebrations. Robert Emmet was the leader of the doomed July 1803 rebellion. After a rapidly convened trial he was executed for treason by the British government in September 1803. He quickly became a legend, fuelled by his speech from the dock after the judge pronounced sentence, his doomed romance with Sarah Curran (whose father, a Patriot advocate, had refused to help Emmet), the moving scenes from his last night in prison, and his courage and defiance at the scaffold. His speech, 'When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then and only then may my epitaph be written' is among the great cri de coeurs of the republicans movement and was the romantic inspiration for the 'blood and honour' legend that built up around him. This coloured the whole course of the fight for Irish nationalism. Two hundred years from his death, many nationalists can still recite by heart his famous death oration. Because he never had a formal burial there has been a 200-year obsession with where his body might be buried.