Sir Henry Docwra, 1564-1631: Derry's Second Founder
John McGurk, John Wilson (Editor), William KellyBooks.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
Docwra was an important military commander in Ulster during the Nine Years War responsible for making the crucial divide between Oâ??Neill and Oâ??Donnell by his lodgment of garrisons at Derry and along the Foyle and elsewhere in Tyrone and Donegal. His intrusive military regime laid the foundations of the early modern city of Derry, thereby preparing the way for the first Jacobean charter in 1604 which in turn paved the way for James Iâ??s Plantation of Ulster. Docwra suffered at the hands of contemporaries and historians for not being among the inner circle of Mountjoy, Chichester and Carew, either in the Dublin administration or at the privy council and court in London. His prolific pen became his own worst enemy both during his military campaigns and when it came to seeking rewards for his services to the state. Dr McGurk trains the searchlight of long years of research onto the logistics of how Docwra got an army to settle in garrison on the Foyle and gives many insights into the realities of the Elizabethan soldierâ??s life in the early 1600s. Docwraâ??s second career as Treasurer at War in Ireland from 1616 to 1631, is also examined.Synopsis
Now retired, McGurk was one of the founders of the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool. He tells how Docwra, neither aristocrat nor lower gentry, rose by means of military and official services to the emergent and centralized Elizabethan state, largely in Ireland during the last years of the aging queen's reign amid a series of economic, political, and military crises. He draws from Docwra's own words and those of his contemporaries who were his critics in government and the military high command. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR