Texts

Two bokes of the histories of Ireland

Edmund Campion
  • Early Modern English
  • prose

An English-language history of Ireland, in two parts, written within a short period of time in 1571 by English Jesuit Edmund Campion (1540–1581) and first published by James Ware in 1633. Campion hoped it would prove to the earl of Leicester that he made good use of his time in Ireland and encourage antiquarians to build on his work. However, when in 1577 Holinshed expressed an interest in the work, Campion objected it was not fit for reading let alone publication.

Title
Two bokes of the histories of Ireland
Ware, who edited the work (1633), later used the title History of Ireland.
Author
Campion (Edmund)
Campion (Edmund)
(1540–1581)
English Jesuit priest and martyr, son of a London-based bookseller; one-time tutor to Richard Stanihurst in Ireland and author of Two bokes of the histories of Ireland (1571). Because his preaching activities in various parts of England were deemed dangerous and political by Anglican authorities, he was arrested on the charge of high treason and finally, hanged, drawn and quartered.

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Contributors
Ware (James)
Ware (James)
(d. 1666)
(Sir) James Ware, Irish scholar, historian and antiquarian

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(textual editing)
Manuscripts
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Jones 6
Language
  • Early Modern English
Form
prose (primary)
Textual relationships
Related: Annals of IrelandAnnals of Ireland

Collection of Latin annals for the history of Ireland, from the arrival of Partholón up to the year 1600, compiled by Thady Dowling (d. 1628), an ecclesiastic and chancellor of Leighlin.

Classification

Subjects

Ireland
Ireland
No short description available

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Sources

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[ed.] Vossen, A. F., Two bokes of the histories of Ireland, compiled by Edmunde Campion, Assen: Van Gorcum, 1963.  
Publication of the author's dissertation for the Catholic University of Nijmegen.
Edited from Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Jones 6, which formed the basis of Ware’s edition.
[ed.] Campion, Edmund, “The history of Ireland”, in: James Ware (ed.), The historie of Ireland: collected by three learned authors, viz. Meredith Hanmer ..., Edmund Campion ... and Edmund Spenser, Dublin: Societie of Stationers, 1633..
First printed edition.

Secondary sources (select)

Edwards, R. W. Dudley, and Mary OʼDowd, Sources for modern Irish history 1534–1641, Sources of History, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
87–90
Vossen, A. F., Two bokes of the histories of Ireland, compiled by Edmunde Campion, Assen: Van Gorcum, 1963.  
Publication of the author's dissertation for the Catholic University of Nijmegen.
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
November 2020, last updated: June 2023