Surviving Kinsale ― Irish Emigration and Identity Formation in Early Modern Spain, 1601-40

In the aftermath of the Battle of Kinsale in 1601 as many as 10,000 Irish emigrated from Ireland to Galicia in the north-west of Spain, and to the Spanish court, first in Valladolid and then in Madrid. Between 1601 and 1608 the brunt of this immigration fell on La Coruna in Galicia which became a virtual encampment of starving homeless Irish nobles, soldiers, women, children, elderly and poor. This is the story of that community and how they adapted to their new circumstances.

This original work examines the relationship of one foreign minority to Galician society and to the Spanish crown. It is the story of what happens to foreign immigrants on arrival in an early-modern state, and examines what were the dynamics of cultural contact, integration, acculturation and assimilation.

It applies sociological and anthropological advances to the study of one community across a wide range of socio-cultural aspects including family structure, literacy, material culture, the acquisition of honours, religious sentiment, and social ascent. It is aimed primarily at an academic audience in the field of Irish studies, although it will also be of relevance for the wider public especially in the area of Irish emigration. It will also be very relevant to those working in the fields of the acculturation and assimilation of foreign minorities in both early-modern and present-day Europe.

Ciaran O'Scea is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies at University College Dublin