Names and Social Contracts: Late Gaelic Ireland and Celtic Studies

Abstract

Sixteenth century Gaelic Ireland is not normally associated with Celtic Studies. The aim of this paper is to show that not only can it be included, but it can also produce many useful insights for Celtic Studies. Using as an illustration a minor skirmish which occurred during the Nine Years War in Ireland, this paper will show how what at first may seem straightforward questions can be problematised, while also shedding a light on identity in sixteenth-century Ireland. Finally, the question of Gaelic contractualism is examined. This concept was quite widespread in Europe during the Renaissance and the later Medieval period, and in the works of sixteenth-century Spanish writers, notably Vitoria and Suárez, it gained a sophistication and radicalism not found in Hobbes or Locke. In Gaelic contractualism, the contract was not something rhetorical, or established in a distant past, rather it was dynamic, and allowed for a change of allegiance.