Life
1593-1641 [Earl of Strafford]; Lord Deputy of Ireland, 1633-41; hoped
by ‘through government to make every Irishman a loyal a prosperous
English citizen’; forced the Laudian 39 Articles on Ussher, suppressing
the former 104 Articles of the Church of Ireland, with effect of breaking
down Protestant solidarity between Episcopalians and Presbyterians in
Ireland, 1634; encouraged industry politically and selectively; didn’t
grant the Graces, but boasted that the King was absolute in Ireland; Earl
of Strafford, 1640; defended himself against the twenty-eight articles
of impeachment at the Long Parliament, but was beheaded under a bill of
attainder; hindered Irish woollen trade and fostered linen; strong man,
great adversary of Richard Boyle (Earl of Cork), despised and exploited
ethos of Irish [new English] planter society; caused a brief ascendancy
of Old English interests, but pressed on with raising Crown revenues;
parleyed with new Ulster planters, and showed himself authoritarian to
all. ‘Wentworth’s alienation from both elites in Irish politics
is preserved in the literature of the day; he is the villain of Richard
Boyle’s diaries as well as of Old English polemical pamphlets.’
(Foster, p.81); called a Parliament in 1640, with two thirds Protestants.
Notoriously anti-Scottish, he imposed an Oath of Abjuration or ‘Black
Oath’ to curb the Covenanting movement. The raising of a King’s
army and his ‘overweening authority’ in Ireland were made the
basis of the attack ... that ended with his execution on 12 May 1641;
created John Ogilby Master of the Revells, a patent renewed after the
Restoration, and commanded performances both in Dublin Castle and in Werburgh
St. DNB OCEL FDA OCIL
Works
The Earl of Strafford’s Letters and Dispatches, (London: Bowyer
1739; rep. Dublin 1740); The Papers of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of
Strafford, 1593-1641, from Sheffield Archives [‘Crown Servants’,
Series 1], on 20 reels 35 silver-halide pos. microfilm (Adam Matthew Publ.,
Oxford St., Marlborough, Wiltshire, England, SN8 1AP).
Criticism
Elizabeth Cooper, The life of Thomas Wentworth: Earl of Strafford and
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, 2 vols., (London: Tinsley Brothers 1874).
Baroness Winifrede Burghclere, Strafford, 2 vols. London: Macmillan 1931).
Hugh O’Grady, Strafford in Ireland, History of his Vice-royalty with an account of his trial (Dublin 1923).
Hugh F. Kearney, Strafford in Ireland, 1633-41: A Study of Absolutism (Manchester: Manchester UP 1959; rep. CUP 1989).
J. F. Merritt, ed., The Political World of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford 1621-1641 (Cambridge: CUP 1996), 307pp.
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Notes
Wentworth created John Ogilby Master of the Revells, a patent
renewed after the Restoration, and commanded performances both in Dublin
Castle and in Werburgh St. (Seamus Deane, gen. ed., Field Day Anthology
of Irish Writing, Derry: Field Day 1991, Vol. 1, p.550 notes that
Ogilby found a patron in Wentworth, a man eager to build up a little court
around himself in Dublin).
A wooden triumphal arch was erected to welcome Wentworth at Limerick in 1637 with cupids, Apollo, ‘ancient genii’, and ‘laureate poets’ (R. Loeber, Calendar of State Papers, Ireland 1633-47, p.168; cited in W.B. Stanford, Ireland and the Classical Tradition IAP 1976; this ed. 1984).
Famous epitaph by Cleveland, ‘Strafford, was hurried hence / ’Twixt Treason and Convenience’.
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)