Gerry Cleary, PhD
Autumn 2024
10 weekly sessions on Tuesdays 10.45 am to 12.15 pm, starting 24 September in Room 4, Holywood Library, High Street, Holywood
The idea of a ‘Republic’ originated in Ancient Greece and Rome and evolved into the aristocratic republics of medieval Italy. The course will also examine the beginnings of Republican thought amongst early Protestant Dissenter thinkers in the 17th Century and deal with one of the first European Protestant republics - Cromwell's ‘Commonwealth of England and Ireland’. We will then examine the views of radical thinkers in Presbyterian Scotland and Ulster in the 18th Century culminating in the huge contribution of Protestant Ulster to the United Irishmen's 1798 Rebellion. Also reviewed will be the role of Ulster Scots thinkers and activists in the creation of the Federal Republic of the United States of America. The continued if diminished influence of Ulster republican thinking will be considered up to the foundations of Northern Ireland and The Irish Free State in the early 1920s. Finally, the sectarianisation of republicanism in 20th Century Ireland North and South will be reviewed together with an analysis of the future prospects for the concept of a republic on the island of Ireland in the 21st Century. The course should provide opportunities for lively debate by participants!
Fee £69.00 (concession rate £49.00)
5 CATS Points (Level 1)
Concession: The concession rate is available for those who are in receipt of State Benefits (including pension), or are full-time students, part or full-time Queen’s students or are members of University staff holding a valid staff card:
Course:
