Escaping from narrative history, this book takes a deep look at the Catholic question in eighteenth-century Ireland. It asks how people thought about Catholicism, Protestantism and their society, in order to reassess the content and importance of the religious conflict. In doing this, Dr Cadoc Leighton provides a study of very wide appeal, which offers new and thought-provoking ways of looking not only at the eighteenth century but at modern Irish history in general. It also places Ireland clearly within the mainstream of European historical developments.

Introduction - PART 1 - Unimportance and Importance - The Irish Ancien R gime - PART 2 - The Catholic Question and the Irish Confessional State - The Meaning of the Quarterage Dispute - PART 3 - Questioning the Catholics - Land and History - PART 4 - New Critiques - The Meaning of Gallicanism - Conclusion - Bibliography - Index