While massacre is an old theme in Irish history, digitisation is, of course, a relatively new one. Both themes have been brought together in The 1641 Depositions Project, an initiative involving scholars from Trinity College Dublin, the University of Aberdeen, the University of Cambridge and IBM (LanguageWare). The project is funded by the AHRC, the IRCHSS and the TCD Library. The depositions are witness statements relating to the Irish rebellion of 1641. They detail a range of experiences and alleged crimes such as losses of possessions, murder and massacre. Their contents have generated controversy for centuries.

One of the main points of contention has been the actual numbers of settler Protestants killed by the Catholic rebels, particularly in the province of Ulster. The number of alleged killings reached a peak of 600,000 in a pamphlet written by John Milton in 1649. While this was obviously a gross exaggeration, poetic imagination perhaps, it was loosely based on an allegation contained in one 1641 deposition. The link between the evidence contained in the depositions and Protestant allegations of mass murder by Catholics won for this source a prominence unrivalled by any other relating to the early modern period in Ireland.

In the nineteenth century, the enduring notoriety of the collection, combined with its sheer bulk, ensured that proposals for full publication would come to naught. Moreover, in a week when some policemen came under attack in the border village of Garrison, it is difficult to conclude that violent conflict has been entirely consigned to history in that part of the world. Nonetheless, the general optimism that exists is seen as at last providing an appropriate context for the online publication of the 1641 depositions. The first instalment, 1,559 Ulster depositions, is due in December 2009.

An enticing appetiser for this new resource was provided in October by the proceedings of a conference entitled Plantation and Reaction: the 1641 Rebellion, hosted by Trinity College Dublin. On 23 October, over 300 people attended Professor Aidan Clarke’s keynote address, ‘The 1641 Massacres’, in Dublin Castle, a venue which the rebels of 1641 had hoped to seize on the same date 368 years before. Professor Clarke has been deeply involved in The 1641 Depositions Project and his lecture provided some tantalising indications of the range of worthwhile investigations which should be possible when the digital resource becomes available.

The three conference panels on 24 October, peopled by an impressive selection of renowned historians, were again well-attended. These offered a mix of Irish, European and American perspectives on key issues relating to early modern massacre, plantation, and politics across a wide geographical area. It quickly became clear that the digitisation of the depositions will enable the events which occurred in Ireland in 1641 to be located in a series of broad historical contexts.

As Ireland strives to leave its old sectarian troubles behind it, it seems that what was once an acrimonious Catholic-Protestant debate on 1641, as much concerned with the present as the past, may perhaps undergo further transformation in a series of outward-looking and mutually enriching international comparisons. Should this occur, it will ensure that the digitised testimonies of the distraught survivors of rebellion in Ireland in 1641 will remain relevant to the concerns of historians researching and writing in a globalised world.

Last week, Jean Smith posed some questions about digitisation in her first piece on History Compass Exchanges. To briefly address two of them: The 1641 Depositions Project will, I believe, be open access; and in this instance the online resource may well be an improvement upon the reading room research experience because the original depositions are sometimes rather difficult to read.

Jana Remy also provided some insight into her experience of using Twitter at a conference. At Plantation and Reaction: the 1641 Rebellion, I saw one laptop in the room, which suggests that we’ve got some way to go until the broad-based digital collaborations imagined by Yaniv Fox come into their own. There are, however,  plans to podcast various lectures from the conference.

Tags: 1641 Rebellion, Academic Conference, Atlantic History, Colonialism, digital humanities, European History, Irish History, Plantation

This entry was posted on November 25, 2009 at 5:02 pm and is filed under Britain and Ireland, Conferences, Europe, General, North America, Online Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.