Author Biography
Padraig Lenihan lectures in history at the National University of Ireland Galway. His writings include Confederate Catholics at War 1642-49 (Cork, 2001), (ed.) Conquest and Resistance: Irish Warfare in the Seventeenth Century (Brill and Leiden, 2001) Battle of the Boyne 1690 (Stroud, 2003), Consolidating Conquest: Ireland 1603-1730 (London, 2007), The Age of Atrocity (Dublin, 2007) co-edited with David Edwards and Clodagh Tait.
Description
Left for dead at the sack of Drogheda, Richard Talbot later ingratiated himself with the future James II by plotting to assassinate Oliver Cromwell. Using fresh primary sources The Last Cavalier: Richard Talbot (1631-91) traces how Talbot, though a gallant, gamester and 'cunning dissembling courtier', grew to be more than just another Restoration rake. He took on the cause of reconciling his countrymen's allegiance to London and to Rome and, under a Catholic king, clawing back their lost status and power. Talbot, now Earl of Tyrconnell and viceroy, almost succeeded but after the Boyne (where he led the Jacobite army in battle) he lost his grip. The Last Cavalier is the first full-scale biography of a great though not a good man.
Acknowledgements
Introduction
- Richard Talbot, Earl and Duke of Tyrconnell (1631-91)
Chapter 1
- Dungan's Cavalier 1646-56
Chapter 2
- York's man, 1657-62
Chapter 3
- Arlington's Friend 1662-72
Chapter 4
- Ormond's enemy
- 1673-87
Chapter 5
- Lord Deputy, 1687-9
Chapter 6
- Lord Lieutenant, 1690-1
Post Mortem
Conclusion
- A Study in Failure
Bibliography and List of Abbreviations
Notes
Index.
‘Overall, this reviewer heartily recommends this book to students of both Ireland and Britain in the 17th century. It possesses considerable strengths and few flaws. Indeed, for this reviewer it achieves excellence at certain points in the text.’
Dr John Jeremiah Cronin, Reviews in History, February 2017
You can read the full review here
‘What emerges is a complex picture of a loyal and often seriously ill servant, living in difficult times and struggling against the odds: damage limitation could be seen as success. Previous biographers have been inclined to eulogize or demonize Tyrconnell, but here he receives the scholarly and nuanced biography he deserves.’
John Miller, Renaissance Quarterly, Summer 2016
You can read the full review here
‘As Pádraig Lenihan persuasively argues, there is a clear need for a contemporary scholarly biography of Richard Talbot, possibly the most important political figure to emerge from Catholic Ireland in the course of the seventeenth century. The current volume largely fills this lacuna …’
Tadhg Ó Hannracháin, English Historical Review, April 2016
You can read the full review here
‘Pádraig Lenihan has written a persuasive biography of a man whose colourful and eventful trajectory is evoked by the book’s title … The Last Cavalier is a convincing and consequential account of a controversial, colourful and compelling man.’
James Kelly, Irish Economic and Social History, volume XLII, 2015
You can read the full review here
‘Pádraig Lenihan is to be congratulated on writing a very readable and concise biography of Talbot … The book is thoroughly well-researched, using sources in various languages, is fair to its subject and free of the padding that afflicts many biographies. UCD Press has produced an elegant and well-edited book and one that deserves to be widely read’
Seanchas Ard Mhacha, 2015
You can read the full review here
‘Lenihan has written a fast paced and authoritative biography of Richard Talbot … the book succeeds in capturing the complexity and ambiguity of individuals and elite politics in seventeenth-century Ireland. Lenihan has unearthed some previously unexamined archival sources that means he can offer some new perspectives.’
Dianne Hall, Australasian Journal of Irish Studies 15 (2015)
You can read the full review here
‘Pádraig Lenihan’s biography of Richard Talbot ‘The last Cavalier’ throws light on some of the most dramatic events of the 17th century in Ireland and in England … Lenihan is meticulous in referencing his sources and uses a wealth of primary source material to carefully trace Talbot’s extraordinary career … Lenihan does an excellent job in making his subject accessible if not particularly likeable.’
An Cosantóir, April 2015
‘While Tyrconnell’s ultimate failure to save Ireland from complete conquest by William of Orange would be known to students of the period, he has been overshadowed by the more dashing Patrick Sarsfield … Pádraig Lenihan’s excellent yet succinct biography fills important gaps and partially redresses the balance.’
Martin Mansergh, History Ireland, March/April 2015
‘This is a short but densely researched book on an important and much maligned figure in Irish history … Pádraig Lenihan a military historian by trade, has a briskly direct style, almost like a military report at times, sounding out Talbot’s political and military tactics and the great political issues of his long life.’
The Irish Story, January 2015
‘This comprehensive biography provides a far more nuanced profile of the much-maligned Richard Talbot … The author expertly leads the reader through the bewildering miasma of plots, sub-plots and counter-plots swirling around the royal court at that time.’
The Irish Catholic, October 2014
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