CONTENTS SPENSER'S USE OF IRISH HISTORY IN THE VEUE OF THE PRESENT STATE OF IRELAND BY FRANK F. COVINGTON, JR. At least sixteen of the last eighteen years of Spenser's life were spent in Ireland. From 1580, when he accompanied Lord Grey, as secretary, to the "salvage island," until 1599, the year of his death, the author of the Faerie Queene lived his life, except for two visits to England, of perhaps a year's duration each, in the country to which fortune rather than inclination called him. For more than half of that time he was connected with the administration, in one or another official capacity. That during those years he must have become acquainted with the history of the country in which he lived is a reasonable assumption. There is ample testimony, indeed, that he was keenly interested in Irish affairs, as witness the political allegory in the Faerie Queene, which editors and critics since the time of Upton have been busily interpreting, and the elaborate discussion of the Irish problem in the Veue of the Present State of Ireland. But the extent of Spenser's knowledge of his Irish environment has never been more than fragmentarily investigated. Such studies on this subject as have appeared have been concerned mainly with the interpretation of the allegory in the passages of the Faerie Queene in which clear reference or veiled allusion is made to Ireland. Detailed account of these would be out of place here; suffice it to say that their results seem to show that there are undeniably allusions in Spenser's long allegorical poem to events in the history of Ireland. The greater number of these are naturally found in Book V, the theme of which is, in large part, the rescue of Ireland from the aggressions of Spain and the spirit of rebellion. Still better testimony, however, to the fact that Spenser had some knowledge of Irish history is found in the Veue. In this tract, which is a mine of information, as yet largely unworked, concerning Spenser's knowledge of and attitude toward Ireland, both legendary and authentic Irish history are employed in close connection with the author's discussion of Ireland's "evils" and of their cure. If we can arrive at some conclusions, even tentative ones, as to what Spenser knew of Ireland's past, and where he got his information, we shall perhaps be able to throw a little light on the problems of Spenser's relation to his environment and his use of sources in general. The aim of this paper is to present material which will help to answer the questions: (1) What did Spenser know about Irish history? (2) What were his sources? (3) What was his attitude toward his sources? and (4) What was his method, in his treatment of his material? I The legendary history of Ireland is briefly alluded to in the two passages in the Faerie Queene in which the chronicles of the early British kings are set forth,-that is, in the tenth canto of Book II and in the third canto of Book III. In these we find Ireland mentioned in connection with the alleged conquests of the early hero-kings of England. In the forty-first stanza of the first-mentioned canto we find an account of Gurgunt, who, according to Spenser, had dominion over Ireland. "Next them did Gurgunt, great Belinus sonne, The which was dew in his dead fathers daies. He also gave to fugitives of Spayne, Whom he at sea found wandering from their waies, A seate in Ireland safely to remayne, Which they should hold of him, as subject to Britayne."1 The other reference to Ireland is found in the thirtythird stanza of the other canto. "All which his sonne Careticus awhile Shall well defend, and Saxons powre suppresse, 1Quoted from the Cambridge edition of Spenser's poems, p. 301. The Globe edition has "Gurgiunt." Arriving, him with multitude oppresse; Great Gormond, having with huge mightinesse Of his Norveyses, to assist the Britons fone." Spenser's chief source for these two passages was Geoffrey of Monmouth; but he was influenced also by Holinshed. These facts have been demonstrated by Miss Carrie A. Harper, in her monograph, "The Sources of the British Chronicle History in Spenser's Faerie Queene," in which she examines all the possible sources upon which Spenser could have drawn for his statements in these two cantos concerning the early British kings, and points out those to which he was most indebted. Her conclusions concerning both Spenser's sources and his methods of using them are very interesting and quite to our present purpose. She finds, in the first place, that "much of Spenser's chronicle material agrees in detail as well as in general outline with Geoffrey's Historia" in the second place, that "Spenser occasionally drew from Caxton, Grafton, Camden, Lloyd, the Tragedy of Gorboduc, and possibly also from Nennius and Warner; and frequently was influenced by Harding, Stow, the Mirror for Magistrates, and Holinshed" and "in the third place that in a single passage Spenser often drew from several authorities."5 Miss Harper finds, furthermore, two characteristics in Spenser's treatment of his sources worth noting. "The first is that no statement is made doubtfully We al ways seem to be dealing with unquestionable fact. The 2 Bryn Mawr, 1910. See pp. 96-98 and 151-152. For the first passage, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Britanniae, ed. San Marte, Halle, 1854, III, 11-12, pp. 39-40; Holinshed, 1577, p. 21, ibid., 1587, First Inhabitation of Ireland, (vol. II) p. 58; for the second, G. of M., XI, 8, pp. 159-160, Hol., Hist. (1577), pp. 144 ff., Hist. of Ireland, pp. 14, 16. 3Op. cit.., p. 172. 4Ibid., p. 177. 5Ibid., p. 178. |