Paul Smith
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Challenging the law
Clerical critics
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Other clerics of the period chose less pastoral paths and distinctly different approaches, some as intellectual campaigners and others as political activists, and the wide range of their responses is considered in Chapter 2. John Lynch and Nicholas French left a more consciously literary legacy and wrote from exile. In contrast to Plunkett and Brennan their approach was forceful and confrontational, underpinned by detailed forensic analysis. The Dedicatory Epistle of John Lynch’s Cambrensis Eversus is particularly useful, written shortly after Charles II’s restoration to the throne. Nicholas French’s writings were extensive and detail how Charles II failed to legislate for the restoration of the lands of his loyal Irish Catholic subjects, or to provide for religious toleration. Their work forms a middle ground; notwithstanding their robust critique, both were strongly loyal to Charles II, and took a long strategic view. It was otherwise in the case of bishops Edmund O’Reilly and John O’Molony as their loyalty to the Stuart regime was tested. They were activists who flirted with rebellion, and O’Molony considered a reordering of the constitutional relationship between Ireland and the Stuarts. In contrast to Plunkett and Brenan they left scant correspondence. Yet even from these relatively meagre resources, it is possible to construct something of the worldview of two of the more radical members of the Catholic Restoration hierarchy.

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