provincial presidencies

provincial presidencies were regional administrations intended to establish English law and order in the outlying parts of Ireland. First proposed by Cusack as councils run by local lords, they were established in modified form by Sidney in Connacht and Munster in the late 1560s and early 1570s. Each president had a small military force, two judges, and the advice of a provincial council of local lords and bishops. Permitted discretionary use of martial law, his main tasks were to extend the common law, search out concealed lands, dispense justice cheaply, and remove idlemen. Finance came from regional compositions, extracted initially by force, later through negotiation with local lords.

Early officials were Englishmen and Palesmen, who exploited their positions to acquire land in the provinces. In the early 17th century the situation was somewhat reversed, with the local magnates Clanricard and Thomond being appointed president. When compositions became payable to the Dublin exchequer, and assize circuits were extended into Munster and Connacht, the presidencies lost autonomy. However, their equity, summary criminal, and arbitration facilities remained inexpensive and popular, and their military role came to the fore again during the Confederate War.

Abolished by Cromwell, the presidencies were revived in 1660 as rewards for Roger Boyle, Baron Broghill (see Orrery), and Sir Charles Coote, who were the main Irish agents of the Restoration. The Munster presidency was particularly vigorous under Orrery, but the whole system was abolished in 1672 to prevent his antipopery campaign damaging Anglo‐French relations.

Hiram Morgan