Controversial historical Irish slaughter re-examined by Scottish and Irish academics
An attempt to resolve one of Irish history’s most hotly disputed controversies is being tackled by Scottish academics it has been revealed.
University language experts have been given the go-ahead to use cutting-edge software technology to pore over thousands of witness accounts of an alleged massacre of Protestants centuries ago.
The so-called Depositions of English and Scottish settlers at the coal face of the 1641 Rising by Catholic rebels have been exploited by historians, politicians and propagandists through the years.
Now, researchers have been given a £334,000 grant to settle once and for all whether the death toll and notorious propaganda images of settlers being raped, mutilated and murdered were exaggerated.
Dr Barbara Fennell, senior language and linguistics lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, who will lead the project, said they expect to prove within a year whether witness statements were genuine or overstated by commissioners working for Oliver Cromwell....
Locked away in Trinity College Dublin (TCD) since 1741, the 20,000 pages of text were transcribed into digital format over the past two years....
Jane Ohlmeyer, professor of modern history at TCD, said the new evidence will help drive the debate on one of the most formative and contested events in Irish history.
Read entire article at stv.tv (UK)
University language experts have been given the go-ahead to use cutting-edge software technology to pore over thousands of witness accounts of an alleged massacre of Protestants centuries ago.
The so-called Depositions of English and Scottish settlers at the coal face of the 1641 Rising by Catholic rebels have been exploited by historians, politicians and propagandists through the years.
Now, researchers have been given a £334,000 grant to settle once and for all whether the death toll and notorious propaganda images of settlers being raped, mutilated and murdered were exaggerated.
Dr Barbara Fennell, senior language and linguistics lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, who will lead the project, said they expect to prove within a year whether witness statements were genuine or overstated by commissioners working for Oliver Cromwell....
Locked away in Trinity College Dublin (TCD) since 1741, the 20,000 pages of text were transcribed into digital format over the past two years....
Jane Ohlmeyer, professor of modern history at TCD, said the new evidence will help drive the debate on one of the most formative and contested events in Irish history.