James Ware (historian)

Born at Castle Street, Dublin, James Ware was the eldest son of Sir James Ware and Mary Bryden, daughter of Ambrose Bryden of Bury St. Edmunds.

Sir James Ware (the father) was born in Yorkshire, England on 26 November 1568 and came to Ireland in 1588 as the Secretary to the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir William FitzWilliam. He was knighted by King James I, was elected M.P. for Mallow in 1613, served as auditor of Trinity College Dublin[1] and assumed the relatively senior position in government as auditor-general for Ireland until his death on 14 May 1632, in which capacity he was succeeded by his son.[2]

James Ware (the historian) proceeded to Bachelor of Arts in Trinity College on 31 October 1611, and received an education in Latin and Greek. Becoming interested in Irish history, he began assembling a very fine collection of Irish manuscripts, and made transcriptions from works held in other collections including that of his close friend James Ussher, Bishop of Meath. In 1620, he married Elizabeth Newman, daughter of John Newman, one of the six clerks in the Irish Chancery.

During the early 1620s he assisted his father in collating the findings for the royal commission of 1622 which gave a (damning) appraisal of the state of affairs in Ireland.[3] Ware's research skills did not go unnoticed. In addition to working as an apprentice for his father he also caught the attention of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork who employed him to examine his family's history, as part of Cork's dynastic ambitions to integrate the Boyles with some of the established families in Ireland.[4] With encouragement from Ussher, Ware returned to Trinity to pursue a postgraduate degree and he obtained his MA in 1628.

Ware's first break on the political scene was in 1629 when he was commissioned by Lords Justices Cork and Adam Loftus, 1st Viscount Loftus to attend King Charles I in London to discuss the financial crisis facing the Irish government. The success of his visit resulted in his knighthood in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin on 28 February 1630. He inherited the post of auditor general when his father died in 1632.

Following the appointment of Sir Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford as lord deputy of Ireland, Ware's political fortunes continued on an upward curve. He was elected Member of the Irish House of Commons (M.P.) for the University of Dublin in 1634 thanks to Wentworth's endorsement. He accompanied the lord deputy to Connacht as part of the government's attempts to extend its policy regarding plantations of Ireland. His knowledge and ownership of medieval Irish manuscripts was central in this regard, where he brought with him Irish annals to enable Wentworth prove royal claims to land in Connacht. In 1638 he obtained, with Sir Philip Perceval, the monopoly of granting licenses for the sale of ale and brandy,[5] a lucrative deal that was no doubt reward for his efforts in making the Irish administration more efficient. Indeed, Ware was one of the few New English government officials who earned Wentworth's respect. Sure enough, he was given the highest honour in September 1640 when he was elevated to the Irish Privy Council. He was also elected M.P. for the Irish parliament of 1640-1 where he managed to escape the attention of vengeful parliamentarians intent of impeaching Wentworth's close associates, which included John Bramhall, bishop of Derry, Sir George Radcliffe, Lord Chancellor Richard Bolton and Gerard Lowther, Chief Justice of Common Pleas.

Assessing Ware's political conduct under the dichotomous governments of Lords Justice Loftus and Cork (1629–32) and Lord Deputy Wentworth (1632–41) is not necessarily straightforward. But ultimately he was a royalist in the truest sense in that he did not necessarily share the same political views, or at least approve of Wentworth's style of governing (especially in regards to reforms for the Church of Ireland). Nevertheless, he was prepared to follow instructions if it meant benefiting the king's interest in Ireland.

Ware remained firm to the royalist cause during the Irish Confederate Wars, which were part of the conflict known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, consuming much of Ireland and Britain during the 1640s. He was a strong supporter of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde. In 1644 he was sent to Oxford to advise Charles I of developments in Ireland. On his free time he studied in the Bodleian Library and was awarded a doctor of civil law from the University of Oxford in recognition of his scholarly achievements. Upon his return to Ireland in January 1646 he was captured by parliamentary forces and imprisoned in the Tower of London until October 1646. Following his release he returned to Dublin, only to be used as a prisoner and hostage upon the city's surrender to Colonel Michael Jones in June 1647.

Ware was expelled in 1649 on account of his royalist sympathies and the threat he posed to the Cromwellian regime in Ireland. He departed Ireland in April 1649 staying primarily at the Protestant stronghold of Caen where Ormonde's influential wife, Elizabeth Butler, was living with her family. In October 1650 Ware obtained a licence to move to London, thanks to the intervention of Ussher, on condition that he refrained from engaging in politics. He would stay in the English capital until at least 1658 during which time he revived scholarly research and established intimate friendships with many of the leading English historians and antiquarians such as John Selden, Sir William Dugdale, and Sir Roger Twysden.

The restoration of Charles II saw Ware resume his position as auditor general which had been stripped from him by the Cromwellian regime. He was re-elected as M.P. representing the University of Dublin at the Irish parliament of 1661-6 and continued to be an active member of the privy council.[6] More significantly, he was appointed one of the commissioners for the Irish land settlement - a lucrative position and reward for his unwavering loyalty to the Crown and Ormond during the 1640s. He remained on close terms with the duke, who frequently visited him for consultations at his home in Castle Street.

Ecclesiastical Works

Ware's first book, published in 1626, was Archiepiscoporum Cassiliensium & Tuamensium Vitae, an impressive introduction into historical research which traced the archbishop of Cashel and Tuam from the twelfth to seventeenth century. To this, he appended a catalogue of the Cistercian abbeys in Ireland that had been founded between 1139 and 1260. This was followed by De Praesulibus Lageniae in 1628. A well informed and more detailed study, Ware's analysis of the bishops of Leinster included a thorough analysis of the prelates of Dublin, Kildare, Ferns, Leighlin, and Ossory. The episcopal catalogues were a remarkable achievement not only because they shed important light on Ireland's rich history but also because he fused Irish medieval manuscripts and state records to produce a reliable and detailed work. Among the notable sources he consulted for his work on the Leinster bishops included the Annals of Ulster, Annals of Connacht, Annals of John Clyn and Red Book of Ossory (to name but a few).[7]

Secular Works

In 1633 he published one of his most famous works: The Historie of Ireland, collected by three learned authors. This included Edmund Campion's 'Historie of Ireland', Meredith Hanmer's 'Chronicle of Ireland' and, notably, the controversial tract by Edmund Spenser, 'A View of the State of Ireland'. Contrary to what the title claimed, Ware also included the short work of the fifteenth-century chronicler, Henry Marlborough, whose 'Chronicle of Ireland' began at 1285 and thus suitably complemented Hanmer's work which ended in 1284. The work has received widespread attention from Irish historians for Ware's subtle editing of Spenser's political writings as well as its dedication to Lord Deputy Wentworth. His attempts to tone the text down was, as he admitted, an attempt to reflect the more peaceful times of the 1630s.[8][9] At the same time it is hard to see the inclusion of the 'View' as nothing more than a reflection of political and colonial ambitions of the new government under Wentworth.

Ware's fourth work was arguably his best to date. De Scriptoribus Hiberniae, published in Dublin in 1639, was an exhaustive account of the writers of Ireland from the fourth to seventeenth century. It was divided into two books: the first considered Irish authors while the second provided information on 'foreign' writers commenting on Ireland. Rich in source material, one of the most striking features was Ware's ability to interconnect medieval Irish manuscripts with European printed works. The turmoil of the civil war in the 1640s, and his senior role under the government of James Butler meant it was to be his last published work for fifteen years.

Ware's first new book since the 1630s was De Hibernia et Antiquitatibus eius Disquisitones, published in London in 1654, and in a second edition in 1658. This was followed in 1656 by Opuscula Sancto Patricio Adscripta.

The year 1664 saw the publication of Venerabilis Bedae Epistolae Duae and Rerum Hibernicarum Annales ab Anno Domini 1485 ad Annum 1558. In the following year, which saw the publication of De Praesulibus Hiberniae Commentarius, he began a brief though fruitful collaboration with Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh. It was later stated that "He always kept in his House an Irish Amanuensis to interpret and translate the Language for him, and at the Time of his Death one Dubley Firbisse served him in that Office."

Ware had ten children by Elizabeth Newman, with only two surviving him: James (1622–89), Roger (1624–42), Mary (1625–51), Rose (1627–49), Elizabeth (1629–49), John (1631–50), Ann (1633–50), Arthur (1637–40), Robert (1639–96), and Joseph (1643–44).

Ware's eldest son, James Ware, had one daughter Mary (1651–1722) who married firstly Alexander Fraser and secondly Sir John St Leger, Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland): she was described as a lady of great wealth and "questionable virtue". This may have been based on the high profile rape case against a Mr James Shirley who tried to marry her when she was underage and against her will. A decree in the Dublin Consistory Court ensured that the marriage was dissolved. The episode was detailed in full and published in two tracts by Dudley Loftus in 1668 entitled: Case of Ware and Shirly and The Case of Mrs Mary Ware and James Shirly.

Sir James Ware's third child, also named Mary, married Sir Edward Crofton, 1st Baronet in 1647, he being a nephew of Thomas Crofton of Longford, Tireagh, Co. Sligo (another Thomas Crofton, of this family, killed Mac Fhirbhisigh in January 1671). A first cousin of Thomas Crofton of Longford was Catherine Crofton, daughter of John Crofton of Lisdorne, Co. Roscommon; Catherine was married to Reverend Joseph Ware, Dean of Elphin, a younger brother of Sir James. Mary and Crofton had no children.

Rose Ware married Richard Lambert, second earl of Cavan (d. 1660). He was reportedly declared "(a lunatick)...deprived of his reason by a deep melancholy with which he was seized before, from a sense of the injuries put upon him by his younger brother Oliver, who by his father's will got the estate of the family.".[10]

Robert Ware struggled with epileptic fits in his youth but showed a keen interest in history and sought to emulate his father. As a consequence, his father left him his valuable manuscripts in his will to which Robert would subsequently gain notoriety for adding forgeries in the blank pages.[11] The impact would be significant. Using his father's name to promote his own status, he recorded "imaginary conversations and plots, unhappily bedevilling sixteenth-century Irish ecclesiastical history for over 300 years."[12] The sectarian insertions left a partial stain on Sir James Ware's reputation – whose research deliberately refrained from making highly sensitive religious comments – and the forgeries were not discovered for another two hundred years when Thomas E. Bridgett revealed irregularities in Sir James Ware's manuscripts in the late nineteenth century.[13]

Robert was not alone in distorting Sir James Ware's research for political and religious gain. Walter Harris, who married Robert's grand-daughter, also used Ware's work for anti-Catholic purposes.[14][15] His translation of Ware's works in 1739 entitled, The Whole Works of James Ware Concerning Ireland revised and Improved, "sought to resume Ussher's discussion of the antiquity of the Church of Ireland by imposing upon Ware's comparatively innocuous text the appearance of a study of Protestant lineage among its author's civilised antiquity."[16] Harris's alterations were significant. "Just as Robert deceived his readers by claiming his forgeries were genuine because they came from his father’s manuscripts, Harris misled his audience by including material that had no connection with James’ investigations."[17]

In 1686 Robert sold his father's manuscripts to Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon who then passed them on to James Brydges, Duke of Chandos (1674–1744). Repeated attempts were made to purchase Ware's prized manuscripts, notably by Archbishop William King of Dublin and the famous satirist Jonathan Swift, Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral Dublin. However, they were unsuccessful. Though the manuscripts were later sold and dispersed, a large part of Ware's collection were fortunately preserved. Following an auction of Chandos's library in 1747, several of Ware's manuscripts were purchased by Richard Rawlinson who subsequently deposited them in the Bodleian Library in 1755. Another large collection were donated to the British Museum (now British Library) in 1765 thanks to Jeremiah Milles, Dean of Exeter, who was executor for his cousin, the noted manuscript collector and Bishop of Ossory, Richard Pococke.[18]

Ware died on Saturday 1 December 1666, aged seventy-two. He was buried in St Werburgh's Church, Dublin. In 1879 the curate, Rev. J. H. McMahon, sought to solicit subscriptions to erect a mural table by way of paying tribute to "Ware’s vast merits as a reliable writer of Irish history, and as a real credit to Ireland, and to Dublin, his native city."[19] Though McMahon's attempts proved futile it nevertheless served as a reminder of Ware's enduring legacy and esteem with which he was held two hundred years later.

• James Ussher
• Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
• Mícheál Ó Cléirigh
• John Colgan
• Luke Wadding
• Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington
• Conall Mag Eochagáin
• Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh
• Ruaidhrí Ó Flaithbheartaigh
• Charles O'Conor (historian)
• Eugene O'Curry
• John O'Donovan (scholar)
• Charles Richard Elrington

• Bernadette Cunningham and Raymond Gillespie, 'James Ussher and his Irish Manuscripts', Studia Hibernica, no. 33 (2004-2005), pp 81–99
• Mark Empey, 'Value-free' history? The scholarly network of Sir James Ware', History Ireland, 20:2 (2012), pp 20–3
• Mark Empey, 'A real credit to Ireland, and to Dublin': the scholarly achievements of Sir James Ware' in Kathleen Miller and Crawford Gribben (eds), Dublin: Renaissance city of literature (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2017), pp 119–38
• Mark Empey, 'Creating a usable past: James and Robert Ware' in Mark Empey, Alan Ford and Miriam Moffitt (eds),The Church of Ireland and its Past: History, Interpretation and Identity (Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2017), pp 36–56
• Alan Ford, James Ussher: Theology, History, and Politics in early-modern Ireland and England (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2007)
• Alan Ford, ‘The Irish historical renaissance and the shaping of Protestant history’ in Alan Ford and John McCafferty (eds), The Origins of Sectarianism in Early Modern Ireland (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp 127–57
• Michael Herity, 'Rathmulcah, Ware and MacFirbisigh', Ulster Journal of Archaeology, 33 (1970), pp 49–53
• Diarmaid MacCulloch, 'Foxes, Firebrands, and Forgery: Robert Ware's Pollution of Reformation History', The Historical Journal, 54:2 (2011), pp 307–46
• Nollaig Ó Muraíle,The Celebrated Antiquary: Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh (c. 1600–1671), his lineage, life and learning (Maynooth, 1996).
• William O'Sullivan, 'A finding list of Sir James Ware's manuscripts', Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Section C 97:2 (1997), pp 69–99
• Graham Parry, The Trophies of Time: English Antiquarians of the Seventeenth Century (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1995), pp 153–6
• Mark Williams, 'Lacking Ware, withal': finding Sir James Ware among the many incarnations of his histories' in Jason McElligott and Eve Patten (eds), The Perils of Print Culture : Book, Print and Publishing History in theory and practice (Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), pp 64–81
• Mark Williams, 'History, the Interregnum and the Exiled Irish' in Mark Williams and Stephen Paul Forest (eds), Constructing the Past: Writing Irish History, 1600-1800 (Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 2010), pp 27–48

• Webb, Alfred (1878). "Ware, Sir James" . A Compendium of Irish Biography. Dublin: M. H. Gill & son – via Wikisource.
• https://www.historyireland.com/early-modern-history-1500-1700/value-free-history-the-scholarly-network-of-sir-james-ware/
• https://www.confessio.ie/#
• https://web.archive.org/web/20090819161839/http://members.cox.net/wdegidio/ware/WaresofIreland.htm