Nolan, Frances
(2018)
‘The Cat’s Paw’: Helen Arthur, the act of
resumption and The Popish pretenders to the
forfeited estates in Ireland, 1700–03.
Irish Historical Studies, 42 (162).
pp. 225-243.
ISSN 0021-1214
Abstract
This article examines the case of Helen Arthur, a Catholic and Jacobite Irish woman
who travelled with her children to France following William III’s victory over James II
in the War of the Two Kings (1689–91). It considers Helen’s circumstances and her representation
in The Popish pretenders to the forfeited estates in Ireland, a pamphlet published in London in 1702
as a criticism of the act of resumption. The act, introduced by the English parliament in 1700, voided
the majority of William III’s grants to favourites and supporters. Its provisions offered many
dispossessed, including the dependants of outlawed males, a chance to reclaim compromised or
forfeited property by submitting a claim to a board of trustees in Dublin. Helen Arthur missed the
initial deadline for submissions, but secured an extension to submit through a clause in a 1701 supply
bill, a development that brought her to the attention of the anonymous author of The Popish
pretenders. Charting Helen’s efforts to reclaim her jointure, her eldest son’s estate and her younger
children’s portions, this article looks at the ways in which dispossessed Irish Catholics and/or
Jacobites reacted to legislative developments. More specifically, it shines a light on the possibilities for
female agency in a period of significant upheaval, demonstrating opportunities for participation and
representation in the public sphere, both in London and in Dublin. It also considers the impact of the
politicisation of religion upon understandings of women’s roles and experiences during the Williamite
confiscation, and suggests that a synonymising of Catholicism with Jacobitism (and Protestantism
with the Williamite cause) has significant repercussions for understandings of women’s activities
during the period. It also examines contemporary attitudes to women’s activity, interrogating the
casting of Helen as a ‘cat’s paw’ in a bigger political game, invariably played by men.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
Cat's Paw; Helen Arthur; resumption; popish pretenders; forfeited estates ; Ireland; 1700-03; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Arts & Humanities > History |
| Item ID: |
13309 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1017/ihs.2018.31 |
| Depositing User: |
Frances Nolan
|
| Date Deposited: |
25 Sep 2020 15:51 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Irish Historical Studies |
| Publisher: |
Cambridge University Press |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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