When Elizabeth I succeeded as the last of the Tudor monarchs in 1558 her government was already involved in wars of conquest and containment in different parts of Ireland. Before her death in 1603 there would be many more. This book gathers together nineteen journals of the Elizabethan campaigns, recording military operations by crown forces in all four provinces, on land and at sea. The journals cover every aspect of the fighting, from preparations to the often bloody aftermath, and offer unique insights of the Tudor conquest of Ireland and how it was experienced by those who took part.
Though they are key historical sources the journals have been rather neglected by modern scholarship. Those that have been noticed in the Calendars of State Papers have often been highly compressed, with much vital information omitted, or else they have been overlooked altogether, left to languish in archival obscurity. The journals gathered here demonstrate the importance of record-keeping for Elizabeth's commanders, and the central role of soldiering in their sense of themselves and their place in history.