4 - Reform on contract: the viceroyalties of Sir Henry Sidney, 1566–1578

Summary

Sir Henry Sidney, it seems, has always been popular. The favourite of the favourite, he was the great hope of countless court dependants who looked to him for the advancement of their political, economic and cultural enterprises. Sidney was popular too in Ireland, with the Palesmen who openly rejoiced on his appointment, with certain Anglo–Irish lords like the earl of Kildare who had schemed to bring it about, and with several Gaelic chieftains who regarded ‘big Henry of the Beer’ as their special protector. In turn each of these groups was to grow disillusioned with their sometime patron. Yet Sidney has retained his appeal to later generations of historians. In the eyes of sober and cautious Richard Bagwell, Sidney was an energetic and disinterested servant of the crown, while the nationalist–minded E. A. Dalton praised his direct and generally sympathetic dealings with the native Irish. And most recently he has been awarded pride of place in sixteenth–century Irish history as the man responsible for laying the foundations of the Elizabethan conquest of Ireland.

The only difficulty with these remarkably sustained good opinions is that they are not entirely consistent. Sidney was praised by the Palesmen for reasons far different from those which made him popular with the Gaelic Irish, and the sources of his reputation with both groups were utterly distinct from those which attracted so many English careerists to his side. Similarly the credit which Sidney has received from historians has also been quite diverse.