The aim of the present work is to investigate elements of Renaissance culture in Ireland and Sweden through specific case studies and to set these alongside one another to ascertain what similarities and differences existed between the two societies. As yet, no comparative studies between the nature and extent of Renaissance influences on these two countries have been attempted and the findings should thus provide some insight into how they experienced one of the most important and influential periods in modern history. The work focuses on the reception of aspects of the Renaissance with particular reference to the period between the mid-fourteenth century and the seventeenth century.

This thesis investigates aspects of the large-scale disorder that occurred in Ireland in the forty years or so after the end of the Williamite war. It examines the people who caused the disorder, what motivated them to get involved, and where and how often it occurred. It focuses on the large-scale organised violent activity associated with mobs, tories or rapparees, and privateers. It also explores the impact made by the people who were used by authorities to maintain order: civil law enforcers, militiamen, troops, and bands of 'irregulars'. Shining a light on law enforcers not only reveals many of the problems that they faced but also the effects on Irish society of their abuses. It also highlights the conflict between authorities enforcing laws and mobs enforcing popular notions of justice, and changes taking place in the ethics of law enforcement. The thesis examines the effects on people in Ireland of war in Europe, and Great Britain's transformation into what John Brewer has termed a 'fiscal-military state'. It shows the extent to which Franco-Irish privateers threatened Irish authorities in coastal regions during the Nine Years War and the War of Spanish Succession, and how increased amounts of taxes collected by the Irish government, used mainly to pay the cost of the British army, resulted in a proliferation of violent protests in most parts of Ireland in the early eighteenth century. Finally, this study attempts to shine light on popular attitudes and belief systems. A study of the conduct of rioters and members of the forces of order reveals the moral compasses used during violent confrontations, on both sides of the legal divide. In essence, the investigation of large-scale disorder helps us to a better understanding of the relationships between rulers and the ruled in Ireland.

This study of the official IRA/Republican Clubs covers the Ulster crisis from the inception of the Civil Rights campaign in 1968, through the riots in August 1969, which resulted in the introduction of British troops onto Northern Ireland's streets. The reaction of the Official IRA/Republican Clubs to the rise of the Provisional IRA, the presence of British troops, internment, 'Bloody Sunday#, the rise of Loyalist paramilitary groups and the sectarian murders of 1972 - 1974 is examined. A chronological pattern from 1968 to 1974 is followed and the OIRA/Republican Clubs role and activities are analyzed from area to area.

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In 1920, at the height of the Anglo-Irish War, the British Government made a lastditch attempt to stave off a blood bath between Catholics and Protestants by partitioning the island. Six ofthe nine counties of Ulster were to form the province of Northern Ireland, an area rougWy the size of Yorkshire, where Protestants were in the majority. Its affairs were to be run by a home rule government based in Belfast, while , a similar administration in Dublin would become responsible for the other twenty-six counties ofwhat was soon to be known as the Irish Free State.Although there were a number of fairly large cities within the new province it was, for the most part' of a ,rural nature with a complex border that weaved from the north Donegal coast, running ro~gWy south and then cut its way along the northern boundaries of Counties Monaghan, Cavan' and Louth to the Irish Sea. The creation of this border and of a Northern Irish state threw up problems which needed solving rapidly in order to stabilise the province and to establish the authority of the new Northern Government. This, resulted in draconian legislation and the creation of a security system which has caused controversy ever since.

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