Caitlín Higgins Ní Chinnéide

PhD Student

chiggin@tcd.ie

Biography

Caitlín graduated from the University of Oxford with a BA (Hons) in Modern History and Politics in 2007. In 2008 she successfully completed the MPhil in Modern Irish History at Trinity College Dublin. Caitlín is currently undertaking a PhD at Trinity College under the supervision of Micheál Ó Siochrú. She was awarded a scholarship in order to undertake her research as part of the interdisciplinary ‘Texts, Contexts, Cultures’ PhD programme by the PRTLI and the Trinity Long Room Hub.

Research

‘The Politics of the Cromwellian Army in Ireland, 1649–1660’.
Caitlín’s research centres on the political role of the Cromwellian army in Ireland during the interregnum of 1649 to 1660. In particular, she hopes to reappraise the army’s influence over, and involvement in, the government of Ireland and its response to major political developments in England in the mid-1650s. During the 1650s, the English Parliament passed several hugely significant pieces of legislation, pertaining to the Irish land settlement, which had serious implications for the futures of Cromwellian soldiers, whose arrears would be paid with land in Ireland. Caitlín hopes to explore the ways, if any, in which the army exercised political influence when matters affecting its future were under debate at Westminster. She will also examine how and why the political power of the army was diminished when Charles Fleetwood was replaced by Henry Cromwell as the de facto governor of Ireland in 1655 and whether disaffection engendered at this time, in Ireland and across the Three Kingdoms, affected the long-term viability of the Cromwellian regime.

Selected Papers

• ‘Army opposition to the Protectorate in the Three Kingdoms, 1653-1659’, Future of Irish and Scottish Studies postgraduate symposium, University of Aberdeen. (December, 2010)
• ‘‘Violence and Empire’: Colonisation in the Cromwellian Empire’, PhD exchange programme, Northwestern University, USA. (May, 2010)
• ‘Baptists and Military Opposition to the Protectorate in Ireland, 1653-1659’, Radical Religion, 1642-1660 conference, Trinity College, Dublin. (April, 2009)

Academic Employment:

• 2010-12: Teaching Assistant, Department of History, Trinity College Dublin. Courses (junior and senior freshmen): Ireland and the Wider World, 1641-1830; Ireland c.1534-1641: Themes and Topics; Doing History: 1641 Rebellion.
• 2011: Research intern, History of Parliament Trust, London (1640–1660 section).
• 2011: Researcher, 1641 Placenames Project, Trinity College, Dublin.