Zealous for ‘the Cause’: Irish Women as Jacobite Agents, 1689–1724

This article examines Irish women who acted as agents for the exiled Stuarts between 1689 and 1724, focussing in particular on the question of women’s political allegiance and their motivation to take deliberate political action. It argues that the categorisation of ‘women’ as a collective is inhibitive, as it fails to account for a plurality of circumstance and experience, including social status, economic status, ‘nationality’ and/or ethnicity, time period and geographical location. It also recognises that, for similar reasons, the application of collective identity is inhibitive in exploring the history of Jacobites and Jacobitism. By focusing on individual acts of identification, as opposed to a singular political identity, it is possible to understand loyalty to the Stuarts as existing on a spectrum, with the few who committed acts of treason on the upper end of that spectrum and the many who could be described as less active on the lower end. In taking this view, it is possible to identify links between active and less active Jacobites, and to recognise opportunities for movement from relative inactivity to instances or periods of activity, particularly in response to episodes of war or rebellion. The significance of gender in the context of a subversive and often treasonous movement is explored throughout. The case of Catherine Lucas is used to interrogate the importance of gender and existing social infrastructure in facilitating the treasonous activities of women agents and in providing such women with a measure of protection.