Extending the English Pale: Berminghams’ Country, and the Rise of Sir William Bermingham, Baron of Carbury (c.1485–1548)

Abstract

Recent arguments for a shrinking, increasingly ‘gaelicised’ Pale have disguised the fact that the English Pale was expanding under the early Tudors. Piecemeal conquests by the Kildare earls from Irish chiefs extended its boundaries significantly, while marcher lineages like the Berminghams were also rehabilitated as loyal English subjects. English rule and law were restored across Berminghams’ country, English culture and identity were everywhere promoted across the Pale, additional land and people were incorporated, English manorialism restored, and tillage extended. The Pale's supposed ‘gaelicisation’ saw Irish ‘earthtillers’ now ‘sworn English’, undertake English jury and military service, and defend their manorial villages with English longbows. The reward for loyalty and service of William Bermingham, captain of his nation, was ennoblement as 1st baron of Carbury.