Margaret Mac Curtain
Ambassador Extraordinaire: Daniel O’Daly, 1595-1662
ISBN: 9781851321902
This fascinating study explores the career of Ireland’s first modern diplomat, Daniel O’Daly. Born in Kilsarkan, County Kerry in 1595, he became a significant figure in seventeenth century ecclesiastical and political life at a time when Ireland’s relationship with Europe was both considerable and subtle. He was an historian, founder of an Irish college and a convent in Portugal, confessor and advisor to queens and kings, a prime mover in both the Stuart Restoration of Charles II and the Portuguese Restoration; and shortly before he died in 1662 he was nominated as bishop-elect of Coimbra, Portugal.
The research for this book was conducted by Margaret Mac Curtain (Sr Benvenuta) between 1956 and 1963 in archives in Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Spain, France and England, consulting original sources in Irish, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, Latin and Tudor and Stuart English. The manuscript, missing for almost 50 years, was recently rediscovered and is prepared for publication by the author, one of Ireland’s most distinguished historians.
Margaret Mac Curtain (1929–2020) was the author and editor of numerous bestselling books, including The Birth of Modern Ireland (Gill, 1969), Tudor and Stuart Ireland (Gill, 1972), Women in Irish Society: The Historical Dimension (Arlen House, 1978), Women in Early Modern Ireland(Edinburgh University Press, 1991), From Dublin to New Orleans: Nora and Alice’s Journey to America 1889 (Attic Press, 1994), Ariadne’s Thread: Writing Women into Irish History (Arlen House, 2008) and Metaphors for Change: Essays on State and Society (Arlen House, 2019).