Anything which sheds light on Hiberno–Spanish relations and the Irish diaspora in Europe compiled primarily from Spanish archives comes as a welcome addition to the historiography of the period. This work comes as part of a much-needed influx of publications examining social, political and military relationships between the Irish emigrés and the Spanish crown. Monographs such as Igor Perez Tostado’s Irish influence at the court of Spain in the seventeenth century (Dublin, 2008), Enrique Garciá Hernán’s Ireland and Spain in the reign of Philip II (Dublin, 2009), Óscar Recio Morales’ Ireland and Spanish Empire 1600–1825 (Dublin, 2010), to name just a few, have come some way to make up the lacuna of Anglophone scholars of early-modern Ireland. Ciaran O’Scea is quick to identify this new impetus of study emerging from the 1990s, but noted that much of this new work was focused on particular events or covered very broad chronological periods; individual communities appeared to fall between the cracks in the historiography. The author is clear from the outset that he intended to provide a counterpoint to the domination of the field of Irish migration studies by the nineteenth century, more specifically the migration caused by the Great Famine, and the corresponding popular image of Irish migration as one of ‘ethnic solidarity, resistance to integration, and their ghettoisation’. Moreover, he sought to redress a glaring oversight in the historiography which used the Flight of the Earls in 1607 as the starting point for examining Irish migration, when the flow of Irish migrants was already under way well before Tyrone et al. felt compelled to depart for the continent. Furthermore, O’Scea felt much of the work on Irish exiles was Anglocentric with little attention paid to foreign archives prior to the 1990s.

The work opens with an examination of the social and cultural structures of the Irish immigrant communities at the time of the departure for Spain, followed by an examination of contemporary society in Galicia, which in itself was viewed by the Spanish elite as lower down the social scale in a country where occupants of different regions could be viewed as foreigners. The chapters proceed logically from this as the author examines the mechanics and process of migration and the corresponding problems as the region struggled to cope with the influx of Irish. Chapters three, four and five examine the striking differences between Irish and Galician family structures, literacy and religious practices, respectively. The polar opposite agnatic Irish system of inheritance jarred with the cognatic Spanish. The oral culture of the Irish was confronted with highly literate and bureaucratic Spain, but of most significance was the contrasting religious practices which could seriously compromise the Irish community in the context of Spain in the grip of Counter-Reformation religious fervour. The next three chapters address the Irish relationships with the Spanish court and how these compelled the Irish elite to abandon native Irish concepts of nobility and supplanted these with merit, services to the monarch and the prevailing values of the Spanish court. However, close engagement meant the Irish became subject to inter-faction rivalry at court, such as the support (then opposition) of the highly-influential duke of Lerma.

Ultimately the Irish migrant community survived and prospered in their new environment, with increased levels of literacy, developing networks of association through intermarriage and affiliation with religious orders. O’Scea helpfully contrasts the fortunes of the Irish in Galicia, the Moriscos, the Sephardic community in Amsterdam and the Irish emigrés to France during the same period. With great skill, O’Scea elucidates on the problems facing the Irish community, both in terms of their cultural baggage and their response to the predicament of carving a new future for themselves in an alien society. Of great interest was the community’s integration into court politics and how these exposed fractures in their own community along ethnic lines in Ireland.

While this reviewer is new to the fate and fortunes of the Irish in Spain, this work resonates with the long running theme of Gaelic Irish traditionalism versus a proclivity for adaptation or openness to change. O’Scea’s work compliments works by Brendan Bradshaw, Michelle O’Riordan and Nerys Patterson who all proposed models for flexibility and dynamic adaptation by elements in native Irish society. The overall imprecision presented by O’Scea is a community willing to transform the most fundamental elements of its native social structure and cultural mores to secure their position within Spanish society. Moreover, when confronted with the deportation of the Moriscos, the Irish in Galicia pragmatically conformed with the strict religious orthodoxy of Counter-Reformation Spain until the threat had passed. The Irish abandoned their system of kinship, family structure and adopted concepts of honour and familial ‘blood purity’. A minor quibble is the use of illustrations which become blurred due to the print quality (map 4, La Coruna, p. 37), but be assured this does not detract from the book’s overall impact. In summation, Surviving Kinsale is an excellent piece of scholarly work and a worthy addition to O’Scea’s outstanding catalogue of publications exploring the Irish in Galicia and is essential reading in understanding the Irish diaspora in northern Spain.