James Ussher

Known today largely for dating the creation of the world to 4004BC, James Ussher (1581-1656) was in fact a key figure in early-modern Britain and Ireland. From helping to give Protestants in Ireland a sense of Irish identity by tracing their roots back to St Patrick, to leading the Church of Ireland as archbishop of Armagh, he played a significant role in the events leading up to the outbreak of the English civil war as an exile in England in the 1640s. Tracing the interconnections between Ussher's scholarship and his wider religious and political interests, Alan Ford throws new light on a seminal figure in the history of Irish Protestantism.