The Nugents of Westmeath & Queen Elizabeth’s Irish Primer
by Denis Casey (Four Courts Press, €9.95)
The Nugent family trace their beginning to Gilbert de Nugent of Normandy, the 1st Baron of Delvin, who arrived in Ireland in the 12th Century. By the middle of the 16th Century they were well and truly Anglo-Irish.
At that time their lands – present-day County Westmeath – were situated on the frontier with the Pale, where English law and customs prevailed.
The family also straddled the two cultures on the island, that of the Irish-speaking Gaels and the New English colonists.
Christopher Nugent (1544–1602), 14th Baron Delvin, was involved in the frequent outbreaks of violence in the border area. His loyalty to the crown was frequently under review in London. However, for the most part he was successful in facing down his detractors.
On one occasion to a complaint he protested his loyalty claiming that, apart from litigation over disputed lands and serving the queen at the local assizes, his time was entirely spent devoted to books and building!
Eventually after he had agreed to parley with the earl of Tyrone he was arrested by the Lord Deputy Lord Mountjoy, but died in Dublin Castle before his trial.
Christopher Nugent claimed his own footnote in history in a unique manner. While studying at Cambridge, he produced the oldest surviving primer – beginners guide to the Irish language.
He presented it to Queen Elizabeth when she made a formal visit to the University in 1564. It consisted of 18 pages and included the alphabet and words and phrases in Irish, Latin and English.
Denis Casey points to the irony of Queen Elizabeth’s interest in the Irish language as her ultimate aim with regard to Irish was its extinction.