An Ghaoth a Chriofidh an Eorna: The Moral Economy of Ireland\u27s Whiteboys, 1761-1787.

In 1761, the peasantry of Ireland rose in insurrection against enclosure and tithes. The initial wave of protesters were known as \u27Whiteboys,\u27 and their insurrection came to be a model for subsequent Irish agrarian redresser movements throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Applying E.P. Thompson’s theory of moral economy to the practice of Whiteboyism reveals the sophisticated motives which lay behind the Whiteboy’s 18th century protests against enclosure, tithes, and middlemen in rural Ireland. Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College