ABSTRACT
In Spain, during the eighteenth century, the influence of long-established communities of Irish migrants saw their influence crystallise. Such migrants, like Ireland herself, had enjoyed long associations with Spain, as with other parts of continental Europe. The migrations to Spain in the early modern period, which followed repeated English invasion, violence and
settlement in Ireland, were again part of a continent-wide reaction to the tumultuous relations between England and Ireland. The majority of these early modern emigrants were Catholics, driven to leave Ireland because of their political and religious loyalties. Among them were chieftains, their families and septs (an indigenous term for a group of people bound by a common name). At the close of the sixteenth century, such peoples migrated to many places, including Austria, Belgium, France, Portugal and Spain.
