ABSTRACT
William Bedell (1571-1642) is that staple of the historian's table: a majoi-minor figure. This is, perhaps, a less severe characterisation of him than that implied by his inclusion in a recent series of vignettes sub-titled 'Losers in Irish History'.' Bedell's career is too well known, and too frequently adverted to by historians of seventeenth-century Ireland to require re-telling, nor is there any new material to be examined; yet there remains an attraction to him, and even a penumbra of mystery. As interest in religious history (and belief in its relevance) revives, there is an audible buzzing of historical bees around Bedell's legend and life.2
