The Journal of Major General Robert Stearne of the Royal Regiment of Ireland

Abstract

This article contains an analysis of Major General Robert Stearne’s journal of his service with the Royal Regiment of Ireland between 1678 and 1717. The article examines the provenance of the manuscript and addresses a major problem regarding its authenticity and relationship to the published accounts written by his regimental comrades. In so doing, it attempts to bring greater clarity to the question of its originality and to the sources that may have been used in its production. It then addresses the place of the journal within the historiography of the period and explores some of the new information that it contains.