Elizabeth Butler, marchioness of Ormonde, came to prominence during the middle years of the seventeenth century as a result of her care of Protestant refugees in the aftermath of the 1641 rebellion; her royalist exile in Caen; her successful claim to a portion of the confiscated Ormonde estate; and her subsequent retirement to Dunmore in County Kilkenny. Her letters from the 1650s and 1660 provide valuable insight on her role as an influential Irish royalist, and specifically reveal the importance of women in the social and political network that supported her through this tumultuous period. Prominent among the women in her network include the anonymous ‘JH’, a kinswoman who acted as Ormonde's intelligencer and spy in Cromwell's court in London in the early 1650s; Katherine, Lady Ranelagh, an acquaintance who wielded significant influence with the Cromwellian administration in Dublin and acted as Ormonde's intermediary in the mid 1650s; a group of pre-eminent British noblewomen from prominent royalist families with whom Ormonde maintained a relationship of mutual support from the 1650s into the 1660s; and finally Anne Hume, Ormonde's friend, confidante and long-serving waiting gentlewoman, who acted as her agent and messenger as Ormonde prepared for the Restoration in May 1660. Offering a more granular examination of Ormonde's activities during the 1650s than has been undertaken to date, this article shows that women were of primary importance to Ormonde's survival and indeed thriving through the Interregnum. More broadly, it indicates that female alliances were key to women's political agency in Cromwellian Ireland and that women were central to royalist political activity during the Interregnum.

中文翻译：

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克伦威尔爱尔兰的女性联盟：伊丽莎白巴特勒的社会和政治网络，奥蒙德侯爵夫人

伊丽莎白巴特勒，奥蒙德侯爵夫人，由于她在 1641 年叛乱后照顾新教难民而在 17 世纪中叶声名鹊起。她在卡昂的保皇派流放；她成功地索取了被没收的奥蒙德庄园的一部分；和她随后退休到基尔肯尼郡的邓莫尔。她在 1650 年代和 1660 年的信件为她作为有影响力的爱尔兰保皇党人的角色提供了宝贵的见解，并特别揭示了女性在支持她度过这段动荡时期的社会和政治网络中的重要性。在她的关系网中突出的女性包括匿名的“JH”，她是 1650 年代初期在伦敦克伦威尔宫廷担任奥蒙德情报员和间谍的亲属；凯瑟琳，拉内拉夫人，一位对都柏林克伦威尔政府有重大影响的熟人，并在 1650 年代中期担任奥蒙德的中间人；从 1650 年代到 1660 年代，Ormonde 与他们保持着相互支持的关系；最后是奥蒙德的朋友、红颜知己和长期服务的绅士安妮休谟，在奥蒙德为 1660 年 5 月的复兴做准备时，她充当了她的代理人和信使。对奥蒙德在 1650 年代的活动进行了比迄今为止所做的更细致的检查，这篇文章表明，女性对 Ormonde 的生存至关重要，并且确实在 Interregnum 中蓬勃发展。更广泛地说，它表明女性联盟是女性的关键。