Tadhg O hAnnrachain is currently Head of School of History and Archives at University College Dublin. He completed his PhD at the European University Institute at Florence in 1995. He has published widely in journals such as English Historical Review, History Compass, Shiso, Revue Historique, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy and in numerous edited collections. He was the joint Principal Investigator on the Irish Research Council Thematic Grants projectInsular Christianity. His research interests are primarily in the field of Early Modern religious history. Catholic Europe, 1592-1648: Centre and Peripheries is his second monograph with Oxford University Press.

Special Commendation Prize from the National University of Ireland

"The book represents a pioneering study in comparative earlymodern European Catholicism. It contributes to the understanding of the role of religion and the Catholic elites in earlymodern European kingdoms, and to the importance played by seminary colleges in the education of the Catholic elites." -- Ciaran O'Scea, Irish Historical Studies

"Ó hAnnracháin's study is innovative in directly illuminating the disparity between plural Catholicism across Europe and an orthodox form of religion that emanated from the "center" in this period ... Ó hAnnracháin's work reveals not only the need to resituate local studies and use comparative methodology, but also to understand the negotiation and encounter between "central" and "peripheral" forms of Catholicism ... One of Ó hAnnracháin's most valuable contributions, however, is to show that the "peripheries" are of critical importance for advancing our understanding of early modern Catholic Europe." -- Suzanna Ivanic, Journal of Jesuit Studies

"The strength of Ó hAnnracháin's work lies in the breadth of his comparisons between territories on the margins, and he makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the peripheral communities of early modern Catholic Europe, as well as their diverse relationships with the centre." -- Emilie K.M. Murphy, University of York, Journal of Ecclesiastical History

"[I]mpressive in its range and geographical coverage. Rich in detail, it allows readers to appreciate the church of Rome as a transnational, predominantly political enterprise .[A]n ambitious, wide-ranging work that furthers the comparative and international approach to Catholic history in admirable ways."--Geert H. Janssen, Church History and Religious Culture

"[Ó hAnnracháin] displays an enviable command of multiple languages and archives, and mastery of an impressive array of specialist literatures The story of how the peripheries of sixteenth-century Catholicism--Ireland, Austria, Poland--became its nineteenth and twentieth-century heartlands is necessarily a complex one, and this book is an invaluable map to the first stages of that journey."--Times Literary Supplement

"Ó hAnnracháin's study is innovative in directly illuminating the disparity between plural Catholicism across Europe and an orthodox form of religion that emanated from the 'center' in this period...One of Ó hAnnracháin's most valuable contributions."--Journal of Jesuit Studies