Who were "The Men of the West"? Folk historiographies and the reconstruction of Democratic histories

It is worth mentioning the roles assigned to Protestant women. Due to the characteristic nationalist bias of the Irish folklore-collecting project, there are extremely few examples of folk narratives relating to Protestant or loyalist women. The majority of relevant sources belong to structured narratives that attempted to make a sectarian polemical point. As in the case of outlaw and escape narratives, the treacherous Protestant women mentioned in the folklore material were not named and they were presented as representatives of a supposed typical loyalist response to the Rebellion. Similarly, loyalist women were often incriminated as protagonists in narratives of violent punishment of captured rebels and repression of their sympathisers in the wider population. On the other hand, these narratives may reflect popular perceptions of a historical reality. Thomas Bartlett has noted that female approvers "were often the preferred instrument of loyalist retribution" and that they characteristically displayed "a zeal for the prosecution of former rebels which in a number of instances quickly developed into a lust for persecution" (Bartlett 1998, 80-3). Records of court martials pertaining to the Rebellion in the West of Ireland note several cases where the testimonies of women assisted in the conviction of prisoners (Rebellion Papers, NAI MSS 620/2/9/32; 620/3/1 and 4; 620/17/27) and memories of these cases may have filtered into folklore.

Some of the folklore relating to women in 1798 clearly belonged to the domain of popular imagination. Several folklore accounts mentioned French women who accompanied the French army (IFC S vol. 141, 304; Hayes 1979, 90 and 217; Lyons 1998, 19). From lack of references to such women in the diaries of the French officers who participated in the expedition to Ireland, it is most probable that there was no such case in reality. These narratives appear to reflect the fascination entailed in the local encounter with foreign troops. They may also show the influence of the stereotypes of female licentiousness associated with French women and, in particular, women involved in the French Revolution, as portrayed in late-eighteenth-century conservative propaganda emanating from England and Dublin.

Folklore about women in "The Year of the French" helps redefine prevailing (male-dominated) notions of heroism. A rich volume of source material on women's involvement with the rebel army in auxiliary roles offers insight into engagement in activities such as nursing, feeding, sheltering, grieving and even clandestine burial of the dead. Unlike the female characters in structured oral narrative, the accounts of women involved in subsidiary roles often appear to bear the marks of authentic memories that stem back to real experiences. For example, there are many accounts of local women feeding the starving rebel forces as they passed through their locality (IFC vol. 1858, 97; Mac Greine 1933-4, 393; Hayes 1979, 28, 231 and 323-4). These traditions appear to be historically accurate, as French General Sarrazin noted: "Wherever we halted we were immediately surrounded by the local inhabitants who brought us milk, meat, potatoes etc. The women showed towards us the care which they have for children, brothers and friends" (Hayes 1955, 166).