1597

1597

1597

Since very little records exist detailing Spenser’s activities in this year, most speculate that Spenser resided quietly at Kilcolman, likely working on his writing and increasing his holding of land while remaining aware of the turmoil that was occurring in other provinces of Ireland. (Judson, 194) Spenser returns to Ireland from England at some point between Christmas 1596 and early 1597. (Hadfield, 361) Sometime in this year Spenser “purchases lands of Renny in south Cork, for £200, for his newborn son Peregrine, and acquires Buttevant Abbey.” (Maley, 70) Hadfield mentions that some suspect Spenser lived for a time and wrote parts of the FQ at the property, Renny, acquired for Peregrine. Spenser’s grandson, Jugolin, occupied the estate in 1668. Additionally, Buttevant Abbey sat near the rivers Awbeg and Bregog, which both played “an important role in the mythological world of Colin Clout and ‘Two Canto of Mutabilitie,’” works Spenser liked engaged in in 1597-98, “further demonstrating what a significant role the landscape played in his imagination.” In addition to Renny and Buttevant Abbey, Spenser likely acquired other properties for the sake of his children’s inheritance. (362-63)