How the Conquered Became Conquerers: The Irish and Scottish Imperial Bureaucracy in Seventeenth-Century Tangier

British and Irish historians have frequently focused upon the domestic ramifications of the interregnum, paying particular mind to the brutal conquests of Ireland and Scotland between 1649 and 1660. What (or, more precisely, who) has received much less attention are the tens of thousands of Irish and Scots who, by the terms of the Act of Settlement and surrender articles granted tby the English Parliament, fled to the Continent to serve in armies during the 1660s. This paper examines how this process unfolded, and also accounts for the wider European theatre of conflict. Equally important, this paper shows how the future Charles II, making good on his promise to reward those Irish and Scottish commanders who rallied their troops to switch allegiance from the Spanish to the French in 1656-1657, appointed these men to key administrative positions in Tangier during the Restoration. The second portion of the paper thus examines how the Irish and Scots, once vanquished by Cromwellian policies, proceeded to win a place in the race for empire, embracing not only their Tangerine posts, but also putting the experience to use in both the East Indies and Caribbean later in the seventeenth century. This paper accordingly demonstrates the importance of the wider European dimension when assessing early modern British history, the long-term repercussions of domestic Cromwellian policies to the imperial sphere, and the central role occupied by Irish and Scottish administrators in the race for European empire.