Richard Robinson, Archbishop of Armagh, 1765-94 remains an inscrutable figure. His primacy has been associated with a new erea in Church of Ireland history, characterised by a greater concentration on ecclesiastical as opposed to political affairs, and by an emphasis on building, improvement, and regeneration. In the face of a personality which seems to have geared itself to giving away as little as possible, it is difficult to deny or confirm this popular assessment, but Dr. Malcolmson, who draws in this monograph on new evidence not of Robinson provenance, suggests that a reassessment is nescessary. He argues that Robinson was not so much a man who stood above politics, as a poor politician. The picture which emerges is of a cold, proud and distant figure, conscious of his primatial dignity, jealous of rivalry and possessive of the material benefits of his position.
