In 1641, Dr Henry Jones was dean of the Church of Ireland diocese of Kilmore. His life, and those of many other British settlers in the Ulster Plantation, fell into disarray when the rising began in October of that year.

Jones managed to escape Cavan and established and chaired the 1641 Commission, responsible for taking around 8000 depositions or witness statements relating to the rising.

Jones also wrote a number of pamphlets about the rising, including this new edition of his description of the events in Cavan between October 1641 and June 1642, entitled A relation of the beginnings and proceedings of the rebellion in the county of Cavan. This fully annotated edition of the pamphlet comes with an extensive introduction which details County Cavan in the early seventeenth century, Jones' background and his account of the rising there while also rescuing from obscurity an important companion piece to the 1641 depositions which affords the reader a unique insight into this chaotic period of Irish history.