Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [13]
Elizabeth I further consolidated English power in Ireland, establishing jurisdiction in Connaught and Munster, despite rebellions by the local ruling families. Ulster remained the last outpost of the Irish chiefs. Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, led the last serious assault on English power in Ireland for centuries. O’Neill – who supposedly ordered lead from England to re-roof his castle, but instead used it for bullets – instigated open conflict with the English, and so began the Nine Years’ War (1594–1603). He proved a courageous and crafty foe, and the English forces met with little success against him in the first seven years of fighting.
The Battle of Kinsale, in 1601, spelled the end for O’Neill and for Ulster. Although O’Neill survived the battle, his power was broken and he surrendered to the English Crown. In 1607 O’Neill and 90 other Ulster chiefs sailed to Europe, leaving Ireland forever. This was known as the Flight of the Earls, and it left Ulster open to English rule.
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For articles exploring the Irish struggle, check out http://larkspirit.com.
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With the native chiefs gone, Elizabeth and her successor, James I, could pursue their policy of Plantation with impunity and, while confiscations took place all over the country, Ulster was most affected because of its wealthy farmlands and as punishment for being home to the primary fomenters of rebellion. It is here that Ulster’s often tragic fate was first begun. The Plantations also marked the final collapse of the Gaelic social and political superstructure and the total conquest of Ireland by the English.
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BLOODY RELIGION
At the outset of the English Civil War in 1641, the native Irish and Anglo-Norman Catholics, allied under the Confederation of Kilkenny, plumped for Charles I against the Protestant parliamentarians in the hope that it would lead to the restoration of Catholic power in Ireland. It was a major misjudgement, especially when English royalists regrouped in Ireland following their defeat and Charles’ execution in 1649. Faced by a major threat to their newly established authority, the parliamentarians, led by Oliver Cromwell, launched a massive invasion in August 1649.
Cromwell’s legendary hostility to the Irish was both political and religious, and his passionate opposition to the Catholic Church and the primacy of the pope determined that his campaign would be especially harsh: his armies besieged towns with little regard for the citizenry and, in the cases of Drogheda and Wexford, were guilty of wholesale massacre. Brutal and unsparing, Cromwell’s nine-month campaign was nonetheless effective, even if it took three more years of fighting before Ireland was fully subdued. The Irish paid a heavy toll for their resistance: two million hectares of land were confiscated – more than 25% of the country – and handed over to Protestants loyal to Parliament, and many of the former owners sent into exile.
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Cromwell: An Honourable Enemy by Tom Reilly advances the unpopular view that perhaps the destruction of Cromwell’s campaign is grossly exaggerated. You’re no doubt familiar with the common view; here’s the contrary position. (Yes, Reilly is Irish.)
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In 1689, in another attempt to resist the English in the spirit of the Confederation of Kilkenny, Irish Catholic monarchists rallied behind James II after his deposition in the Glorious Revolution and his replacement as king by the Dutch Protestant William of Orange (William III), husband to James’ own (also Protestant) daughter Mary! James landed in Kinsale and set about raising an army to regain his throne, attracting local support with his promise to return expropriated lands to Catholic landowners. To this end, his army besieged the walled town of Derry (Londonderry) for 105 days,