1. Ireland Under English Rule

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IRELAND UNDER ENGLISH RULE1600-


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Introductions

Norman Conquest, 12thcentury introducingEnglish rule to the Island

By the 15thcentury these conquests faded to theEnglish retention of The Pale.

When does modern Irish history begin?

1541 with Henry VIII who assumed the title Kingof Ireland


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Theories of the relationshipAnglicization Colonization

Presupposed a slow process:

part of the destabilizing ofGaelic Society and practices byintroducing English modes ofLaw

Indicated a more drastic

approach, amounting at leastin theory to tearing Gaelicismout by the roots

e.g. Packing parliament withProtestants who then

colonized Ulster (1630s)


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Types of ethnic groups inIreland

The first 2 groups were historicallyantagonistic, with English in settledareas such as the Pale, around Dublin,south Wexford, and other walled towns,fortified against the rural Gaelic clans

By the seventeenth century, the culturalgap between these groups, especially atelite social levels, was declining.

At the time of the Elizabethan conquest,the native population became defined by

their shared religion, RCC

New English: the new ChurchofEngland and ChurchofScotlandsettlers, and the officially Protestant(ChurchofIreland) Englishadministration in Ireland

Gaelic

Old Irish

Old English Descendants of

Medieval Normalsettlers

New English

Those how came over aspart of the Elizabethan

conquest


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British perceptions of Irish: in need ofreformThe people: contrary views The behavior of Irish women

Savage and subtle

Inferior, yet possessingungovernable pride

Cowardly, yet legendaryfortitude in the face of death

But mainly they were dirty,

lazy, dishonest, and violent Their laws unethical and

inequitable, yet all thissomehow fascinated andattracted the English

Drank alcohol

Presided at feasts Greeted strangers with a socialkiss

They would keep their ownnames after marriage

Divorce was easier Prevalence of probationary

marriage There was no taboo on sexual

relations within degrees ofaffinity (vs. English law, RCCpractise Jesuits busy grantingdispensations

Were authorities in the home


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British perceptions of Irish: in need ofreformReligion

Overview of religioussettlement

After 1605 only Protestantism

was the acceptable religion Non-attendance at Protestant

church services waspunishable by "recusant fines"and the public practice of

unapproved faiths by arrest. Gaelic Catholicism, barely

unrecognisable as Catholic tovisiting Jesuits

Presbyterian(Scottish)

Catholicism (Irish)

Protestantism(England)


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Religious law

Gladstones disestablishment of the Church ofIreland in 1869, ending both state support of the

Church and parliamentary authority over itsgovernance. Tithes were abolished and the church's

representation in the House of Lords also ceased.

It was only in the 1870s that the Britishgovernment reluctantly passed Acts that finallygave the land to the peasants who worked for it.


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Irish conquest under Queen Elizabeth


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Precipitating factors

Beginning in 1557, the first in a long series ofrebellions against English rule had broken out inUlster.

This rebellion confirmed for Elizabeth that morestringent measures would have to be taken to

stabilize English domination in Ireland


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Plantation: definition In the modern sense, transforming a natural

landscape by the planting of trees.

In the 16th and 17th century it was used oftransforming a political landscape. In this sense it issettlers who are planted, in a deliberate act ofcolonization.

Parcels of land are offered for rent to English

gentlemen (referred to as 'undertakers'), who aregiven precise instructions as to the number and sizeof farms into which their property is to be dividedfor subletting. All tenants are to be English by birth.


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3 types of Plantations by 17thcentury

Farms occupied by English or Scottish settlerswho accept on oath the supremacy of the English

king; Farms offered only to people of English or

Scottish birth, but may be sublet to the Irish; Farms only for Irish.

The annual rents for the three groups are in theratio 1, 1.5 and 2.


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Plantations The 16th and early 17th century English conquest of

Ireland was marked by large scale "Plantations", notablyin Ulster and Munster.

Mass dispossessions of Irish landowners followed; theirland was given to colonists from England and Scotland(New English).

The terms of the Plantation, particularly in Ulster, werevery harsh on the native population. They were

forbidden from owning or renting land in planted areasand also from working there on land owned by settlers.

One of the principal causes for the outbreak and spreadof the rebellion in 1641, (though 80% of freehold landstill belonged to Catholics)


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Results of the Plantation In 1622 little more than 13,000 Protestants lived in

Ulster, yet by 1641 their population was over 100,000.

Only slightly more than 10 per cent of Ulster stillbelonged to the Catholic native Irish. In 1600, 2% of the population, English, by early 1700s,

27% This great reengineering of the social structure of Ulster

would have painful consequences for both the newlyinstalled, privileged Protestant majority and thedisenfranchised, soon to be impoverished Catholicminority.violence in Northern Ireland


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Later consequences: violence inN.Ireland (Ulster) Nationalist North Ireland Irish nationalists

nationalist wants a united Ireland, but peaceful

Republican also wants, but will use violence to achieve itSo all Republicans are nationalists but not vice versa

Unionist British unionist Unionist a supporter of the Union with the United

Kingdom but works through the law to achieve their ends Loyalist also, but will use violence in necessary.

Most Nationalists are Catholic Most Unionists are Protestant.


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Oliver Cromwell 1599-1658 Changed the face of Irish war,

landscape and history: hisreputation remains largely tied

to massacre and expropriation Only 9 months on Irish soil (15

August 1649-50)

Named Commander-in-Chief commissioned to enforce the

control of Parliament

Ensure progress of Protestantland settlement

And the transplantation ofCatholics-No religious liberty

Lord Protector of theCommonwealth of England,

1654


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Battles Drogheda, 2 September. Stormed and massacred the civilian

population (attested to on both sides extraordinary severity Kills the entire garrison of royalist troops together with selected

civilians and any priests he can find - a total of about 2800people. Wexford suffers a similarly violent fate a month later. Wexford, 2 October, caused a succession of terrified towns to

surrender Waterford, 2 Nov- 2 Dec., failed to take Clonmel, 10 May, submitted

Philosophy (and view of the Irish): published hisDeclaration(1650)for the undeceiving of deluded and seduced people,justifying the new settlement as a godly retribution upon thebarbarous wretches who had contrived rebellion in 1641

(Ormand and allies)


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Interlude: a reason for the 1641 Irishrebellion Bishops War (1638-40), Scotland. CoE prayers,

similar to RCC. Long Parliament refused new

taxes, sided with Scotland. Charles I appealed tothe Irish. He was thought to try to reinstateRCC1641 rebellion


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The Cromwellian massacres This national revolt crushed by 1650. Tens of thousands were murdered The Catholic religion outlawed

The rights of its native people reduced to little more than livestock. By 1653 the English had completely subjugated the entire island, by

the combination of massacres, pestilence, and starvation which wasestimated to have killed between half and two-thirds of the Irishpeople;

After May 1, 1654, under penalty of death, no Irish could live east of

the River Shannon and only those who could prove they had notbeen rebels could own land west of the Shannon. All the land east of the Shannon was divided among Protestant

settlers. (8 million acres) In 1641, 80% of land in Ireland belonged to Catholics, by 1665, 20%,

by 1703 in Ulster, less than 5%.


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Post-Cromwell

Charles II continued the plantation strategy inthe 1660s though attempts to make reparations

to the Irish

The Catholic King James I eases policy inIreland even more, and nervous Protestants

revolted (Glorious Revolution) William (and Mary) are invited to England anddefeat the Irish-backed James and force himinto exile


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18thcentury

The Protestant Ascendancy: 18th century

act of 1704 prevents Catholics from buying land

Rebellion of 1798 (inspired by the French)


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19thcentury

Act of Union: 1801

political entity called the United Kingdom of Great

Britain and Ireland (though often referred tosimple as Britain)

Role of Daniel OConnell

Emancipation

Tithe War (non-violent)

Repeal (non-violent)

Famine and emigration: 1845-1851


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20thcentury

The Easter Rising: 1916

The emergence of Sinn Fein: 1916-1919

1921 Partition. Northern Ireland (part of the UK)and Ireland, which is now part of the EU


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Maps of Ireland: Present day

1. Ireland Under English Rule

Documents

Transcript of 1. Ireland Under English Rule