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130-780: Supported by: Supported by: 1641–42 Irish Rebellion 1642–49 1649–53 Cromwellian Conquest The Irish Confederate Wars , also called the Eleven Years' War ( Irish : Cogadh na hAon-déag mBliana ), took place in Ireland between 1641 and 1653. It was the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms , a series of civil wars in the kingdoms of Ireland , England and Scotland – all ruled by Charles I . The conflict had political, religious and ethnic aspects and

260-753: A Confederate military expedition landed in Scotland to help Royalists there. The Confederates continued to fight the Parliamentarians in Ireland, and decisively defeated the Covenanter army in the Battle of Benburb . In 1647, the Confederates suffered a string of defeats by the Parliamentarians at Dungan's Hill , Cashel and Knockanuss . This prompted the Confederates to make an agreement with

390-622: A 19th-century historian of the rebellion, concluding "it is far from clear on which side the balance of cruelty rests". The Scots executed Irish prisoners taken in a skirmish near Kilwarlin woods outside Dromore , while James Turner records that after retaking Newry, local Catholics were lined up on the banks of the Newry River and killed "without any legal process". On Rathlin Island , Scottish soldiers from Clan Campbell were encouraged by their commanding officer Sir Duncan Campbell to kill

520-680: A Protestant threat to "extirpate the Catholic religion", reinstated original Irish language place names and banned the use of English. Following their repulse at Lisnagarvey in November, rebels killed about 100 Protestants at Portadown by forcing them off the bridge into the River Bann , and shooting those who tried to swim to safety. Known as the Portadown massacre , it was one of the bloodiest such events to take place in Ireland during

650-563: A Scottish Covenanter army and local Protestant militia . This left approximately two thirds of Ireland under rebel control. In May 1642, Ireland's Catholic bishops met at Kilkenny , and declared the rebellion a just war . Along with members of the Catholic nobility, they created an alternative government known as Confederate Ireland . For the next ten years, the Confederacy fought a three-sided war with Irish Royalists, Scottish Covenanters and English Parliamentarians . The roots of

780-759: A certain rank in the army. The Privy Council of Ireland was dominated by English Protestants. The constituencies of the Irish House of Commons gave Protestants a majority. In response, the Irish Catholic upper classes sought ' The Graces ', and appealed directly first to James I and then his son Charles , for full rights as subjects and toleration of their religion. On several occasions, they seemed to have reached an agreement under which these demands would be met in return for raising taxes. However, despite paying increased taxes after 1630, Charles postponed implementing their demands until 3 May 1641 when he and

910-523: A constant stream of defeats and withdrawals. Only at the siege of Clonmel did Cromwell suffer significant casualties (although disease also took a very heavy toll on his men). His losses were made good by the defection of the Royalist garrison of Cork, who had been Parliamentarians up to 1648, back to the Parliament side. Cromwell returned to England in 1650, passing his command to Henry Ireton . In

1040-701: A forgery claiming he had been authorised by Charles I of England to secure Ireland against his opponents in England and Scotland . Many Royalist Anglo-Irish Catholics responded by joining the uprising, and the rebellion spread throughout Ireland. In November, rebels besieged Drogheda and defeated a government relief force at Julianstown . Especially in Ulster, thousands of Protestant settlers were expelled or massacred , and Catholics killed in retaliation. By April 1642, Royalist troops held Dublin , Cork , and large areas around them, with much of Ulster occupied by

1170-639: A major foothold in Ireland for the first time in 1644, when Inchiquin's Cork-based Protestant force fell out with the Royalists over their ceasefire with the Confederates. The Protestant settler forces in the north west of Ireland, known as the Laggan Army (or Laggan Force), also came over to the Parliamentarians after 1644, deeming them to be the most reliably anti-Catholic of the English forces. The city of Dublin fell into Parliamentarian hands in 1646, when

1300-772: A mint for making coins, and a press for printing proclamations were set up in Kilkenny. The Confederation eventually sided with the Royalists in return for the promise of self-government and full rights for Catholics after the war. They were finally defeated by the English Parliament's New Model Army from 1649 through to 1653 and land ownership in Ireland passed largely to Protestant settlers. Siege of Galway 1641–42 Irish Rebellion 1642–49 1649–53 Cromwellian Conquest The siege of Galway took place from August 1651 to 12 May 1652 during

1430-605: A peace treaty that did not recognise the position of the Catholic Church in Ireland or return confiscated Catholic land. When this faction ousted the Confederate 'peace party' or pro-Royalists, the Confederates once again clashed with the English Royalists, who abandoned most of their positions in Ireland to the Parliamentarians during 1646. However, after fresh negotiations, an alliance was arranged between

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1560-461: A publisher who admitted paying for fictitious atrocity tales. Recent research suggests around 4,000 were killed in the attacks, with thousands more expelled from their homes, many of whom died of exposure or disease, leading to an upper estimate of around 12,000 deaths. This represents around 10% of the total settler population in Ireland, though in Ulster the ratio of deaths would have been somewhat higher, namely around 30%. They were used to support

1690-547: A rebellion in 1641 by Irish Catholics, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland . They wanted an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, to increase Irish self-governance, and to roll back the Plantations of Ireland . They also wanted to prevent an invasion by anti-Catholic English Parliamentarians and Scottish Covenanters , who were defying the king. Rebel leader Felim O'Neill claimed to be doing

1820-705: A republic which lasted until 1660. Catholicism was repressed, most Catholic-owned land was confiscated , and tens of thousands of Irish rebels were sent to the Caribbean or Virginia as indentured servants or joined Catholic armies in Europe. The war in Ireland began with the Rebellion of 1641 in Ulster in October, during which many Scots and English Protestant settlers were killed. The rebellion spread throughout

1950-554: A result any assault would be confined to a narrow corridor to the north of the town, allowing the defenders to concentrate their fire. Coote was aware of this, and, after he arrived at Galway in August 1651, he decided to blockade the city rather than to attack it directly. He laid out his siege lines between Lough Atalia and Lough Corrib and stationed a Parliamentary fleet in Galway Bay to cut off supplies or reinforcement from reaching

2080-640: A revolt known as the Bishops' Wars against Charles I's attempt to impose Church of England practices there, believing them to be too close to Catholicism. The King's attempts to put down the rebellion failed when the English Long Parliament , which had similar religious concerns to the Scots, refused to vote for new taxes to pay for raising an army. Charles therefore started negotiations with Irish Catholic gentry to recruit an Irish army to put down

2210-578: A swift coup d'état to gain control of the Protestant -dominated central government , instead it led to the 1641–1653 Irish Confederate Wars , part of the wider Wars of the Three Kingdoms . Despite failing to seize Dublin Castle , rebels under Felim O'Neill quickly over-ran most of Ulster , centre of the most recent land confiscations . O'Neill then issued the Proclamation of Dungannon ,

2340-546: The Commons , leading to further delay and allowing the rebellion to spread. With the situation deteriorating, in February 1642 the two sides put aside their differences and agreed to send 2,500 Scots to Ulster. Parliament now adopted two measures intended to manage concerns over control of the forces needed for Ireland and how to raise funds for it as quickly as possible, both of which had significant consequences. On 15 March,

2470-612: The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland . Galway was the last city held by Irish Catholic forces in Ireland and its fall signalled the end to most organised resistance to the Parliamentarian conquest of the country. The English Parliamentarians were commanded by Charles Coote , an English settler who had commanded Parliamentarian forces in the northwest of Ireland throughout the Irish Confederate Wars . Galway

2600-629: The Laggan Army . Many politicians and officials in Dublin and London opposed Scottish intervention in Ulster, seeing a well-armed and independent Presbyterian army as a threat to the status quo, and Parliament continued recruiting English regiments. On 21 December, the Lords approved a Scottish army of 10,000 but the Covenanter government insisted they should also be given control of the three largest ports in Ulster, Carrickfergus, Coleraine and Derry , along with land grants. These demands were rejected by

2730-546: The Long Parliament made it clear that Irish Catholics who did not demonstrate their loyalty would have their lands confiscated under the Adventurers' Act , agreed on 19 March 1642. Charles was also forbidden by parliament to pardon those accused of rebellion. Thirdly, it looked initially as if the rebels would be successful after they defeated a government force at Julianstown in November 1641. This perception

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2860-476: The Militia Ordinance brought the military and county militia under the control of Parliament, rather than the king. When Charles refused to give it his royal assent , Parliament declared the legislation in force regardless, marking a major step on the road to civil war. On 19 March, the Adventurers' Act invited members of the public to provide loans which would be repaid with land confiscated from

2990-768: The Pale around Dublin led by Viscount Gormanstown, in the south-east, led by the Butler family – in particular Lord Mountgarret and in the south-west, led by Donagh MacCarthy, Viscount Muskerry . Charles I wanted control of Ireland to mobilise its resources against his opponents in England and Scotland; the Scots and their English Parliamentary allies aimed to prevent this. Over the course of 1642, 10,000 Scots funded by Parliament landed in Coleraine and Carrickfergus , while English forces re-established control over Dublin. One of

3120-554: The Papacy and led by Irish professionals like Thomas Preston and Owen Roe O'Neill , who had served in the Spanish army. However, they arguably squandered an opportunity to conquer all of Ireland by signing a truce or "Cessation of Arms" with the Royalists on 15 September 1643, then spending the next three years in abortive negotiations. The period 1642 to 1646 was dominated by raids, with all sides attempting to starve their enemies by

3250-644: The Parliament of Ireland , along with 226 commoners. The Assembly elected a Supreme Council of 24, which controlled both military and civilian officers. Its first act was to name the generals who were to command Confederate forces: Owen Roe O'Neill was to command the Ulster forces, Thomas Preston the Leinster forces, Garret Barry the Munster forces and John Burke the Connaught forces. A National Treasury,

3380-553: The Parliamentarian army, and the Irish Confederate army to whom most of the inhabitants of Ireland gave their allegiance. During the wars, all of these forces came into conflict at one stage or another. To add to the turmoil, a brief civil war was fought between Irish Confederate factions in 1648. The Royalists under Ormonde were in conflict with Irish Catholic forces from late 1641 to 1643. Their main enclave

3510-503: The "Supreme Council of the Confederate Catholics". The rebels henceforth became known as Confederates. The synod re-affirmed that the rebellion was a "just war". It called for the creation of a council (made up of clergy and nobility) for each province , which would be overseen by a national council for the whole island. It vowed to punish misdeeds by Confederate soldiers and to excommunicate any Catholic who fought against

3640-481: The "no-mans-land" in between Confederate and British held territory in Leinster and Munster was repeatedly raided and burned, with the result that it too became de-populated. The stalemate, however, broke in 1646. During the summer after the end of the First English Civil War , the Confederate military tried to make as many gains in Ireland as they could before the expected invasion by the forces of

3770-474: The 1640s. In nearby Kilmore , English and Scottish men, women and children were burned to death in the cottage in which they were imprisoned, while in Armagh as a whole, some 1,250 died in the early months of the rebellion, roughly a quarter of the local settler population. In County Tyrone , modern research has identified three blackspots for the killing of settlers, the worst being near Kinard , "where most of

3900-566: The 1641 rebellion derived from the colonisation that followed the Tudor conquest of Ireland , and the alienation of the Catholic gentry from the newly-Protestant English state in the decades following. Historian Aidan Clarke writes that religion "was merely one aspect of a larger problem posed by the Gaelic Irish, and its importance was easily obscured; but religious difference was central to

4030-487: The Adventurers' Act was the primary objective of the 1649 Cromwellian conquest . This resulted in the formation of Irish Confederacy , based at Kilkenny ; by the end of 1642, it controlled two-thirds of Ireland, including the ports of Waterford and Wexford , through which they could receive aid from Catholic powers in Europe. While supported by most Irish Catholics, especially the clergy, many co-religionists among

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4160-635: The Anglo-Irish Catholic families. In the judgement of historian Pádraig Lenihan, "It is likely that he [Wentworth] would have eventually encountered armed resistance from Catholic landowners" if he had pursued these policies further. However, the actual rebellion followed the destabilisation of English and Scottish politics and the weakened position of the king in 1640. Wentworth was executed in London in May 1641. From 1638 to 1640 Scotland rose in

4290-572: The British Protestant settlers exploded into violence. Shortly after the outbreak of the rebellion, O'Neill issued the Proclamation of Dungannon which offered justification for the rising. He claimed that he was acting on the orders of Charles I. From 1641 to early 1642, the fighting in Ireland was characterised by small bands, raised by local lords or among local people, attacking civilians of opposing ethnic and religious groups. At first, Irish Catholic bands, particularly from Ulster, took

4420-698: The British families planted... were ultimately murdered". Elsewhere at Shrule in County Mayo , Protestant prisoners were killed by their Catholic escorts, despite attempts by their officers to intervene. Killings of Catholics also took place, including the murder of two dozen at Islandmagee by members of the Carrickfergus garrison in November 1641. The arrival of a Covenanter army in Ulster in April 1642 led to further such atrocities, William Lecky ,

4550-524: The Catholic armies of France and Spain , particularly the Army of Flanders . They formed a small émigré Irish community, militantly hostile to the English-run Protestant state in Ireland, but restrained by the generally good relations England had with Spain and France after 1604. In Ireland itself, resentment caused by the plantations was one of the main causes for the outbreak and spread of

4680-529: The Catholic landed class's interests. The Confederates ruled much of Ireland as a de facto sovereign state until 1649, and proclaimed their loyalty to Charles I . From 1642 to 1649, the Confederates fought against Scottish Covenanter and English Parliamentarian armies in Ireland. The Confederates, in the context of the English Civil War , were loosely allied with the English Royalists, but were divided over whether to send military help to them in

4810-482: The Confederates controlled most of Ireland except for east and west Ulster, Cork city and Dublin. A cessation was arranged with the Royalists in 1643 after the outbreak of civil war in England and negotiations began to bring the Confederates into the English conflict on the Royalist side. A strongly Catholic faction under the influence of the Irish Bishops and Nuncio Rinuccini emerged in 1646, which opposed signing

4940-541: The Confederates to come to a deal with the Royalists , and to put their troops under their command. Amid factional fighting within their ranks over this deal, the Confederates dissolved their association in 1648 and accepted Ormonde as the commander in chief of the Royalist coalition in Ireland. Inchiquin, the Parliamentarian commander in Cork, also defected to the Royalists after the arrest of King Charles I. The Confederates were fatally divided over this compromise. Rinuccini,

5070-538: The Confederation. The synod sent agents to France, Spain and Italy to gain support, gather funds and weapons, and recruit Irishmen serving in foreign armies. Lord Mountgarret was appointed president of the Confederate Council, and a General Assembly was held in Kilkenny on 24 October 1642, where it set up a provisional government . Present were 14 Lords Temporal and 11 Lords Spiritual from

5200-535: The English Parliament. In that effort they were quite successful. On 5 June 1646, Owen O'Neill defeated a Parliamentary and Scottish army commanded by Robert Munro at Benburb . During July, Thomas Preston leading the Leinster Army of the Confederates captured the Parliamentary stronghold at Roscommon while Donough McCarthy Viscount Muskerry captured the castle of Bunratty . On 30 July, however, it

5330-639: The English Privy Council instructed the Lords Justices of Ireland to publish the required Bills. The advancement of the Graces were particularly frustrated during the time that Wentworth was Lord Deputy . On the pretext of checking of land titles to raise revenue, Wentworth confiscated and was going to plant lands in counties Roscommon and Sligo and was planning further plantations in counties Galway and Kilkenny directed mainly at

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5460-577: The English Royalists were losing the war; two weeks later, the Earl of Inchiquin defected to Parliament, giving them control of the ports of Cork , Kinsale and Youghal . In late 1644, the Confederates took Bandon but Inchiquin retained control of Cork; Preston captured Duncannon in January 1645, then besieged Youghal but lack of supplies forced him to abandon the siege in March 1645. The opening years of

5590-408: The French army or with the English Royalist Court in exile. Those captured after this point were executed or transported to penal colonies in the West Indies . Ireland was plagued with small scale violence for the remainder of the 1650s, partly due to the 1652 Act for the Settlement of Ireland . This created a class of landless former farmers and dramatically altered patterns of Irish land holding,

5720-409: The Irish Catholic civilian population. As a result, it has been estimated that up to 30,000 people fled Ulster in 1642, to live in Confederate held territory. Many of them became camp followers of Owen Roe O'Neill 's Ulster Army, living in clan-based groupings called " creaghts " and driving their herds of cattle around with the army. Outside of Ulster, the treatment of civilians was less harsh, although

5850-408: The Irish Catholic upper classes were not opposed to the sovereignty of Charles I over Ireland but wanted to be full subjects and maintain their pre-eminent position in Irish society. This was prevented by their religion and the threat of losing their land in the Plantations. The failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605 had led to further legal discrimination against Catholics. The Protestant Church of Ireland

5980-420: The Ormonde treaty on 12 August. Rinuccini and the Confederate military then marched upon Kilkenny, declared the Ormonde treaty void, and create a new Confederate Supreme Council. Trying next to take control of Ireland, the Confederate armies commanded by O'Neill and Preston attempted to capture Dublin, Ormonde's Royalist garrison by siege. Their plan to seize Dublin failed, however, as the Royalists had devastated

6110-441: The Papal Nuncio, threatened to excommunicate anyone who accepted the deal. Particularly galling for him was the alliance with Inchiquin, who had massacred Catholic civilians and clergy in Munster in 1647. There was even a brief period of civil war in 1648 between Owen Roe O'Neill 's Ulster Army, as he refused to accept the Royalist alliance, and the new Royalist–Confederate coalition. O'Neill neglected to secure adequate supplies and

6240-423: The Parliamentarian forces inflicted a shattering series of defeats on the Confederates, ultimately forcing them to join a Royalist coalition to try to hold off a Parliamentarian invasion. Firstly, in August 1647, when it tried to march on Dublin, Thomas Preston's Leinster army was annihilated at the battle of Dungans Hill by Jones' Parliamentarian army. This was the best trained and best equipped Confederate army and

6370-556: The Protestant inhabitants of Portadown were taken captive and then massacred on the bridge in the town. The settlers responded in kind, as did the Government in Dublin, with attacks on the Irish civilian population. Massacres of Catholic civilians occurred at Rathlin Island and elsewhere. The rebels from Ulster defeated a government force at Julianstown , but failed to take nearby Drogheda and were scattered when they advanced on Dublin. By early 1642, there were four main concentrations of rebel forces: in Ulster under Phelim O'Neill , in

6500-581: The Royalist Duke of Ormonde and the Covenanters pursuing their own agenda around Carrickfergus. The reality was an extremely complex mix of shifting loyalties; for various reasons, many Ulster Protestants regarded the Scots with hostility, as did some of their nominal allies in Parliament, including Cromwell . The Civil War gave the Confederates time to create regular, full-time armies and they were eventually able to support some 60,000 men in different areas. These were funded by an extensive system of taxation , equipped with supplies from France , Spain and

6630-468: The Royalists and Confederates in 1648. Some Confederates (most notably the Ulster army) were however opposed to this treaty initiating a brief Irish Catholic civil war in 1648 in which the Ulster Confederate army was supported by the English Parliament. The Scottish Covenanters arrived in Ireland in early 1642 to put down the uprising and thereby protect the lives and property of the Scottish Protestant settlers in Ulster. They held most of eastern Ulster for

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6760-425: The Royalists surrendered it to an English Parliamentarian expeditionary force after the city was threatened by Confederate armies. In 1648 the Parliamentarians briefly gave support to Owen Roe O'Neill's Ulstermen after his fall out with the Confederates: Thus the extreme Catholic and Puritan forces were briefly allied for mutual expediency. The Ulster Catholic army however joined the Confederate-Royalist alliance after

6890-461: The Royalists. The agreement divided the Confederates, and this infighting hampered their preparations to resist a Parliamentarian invasion. In August 1649, a large English Parliamentarian army , led by Oliver Cromwell , invaded Ireland . It besieged and captured many towns from the Confederate–Royalist alliance. Cromwell's army massacred many soldiers and civilians after storming the towns of Drogheda and Wexford . The Confederate capital Kilkenny

7020-400: The Ulster British settlers' army. The battles in this phase of the war were exceptionally bloody: in the battles of 1646–47, the losers had up to half of those engaged killed – most commonly in the rout after the battle was decided. In the three largest engagements of 1647, no less than 1% of the Irish male population (around 7,000–8,000 men) were killed in battle. This string of defeats forced

7150-449: The city on 12 May 1652. His position had become impossible due to food shortages and an outbreak of bubonic plague in Galway. Coote agreed to let Preston leave Ireland with most of his troops and enter the Spanish service. The lives and property of the citizens of Galway was respected by the Parliamentarians for the most part, but the Catholic merchant families of the city, the " Tribes of Galway ," had to pay heavy fines and were excluded from

7280-505: The city. However, Galway remained open to the west and Irish general Richard Farrell was quartered in Connemara with 3,000 more troops. In November 1651, after the fall of Limerick , Henry Ireton, the Parliamentarian commander in Ireland, decided to make the capture of Galway the main priority for his forces. As a result, he reinforced Coote and tightened the blockade on Galway. The siege dragged on for seven more months before Galway capitulated. Ulick Burke, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde , who

7410-439: The country and at Kilkenny in 1642 the Association of The Confederate Catholics of Ireland was formed to organise the Catholic war effort. The Confederation was essentially an independent state and was a coalition of all shades of Irish Catholic society, both Gaelic and Old English . The Irish Confederates professed to side with the English Cavaliers during the ensuing civil wars, but mostly fought their own war in defence of

7540-419: The country's history only with the Great Famine of the 1840s. The ultimate winner, the English parliament, arranged for the mass confiscation of land owned by Irish Catholics as punishment for the rebellion and to pay for the war. Although some of this land was returned after 1660 on the Restoration of the monarchy in England , the period marked the effective end of the old Catholic landed class. The rebellion

7670-461: The country, but the plot relied on surprise rather than force to achieve their objectives, after which they would issue their demands, in expectation of support from the rest of the country. The plan to seize Dublin Castle was foiled when one of the ringleaders, Hugh Og MacMahon, revealed details to his foster-brother, a Protestant convert named Owen O'Connolly. He promptly informed one of the Lord Justices, and MacMahon and Maguire were arrested, while

7800-420: The cultural divide between these groups, especially at elite social levels, was narrowing; many of the Old English spoke Irish , patronised Irish poetry and music, and have been described as being " More Irish than the Irish themselves ". Writing in 1614, one author claimed that previously the Old English "despised the mere Irish, accounting them a barbarous people, void of civility and religion and [each viewed]

7930-443: The declaration is now accepted as a forgery, many of the Anglo-Catholic gentry were dismayed by indiscriminate anti-Catholic measures taken by the Dublin authorities, including those who had initially condemned the rebellion. The suspension of the Irish Parliament on 17 November deprived them of the political means to resolve these issues and the declaration provided cover for moderates such as Nicholas Plunkett to make common cause with

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8060-446: The defence of Ireland was conducted mainly by Irish Confederate leaders. The Irish Confederates : formed in October 1642, the Confederation of Kilkenny was initially a rebel Irish Catholic movement, fighting against the English troops sent to put down the rebellion, though they insisted they were at war with the king's advisers and not with Charles himself. They also had to fight the Scottish army that landed in Ulster. From 1642 to 1649,

8190-557: The defenders of both towns. He also sent a force to the north to link up with the British settler army there. Those settlers who supported the Scots and Royalists were defeated by the Parliamentarians at the battle of Lisnagarvey . Ormonde signally failed to mount a military defence of southern Ireland. He based his defences upon walled towns, which Cromwell systematically took one after the other with his ample supply of siege artillery. The Irish and Royalist field armies did not hold any strategic line of defence and instead were demoralised by

8320-503: The destruction of crops and supplies, causing great loss of life, particularly among civilians. The bitterness it engendered is illustrated by a Parliamentary Ordinance of October 1644, which forbade 'giving of quarter to any Irishman or Papist born in Ireland who shall be taken in Hostility against the Parliament either upon the Sea or in England and Wales.' An offensive against Ulster in 1644 failed to make significant progress, while defeat at Marston Moor in July made it increasingly clear

8450-482: The disbanding Irish army. Unfavourable economic conditions also contributed to the outbreak of the rebellion. This decline may have been a consequence of the Little Ice Age event of the mid 17th Century. The Irish economy had hit a recession and the harvest of 1641 was poor. Interest rates in the 1630s had been as high as 30% per annum. The leaders of the rebellion like Phelim O'Neill and Rory O'Moore were heavily in debt and risked losing their lands to creditors. What

8580-477: The duration of the war, but were badly weakened by their defeat by the Confederates at the battle of Benburb in 1646. They fought the Confederates (with the support of the English Parliament) from their arrival in Ulster in 1642 until 1648. After the English Parliament and the Scottish Covenanters' alliance broke down, the Scottish forces in Ulster joined the Confederates and Royalists in an alliance against their former allies in 1649. The Parliamentarian Army gained

8710-442: The following months and years the Confederates fought against Royalists, Parliamentarians, and an army sent by Scottish Covenanters, with all sides using scorched earth tactics. Disagreements over how to deal with the rebellion helped spark the English Civil War in mid-1642. The king authorised secret negotiations with the Confederates, resulting in a Confederate–Royalist ceasefire in September 1643 and further negotiations. In 1644,

8840-515: The harsh surrender terms resulted in a period of guerrilla warfare by bands of former soldiers, known as Tóraidhe or 'Tories.' These operated from rugged areas such as the Wicklow Mountains , looting supplies and attacking Parliamentary patrols, who responded with forced evictions and the destruction of crops. The result was widespread famine, aggravated by an outbreak of bubonic plague . The last organised Irish force surrendered in Cavan in April 1653 and given passage to France to either serve in

8970-413: The impending Parliamentarian invasion of Ireland. O'Neill later re-joined the Confederate side. Belatedly, in summer 1649, Ormonde tried to take Dublin from the Parliamentarians, and was routed by Michael Jones at the battle of Rathmines . Oliver Cromwell landed shortly afterwards with the New Model Army . Whereas the Confederates had failed to defeat their enemies in eight years of fighting, Cromwell

9100-402: The insurgency, including previously peaceful Munster where St Leger had imposed a brutal martial law regime. When the rebellion began, Phelim O'Neill sought to exploit divisions between English and Scots settlers by offering the latter protection, hoping thereby to gain their support. This strategy initially contributed to the rapid spread of the revolt, in part because the Dublin government

9230-422: The insurgents held most of counties Armagh , Tyrone , Fermanagh and Monaghan . The Proclamation of Dungannon , issued by O'Neill on 24 October, stated they had taken up arms only to defend their freedoms and meant no harm to the king's subjects. This was followed on 4 November by the Newry declaration which claimed Charles had approved the rising to secure Ireland against his opponents in England. Although

9360-495: The issue of whether their first loyalty was to the Catholic religion or to King Charles I (see the principal factions in the war ). The wars ended in the defeat of the Confederates. They and their English Royalist allies were defeated during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland by the New Model Army under Oliver Cromwell in 1649–53. The wars following the 1641 revolt caused massive loss of life in Ireland, comparable in

9490-572: The king's bidding , but Charles condemned the rebellion after it broke out. The rebellion developed into an ethnic conflict between Irish Catholics on one side, and English and Scottish Protestant colonists on the other. These first few months were marked by ethnic cleansing and massacres in Ulster . Catholic leaders formed the Irish Catholic Confederation in May 1642, which controlled and governed most of Ireland, and comprised both Gaelic and old English Catholics. In

9620-436: The land around their capital and the Confederate commanders were unable to feed their armies. The inability to capture Dublin was an embarrassment to Rinuccini and the Confederates as it exposed the folly of their strategy of conquesting Ireland. Ormonde then turned to negotiations with the English Parliament and ultimately handed the city over to a Parliamentarian army commanded by Colonel Michael Jones on 19 June 1647. In 1647,

9750-432: The last pieces of legislation approved by both Charles and Parliament before the outbreak of the First English Civil War was the March 1642 Adventurers' Act ; this funded the war in Ireland by loans that would be repaid by the sale of lands held by the Irish rebels. As a result, neither side would tolerate the autonomous Catholic state demanded by Irish leaders and both were committed to further land confiscations; enforcing

9880-513: The local Catholic MacDonnells , who were related to the Campbells' enemies in Scotland, Clan MacDonald . They threw scores of MacDonnell women over cliffs to their deaths. The killings were brought under some degree of control by Owen Roe O'Neill , who in July 1642 was given command of Irish forces in Ulster and hanged several rebels for attacking civilians. Though still brutal, the war thereafter

10010-459: The long term, the 1641 massacres intensified existing sectarian animosity on both sides, although modern historians argue the killings had an especially powerful psychological impact on the Protestant community. Dr. Mary O'Dowd wrote they "were very traumatic for the Protestant settler community in Ulster, and left long-term scars within that community". Contemporary Protestant accounts depict

10140-691: The loss of its manpower and equipment was a body blow to the Confederation. Secondly, the Parliamentarians based in Cork devastated the Confederates' territory in Munster , provoking famine among the civilian population. In September, they stormed Cashel , not only taking the town but also massacring its garrison and inhabitants, including several Catholic clerics. When the Irish Munster army brought them to battle at Knocknanauss in November, they too were crushed. Sligo also changed hands again – captured by

10270-627: The masses of Irish Catholics surrounding them [who] were and always would be, unregenerate and cruel enemies". Although Charles, the English Parliament and Scottish Covenanter government all agreed the rebellion should be crushed, doing so was delayed by political tensions. Charles was in Edinburgh when he received news of the uprising on 28 October and immediately urged the Scots to send troops to Ulster , once approved by their colleagues in England. On 4 November, Parliament voted to send weapons and gunpowder to Ireland and recruit 8,000 men to suppress

10400-554: The meantime, Charles sent weapons, gunpowder and a small number of Scots volunteers to Ireland at his own expense, but had insufficient money to finance an expedition on his own. James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond , a member of one of the leading Old English families and Protestant convert, was made commander of Royal forces in Ireland and recruited three infantry regiments from the refugees flooding into Dublin. Several prominent Ulster Scots were also commissioned to raise troops, including Robert Stewart and his brother William, who formed

10530-465: The new settlers. The Tudor conquest of the late 16th and early 17th century led to the Plantations of Ireland , whereby Irish-owned land was confiscated and colonised with British settlers. The biggest was the Plantation of Ulster , which utilised estates confiscated from the northern lords who went into exile in 1607. Around 80% of these were distributed to English-speaking Protestants, with

10660-462: The newcomers. The pre-Elizabethan population of Ireland is usually divided into the native Irish and Old English, many of whom were descendants of medieval English and Anglo-Normans settlers. These groups were historically antagonistic, with English settled areas such as the Pale around Dublin , Wexford , and other walled towns being fortified against the rural Gaelic clans. By the 17th century,

10790-751: The north, the Parliamentarian/settler army met the Irish Ulster army at the battle of Scarrifholis and destroyed it. Ormonde was discredited and fled for France, to be replaced by Ulick Burke, Earl of Clanricarde . By 1651, the remaining Royalist/Irish forces were hemmed into an area west of the River Shannon , holding only the fortified cities of Limerick and Galway and an enclave in County Kerry , under Donagh MacCarthy, Viscount Muskerry . Ireton besieged Limerick while

10920-469: The northern Parliamentarian army under Charles Coote besieged Galway . Muskerry made an attempt to relieve Limerick, marching north from Kerry, and was routed by Roger Boyle at the battle of Knocknaclashy . Limerick and Galway were too well defended to be taken by storm, and were blockaded until hunger and disease forced them to surrender, Limerick in 1651, Galway in 1652. Waterford and Duncannon also surrendered in 1651. While formal resistance ended,

11050-454: The opportunity given them by the collapse of law and order to settle scores with Protestant settlers who had occupied Irish land in the plantations of Ireland . Initially, the Irish Catholic gentry raised militia forces to try to contain the violence but afterwards, when it was clear that the government in Dublin intended to punish all Catholics for the rebellion, participated in the attacks on Protestants and fought English troops sent to put down

11180-544: The opportunity, a small group of Irish Catholic landed gentry (some of whom were Members of Parliament ) plotted to take Dublin Castle and other important towns and forts around the country in a quick coup in the name of the King, both to forestall a possible invasion and to force him to concede the Catholics' demands. At least three Irish colonels were also involved in the plot, and the plotters hoped to use soldiers from

11310-521: The other as a hereditary enemy" but cited intermarriage "in former ages rarely seen", education of the Gaelic Irish and "the late plantation of New English and Scottish [throughout] the Kingdom whom the natives repute a common enemy; but this last is the principal cause of their union". In addition, the native population became defined by their shared Catholicism, as opposed to the Protestantism of

11440-560: The outbreak of the English Civil War in mid-1642 led to the recall of many English troops. This allowed Garret Barry , a returned Irish mercenary soldier, to capture Limerick in 1642, while the English garrison in Galway was forced to surrender by the townspeople in 1643. By mid-1643, the Confederacy controlled large parts of Ireland, the exceptions being Ulster, Dublin and Cork. They were assisted by divisions among their opponents, with some areas held by forces loyal to Parliament, others by

11570-630: The outbreak of the First English Civil War in August 1642 ended the flow of reinforcements and money from England and a military stalemate ensued. By early 1642, there were four main concentrations of rebel forces; in Ulster under Felim O'Neill, in the Pale around Dublin led by Viscount Gormanston, in the south-east, led by the Butler family – in particular Lord Mountgarret, and in the south-west, led by Donagh MacCarthy, Viscount Muskerry . In areas where British settlers were concentrated, around Cork , Dublin, Carrickfergus and Derry , they raised their own militia in self-defence and managed to hold off

11700-488: The percentage owned by Protestants increasing from 41% to 78% over the period 1641 to 1660. The Irish Confederate Wars were a complex conflict in which no fewer than four major armies fought in Ireland. These were the Royalists loyal to King Charles, the Scottish Covenanters (sent into Ulster in 1642 to protect Protestant planters after the massacres that marked the Irish rebellion of 1641 in that region),

11830-624: The population of Ireland perished. Thirty or forty thousand of the most energetic left the country and took service in foreign armies. Great tracts were left absolutely depopulated.... Irish Rebellion of 1641 [REDACTED]   England 1641–42 Irish Rebellion 1642–49 1649–53 Cromwellian Conquest The Irish Rebellion of 1641 was an uprising in Ireland , initiated on 23 October 1641 by Catholic gentry and military officers. Their demands included an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and return of confiscated Catholic lands . Planned as

11960-424: The post 1607 Plantation. Due to take place on Saturday 23 October 1641, armed men led by Connor Maguire and Rory O'Moore were to seize Dublin Castle and its arsenal , then hold it until help came from insurgents in neighbouring County Wicklow . Meanwhile, Felim O'Neill and his allies were to occupy strategic points in Ulster. The English garrison of Ireland was only about 2,000 strong and scattered around

12090-497: The rebel forces. Within a few months of the rebellion's outbreak, almost all of the Catholic gentry had joined it, including the Anglo-Irish Catholics. There are three main reasons for this. First, local lords and landowners raised armed units of their dependents to control the violence that was engulfing the country, fearing that after the settlers were gone, the Irish peasantry would turn on them as well. Secondly,

12220-435: The rebellion as a complete surprise; one stated that it was "conceived among us and yet we never felt it kick in the womb, nor struggle in the birth". Many argued Catholics could not be trusted and in Ulster, Protestants commemorated the anniversary of the rebellion for over two hundred years. According to historian Pádraig Lenihan, this "helped affirm communal solidarity and emphasise the need for unrelenting vigilance [against]

12350-498: The rebellion as war in defence of the catholic religion. On 10 May 1642, Archbishop O'Reilly convened another synod at Kilkenny . Present were 3 archbishops, 11 bishops or their representatives, and other dignitaries. They drafted the Confederate Oath of Association and called on all Catholics in Ireland to take it. Those who took the oath swore allegiance to Charles I and vowed to obey all orders and decrees made by

12480-806: The rebellion in Scotland, in return for granting longstanding requests for religious toleration and land security. Composed largely of Irish Catholics from Ulster, an army was slowly mobilised at Carrickfergus opposite the Scottish coast, but then began to be disbanded in mid-1641. To the Scots and Parliament of England , this seemed to confirm that Charles was a tyrant, who wanted to impose his religious views on his kingdoms, and to govern again without his parliaments as he had done in 1628–1640. In early 1641, some Scots and English Parliamentarians even proposed invading Ireland and subduing Catholics there, to ensure that no royalist Irish Catholic army would land in England or Scotland. Frightened by this, and wanting to seize

12610-724: The rebellion, combined with Poynings' Law , which required Irish legislation to be approved by the Privy Council of England . The Protestant-dominated administration took opportunities to confiscate more land from longstanding Catholic landowners. In the late 1630s Thomas Wentworth , the Lord Deputy of Ireland , proposed a new round of plantations designed to expand Protestant cultural and religious dominance. Delays in their implementation caused by Charles' struggles with his political opponents in England and Scotland meant that Catholics still owned over 60% of land in 1641. Most of

12740-421: The rebellion. In areas where British settlers were concentrated, around Cork , Dublin , Carrickfergus and Derry , they raised their own militia in self-defence and managed to hold off the rebel forces. All sides displayed extreme cruelty in this phase of the war. Around 4,000 Protestants were massacred and a further 12,000 may have died of privation after being driven from their homes. In one notorious incident,

12870-603: The rebels. Rumours also circulated that radical Protestants were seeking to replace Charles I with his exiled German nephew the Elector Palatine , paving the way for increased repression of Irish Catholics. The influential Lords of the Pale joined the rising in early December, while rebels in Cavan were led by Philip O'Reilly , the local Member of Parliament , and Mulmore O'Reilly, the High Sheriff . Dundalk

13000-524: The rebels. This need to ensure these were repaid and maintain government credit was one of the factors behind the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649. In the first few months of 1642, Ormond regained much of the Pale, relieved Drogheda, re-took Dundalk and defeated a rebel force at Kilrush on 15 April. On the same day, the Covenanter army led by Robert Monro landed at Carrickfergus and recaptured Newry on 1 May. By mid-1642, Protestant forces in Ireland totalled 40,000 infantry and 3,600 horse, but

13130-614: The relationship between the government and the colonists". During the decades between the end of the Elizabethan wars in 1603 and the outbreak of rebellion in 1641, the political position of the wealthier landed Irish Catholics was increasingly threatened by the English government of Ireland. As a result, both the Gaelic Irish, and the Old English communities increasingly defined themselves as Irish and were viewed as such by

13260-449: The remainder going to "deserving" native Irish lords and clans. By 1641, the economic impact of the plantations on the native Irish population was exacerbated because many who retained their estates had to sell them due to poor management and the debts they incurred. This erosion of their status and influence saw them prepared to join a rebellion, even if they risked losing more. Many of the exiles, such as Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill , served in

13390-421: The remaining English garrisons could well have surrendered, leaving Irish Catholics in a position of strength to negotiate their demands for civil reform, religious toleration and Irish self-government. However, the plot was betrayed at the last minute and as a result, the rebellion degenerated into chaotic violence. Following the outbreak of hostilities, the resentment of the native Irish Catholic population against

13520-536: The remaining plotters slipped out of Dublin. Warnings of an imminent rising had also been communicated to Dublin by Sir William Cole . Despite this failure, the rebellion in Ulster went ahead and Felim O'Neill and his allies, including Rory Maguire , quickly captured positions throughout the province, including Dungannon , Charlemont Fort , Newry , Tandragee , Portadown , Mountjoy Castle , Castleblaney and Carrickmacross . Those that did not surrender, such as Enniskillen Castle , were besieged and within two days

13650-552: The rising but the situation was complicated since any such army would be legally controlled by the king. A series of alleged Royalist military conspiracies in 1641 and rebel claims that Charles supported their actions heightened fears he would turn it against his opponents in England and Scotland, rather than the Irish. The Covenanters urged the English Parliament to fund a Scottish army rather than recruiting their own, arguing it could reach Ireland more easily and would be independent of both Charles and his Parliamentary opponents. In

13780-432: The shock of Cromwell's invasion in August 1649. The most potent Parliamentarian force was the New Model Army , which proceeded to conquer Ireland over the next four years and to enforce the Adventurers' Act 1640 by conquering and selling Irish land to pay off its financial backers. The toll of the conflict was huge. Irish historian William Lecky wrote: Hardly any page in human history is more appalling. A full third of

13910-486: The town and retreated. This setback and the stubbornness displayed by the town's defenders allegedly made a deep impression on the attackers, since it showed hopes of a quick and relatively painless victory in Ulster were over optimistic. Further south, the rebellion spread into counties Leitrim , Longford , Wicklow, Wexford , Tipperary and Kildare . The Dublin government called it "a most disloyal and detestable conspiracy" by "some evil affected Irish Papists", which

14040-458: The treaty were unacceptable to Rinuccini and the Confederate military commanders, especially sending military support to Royalists in England for a cause that was seemingly ended with the conclusion of the civil war. Rinuccini and the Confederate military commanders also believed that there might be a chance for them to defeat the English in Ireland and take total control given the magnitude of their recent victories. As so, Rinuccini publicly denounced

14170-469: The upper classes were Royalists by inclination, who feared losing their own lands if the plantation settlements were overturned. Some fought against the Confederation; others like Clanricarde , stayed neutral. Forces initially available to the Confederacy were primarily militia and private levies, commanded by aristocratic amateurs like Lord Mountgarret . These suffered a series of defeats, including Liscarroll , Kilrush , New Ross and Glenmaquinn , but

14300-521: The victims resisted. They intensified as the rebellion progressed, particularly in Ulster where many had lost land in the post 1607 Plantations, while attacks on local Protestant clergy were in part due to resentment at the relative wealth of the Church of Ireland in that province. Other factors included religion and culture; in County Cavan, rebels justified the rising as a defensive measure against

14430-663: The view of the rebellion as a Catholic conspiracy to wipe out all Protestants in Ireland, a narrative constructed in the Depositions , a collection of victim reports gathered between 1642 and 1655 and now housed in Trinity College Dublin . In 1646, these accounts were summarised in The Irish Rebellion , a book by John Temple , in which he urged the military re-conquest of Ireland and segregation of Irish Catholics from British Protestants. In

14560-429: The war saw widespread displacement of civilians – both sides practising what would now be called ethnic cleansing . In the initial phase of the rebellion in 1641, the vulnerable Protestant settler population fled to walled towns such as Dublin , Cork and Derry for protection. Others fled to England. When Ulster was occupied by Scottish Covenanter troops in 1642, they retaliated for the attacks on settlers by attacks on

14690-620: The war there. Ultimately, they never sent troops to England , but did send an expedition to help the Scottish Royalists, sparking the Scottish Civil War . The wars produced an extremely fractured array of forces in Ireland. The Protestant forces were split into three main factions (English Royalist, English Parliamentarian and Scottish Covenanter) as a result of the civil wars in England and Scotland. The Catholic Confederates themselves split on more than one occasion over

14820-439: Was able to succeed in three years in conquering the entire island of Ireland, because his troops were well supplied, well equipped (especially with artillery), and well trained. Moreover, he had a huge supply of men, money and logistics to fund the campaign. His first action was to secure the east coast of Ireland for supplies of men and logistics from England. To this end, he took Drogheda and Wexford , perpetrating massacres of

14950-419: Was aimed at "a general massacre of all English and Protestant inhabitants". In December, troops led by Charles Coote , Governor of Dublin Castle, and William St Leger , Lord President of Munster , attacked rebel-held areas in counties Wicklow and Tipperary respectively, expeditions characterised by "excessive and indiscriminate brutality" against the general Catholic population. This provoked many into joining

15080-553: Was captured in March 1650, and the Confederate–Royalist alliance was eventually defeated with the capture of Galway in May 1652. Confederates continued a guerrilla campaign until April 1653. This saw widespread killing of civilians and destruction of foodstuffs by the English army, who also brought an outbreak of bubonic plague . After the war, Ireland was occupied and annexed by the English Commonwealth ,

15210-444: Was fought according to the code of conduct both O'Neill and the Scottish commander Robert Monro had learned as professional soldiers in mainland Europe. Contemporary pamphlets published in London contained lurid details of the massacres and suggested over 200,000 Protestants (more than entire settler population) had lost their lives. These figures were recognised even then as wildly exaggerated and in November 1641 Parliament jailed

15340-515: Was fought over governance, land ownership, religious freedom and religious discrimination . The main issues were whether Irish Catholics or British Protestants held most political power and owned most of the land, and whether Ireland would be a self-governing kingdom under Charles I or subordinate to the parliament in England. It was the most destructive conflict in Irish history and caused 200,000–600,000 deaths from fighting as well as war-related famine and disease. The war in Ireland began with

15470-416: Was garrisoned by Irish Confederate soldiers under Thomas Preston , many of whom had reached the city after an unsuccessful defence of Waterford . The citizens of Galway had paid for extensive modern bastioned defences during the 1640s and the city was very difficult to assault, given that it was surrounded by Galway Bay on its south side, Lough Corrib to its northwest and Lough Atalia to its east. As

15600-403: Was in Dublin. A ceasefire with the Confederate Catholics lasted from 1643 until 1646, when the Confederates again came into conflict with the Royalists. After 1648 most of the Confederates and the Scots joined an alliance with the Royalists. This was the array of forces that was to face Cromwell's army in 1649. Ormonde's handling of the defence of Ireland was however rather inept so that by mid-1650

15730-474: Was intended to be a swift and mainly bloodless seizure of power in Ireland by a small group of conspirators led by Phelim O'Neill . Small bands of the plotters' kin and dependents were mobilized in Dublin , Wicklow and Ulster , to take strategic buildings like Dublin Castle . Since there were only a small number of English soldiers stationed in Ireland, this had a reasonable chance of succeeding. Had it done so,

15860-524: Was more, the Irish farmers were hard hit by the bad harvest and were faced with rising rents. This aggravated their desire to remove the settlers and contributed to the widespread attacks on them at the start of the rebellion. A creditor of O'Neill's, "Mr Fullerton of Loughal   ... was one of the first to be murdered in the rebellion". The rebellion was planned by a small group of Catholic landed gentry and military officers, many of whom were Gaelic Irish from Ulster who had lost lands and influence in

15990-435: Was nominally the supreme commander of the Irish Catholic forces, tried to assemble an army at Jamestown County Leitrim to relieve Galway, but few of the demoralised Irish force around the country responded to his order. In March, a conference of Irish officers in Galway, including Clanricarde, decided to begin negotiations for terms of surrender. Thomas Preston, the military governor of Galway, eventually agreed to surrender

16120-441: Was not total, his own brother being one of those who took part in these actions. A contemporary Catholic source wrote that O'Neill "strove to contain the raskall multitude from those frequent savage actions of stripping and killing" but "the floodgate of rapine, once being laid open, the meaner sort of people was not to be contained". It has been argued the initial purpose of the attacks was economic and killings occurred only when

16250-466: Was occupied, while an army under Brian McMahon moved south from Ulster towards Dublin and on 21 November besieged Drogheda from the north. Others advanced through County Meath and blockaded the town from the south, then defeated a relief force sent from Dublin at Julianstown on 29 November, inflicting over 600 casualties. On 28 November, around 8,000 rebels besieged Lisnagarvey but after losing some 300 men in an unsuccessful assault, they set fire to

16380-571: Was proclaimed in Dublin by the Royalists that the Confederate Supreme Council had signed a peace treaty on 28 March 1646 with King Charles as represented by Ormonde. The treaty was signed unbeknownst to the Confederate military commanders and without the participation of the leader of the Catholic clergy, Rinuccini , who had arrived in Ireland with money and arms as the Papal Nuncio nine months earlier. Many provisions of

16510-442: Was soon shattered when the rebels failed to take nearby Drogheda , but by then most of the Catholic gentry had already committed themselves to rebellion. The Catholic gentry around Dublin, known as the "Lords of the Pale", issued their Remonstrance to the king on 17 March 1642 at Trim, County Meath . Hugh O'Reilly (archbishop of Armagh) held a synod of Irish bishops at Kells, County Meath on 22 March 1642, which legitimised

16640-449: Was the only approved form of worship, although it was a minority even among Irish Protestants, many of whom were Presbyterians. Both they and the majority Catholic population were required to pay tithes to the church, causing great resentment, while practicing Catholicism in public could lead to arrest, and non-attendance at Protestant service was punishable by recusant fines. Catholics could not hold senior offices of state, or serve above

16770-505: Was unable to force a change in policy on his former comrades. During this divisive period the Confederates missed a second strategic chance to reorganise while their opponents were engaged in the Second English Civil War (1648–49), which was lost by their royalist allies. The Confederate/Royalist coalition wasted valuable months fighting with Owen Roe O'Neill and other former Confederates instead of preparing to resist

16900-418: Was uncertain who to trust and thus delayed a coordinated response. The situation changed when it became clear the rising had been only partially successful, while the breakdown of state authority prompted widespread attacks by the Catholic peasantry on Protestants, regardless of nationality. They were soon joined by members of the gentry; O'Neill's authority was largely confined to County Armagh and even there

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