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Plantations of Ireland

 
Plantations of Ireland

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Plantations of Ireland



 
 
Plantations in 16th and 17th century Ireland were established throughout the country by the confiscation of lands occupied by Gaelic clans and Hiberno-Norman
Hiberno-Norman

The term Hiberno-Norman is used of those Normans lords who settled in Ireland, admitting little if any real fealty to the Anglo-Norman settlers in England....
 dynasties, but principally in the provinces of Munster
Munster

Munster is the southernmost of the four provinces of Ireland. The largest city in Munster is Cork ....
 and Ulster
Ulster

Ulster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland of Ireland, in addition to Connacht, Munster and Leinster. The name is sometimes informally used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, one of the countries of the United Kingdom, although Northern Ireland covers only two thirds of Ulster....
. The lands were then granted by Crown authority to colonists ("planters") from Britain
Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
. This process began during the reign of Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lordship of Ireland and claimant to the Early Modern France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII of England....
 and continued under Mary I
Mary I of England

Mary I , was Queen of England and Monarchy of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death. The fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism after succeeding her short-lived half brother, Edward VI of England, to the English throne....
 and Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was List of English monarchs and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the House of Tudor....
. It was accelerated under James I
James I of England

James VI and I was List of monarchs of Scotland as James VI, and List of English monarchs and King of Ireland as James I. He ruled in Kingdom of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567, when he was only one year old, succeeding his mother Mary I of Scotland....
, Charles I
Charles I of England

Charles I was List of English monarchs, List of monarchs of Scotland and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his capital punishment on 30 January 1649....
 and Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English people Military history of the United Kingdom and Politics of England leader best known for his involvement in making England into a republican Commonwealth and for his later role as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
.

The early plantations
Plantation (settlement or colony)

Plantation was an early method of colonization in which settlers were 'planted' abroad in order to establish a permanent or semi-permanent colonial base....
 in the 16th century tended to be based on small "exemplary" colonies.






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Plantations in 16th and 17th century Ireland were established throughout the country by the confiscation of lands occupied by Gaelic clans and Hiberno-Norman
Hiberno-Norman

The term Hiberno-Norman is used of those Normans lords who settled in Ireland, admitting little if any real fealty to the Anglo-Norman settlers in England....
 dynasties, but principally in the provinces of Munster
Munster

Munster is the southernmost of the four provinces of Ireland. The largest city in Munster is Cork ....
 and Ulster
Ulster

Ulster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland of Ireland, in addition to Connacht, Munster and Leinster. The name is sometimes informally used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, one of the countries of the United Kingdom, although Northern Ireland covers only two thirds of Ulster....
. The lands were then granted by Crown authority to colonists ("planters") from Britain
Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
. This process began during the reign of Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lordship of Ireland and claimant to the Early Modern France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII of England....
 and continued under Mary I
Mary I of England

Mary I , was Queen of England and Monarchy of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death. The fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, she is remembered for restoring England to Roman Catholicism after succeeding her short-lived half brother, Edward VI of England, to the English throne....
 and Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was List of English monarchs and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the House of Tudor....
. It was accelerated under James I
James I of England

James VI and I was List of monarchs of Scotland as James VI, and List of English monarchs and King of Ireland as James I. He ruled in Kingdom of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567, when he was only one year old, succeeding his mother Mary I of Scotland....
, Charles I
Charles I of England

Charles I was List of English monarchs, List of monarchs of Scotland and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his capital punishment on 30 January 1649....
 and Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English people Military history of the United Kingdom and Politics of England leader best known for his involvement in making England into a republican Commonwealth and for his later role as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
.

The early plantations
Plantation (settlement or colony)

Plantation was an early method of colonization in which settlers were 'planted' abroad in order to establish a permanent or semi-permanent colonial base....
 in the 16th century tended to be based on small "exemplary" colonies. The later plantations were based on mass confiscations of land from Irish landowners and the subsequent importation of large numbers of settlers from England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
, Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 and Wales
Wales

native_name = Cymru|conventional_long_name = Wales|common_name = Wales|image_flag = Flag of Wales 2.svg|national_motto = ...
.

The final official plantations took place under Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English people Military history of the United Kingdom and Politics of England leader best known for his involvement in making England into a republican Commonwealth and for his later role as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
’s English Commonwealth during the 1650s, when thousands of Parliamentarian
Roundhead

"Roundheads" was the nickname given to the Puritan supporters of Parliament of England during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they were the supporters of Oliver Cromwell against Charles I of England ....
 soldiers were settled in Ireland. Outside of the plantations, significant migration into Ireland continued well into the 18th century, from both Britain and continental Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
.

The plantations changed the demography of Ireland by creating large communities with a British and Protestant identity. These communities effectively opposed the interests of the earlier inhabitants, who had an Irish and Roman Catholic identity. The physical and economic nature of Irish society was also changed, as new concepts of ownership, trade and credit were introduced. These changes led to the creation of a British Protestant ruling class, which secured the authority of Crown government in Ireland during the 17th century.

Early Plantations

The early Plantations of Ireland occurred during the Tudor re-conquest of Ireland
Tudor re-conquest of Ireland

The Tudor re-conquest of Ireland took place under the England Tudor dynasty during the 16th century. Following a failed rebellion against the crown by the FitzGerald in the 1530s, Henry VIII of England was declared King of Ireland by statute of the Irish parliament, with the aim of restoring such central authority as had been lost throughout...
. The Crown government at Dublin intended to pacify and Anglicise the country under English rule and incorporate the native ruling classes into the English aristocracy
Aristocracy

Aristocracy is a form of government, in which a few of the most prominent citizens rule. This may be a hereditary elite, or it may be by a system of cooption where a council of prominent citizens add leading soldiers, merchants, land owners, priests, and lawyers to their number....
. Ireland was to become a peaceful and reliable possession, without risk of rebellion or foreign invasion. The Plantations were to play a major part in this policy.

To this end, two forms of plantation were adopted in the first half of the 16th century. The first was the "exemplary plantation", in which small colonies of English would provide model farming communities that the Irish could emulate. One such colony was planted in the late 1560s, at Kerrycruihy near Cork city
Cork (city)

Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the Ireland third most populous city after Dublin and Belfast. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland of Munster....
, on land leased from the Earl of Desmond
Earl of Desmond

The title of Earl of Desmond has been held historically by lords in Ireland, first as a title outside of the peerage system and later as part of the Peerage of Ireland....
.

The second form set the trend for future English policy in Ireland. It was punitive in nature, as it provided for the plantation of English settlers on lands confiscated following the suppression of rebellion. The first such scheme was the Plantation of King's County (now Offaly) and Queen's County (now Laois) in 1556, naming them after the new Catholic monarchs Philip
Philip II of Spain

Philip II was King of Spain from 1556 until 1598, List of monarchs of Naples from 1554 until 1598, king consort of England, as husband of Mary I of England, from 1554 to 1558, lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories, such as Duke or Count; and King of Portugal as Philip I...
 and Mary respectively. The O’Moore and O’Connor clans, which occupied the area had traditionally raided the English ruled Pale
The Pale

The Pale or the English Pale , was the English-controlled part of Ireland that had reduced by the late 1400s to an area along the east coast stretching from Dalkey, south of Dublin, to the garrison town of Dundalk north of Drogheda....
 around Dublin
Dublin

Dublin is both the largest city and capital of Republic of Ireland. It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region....
. The Lord Deputy of Ireland
Lord Deputy of Ireland

The Lord Deputy was the King's representative and head of the Irish executive during the Kingdom of Ireland.*Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare ...
, the Earl of Sussex
Earl of Sussex

The title of Earl of Sussex has been created several times in the Peerages of Peerage of England, Peerage of Great Britain, and the Peerage of the United Kingdom....
, ordered that they be dispossessed and replaced with an English settlement. However, the plantation was not a great success. The O’Moores and O’Connors retreated to the hills and bogs and fought a local war against the settlement for much of the following 40 years. In 1578, the English finally subdued the displaced O’Moore clan by massacring most of their fine (or ruling families) at Mullaghmast
Mullaghmast

Mullaghmast , is a hill in the south of County Kildare , Leinster, near the village of Ballitore. It was an important site in prehistory, in early history and again in more recent times....
 in Laois, having invited them there for peace talks. Rory Óg Ó Moore, the leader of rebellion in the area, was also hunted down and killed later that year. The ongoing violence meant that the authorities had difficulty in attracting people to settle in their new plantation and settlement ended up clustered around a series of military fortifications.

Another failed plantation occurred in eastern Ulster
Ulster

Ulster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland of Ireland, in addition to Connacht, Munster and Leinster. The name is sometimes informally used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, one of the countries of the United Kingdom, although Northern Ireland covers only two thirds of Ulster....
 in the 1570s. The east of the province (occupied by the MacDonnells and Clandeboye O’Neills) was intended to be colonised with English planters, to put a barrier between the Gaels
Gaels

The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group which originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to Scotland and the Isle of Man. They are speakers of the Goidelic languages languages ? Irish language, Scottish Gaelic and Manx language....
 of Ireland and Scotland and to stop the flow of Scottish mercenaries into Ireland. The conquest of east Ulster was contracted out to the Earl of Essex
Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex

Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, Order of the Garter , an England nobleman, was the eldest son of Sir Richard Devereux and Dorothy Hastings....
 and Sir Thomas Smith. The O’Neill chieftain, Turlough Luineach O'Neill
Turlough Luineach O'Neill

Turlough Luineach O?Neill ; the earl of the Cen?l Conaill, was inauguration as the King of Tyrone, upon Shane O'Neill?s death.Making professions of loyalty to the Elizabeth I of England, he sought to strengthen his position by alliance with the O?Donnells, MacDonnells and MacQuillans....
, fearing an English bridgehead in Ulster, helped his O’Neill kinsmen of Clandeboye. The MacDonnells in Antrim
County Antrim

County Antrim is one of six Counties of Northern Ireland that form Northern Ireland, and one of nine counties that historically and geographically constitute the Province of Ulster....
, led by Sorley Boy MacDonnell
Sorley Boy MacDonnell

Somhairle Buidh Mac Domhnaill , Scotland-Ireland chieftain, was the son of Alexander MacDonnell, lord of Islay and Kintyre , and Catherine, daughter of the Lord of Ardnamurchan....
 were also able to call on reinforcements from their kinsmen in the Western Isles and Highlands
Scottish Highlands

The Scottish Highlands include the rugged and mountainous regions of Scotland north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east....
 of Scotland. The plantation eventually degenerated into a series of atrocities against the local civilian population before finally being abandoned. Brian MacPhelim O’Neill of Clandeboye, his wife and 200 clansmen were murdered at a feast organised by Essex in 1574. In 1575, Francis Drake
Francis Drake

Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral , was an England sea captain, privateer, navigation, slaver, and politics of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581....
 (later victor over the Spanish Armada
Spanish Armada

The Spanish Armada was the Habsburg Spain fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Alonso de Guzm?n El Bueno, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, leading to the Drake-Norris Expedition of 1589, also known as the English Armada....
, then in the pay of the Earl of Essex) participated in a naval expedition that culminated in the massacre of 500 MacDonnell clans-people in a surprise raid on Rathlin Island
Rathlin Island

Rathlin Island is an island off the coast of County Antrim in Northern Ireland, and is the Extreme points of the United Kingdom of the region. from the mainland, Rathlin is the only inhabited offshore island in Northern Ireland, and is the most northerly inhabited island off the Ireland coast....
, though according to Harry Kelsey: 'Drake's own role in the massacre is unclear'.

The following year, Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was List of English monarchs and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the House of Tudor....
, disturbed by the killing of civilians, called a halt.

The Munster Plantation

The Munster Plantation of the 1580s was the first mass plantation in Ireland . It was instituted as punishment for the Desmond Rebellions
Desmond Rebellions

The Desmond Rebellions occurred in between 1569-1573 and 1579-1583 in Munster in southern Ireland.. They were rebellions of the Earl of Desmond dynasty—the Fitzgerald family or Geraldines and their allies against the efforts of the Elizabethan Era English government to extend their control over the province of Munster....
, when the Geraldine
Geraldine

The feminine form of the first name Gerald. Famous women named Geraldine include:*Geraldine Ferraro, United States congresswoman and 1984 Vice Presidential candidate...
 Earl of Desmond
Earl of Desmond

The title of Earl of Desmond has been held historically by lords in Ireland, first as a title outside of the peerage system and later as part of the Peerage of Ireland....
 had rebelled against English interference in Munster
Munster

Munster is the southernmost of the four provinces of Ireland. The largest city in Munster is Cork ....
. The Desmond dynasty was annihilated in the aftermath of the Second Desmond Rebellion
Second Desmond Rebellion

The Second Desmond rebellion was the more widespread and bloody of the two Desmond Rebellions launched by the Fitzgerald dynasty of County Desmond in Munster, southern Ireland, against English rule in Ireland....
 (1579- 83) and their estates were confiscated. This gave the English authorities the opportunity to settle the province with colonists from England and Wales, who, it was hoped, would be a bulwark against further rebellions. In 1584, the Surveyor General
Surveyor General

The Surveyor General is an official responsible for government surveying in a specific country or territory. Originally this would often have been a military appointment, but is now more likely to be a civilian post....
 of Ireland, Sir Valentine Browne
Sir Valentine Browne, Knight

Sir Valentine Browne, of Crofts, Lincolnshire, was an English politician. He was appointed Surveyor General of Ireland in 1559 by Queen Elizabeth I of England, later being appointed Auditor General....
 and a commission surveyed Munster, to allocate confiscated lands to English Undertakers (wealthy colonists who "undertook" to import tenants from England to work their new lands). The Undertakers were also supposed to build new towns and provide for the defence of planted districts from attack.

As well as the former Geraldine estates (spread through the modern counties Limerick
County Limerick

County Limerick is a county in the province of Munster, located in the mid-west of Ireland with County Clare to the north, County Cork to the south, County Kerry to the west and County Tipperary to the east....
, Cork
County Cork

County Cork is the most southerly and the largest of the modern counties of Republic of Ireland. Cork is nicknamed "The Rebel County", as a result of the support of the townsmen of Cork in 1491 for Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the throne of England during the Wars of the Roses....
, Kerry
County Kerry

County Kerry is a southwestern county in Republic of Ireland. Informally referred to as The Kingdom, it forms part of the provinces of Ireland of Munster....
 and Tipperary
County Tipperary

County Tipperary is a county in Republic of Ireland situated in the province of Munster. Tipperary was one of the first Irish counties to be established in the 13th century....
) the survey took in the lands belonging to other families and clans that had supported the rebellions in south-west Cork and Kerry. However, the settlement here was rather piecemeal because the ruling clan — the MacCarthy Mór line — argued that the rebel landowners were their subordinates and therefore the land really belonged to them. Lands were therefore granted to some Undertakers and then taken away again when native lords like the MacCarthys appealed the dispossession of their dependants.

Other sectors of the plantation were equally chaotic. John Popham
John Popham

Sir John Popham was Speaker of the British House of Commons from 1580 to 1583, Attorney General for England and Wales from 1 June 1581 to 1592 and Lord Chief Justice of England from June 2 1592 to June 1607....
 imported 70 tenants from Somerset
Somerset

Somerset is a Counties of England in South West England. The county town is Taunton, which is in the south of the county. The Ceremonial counties of England of Somerset borders the counties of Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west....
, only to find that the land had already been settled by another undertaker, and he was obliged to return them home. Nevertheless, 500,000 acres (2,000 km˛) were planted with English colonists. It was hoped that the settlement would attract in the region of 15,000 colonists, but a report from 1589 showed that the undertakers had imported only in the region of 700 English tenants between them. It has been suggested that each tenant was the head of a household, and that he therefore represents 4-5 other people. This would put the English population in Munster at nearer 3-4000, but it was still substantially below the projected figure.

The Munster Plantation was supposed to produce compact defensible settlements, but in fact, the English settlers were spread in pockets across the province, wherever land had been confiscated. Initially the Undertakers were given detachments of English soldiers to protect them, but these were abolished in the 1590s. As a result, when the Nine Years War — an Irish rebellion against English rule — came to Munster in 1598, most of the settlers were chased off their lands without a fight. They took refuge in the province's walled towns or fled back to England. However when the rebellion was put down in 1601– 03, the Plantation was re-constituted by the Governor of Munster, George Carew.

The Ulster Plantation

Prior to its conquest in the Nine Years War of the 1590s, Ulster
Ulster

Ulster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland of Ireland, in addition to Connacht, Munster and Leinster. The name is sometimes informally used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, one of the countries of the United Kingdom, although Northern Ireland covers only two thirds of Ulster....
 was the most Gaelic part of Ireland and the only province that was completely outside English control. The war, of 1594–1603, ended with the surrender of the O’Neill and O’Donnell lords to the English crown, but was also a hugely costly and humiliating episode for the English government in Ireland. Moreover, in the short term it had been a failure, since the surrender terms given to the rebels were very generous, re-granting them much of their former lands, but under English law. However, when Hugh O'Neill and the other rebel Earls left Ireland in 1607 (the so called Flight of the Earls
Flight of the Earls

The Flight of the Earls refers to the departure from Ireland on 14 September 1607 of Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone and Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell....
) to seek Spanish help for a new rebellion, the Lord Deputy, Arthur Chichester, seized the opportunity to colonise the province and declared the lands of O’Neill, O’Donnell and their followers forfeit. Initially, Chichester planned a fairly modest plantation, including large grants to native Irish lords who had sided with the English during the war. However, this plan was interrupted by the rebellion of Cahir O’Doherty
Doherty

The Doherty Clan is an Irish clan based in County Donegal in the north of the island of Ireland.Like clans in other cultures, Irish clans such as the Dohertys are divided into many sept and regional families....
 of Donegal
Donegal

Donegal is a town in County Donegal, in the Province of Ulster, in Republic of Ireland. Donegal is not the county town of County Donegal, despite being its namesake....
 in 1608, a former ally of the English, who felt that he had not been fairly rewarded for his role in the war. The rebellion was swiftly put down and O’Doherty killed but it gave Chichester the justification for expropriating all native landowners in the province.

James VI of Scotland had become King of England in 1603, uniting the those two crowns –also of course gaining possession of the Kingdom of Ireland
Kingdom of Ireland

The Kingdom of Ireland was the name given to the Irish state from 1541, by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 of the Parliament of Ireland. It was based on the contested legitimacy of the right of conquest....
 – an English possession. The Plantation of Ulster was sold to him as a joint "British", i.e. English and Scottish, venture to pacify and civilise Ulster. So at least half of the settlers would be Scots. Six counties were involved in the official plantation – Armagh
County Armagh

County Armagh is a counties of Ireland in Ulster in the north east of Ireland. It is the smallest, in area, of the six counties that form Northern Ireland and second smallest in Ulster....
, Fermanagh
County Fermanagh

County Fermanagh , is the westernmost of the six counties that form Northern Ireland, and is part of the Province of Ulster. Fermanagh is often referred to as Ireland's Lake District, together with neighbouring County Cavan....
, Cavan
County Cavan

File:Loughter.JPGCounty Cavan is a county in Republic of Ireland....
, Londonderry
County Londonderry

County Londonderry or County Derry is one of the six Counties of Ireland of Northern Ireland in the Provinces of Ireland of Ulster in Ireland....
, Donegal
County Donegal

County Donegal is a county located in the west of the Province of Ulster, in the northwest of Ireland. It is one of three counties in the Province of Ulster that do not form part of Northern Ireland....
 and Tyrone
County Tyrone

County Tyrone is the second largest of the nine Irish county of Ulster and the largest of the six counties of Northern Ireland. It has an area of 3,155 square kilometres ....
.

The plan for the plantation was determined by two factors, one was the wish to make sure the settlement could not be destroyed by rebellion as the first Munster plantation had been. This meant that, rather than settling the Planters in isolated pockets of land confiscated from convicted rebels, all of the land would be confiscated and then redistributed to create concentrations of British settlers around new towns and garrisons. What was more, the new landowners were explicitly banned from taking Irish tenants and had to import them from England and Scotland. The remaining Irish landowners were to be granted one quarter of the land in Ulster and the ordinary Irish population was supposed to be relocated to live near garrisons and Protestant churches. Moreover, the Planters were also barred from selling their lands to any Irishman.

The second major influence on the Plantation was the negotiation between various interest groups on the British side. The principal landowners were to be Undertakers, wealthy men from England and Scotland who undertook to import tenants from their own estates. They were granted around 3000 acres (12 km˛) each, on condition that they settle a minimum of 48 adult males (including at least 20 families) who had to be English-speaking
Anglophone

An Anglophone is someone who speaks the English language. As an adjective, it refers to belonging to an English-speaking population especially in a country where two or more languages are spoken....
 and Protestant. However, veterans of the war in Ireland (known as Servitors) and led by Arthur Chichester, successfully lobbied that they should be rewarded with land grants of their own. Since these former officers did not have enough private capital to fund the colonisation, their involvement was subsidised by the City of London
City of London

The City of London is a geographically small city status in the United Kingdom within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which, along with Westminster, the modern conurbation grew....
 (the financial sector in London), who were also granted their own town (Derry
Derry

Derry or Londonderry , often called the Maiden City, is a City status in the United Kingdom in Northern Ireland....
, now officially named Londonderry although typically called Derry in general parlance) and lands. The final major recipient of lands was the Protestant Church of Ireland
Church of Ireland

The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, operating across the island of Ireland. Like other Anglican churches, it considers itself to be both Catholicism and Protestant Reformation....
, which was granted all the churches and lands previously owned by the Roman Catholic church. It was intended that clerics from England and the Pale would convert the native population to Protestantism
Protestantism

Protestantism is a movement within Christianity that originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the three principal traditions of Christianity, together with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy....
.

The plantation was a mixed success. By the 1630s, there were 20,000 adult male British settlers in Ulster, which meant that the total settler population could have been as high as 80,000. They formed local majorities of the population in the Finn
River Finn

The River Finn is a river flowing through County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland and County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. It rises in Lough Finn in County Donegal and flows east through a deep mountain valley to Ballybofey and Stranorlar and on to the confluence with the River Mourne at Lifford....
 and Foyle
River Foyle

The River Foyle is a river in west Ulster in the northwest of Ireland, which flows from the confluence of the rivers River Finn and River Mourne at the towns of Lifford in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, and Strabane in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland....
 valleys (around modern Derry and east Donegal
County Donegal

County Donegal is a county located in the west of the Province of Ulster, in the northwest of Ireland. It is one of three counties in the Province of Ulster that do not form part of Northern Ireland....
) in north Armagh
County Armagh

County Armagh is a counties of Ireland in Ulster in the north east of Ireland. It is the smallest, in area, of the six counties that form Northern Ireland and second smallest in Ulster....
 and east Tyrone
County Tyrone

County Tyrone is the second largest of the nine Irish county of Ulster and the largest of the six counties of Northern Ireland. It has an area of 3,155 square kilometres ....
. Moreover, there had also been substantial settlement on unofficially planted lands in south Antrim and north Down, sponsored by Scottish landowner, James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn
James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn

James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn Privy Council of Scotland , was the eldest son of Claud Hamilton, 1st Lord Paisley , and of Margaret, daughter of George Seton, 5th Lord Seton....
. What was more, the settler population grew rapidly as just under half of the planters were women – a very high ratio compared to contemporary Spanish settlement in Latin America
Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages ? particularly Spanish language and Portuguese language, and variably French language ? are primarily spoken....
 or English settlement in Virginia
Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
 and New England
New England

New England is a region of the United States located in the northeastern corner of the country, bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, Canada and New York State, and consisting of the modern U.S....
.

However, the Irish population was neither removed nor Anglicised. In practise, the settlers did not stay on bad land, but clustered around towns and the best land. This meant that many British landowners had to take Irish tenants, contrary to the terms of the plantation. In 1609, Chichester had deported 1300 former Irish soldiers from Ulster to serve in the Swedish Army
Swedish Army

The Swedish Army is the army branch of the Swedish Armed Forces, the military of Sweden....
, but the province remained plagued with Irish bandits known as "wood-kerne" who attacked vulnerable settlers. The attempted conversion of the Irish to Protestantism also had little effect, if only because the clerics imported were all English speakers, whereas the native population were usually monoglot Irish
Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic languages of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people....
-Gaelic speakers.

Plantations under the Stuart Kings 1610–1641

In addition to the Ulster plantation, several other small plantations occurred under the reign of the Stuart Kings — James I
James I of England

James VI and I was List of monarchs of Scotland as James VI, and List of English monarchs and King of Ireland as James I. He ruled in Kingdom of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567, when he was only one year old, succeeding his mother Mary I of Scotland....
 and Charles I
Charles I of England

Charles I was List of English monarchs, List of monarchs of Scotland and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his capital punishment on 30 January 1649....
 — in the early 17th century. The first of these took placed in north county Wexford
County Wexford

County Wexford is a maritime county in the southeast of Republic of Ireland, in the province of Leinster. It takes its name from the principal town, Wexford, founded by Vikings and named by them 'Waesfjord', meaning 'inlet or bay of the mud-flats' in the Old Norse language....
 in 1610, where lands were confiscated from the MacMurrough-Kavanagh clan.

Since most land-owning families in Ireland had taken their estates by force in the previous four hundred years, very few of them, with the exception of the New English arrivals, had proper legal titles for them. As a result, in order to obtain such titles, they were forced to forfeit a quarter of their lands. This policy was used against the Kavanaghs in Wexford and subsequently elsewhere too, to break up Catholic Irish estates (especially the Gaelic ones) around the country. Following the precedent set in Wexford, there were other small plantations in Laois and Offaly, Longford
Longford

Longford is the county town of County Longford in the Midlands of Ireland. According to the 2006 census, the town has a population of around 13,000....
, Leitrim
Leitrim

Leitrim may mean or refer to:In Ireland:* County Leitrim in the Republic of Ireland* Leitrim, County Leitrim, a small village in the same county...
 and north Tipperary
Tipperary

Tipperary is the name of a town in the south-west of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland . The name "Tipperary" is derived from a well in the townland of Glenbane in the parish of Lattin and Cullen where the river "Arra" rises....
.

To take one example of this policy; in 1621 King James I established his claims to the whole of Upper Ossory in County Laois
County Laois

County Laois , formerly also Laoighis or Leix, is a county in the midlands of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland of Leinster.File:ViewFromDunamase.JPG...
 including the manor of Offerlane. James claimed royal inheritance from the de Clare
De Clare

The de Clare family of Norman lords were associated with the Welsh Marches, Suffolk, Tonbridge and Ireland. They were descended from Richard Fitz Gilbert who accompanied William the Conqueror into England in 1066....
 family) at an inquisition held at Maryborough
Maryborough

Maryborough may refer to:* Maryborough, Queensland, a town in Australia* Maryborough, Victoria, another town in Australia* Port Laoise in Ireland was established in 1556 as "the Fort of Maryborough" and was renamed 1922 to "Portlaoise"....
 and instituted a plantation of the area in 1626. John FitzPatrick, Baron of Upper Ossory, refused to submit the manor of Castletown
Castletown

Castletown is a town geographically within the Malew of the Isle of Man but administered separately. Lying at the south of the island, it is the former Manx Capital ....
 to the plantation. In 1537 his ancestor, Brian MacGiollapadraig, agreed to surrender Upper Ossory to King Henry VIII and was regranted the lordship under English law and in 1541 was made Baron of Upper Ossory. After John FitzPatrick's death in 1626 his son Florence continued this opposition to the plantation on his estates. However, the Fitzpatricks were eventually forced to concede a portion of their lands. In Laois and Offally, the Tudor plantation had consisted of a chain of military garrisons, but in the new, more peaceful climate of the 17th century, it attracted large numbers of landowners, tenants and labourers. Prominent planters in Leinster in this period include Charles Coote, Adam Loftus and William Parsons.

In Munster, the peaceful first half of the 17th century saw thousands more English and Welsh settlers arrive in the province. There were many small plantations in Munster in this period, as Irish lords were required to forfeit up to one third of their estates in order to get their deeds to the remainder recognised by the English authorities. The settlers became concentrated in towns along the south coast — especially Youghal
Youghal

Youghal is a seaport in County Cork, Republic of Ireland. Youghal is located on the estuary of the River Blackwater, Ireland, and in the past was militarily and economically important....
, Bandon
Bandon

Bandon is the name of several places*Bandon, Oregon, USA*Bandon, County Cork, Ireland*the River Bandon in Ireland*Bandon, the old name of Surat Thani in Thailand...
, Kinsale
Kinsale

Kinsale is a town in County Cork, Republic of Ireland. Located some 25 km south of Cork on the coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon and has a population of 2,257 which increases substantially during the summer months when the tourist season is at its peak and when the boating fraternity arriv...
 and Cork city
Cork (city)

Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the Ireland third most populous city after Dublin and Belfast. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland of Munster....
. Famous English Undertakers of the Munster Plantation include Walter Raleigh
Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh or Ralegh, was a famed English writer, poet, soldier, courtier and explorer.Raleigh was born to a Protestant family in Devon, the son of Walter Raleigh and Catherine Champernowne....
, Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser

Edmund Spenser was an important England poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem celebrating, through fantastical allegory, the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I....
, and Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork
Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork

Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, also known as the Great Earl of Cork , was Lord High Treasurer of the Kingdom of Ireland....
. The latter especially made huge fortunes out of amassing Irish lands and developing them for industry and agriculture.

The Irish Catholic upper classes were unable to stop the continued plantations in Ireland because they had been barred from public office because of their religion and had become a minority in the Irish Parliament by 1615, as a result of the creation of "pocket boroughs" (where Protestants were in the majority) in planted areas. However, they managed to temporarily halt land confiscations in 1625, by agreeing to pay for England’s war with France and Spain.

In addition to the plantations, thousands of independent settlers arrived in Ireland in the early 1600s, from the Netherlands
Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands is located in North-West Europe, and bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east....
 and France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 as well as Britain. Many of them became chief tenants of Irish land-owners, others established themselves in the towns (especially Dublin) — notably as bankers and financiers. By 1641, there were calculated to be up to 125,000 Protestant settlers in Ireland, though they were still outnumbered by native Catholics by around 15 to 1.

Not all of the early 17th Century English Planters were Protestants. A considerable number of English Catholics settled in Ireland between 1603-1641 in part for economic reasons but also to escape persecution. This may seem paradoxical at first. However in the time of Elizabeth and James I the Catholics of England suffered a greater degree of persecution than English Catholics in Ireland. In England, Catholics were greatly outnumbered by Protestants and lived under constant fear of betrayal by their fellows. In Ireland however they could blend in with the local majority Catholic population in a way that was not possible in England. English Catholic planters were most common in County Kilkenny, where they may have made up half of all the British planters to arrive in this region. As such it is no surprise that the sons and grandsons of English planters played a major part in the politics of the Confederation of Kilkenny in the 1640's, most notably James Tuchet, 3rd Earl of Castlehaven
James Tuchet, 3rd Earl of Castlehaven

James Tuchet, 3rd Earl of Castlehaven was the son of Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven and his first wife, Elizabeth Barnham .He succeeded to the Irish earldom of Earl of Castlehaven and Baron Audley of Orier on 14 May 1631, when his father was attainted and beheaded....
.

Plantations stayed off the political agenda until the accession of Thomas Wentworth
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in parliament and was a supporter of Charles I of England....
, a close advisor of Charles I
Charles I of England

Charles I was List of English monarchs, List of monarchs of Scotland and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his capital punishment on 30 January 1649....
, to the position of Lord Deputy of Ireland
Lord Deputy of Ireland

The Lord Deputy was the King's representative and head of the Irish executive during the Kingdom of Ireland.*Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare ...
 in 1632. Wentworth’s job was to raise revenue for Charles and to cement Royal control over Ireland — which meant, among other things, more plantations, both to raise money and to break the political power of the Irish Catholic gentry. Wentworth confiscated land in Wicklow
Wicklow

Wicklow is the county seat of County Wicklow in Republic of Ireland. Located south of the capital Dublin on the east coast of the island, it has a population of 10,070 according to the 2006 census....
 and planned a full scale Plantation of Connacht
Connacht

Connacht is the western Provinces of Ireland of Ireland, comprising counties County Galway, County Leitrim, County Mayo, County Roscommon, County Sligo....
 — where all Catholic landowners would lose between a half and a quarter of their estates. The local juries were intimidated into accepting Wentworth’s settlement and when a group of Connacht landowners complained to Charles I, Wentworth had them imprisoned. However, settlement only went ahead in County Sligo
County Sligo

County Sligo is a county in the provinces of Ireland of Connacht in the west of Republic of Ireland....
 and County Roscommon
County Roscommon

County Roscommon is a county located in central Ireland. Area: . Roscommon is in the Provinces of Ireland of Connacht. It is the only county in Connacht that does not have a shoreline....
. Next, Wentworth surveyed the major Catholic landowners in Leinster
Leinster

Leinster , one of the Provinces of Ireland, lies in the east of Ireland and comprises the counties of County Carlow, County Dublin, County Kildare, County Kilkenny, County Laois, County Longford, County Louth, County Meath, County Offaly, County Westmeath, County Wexford and County Wicklow....
 for similar treatment, including members of the powerful Butler dynasty. Wentworth’s plans were interrupted by the outbreak of the Bishops Wars in Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
, which eventually led to Wentworth’s execution by the English Parliament and to civil war
Wars of the Three Kingdoms

The Wars of the Three Kingdoms formed an intertwined series of conflicts that took place in Scotland, Ireland, and England between 1639 and 1651 after these three countries had come under the "Personal Rule" of the same monarch....
 in England and Ireland. His constant questioning of Catholic land titles was one of the major causes of the 1641 Rebellion and the principal reason why it was joined by Ireland’s wealthiest and most powerful Catholic families.

The 1641 Rebellion

See also Irish Rebellion of 1641
Irish Rebellion of 1641

The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup d'?tat by Irish Roman Catholic Church gentry, but developed into inter communal violence between native Irish people and England and Scotland Protestant settlers, starting a conflict known as the Irish Confederate Wars....
 and Irish Confederate Wars
Irish Confederate Wars

This article is concerned with the military history of Ireland from 1641-53. For the political context of this conflict, see Confederate Ireland....


In October 1641, after a bad harvest and in a threatening political climate, Phelim O'Neill launched a rebellion, hoping to rectify various grievances of Irish Catholic landowners. However, once the rebellion was underway, the resentment of the native Irish in Ulster boiled over into indiscriminate attacks on the settler population in the Irish Rebellion of 1641
Irish Rebellion of 1641

The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup d'?tat by Irish Roman Catholic Church gentry, but developed into inter communal violence between native Irish people and England and Scotland Protestant settlers, starting a conflict known as the Irish Confederate Wars....
. Irish Catholics attacked the plantations all around the country, but especially in Ulster
Ulster

Ulster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland of Ireland, in addition to Connacht, Munster and Leinster. The name is sometimes informally used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, one of the countries of the United Kingdom, although Northern Ireland covers only two thirds of Ulster....
. English writers at the time put the Protestant victims at over 100,000 and William Petty
William Petty

Sir William Petty was an England economist, scientist and philosopher. He first became prominent serving Oliver Cromwell and Commonwealth of England in Ireland....
, in his survey of the 1650s, estimated the death toll at around 30,000. More recent research, however, based on close examination of the depositions of the Protestant refugees collected in 1642, suggests a figure of 4,000 settlers were killed directly and up to 12,000 who may have perished from disease or privation after being expelled from their homes.

The Irish Catholics formed their own government, Confederate Ireland
Confederate Ireland

Confederate Ireland refers to the period of Irish self-government between the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649....
, to fight the subsequent wars
Irish Confederate Wars

This article is concerned with the military history of Ireland from 1641-53. For the political context of this conflict, see Confederate Ireland....
, negotiating with Charles I
Charles I of England

Charles I was List of English monarchs, List of monarchs of Scotland and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his capital punishment on 30 January 1649....
, for, among other things, an end to the plantations and a partial reversal of the existing ones. The following ten years saw murderous fighting between the rival ethnic and religious blocks throughout Ireland until the Irish Catholics were finally crushed and the country occupied by the New Model Army
New Model Army

The New Model Army was formed in 1645 by the roundhead in the English Civil War. It differed from other armies in the same conflict in that it was intended as an army liable for service anywhere in the country, rather than being tied to a single area or garrison....
 in the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland

The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the re-conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms....
 in 1649 to 1653.

Ulster was worst hit by the wars, with massive loss of civilian life and mass displacement of people. The atrocities committed by both sides further poisoned the relationship between the settler and native communities in the province. Although peace was eventually restored to Ulster, the wounds opened in the plantation and civil war years were very slow to heal and arguably still fester in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland

conventional_long_name = Northern Ireland|native_name= Tuaisceart ?ireannNorlin Airlann|motto =|image_map = Europe location N-IRL2.png...
 today.

In the 1641 Rebellion, the Munster Plantation was temporarily destroyed, just as it had been during the Nine Years War. Munster saw ten years of warfare between the planters and their descendants and the native Irish Catholics. However, the ethnic/religious divisions were less stark in Munster than in Ulster. Some of the earlier English Planters in Munster had been Roman Catholics and their descendants largely sided with the Irish in the 1640s. Conversely, some Irish noblemen who had converted to Protestantism - notably Earl Inchiquinn, sided with the settler community.

Cromwellian Plantation

See also Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland

The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the re-conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms....


The Irish Confederates had pinned their hopes on Royalist victory in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
Wars of the Three Kingdoms

The Wars of the Three Kingdoms formed an intertwined series of conflicts that took place in Scotland, Ireland, and England between 1639 and 1651 after these three countries had come under the "Personal Rule" of the same monarch....
, so that they could cite their loyalty to Charles I
Charles I of England

Charles I was List of English monarchs, List of monarchs of Scotland and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his capital punishment on 30 January 1649....
 and force him into accepting their demands - including toleration for Catholicism, Irish self-government and an end to the Plantation policy. However, Charles’ Royalists were defeated in the English Civil War
English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Roundhead and Cavalier. The First English Civil War and Second English Civil War civil wars pitted the supporters of Charles I of England against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the Third English Civil War saw fighting between supporters...
 by the Parliamentarians under Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English people Military history of the United Kingdom and Politics of England leader best known for his involvement in making England into a republican Commonwealth and for his later role as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
, who committed themselves to re-conquering Ireland and punishing those responsible for the rebellion of 1641. In 1649, Cromwell landed in Ireland with the New Model Army
New Model Army

The New Model Army was formed in 1645 by the roundhead in the English Civil War. It differed from other armies in the same conflict in that it was intended as an army liable for service anywhere in the country, rather than being tied to a single area or garrison....
 and by 1652, the conquest was all but complete. The English Parliament then published punitive terms of surrender for Catholics and Royalists in Ireland that included the mass confiscation of all Catholic owned land.

Cromwell held all Irish Catholics responsible for the rebellion of 1641 and said he would deal with them according to their "respective de-merits"- meaning sanctions varying from execution in worst cases, to partial land confiscation even for those who had taken no part in the wars. The Long Parliament
Long Parliament

The Long Parliament is the name of the List of Parliaments of England called by Charles I of England, on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars....
 had been committed to mass confiscation of land in Ireland since 1642, when it passed the Adventurers Act
Adventurers Act

The Adventurers' Act is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of England, with the long title "An Act for the speedy and effectual reducing of the rebels in His Majesty's Kingdom of Ireland"....
, which raised loans secured on the Irish rebels' lands that were to be confiscated. The Act of Settlement 1652 stated that anyone who had held arms against the Parliament would forfeit their lands and that even those who had not would lose three quarters of their lands – being compensated with some other lands in Connacht
Connacht

Connacht is the western Provinces of Ireland of Ireland, comprising counties County Galway, County Leitrim, County Mayo, County Roscommon, County Sligo....
. In practice, those Protestants who had fought for the Royalists avoided confiscation by paying fines to the Commonwealth regime, but the Irish Catholic land-owning class was utterly destroyed. In some respects, what Cromwell had achieved was the logical conclusion of the plantation process.

The work was aided by the compilation of the Irish Civil Survey of 1654-5. The purpose of the survey was to secure information on the location, type, value and ownership of lands in the year 1641, before the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641
Irish Rebellion of 1641

The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup d'?tat by Irish Roman Catholic Church gentry, but developed into inter communal violence between native Irish people and England and Scotland Protestant settlers, starting a conflict known as the Irish Confederate Wars....
. In all twenty-seven counties were surveyed and a survey produced for each. The Down Survey
Down Survey

The Down Survey, also known as the Civil Survey, refers to the Cartography of Ireland carried out by William Petty, England scientist in 1655 and 1656....
 of 1655-6 was a measured map survey, organised by Sir William Petty
William Petty

Sir William Petty was an England economist, scientist and philosopher. He first became prominent serving Oliver Cromwell and Commonwealth of England in Ireland....
, of the lands confiscated.

Over 12,000 veterans of the New Model Army
New Model Army

The New Model Army was formed in 1645 by the roundhead in the English Civil War. It differed from other armies in the same conflict in that it was intended as an army liable for service anywhere in the country, rather than being tied to a single area or garrison....
 were given land in Ireland in place of their wages, which the Commonwealth was unable to pay. Many of these sold their land grants to other Protestants rather than settle in war ravaged Ireland, but 7,500 soldiers did remain in the country. They were required to keep their weapons to act as a reserve militia in case of future rebellions. Taken together with the Merchant Adventurers, probably over 10,000 Parliamentarians settled in Ireland after the civil wars. Most of these were single men however and many of them married Irish women (although banned by law from doing so). Some of the Cromwellian soldiers therefore became integrated into Irish Catholic society. In addition to the Parliamentarians, thousands of Scottish Covenanter
Covenanter

The Covenanters formed an important movement in the Religion in Scotland and Politics of Scotland of Scotland in the 17th century. In religion the movement is most associated with the promotion and development of Presbyterianism as a form of church government favoured by the people, as opposed to Scottish Episcopal Church, favoured by Mon...
 soldiers, who had been stationed in Ulster during the war settled there permanently after its end.

Some Parliamentarians had argued that all the Irish should be deported to west of the Shannon
River Shannon

The River Shannon is, at 386 km , the longest Rivers of Ireland. It divides the west of Ireland from the east and south . County Clare, being west of the Shannon but part of the province of Munster, is the major exception....
 and replaced with English settlers. However, this would have required hundreds of thousands of English settlers willing to come to Ireland and such numbers of aspirant settlers just did not exist. Therefore, what actually happened was that a land-owning class of British Protestants was created, ruling over Irish Catholic tenants. A minority of the "Cromwellian" landowners were actually Parliamentarian soldiers or creditors. Most of them were pre-war Protestant settlers, who took the opportunity to attain confiscated lands. Before the wars, Catholics had owned 60% of the land in Ireland. During the Commonwealth period Catholic landownership fell to 8-9% and after some restitution in the Restoration
English Restoration

The English Restoration, or simply The Restoration began in 1660 when the English monarchy, Scottish monarchy and Irish monarchy were restored under Charles II of England after the Interregnum that followed the English Civil War....
 Act of Settlement 1662
Act of Settlement 1662

The Act of Settlement 1662 passed by the Irish Parliament in Dublin. It was a partial reversal of the Oliver Cromwell Act of Settlement 1652, which punished Irish Catholics and Royalists for fighting against the English Parliament in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms by the wholesale confiscation of their lands and property....
, it rose to 20% again.

In Ulster, the Cromwellian period eliminated those native landowners who had survived the Ulster plantation. In Munster and Leinster, the mass confiscation of Catholic owned land after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland

The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the re-conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms....
, meant that English Protestants acquired almost all of the land holdings for the first time. Recent research has shown that although the native Irish land-owning class was subordinated in this period, it never totally disappeared, many of its members finding niches for themselves in trade or as chief tenants on their families’ ancestral lands.

Subsequent Settlement

For the remainder of the 17th century, Irish Catholics tried to get the Cromwellian Act of Settlement reversed. They briefly achieved this under James II
James II of England

James II and VII was List of English monarchs, List of Scottish monarchs, and King of Ireland from 6 February 1685. He was the last Roman Catholic Church monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland....
 during the Williamite war in Ireland
Williamite war in Ireland

The Williamite War in Ireland, also known as the Jacobite War in Ireland and in Ireland as Cogadh an D? R? or The War of the Two Kings, was the opening conflict following the deposition of King James II of England in 1688 when he attempted to regain the throne of his Three Kingdoms from his daughter Mary II of England who repl...
, but the Jacobite
Jacobitism

Jacobitism was the political movement dedicated to the restoration of the House of Stuart kings to the thrones of Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland....
 defeat there led to another round of land confiscations. The 1680s and 90s saw another major wave of settlement in Ireland (though not another plantation). The new settlers were principally composed of Scots, tens of thousands of whom fled a famine in the lowlands and border regions of Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 to come to Ulster. It was at this point that Protestants and people of Scottish descent (who were mainly Presbyterians) became an absolute majority of the population in Ulster. Another group established in Ireland at this time were French
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 Huguenots, who had been expelled from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes
Edict of Nantes

The Edict of Nantes was issued on 13 April 1598 by Henry IV of France to grant the Calvinism Protestants of France substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholicism....
 in 1685. Many of the Frenchmen were former soldiers, who had fought on the Williamite side in the Williamite war in Ireland
Williamite war in Ireland

The Williamite War in Ireland, also known as the Jacobite War in Ireland and in Ireland as Cogadh an D? R? or The War of the Two Kings, was the opening conflict following the deposition of King James II of England in 1688 when he attempted to regain the throne of his Three Kingdoms from his daughter Mary II of England who repl...
. This community established themselves mainly in Dublin
Dublin

Dublin is both the largest city and capital of Republic of Ireland. It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region....
, where their communal graveyard can still be seen off St Stephen's Green.

Long-term results


The Plantations had a profound impact on Ireland in several ways. The first was the destruction of the native ruling classes and their replacement with the Protestant Ascendancy, of British-origin (mostly English) Protestant landowners. Their position was buttressed by the Penal Laws, which denied political and land-owning rights to Catholics and to some extent to Presbyterians. The dominance of this class in Irish life persisted until the late 18th century, and it voted for the Act of Union
Act of Union 1800

The phrase Act of Union 1800 is used to describe two complementary Acts whose official United Kingdom titles are the Union with Ireland Act 1800 , an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, and the Act of Union 1800 ,...
 with Britain in 1800.
Irland Protestants 1861 1991
The present day partition of Ireland into the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland

Ireland is an Island country in north-western Europe. The modern Sovereignty state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned by the British on 3 May 1921....
 and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland

conventional_long_name = Northern Ireland|native_name= Tuaisceart ?ireannNorlin Airlann|motto =|image_map = Europe location N-IRL2.png...
 is largely as a result of the settlement patterns of the Plantations of the 17th century. The descendants of the British Protestant settlers largely favoured a continued link with Britain, whereas the descendants of the native Irish Catholics wanted Irish independence. By 1922, Unionists were in the majority in four of the nine counties of Ulster
Ulster

Ulster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland of Ireland, in addition to Connacht, Munster and Leinster. The name is sometimes informally used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, one of the countries of the United Kingdom, although Northern Ireland covers only two thirds of Ulster....
, though not the same counties that were planted. Consequently, following the Anglo-Irish settlement of 1921
Anglo-Irish Treaty

The Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the de facto Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of Independence....
, these four counties – and two others in which they formed a sizeable minority – remained in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 to form Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland

conventional_long_name = Northern Ireland|native_name= Tuaisceart ?ireannNorlin Airlann|motto =|image_map = Europe location N-IRL2.png...
. Consequently, this new state contained a sizable Catholic minority, some of whom claimed to be descendants of those dispossessed in the Plantations. The Troubles
The Troubles

The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland and Continental Europe....
 in Northern Ireland are therefore in some respects a continuation of the conflict arising from the plantations.

The Plantations also had a major cultural impact. Gaelic Irish culture was sidelined and English replaced Irish as the language of power and business. Although, by 1700, Irish
Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic languages of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people....
 remained the majority language in Ireland, for the Parliament, the courts and trade, English was completely dominant. In the next two centuries it was to advance westwards across the country until Irish suddenly collapsed after the Great Famine of the 1840s.

Finally, the plantations also radically altered Ireland’s ecology
Ecology

Ecology is the science study of the distribution and Abundance of life and the interactions between organisms and their nature environment ....
 and physical appearance. In 1600, most of Ireland was heavily wooded, apart from the bogs. Most of the population lived in small townlands, many migrating seasonally to fresh pastures for their cattle. By 1700, Ireland’s native woodland had been decimated, having been intensively exploited by the new settlers for commercial ventures such as shipbuilding. Several native species such as the wolf had been hunted to extinction. Most of the settler population now lived in permanent towns or villages, although the Irish peasantry continued their traditional practices. Moreover, almost all of Ireland was now integrated into a market economy
Market economy

A market economy is a social system based on the division of labor in which the prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system set by supply and demand....
 — although many of the poorer classes had no access to money, still paying their rents in kind
Payment in kind

Payment in kind refers to payment for goods or Service with a medium other than legal tender ....
 or in service.

Sources

  • CANNY, Nicholas P, Making Ireland British 1580–1650, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2001
  • FORD & McCAFFERTY, The Origins of Sectarianism in Early Modern Ireland, Cambridge University Press 2005.
  • LENNON, Colm, Sixteenth Century Ireland — The Incomplete Conquest, Dublin: Gill & Macmillan 1994.
  • LENIHAN, Padraig, Confederate Catholics at War, Cork: Cork University Press 2000.
  • MCCARTHY, Daniel, The Life and Letter book of Florence McCarthy Reagh, Tanist of Carberry, Dublin 1867.
  • MACCARTHY-MORROGH, Michael, The Munster Plantation — English migration to Southern Ireland 1583–1641, Oxford: Oxford University Press 1986.
  • SCOT-WHEELER, James, Cromwell in Ireland, New York 1999.


See also

  • English colonization of the Americas
  • Early Modern Ireland 1536-1691
  • Protestant Ascendancy
    Protestant Ascendancy

    The Protestant Ascendancy is a convenient phrase used when referring to the political, economic, and social domination of the former Kingdom of Ireland by a minority of great landowners, establishment clergy, and professionals, all members of the Established Church during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries....
  • Down Survey
    Down Survey

    The Down Survey, also known as the Civil Survey, refers to the Cartography of Ireland carried out by William Petty, England scientist in 1655 and 1656....
     -William Petty
    William Petty

    Sir William Petty was an England economist, scientist and philosopher. He first became prominent serving Oliver Cromwell and Commonwealth of England in Ireland....
    's survey of Irish land and population before the Cromwellian Plantations