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Plantations in Ireland: 1550 to 1610.
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This map shows Ireland around 1500 before the first plantation of Laois and Offaly took place in 1556. The area around Dublin known as the Pale has been under English control for many centuries. The names of the lordships are marked in red. Can you spot the Earl of Kildare’s land that we talked about in class?
The Monarchs of England during the Plantations of Ireland. Queen Mary I- 1516-58. Queen Elizabeth I- 1558- 1603. James I- King of England- 1566- 1625.
1553- Henry's daughter Mary became Queen of England. • She believed that the best way to subdue Ireland was to introduce colonies of English people into the country. • 1556- Mary confiscated the territory of the O'Moores and O'Connors in Laois and Offaly and sent English settlers there. • The settlers were to; • take English tenants and servants with them to Ireland. • build stone houses. • provide the Crown with a certain number of troops when required. • In honour of the queen and her husband, the king of Spain, the area was made into shires and renamed; • Queen's County- Laois. • King's County- Offaly • But the plantation was not successful.
The First Desmond Rebellion- (1569-75) • Two of the most powerful families in Munster were the Old English Fitzgeralds, earls of Desmond, and the Butler earls of Ormond. • Queen Elizabeth favoured the Butlers of Ormond as they were Protestants and were related to her mother. • The two families fought each other at the Battle of Affane in 1565. • The earls were called to London by the Queen and kept there for a few years. • The English government supported the claims of English adventurers who tried to take over the absent earls land. • Gaelic chieftains joined James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald in his attempt to defend the lands of his cousin. • Their rebellion was defeated and James decided to ask King Philip II and the Pope Gregory XIII for help to stage another rebellion . Pope Gregory XIII- 1572-85.
The Second Desmond Rebellion- (1579- 83) • 1579- the second Desmond Rebellion began in Munster. • James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald returned to Ireland with a small group of around 300 Italian and Spanish soldiers sent by the Pope. • They were determined to resist the spread of Protestantism throughout Ireland. • Most local lords refused to help Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald as they were afraid of English revenge for supporting the rebels. • Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald was killed himself in a skirmish and shortly after this the English officials forced the earl of Desmond into open rebellion against the queen. • Again, the earl hoped for troops from Spain or the Pope. He called on all Irishmen ‘to join in the defence of our Catholic faith against Englishmen who have overrun our country’. • In September 1580 about 700 of the Pope’s soldiers arrived at Smerwick to help the rebels. By November they were defeated by the English.
The Massacre at Smerwick- 1580. The last earl of Smerwick is murdered near Tralee in 1583. • After their victory at Smerwick, the English forces marched through most of Munster, plundering and laying waste the territory of the earl of Desmond and other rebels. • In November 1583 the last earl of Desmond was assassinated near Tralee. His head was later sent to England and displayed in the Tower of London.
The Plantation of Munster- 1586. • The land- hungry English adventurers now had the opportunity they had been waiting for. The vast territories of the earl and his followers could now be planted with loyal English settlers. • Over half a million acres of land were taken from the earl of Desmond alone. • Under Queen Elizabeth’s plantation scheme settlers were to receive estates of 12,000, 8,000, 6,000 and 4,000 acres. • Only very important friends of the Queen such as Sir Walter Raleigh would receive larger estates as big as 42,000 acres. • These estates were rented out to English settlers known as undertakers who undertook to bring over English customs and the Protestant religion. • The undertakers were also expected to introduce more modern English farming methods to Ireland and avoid taking on any native Irish tenants who may not be loyal to the queen. • Although this plantation was better planned than the first, it still ran in to difficulties.
Castles and Bawns during the plantations. • Conditions for the settlers were harsh and dangerous. • In an attempt to provide protection from the Irish attackers the house of the planter often had a protective bawn with high stone walls and at least one tower. • Other important elements of the plantation would have been the church with a clergyman and perhaps a teacher. • All settlers were expected to be armed. Aughnanure Castle (Galway)Built by the O’ Flahertys c. 1500. Is an example of an unusual double- bawn Irish tower house.
A typical English Bawn in Ireland. • Here is an example of what a typical bawn would have looked like in sixteenth century Ireland. • What other structures does the design of a bawn remind you of ?
The Difficulties for the Munster Plantation. • The planters did not provide enough soldiers to defend the plantation as they were too concerned with developing their houses and farms. • Despite enjoying some success in building up more modern towns for trade and exporting timber, most English settlers left Ireland in fear of attack from the woodkern. • The woodkern were bands of native Irish militia who hid out in the woods and attacked settlers at night. • Those who could not escape fled to walled towns such as Youghal, Cork or Limerick. • As a result of many of the English returning home those who remained were forced to employ native Irish servants and labourers. • The English government was to learn some valuable lessons from the plantation in Munster. The next major plantation took place in Ulster during the reign of James I (1603-25).
The Ulster Plantation- 1609. Look at this map. Can you think of possible reasons why these different groups settled in the areas of Ulster indicated on the map?
The Nine Years War • Up to 1600 most of Ulster was still outside the control of the English government. • As early as 1560, Queen Elizabeth had experienced her first rebellion in Ulster. The ruler responsible was a member of the O’Neill family: Shane the Proud. • In 1561 Shane attacked the O’Donnells of Tyrconnell who were loyal to Queen Elizabeth at that time. He had to beg the Queen’s forgiveness when he realised that he could not defeat the earl of Sussex’ army. Shane O’Neill - 1530 - 1567. He became chief of the O’Neill’s in 1559.
The Battle of Farsetmore (1567) and The death of Shane the Proud. • On his return from London Shane was at the height of his power. • Elizabeth gave him permission to attack the McDonnells of Antrim as they were loyal to Scotland. • Shane soon broke his promise to the Queen and set about attacking three other clans in Ulster- the Maguires of Fermanagh, O’Reillys of Cavan, O’Donnells of Tyrconnell. • The O’Donnells defeated Shane O’Neill with the help of a large force of Scottish gallowglasses at the Battle of Farsetmore in Donegal. • Shane now had to chose between trusting the Enlish or hiding out with his old enemies the McDonnells of Antrim. Foolishly he chose the latter and the McDonnells murdered Shane at Cushendun in 1567. • The McDonnells cut off Shane’s head and sent it to the lord deputy as proof of their loyalty to the Queen. The English placed Shane’s head on a spike outside Dublin Castle as a deterrent to any other Gaelic leaders planning on following Shane’s example of rebelling against Queen Elizabeth.
Hugh O’Neill (1550- 1616) • After the murder of Shane O’Neill Queen Elizabeth decided to take a young member of the O’Neill clan to England to rear him as a Protestant. • Elizabeth’s plan was to use young Hugh O’Neill when the time was right to spread English influence in Ulster, by placing him in power. • Hugh O’Neill returned to Ireland as the baron of Dungannon and to all appearances seemed to be a loyal Englishman.
Hugh O’Neill (1550- 1616) • Although Hugh O’Neill had helped the queen’s forces put down the Desmond rebellion in Munster and had been made earl of Tyrone, when he became chieftain of the O’Neill clan he had come to see himself more as a Gaelic ruler than an English Lord. • Hugh O’Neill began to secretly plot a war against the English presence in Ireland. • Without raising the suspicions of the English, he built up stores of weapons and ammunition and devised a scheme to train lots of men. • He wrote a letter to King Philip II of Spain asking for help in a Catholic war against Protestant England. • In addition to foreign aid, Hugh O’Neill built up friendships or alliances with the other clans of Ulster. He did this by marriage alliances. His greatest friend was Red Hugh O’ Donnell. • Relations between the O’Neills and the O’Donnells of Tyrconnell had been very bad since the time of Shane the Proud.However, this was soon to change.
Red Hugh O’Donnell (1572-1602) • AS a teenager Red Hugh had been kidnapped and imprisoned by the English in Dublin. He escaped and walked hundreds of miles to safety. • As a result of this ordeal Red Hugh would walk with a limp the rest of his life and this experience lead him to hate the English. • Like Hugh O’Neill, Red Hugh wanted to go to war against the English in order to preserve the Gaelic way of life in Ireland. • The alliance between the O’Donnells and the O’Neills became even stronger when Red Hugh married a daughter of Hugh O’Neill.
The beginning of the Nine Years War • 1593- McMahon of Monaghan and Maguire of Fermanagh, both allies of O’Neill, quarrelled with the English government and attacked a garrison at Enniskillen. • O’Donnell helped them but O’Neill was not yet fully ready to declare war on the English so he only helped in secret. • The forces of the lord deputy were defeated in the battle which has since become known as the Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits, so called because the English fled and left their food supplies behind them. • 1595- Hugh O’Neill now calls for all Catholics to join in a religious war against Protestant England. • Soon rebellion spread throughout the country.
The Battle of The Yellow Ford • August 1598- an English force under the command of Marshall Bagenal marched against O’Neill. • The Irish forces made their stand at a point on the river Blackwater known as the Yellow Ford. • O’Neill ordered his men to dig a two-metre-deep trench about two kilometres in length. They also dug pits in front of the trench and covered them with brush so that the movement of the enemy cavalry would be hampered. • When the battle ended, the English losses amounted to 1,500, while the Irish lost around 400 men. • The Battle of Yellow Ford was to be the greatest Gaelic victory of the Nine Years War.
Lord Mountjoy arrives in Ireland • The queen had been furious with Robert Devereaux, the earl of Essex, and his forces suffered a series of defeats in Ireland and made a truce with O’Neill. • Elizabeth called Essex back to England and replaced him with a general who was both ruthless and brilliant, Lord Mountjoy. • 1600- Mountjoy arrived in Ireland and immediately began building a number of forts along the coast of Ulster. • From these strongholds, the English attacked the Gaelic Irish, destroying their homes, burning their crops and stealing their cattle.
