Chapter 10 : The Plantations Flashcards
Old English/Anglo-Norman family names
Butlers, Fitzgeralds Most important : The Fitzgeralds of Kildare The Fitzgeralds of Desmond (Munster) The Butlers of Ormond (Tipperary and Kilkenny)
The proportion of different people in Ireland
The Gaelic clans and Anglo-Norman families ruled most of Ireland and paid no attention to the English or their laws. These laws were applied in the borders of the Pale
The Pales rules
They spoke English instead of Gaelic Irish.
They practiced tillage farming (grew crops) instead of raising cattle and sheep
They were ruled by English law instead of the Gaelic Brehon law
They were loyal to the king of England
The old English families
They were the descendants of the Normans who came to Ireland in the 1200s with strongbow when they were invited by Dermot Mac Murrough. They took control of places in Leinster and Munster, but had adapted to many of their customs. They were loyal to the pope.
The lords deputy
This was the name given to the Kings representative in Ireland which was usually given to the head of the Fitzgeralds of Kildare, but ended when they rebelled against king Henry VIII and were defeated by an English army lead by Silken Thomas Fitzgerald, and was executed in the Tower of London with his uncles
Surrender and Regrant
Wars are expensive and people didn’t want to pay for them. King Henry VII came up with an idea called ‘Surrender and Regrant’. This meant that they would get the Old English lords or Gaelic Chieftains to surrender their land to the king, then swear an oath of allegiance (loyalty) to him, then he would reward him with English titles such as ‘Lord’ or ‘Earl’, and give them back their land in a promise of loyalty. The chief of the O’Neill clan in Ulster became ‘The Earl of Tyrone’. They couldn’t extend the law outside the Pale, but did weaken their power as they fought over the rule that they would give their land to their eldest son as it went against the Brehon law.
The plantation of Laois and Offaly
Led by Queen Mary. She was angry because Offaly and Laois often raided the farms and villages of the Pale. They burnt houses, destroyed crops and stole cattle. The people in the Pale paid a ‘black rent’ which was money that they paid to Laois and Offaly to not attack them, the the Gaelic Irish often broke their promises.
The Gaelic leaving their land
The chief of the O’Connor clan surrendered his land in 1540 in return for the title ‘Baron of Offaly’ and his land. But this did not stop the raids, so the English army drove the Gaelic off their land. Two fortresses were built, called Marysborough and Philipstown, named after Queen Mary and her husband, King Philip II of Spain, and new roads were built so the English army could move around at speed. Then they would plant the land with the English and loyal people from the Pale. This would mean in the future the land would be filled with loyal people. Offaly became King’s County and Laois became Queen’s County
Gaelic clan names
O’Neills, O’Donnells, O’Connors, O’Moores, Maguires
The English in Laois Offaly rules
Use English farming practices
Only employ loyal people as servants and labourers
Be prepared to defend themselves in case of attack
Cannot employ Gaelic Irish
Maintain the new roads that had been built
Why was the Laois Offaly plantation a failure
The settlers had no protection from the Irish as England did not want to pay for an army
Only 15 English families came to Ireland out of the 88 that settled there
As little English were there, they had to employ Irish
Queen Mary died and queen Elizabeth was too caught up in England to pay attention to Ireland.
The Munster
Queen Elizabeth was head of the Church of England and church of Ireland. The Fitzgeralds of Desmond rebelled against her when she tried to spread the English law and her religion into Ireland. They were not going to turn Protestant because they were loyal Catholics and they had ruled Munster for years and were not going give up easily. Adventurers who claimed to be descendants of the Norman knights who came to Ireland with Strongbow and tried to take back the land they claimed was theirs. Sir Walter Raleigh and sir Valentine Browne. The Desmond of Munster rebellion lasted four years. The Desmond land was divided into 35 estates. Each estate ranged in size from 5000 to 10000 acres which made it hard to manage. They had to employ Irish people.
Things that worked in the Munster plantation
English farming practices became popular in Munster. Plantation towns grew and are still here. Many became Protestant and remained loyal for the next few centuries.
The nine years war
It started in 1594, when a rebellion against english rule in ireland broke out. It was led by the earl of Tyrone, Hugh O’Neill. The allies of the O’Neills were the Maguires and O’Donnells, they were the last of the powerful Gaelic families. Hugh O’Neill and Hugh O’Donnell wanted to keep the independence of their lands in Ulster and to stop queen Elizabeth from spreading the Protestant religion. The rebels were first successful to break English power. They teamed up with the Spanish to defeat the English. The Spanish were catholic, and their king, Philip II who was married to Queen Mary, hated Elizabeth.
The battle of Kinsale
In December 1601, the Spanish were planning on landing in the O’Neill stronghold in Ulster, but because of bad weather, they landed in Kinsale in cork. O’Neill and O’Donnell marched down to meet the spaniards, but an English army led by Lord Mountjoy, got to Kinsale first, and defeated the Spanish force. Mountjoy then defeated the rebels but O’Neill and most of the other Irish leaders escaped. The battle of Kinsale marks to final defeat of the power of the Gaelic Irish in Ireland. The war dragged on until 1603 when O’Neill was forced to surrender. The treaty of Mellifont ended the war, and meant that O’Neill could keep his lands if he was loyal to English rule. O’Neill and his fellow Irish lords found this impossible, so in 1607 they left Ireland. This is known as flight of the earls. Most of them went to Rome where the pope gave them assistance.
