Plantations in Ireland: 1550 to 1610.

1
Plantations in Ireland 1550 to 1610.
2
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 Kildares land
that we talked about in class?
3
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.
4

• 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.

5
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.
6
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 Popes
  soldiers arrived at Smerwick to help the rebels.
  By November they were defeated by the English.

7
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.

8
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 Elizabeths 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.

9
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.
10
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 ?

11
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).

12
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?

13
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 ONeill family
  Shane the Proud.
• In 1561 Shane attacked the ODonnells of
  Tyrconnell who were loyal to Queen Elizabeth at
  that time. He had to beg the Queens forgiveness
  when he realised that he could not defeat the
  earl of Sussex army.

Shane ONeill - 1530 - 1567. He became chief of
the ONeills in 1559.
14
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, OReillys of Cavan,
  ODonnells of Tyrconnell.
• The ODonnells defeated Shane ONeill 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 Shanes head and sent it
  to the lord deputy as proof of their loyalty to
  the Queen. The English placed Shanes head on a
  spike outside Dublin Castle as a deterrent to any
  other Gaelic leaders planning on following
  Shanes example of rebelling against Queen
  Elizabeth.

15
Hugh ONeill (1550- 1616)

• After the murder of Shane ONeill Queen Elizabeth
  decided to take a young member of the ONeill
  clan to England to rear him as a Protestant.
• Elizabeths plan was to use young Hugh ONeill
  when the time was right to spread English
  influence in Ulster, by placing him in power.
• Hugh ONeill returned to Ireland as the baron of
  Dungannon and to all appearances seemed to be a
  loyal Englishman.

16
Hugh ONeill (1550- 1616)

• Although Hugh ONeill had helped the queens
  forces put down the Desmond rebellion in Munster
  and had been made earl of Tyrone, when he became
  chieftain of the ONeill clan he had come to see
  himself more as a Gaelic ruler than an English
  Lord.
• Hugh ONeill 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 ONeill 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 ONeills and the ODonnells
  of Tyrconnell had been very bad since the time of
  Shane the Proud.However, this was soon to change.

17
Red Hugh ODonnell (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 ONeill, 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 ODonnells and the
  ONeills became even stronger when Red Hugh
  married a daughter of Hugh ONeill.

18
The beginning of the Nine Years War

• 1593- McMahon of Monaghan and Maguire of
  Fermanagh, both allies of ONeill, quarrelled
  with the English government and attacked a
  garrison at Enniskillen.
• ODonnell helped them but ONeill 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 ONeill now calls for all Catholics to
  join in a religious war against Protestant
  England.
• Soon rebellion spread throughout the country.

19
The Battle of The Yellow Ford

• August 1598- an English force under the command
  of Marshall Bagenal marched against ONeill.
• The Irish forces made their stand at a point on
  the river Blackwater known as the Yellow Ford.
• ONeill 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.

20
The Battle of The Yellow Ford
21
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 ONeill.
• 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.