Under Elizabeth, the Tudor conquest of Ireland was complete. The Irish and Old English populations generally refused to accept the 1560 Irish Parliament’s Act of Supremacy which made Elizabeth the head of the Irish Church. The Act of Uniformity which sought to impose the Book of Common Prayer as the only liturgy to be used in public worship and which declared attendance at church compulsory, was similarly opposed. These laws were not enforced with universal rigour but a new and terrible element had been added into the history of Ireland: to be Protestant was to be loyal to the English crown; to be Irish was to be Catholic. In spite of the Old English insisting that loyalty to the crown and Catholicism were by no means incompatible, this assertion was met with scepticism by successive English monarchs. Eventually, the distinction between Irish and Old English disappeared and, following the Tudor period united by both religion and a growing sense of national identity, they both became known as “Irish”. Elizabeth's reign ended with a treaty which sought to restore order throughout Ireland, especially in the rebellious North, where the O’Neils in Tyrone, and the O’Donnells in Donegal, continued to assert their independence. The Treaty of Melifont established English sovereignty over the entire island but restored the Ulster Chiefs to their lands, even though they were restored as landlords rather than as kings. The English colony continued to expand and the old Gaelic society entered its final decline.

THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

The seventeenth century was one of the most turbulent or stormy periods in the history of Ireland. So many events took place which have seared themselves into communal memory and folklore that it is impossible to do more than outline them here. Nonetheless, because of the significance of these events for the present set of relationships within Ireland and between the Irish Peoples and others it is relatively easy to get a grasp of the historical importance of this period.

The century began with “The flight of the Earls”: the voluntary exile of more than ninety Ulster Chiefs, including the O’Neils and the O’Donnells who emigrated to Europe where many of them and their descendants were to play a part in the shaping of French, Spanish and Portuguese history. They left their ancient kingdoms rather than continue as landlords of the English crown. Now, in an effort to secure the loyalty of Ulster, once and for all, James I settled on a policy of plantation. Initially, the counties of Donegal, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Cavan, Armagh and Coleraine (renamed Londonderry) were declared forfeit to the crown and some half a million acres of “profitable land” set aside for settlement. The land was divided into three categories. “Undertakers” were granted land for the settlement of English and Scottish families who were to set up towns, villages and communities which would be able to defend themselves against attack from the native Irish. “Servitors”, those who had already served the crown in Ireland were also given land but they were allowed to take Irish tenants as well as English or Scottish.

Finally, a small proportion of land was granted to Irish landlords on the condition that they adopted English methods of land maintenance. Plantation had already been attempted on a more limited scale by Mary Tudor in the counties of Laois and Offaly but had not been a great success. The plantation of Ulster proved, in the end also to be indecisive. Eventually, considerable numbers of English and Scottish settlers took up the opportunity of moving to Ulster but the clear social and geographical delineation between the settlers and the native Irish was never as complete as had been envisaged. At the same time those who had been dispossessed seethed with resentment, biding their time for retaliatory action. An enduring equation was established: on the one hand a defensive settler population loyal to the crown but unsure of the crown’s ability to protect them; on the other hand a resentful native population who viewed both the settlers and the crown as enemies but who, at times, were prepared to play one off against the other if an advantage could be gained.