Under
Charles I the English forces in Ireland were initially commanded
by James Butler, Duke of Ormonde and lord lieutenant of Ireland.
In 1645, however, with Parliament in control of England, Ormonde
took control of the Irish rebellion and led the Confederacy, an
alliance of all Royalists in Ireland. Others, such as Murrough
O'Brien, Baron of Inchiquin, an Irish Protestant stationed in
Munster opposed the Confederacy and laid waste to Munster, earning
him the name Murrough of the Burnings and the hatred of his countrymen.
Owen Roe O'Neill, nephew of Tyrone and a veteran of the Spanish
army, kept his Ulster forces separate from Ormonde's, representing
a purely Irish Catholic element. In 1647 the Baron of Inchiquin
switched sides for no apparent reason and joined Ormonde.
Colonel
Michael Jones landed with 2,000 troops, expelled Ormonde from
Dublin and defeated him at Rathmines in August 1649. That broke
Ormonde's power. All that was left to do was capture the strongholds
still in Confederate or Irish hands. Oliver Cromwell set out for
Ireland to do just that.
Cromwell
faced a bitterly divided Ireland. Native Irish, Old English (the
descendants of the original English colonists), New English and
Scottish, the more recent settlers, all distrusted one another
almost as much as they did Cromwell, sometimes more so.
Cromwell
set sail for Ireland on August 13, 1649. He arrived in Dublin
on the 15th and was greeted by the roar of cannons from the walls
and a great, enthusiastic crowd. Cromwell was received so favorably
because Dublin was the second city of the English empire and Colonel
Jones had expelled all Catholics from the city.
On
September 10, Cromwell issued his first official summons to Sir
Arthur Aston, an English Catholic:
"Having
brought the army belonging to the Parliament of England before
this place, to reduce it to obedience, to the end the effusion
of blood may be prevented, I thought it fit to summon you to deliver
the same into my hands to their use. If this be refused you will
have no cause to blame me."
Aston
refused to surrender, and Cromwell's cannons opened fire. The
walls of the city began to crumble. Aston quickly realized that
he was in danger. The Parliamentary fleet blockaded the harbor.
Knowing that there could be no quarter if he refused to surrender,
Aston decided to fight on.
The
defenders fought bravely, at first turning back the attackers,
but eventually the Parliamentarians crashed through the walls
and seized St. Mary's Church. Aston and some defenders fled to
Mill Mount. Possessed by bloodlust, the Parliamentarians rushed
up the hill, and all defenders, including Aston, were killed by
order of Cromwell.
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