It
had been thirty years since the beginning of the Ulster Plantations
when in 1641 the native Irish, with the help of the Hiberno-English,
rose in rebellion and attacked the settlements of Anglicans and
Presbyterians in Ireland. The areas of Antrim, Down, Armagh, Fermanagh,
and Enniskillen which had been extensively settled by Scots in
Ulster felt the full wrath of the rebellion.
Unlike
the native Irish and the earlier Anglo-Norman invaders of the
12th century who were both Roman Catholics, the Protestant settlers
espoused an uncompromising Calvinism with an emphasis on Puritan
values which reinforced the the growing Puritan, anti-Royalist
and anti-Roman Catholic movement in England under Charles I.
The
Ulster Rebellion became a war that lasted ten years and was directly
related to the conflict between Charles I and the English Parliament.
From
their beginning, the Irish Rebellion and the English Revolution
were intertwined, however Ireland was much more divided than was
England. Both Charles I and Parliament denounced the Irish uprising,
but both were too occupied by domestic matters to come to the
aid of the Protestant settlers.
In
Ireland the English forces were split down the middle with those
loyal to Charles holding Dublin and the Pale, while Parliament
supporters held Derry city and part of the surrounding area. Even
the religious divides were often confusing, with some Presbyterian
settlers joining the Irish uprising over their own oppression
by the Anglican Church of Ireland. The Royalist forces contained
many Catholics as well as Protestants, and many of the Catholic
Anglo-Irish gentry had allied uneasily with the rebels.
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Irish Rebellion Page 2 >>>>
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