King
Henry VIII's actions laid the foundations for Protestantism in
England which would transform England from a Catholic to a Protestant
nation under the rule of Edward and Elizabeth.
In
Ireland, the English had controlled little more than Dublin and
the countryside roughly twenty miles around it - an area known
as the "Pale". The Dublin parliament recognized Henry
as “King of Ireland”, while Thomas Cromwell oversaw
the closing of monasteries and convents, and the confiscation
of Church lands and property.
Protestantism
continued throughout the reign of Edward VI, but on the accession
of Mary I in 1553, some effort was made to restore the Catholic
religion. Mary, however, was also the instigator of a new policy
that would seriously influence the entire country in the future.
Mary I approved the ‘plantation’ of two countries, Laois
and Offaly, to be known thereafter as Queen’s County (Laois)
and King’s County (Offaly).
Whatever
efforts had been made to restore the Catholic religion were shattered
when Elizabeth I came to the throne in England. Elizabeth’s
reign was marked by three outbreaks of rebellion against her rule,
all of which would eventually end in failure. The first of these
was the rebellion of the Ulster chieftain Shane O’Neill in
1559.
Shane
was the younger son of Conn O’Neill, who had submitted to
the English in 1541, accepting the title of Earl of Tyrone. On
Conn’s death the title, according to English law, passed
to his eldest son Matthew, but this was contested by Shane who
had the support of the majority of the Ulster Irish and who was
then elected by them as their leader with the traditional Celtic
title of “The” O’Neill.
Matthew
was killed in a skirmish with Shane’s followers and Shane
now also claimed the title of Earl of Tyrone. The English were
powerless against Shane and he was invited to attend Elizabeth’s
court in London, where she could not help but be impressed by
the personality and bearing of the Ulster chieftain. She made
him “captain of Tyrone” and he returned to Ulster to
exert his authority over the entire province. Unfortunately, Shane
adopted the wrong tactics against his fellow Irishmen and instead
of trying to unite them against a common enemy, he forced his
authority on them and in doing so created more enemies for himself
while weakening the strength of Ulster.
<<<<
Back | Nine Years War Page 3
>>>>
( 1 | 2
| 3 | 4
| 5 | 6
| 7 | 8
| 9 )