Consolidating Conquest: Ireland 1603–1727

345 Pages·2008·2.409 MB·English

by  Padraig Lenihan

Consolidating Conquest Pádraig Lenihan
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Ireland 1603–1727
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Pádraig Lenihan n
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“either they or we must be ruined” concluded Archbishop William King of Protestant o
Catholic relations in Ireland. And this, argues Pádraig Lenihan, was the default state
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of relations between the two communities throughout the 17th century. i
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This groundbreaking and controversial new study tells the story of two nations in
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Ireland; an Irish Catholic nation and a Protestant nation, emerging from a blood
stained century. This survey confronts the violence and enmity inherent in the t
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consolidation of conquest.
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This was the age of: g
l the Ulster plantation
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l Cromwell’s conquest and post-war settlement
l the battles of the Boyne and Aughrim, the sieges of Derry and Limerick
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l the economic and parliamentary foundations of Protestant ascendancy.
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Lenihan contends that the overriding grand narrative of this period was one of
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conflict and dispossession as the native elite was progressively displaced by a new
colonial ruling class. This struggle was not confined to war but also had cultural, u
religious, economic and social reverberations. At times the darkness was relieved
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throughout the period by episodes of peaceful cooperation. Consolidating Conquest
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places events in Ireland in the context of three Stuart kingdoms, religious rivalry
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within and between those kingdoms, and the shifting balance of power as monarchy
and commonwealth, Whitehall and Westminster, fought for ultimate power.
If the project of creating a common Irish national identity, embracing Catholic,
Protestant and Dissenter was for the most part a failure, and divisions between
‘native’ and ‘newcomer’ froze into permanence, then the explanation must be
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sought in the catastrophic seventeenth century. Consolidating Conquest shows
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how this failure has left a legacy of contending histories which offer material for
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latter day triumphalism and victimhood. For any student wishing to understand
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Ireland’s troubled past and complex present, this book is essential reading.
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Pádraig Lenihan lectures in history at the University of Limerick. His recent n
publications include, Conquest and Resistance: War in 17th Century Ireland (2001)
and 1690 the Battle of the Boyne (2003). Consolidating Conquest
Cover image: Portrait of Sir Neil O’Neill (1658–90) 1680 (oil on canvas)
by John Michael Wright, (1617-94)/Private Collection, © Philip Mould Ltd, R
London/The Bridgeman Art Library, London. o
u Ireland 1603–1727
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le
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g
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www.pearson-books.com
www.routledge.com
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Consolidating
Conquest
Ireland
1603–1727
Pádraig Lenihan
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First published 2008 by Pearson Education Limited
Published 2014 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright © 2008, Taylor & Francis.
The right of Pádraig Lenihan to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
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in writing from the publishers.

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ISBN 13: 978-0-582-77217-5 (pbk)
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Typeset in 10/13.5pt Sabon by 35
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Contents
List of maps viii
Introduction xi
Maps xvii–xxvi
1 Reform to conquest 1534–1603 1
The English lordship 1
Tudor reform 3
Conquest 8
Conclusion 18
2 Consolidating conquest 23
The flight 23
Chichester and recusancy 30
Conclusion 36
3 Plantation 1608–22 41
Theory 41
Practice 44
Natives and settlers 47
Security 51
Ulster and Munster compared 53
Later plantations 56
Conclusion: plantation and the market economy 58
4 English, Old and New 1613–40 65
Inventing Irishness 65
The parliament of 1613–15 70
The ‘Graces’ 71
The Tridentine Project 75
‘Thorough’ 76
Conclusion 81
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vi CONTENTS
5 Rising 1641–42 87
The Scottish crisis 87
Plots 88
The rising 94
Conclusion: three kingdoms, one crisis? 102
6 God or King? 1642–49 109
Confederation of Kilkenny 109
Talking peace 114
Confederate collapse 119
Royalist resurgence 120
Conclusion 122
7 Cromwellian conquest and settlement 1649–59 127
Cromwell in Ireland 1649–59 127
An Irish war 1650–52 131
A blank sheet 134
Conclusion 146
8 Charles II 1660–85 153
Restoration 153
Ormond’s second viceroyalty 1662–69 155
Ormond out of favour 1669–77 162
The Popish Plot 165
Conclusion 167
9 James II 1685–91 173
The ‘glorious revolution’ 173
Tyrconnel 174
A ‘patriot parliament’ 177
The war of the kings 179
The Treaty of Limerick 187
Conclusion: what if? 189
10 Parliament, patronage and ‘patriots’ 1692–1727 195
Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter 195
Parliaments 1692–99 201
The Woollen Act 205
Tory ascendancy 1702–14 208
George I (1714–27) 215
Conclusion 220
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CONTENTS vii
11 Land and people 227
Tillage and pastoral Ireland 227
Demography and diet 230
Social class 233
Popular culture: language and religion 238
Conclusion 248
Wars and peace 255
Conclusion 255
Bibliography 259
Index 308
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List of maps
1 British settlement in Ulster c. 1630 xvii
2 The Rising: mid-February 1642 xviii
3 The Rising: March–June 1642 xix
4 The Confederate Catholics at war 1644–47 xx
5 Cromwellian conquest xxi
6 Cromwellian land settlement xxii
7 ‘War of the Kings’ 1689–91 xxiii
8 Protestants and Catholics in 1732 xxiv
9 Catholic Church in 1704 xxv
10 Geographical distribution of Irish speakers xxvi
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