Ireland: history 1485 to 1603

For the history of Ireland before 1485, see Ireland: history to 1154 and Ireland: history 1154 to 1485.

The monarchs of the Tudor dynasty tried to extend their control over Ireland. During the reign of Henry VII Poynings' Law (1494) gave the English Parliament control over the Irish Parliament, and in 1541 Henry VIII assumed the title ‘King of Ireland’. Ireland was divided into counties, and brought under English law. The mere fact of English occupation made the Irish hate them, but the Act of Supremacy (1534) and the break with Rome during the Reformation introduced another factor into the conflict: disagreement over religion. Concerned about growing Catholic Irish conspiracy with their Catholic enemies abroad, Elizabeth I and James I went further, confiscating lands from Irish Catholic rebels and giving them as plantations to ‘loyal’ Protestant settlers, many of them from Scotland. The result was a string of further revolts and rebellions, the worst of which were the Desmond revolts of 1569–83. These uprisings were put down with great ruthlessness.

Henry VII and the re‐establishment of royal power
There followed a century of stagnation and misery for Ireland. During the reign of Henry VII (1485–1509) the so‐called Poynings' Law (1494) was passed (named after Sir Edward Poynings, lord deputy of Ireland 1494–95); this gave control of the Irish Parliament to the English king and council, and was responsible for much contention later. Henry VIII (reigned 1509–47) did not turn his attention to Ireland until fairly late in his reign. By this time the Anglo‐Norman families were Irish in almost every respect. Most of them no longer acknowledged any law save that of the tribal system of ancient Ireland. Henry broke the power of the house of Kildare, and the country was slowly recovered from the hands of the feudal lords. Henry himself adopted the title of king of Ireland, and the Irish were gradually brought to look to the power of the crown for the redress of their grievances. The native chieftains were granted titles from the crown and were encouraged to come to court.

Henry VIII's ecclesiastical reforms
Henry VIII's breach with Rome, and his establishing himself as the head of the national church, received little support in Ireland, where there was no desire for religious innovations. In 1535 Henry appointed a commission to initiate the enforcement in Ireland of his ecclesiastical reforms. At its head was George Browne, a former English Augustinian friar, who had been chosen as archbishop of Dublin by the king and consecrated by Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, without any authority from the pope. The new archbishop of Dublin secured only the support of the bishop of Meath, and he quarrelled violently with the deputy viceroy, Lord Grey. In 1536 a parliament, assembled in Dublin, was required to pass ‘the Act of the Supreme Head’, providing severe penalties for those who refused to acknowledge the king to be head of the whole church in Ireland. By another act, ‘first fruits’ of ecclesiastical offices (the first year's profits) were to be paid not to the pope, but to the king. Henry's next step was the dissolution of the Irish monasteries and convents, on the pretext that they were hotbeds of idolatry and superstition. In fact, though some abuses undoubtedly existed, the religious houses of Ireland had performed a number of indispensable social services for the people. In 1539 another commission was set up to find and destroy relics and to transfer images and valuable ornaments, such as golden chalices, to the crown. Browne then tried to evangelize the more distant parts of his archdiocese. The Irish privy council demanded that eight bishops and two archbishops come before them in Clonmel to take the oath recognizing the king's supremacy in the church. But only five conformed, and these were deposed for heresy by the pope. Of the lower clergy few within the Pale (territory in Ireland where English rule operated) took the supremacy oath, and scarcely any outside it. Many suffered imprisonment and death for their refusal to adhere to the doctrine of the royal supremacy. The people's staunch Catholicism was self‐evident, and, when the Catholic Mary Tudor came to the English throne in 1553, she had no difficulty in restoring the old faith, though the monastic lands that had been seized were not given back.

Elizabeth's policy in Ireland
When Mary died Elizabeth I, a champion of the Protestant Reformation for political reasons, directed the Irish Parliament to pass two important acts in 1560. The first was the Act of Supremacy, which declared her supreme governor in ecclesiastical, spiritual, and temporal matters, and denied papal jurisdiction. The second was the Act of Uniformity, which required the use of a Reformed Prayer Book at public worship. But this religious legislation was far from being strictly enforced anywhere in Ireland, and in much of the country was impossible to enforce at all. Elizabeth's Irish policy aimed at the political subjugation of Ireland and bringing it to conform with England not only in religion, but also in speech and social customs. Resistance to this policy led to persecution of the Catholics. The realization, at length, in Ireland that the Reformation doctrines were closely linked with the imposition of foreign rule proved to be a cohesive influence among the people, who hitherto had fought and died mainly in the interests of clan conflict, and whose religious zeal had not always been generally apparent. But now Catholicism and patriotism became synonymous. Elizabeth found, therefore, that her religious policy in Ireland had many adversaries, while her supporters numbered only the few whose private interests, rather than enthusiasm for the policy, had induced them to ‘conform’. The bishops and priests who refused the Oath of Supremacy were generally deprived of their posts and superseded by Englishmen or Irishmen of more pliant dispositions. But the low pay on offer was not likely to attract men of high calibre, and in consequence churches were neglected and allowed to fall to ruin, and in many places the parish priests failed to carry out their duties.

The O'Neill and Desmond revolts
Irish discontent erupted in a series of rebellions – the O'Neill and Desmond revolts – during Elizabeth's reign. Shane O'Neill had been elected chieftain by his tribe and claimed the earldom of Tyrone, which had passed to an illegitimate brother, Brian O'Neill. The English supported the claim of Brian, but Shane kept up a continual armed struggle with the crown until he was killed in 1567. The crushing of the O'Neill rebellion was followed in Ireland by a great religious revival. The Counter‐Reformation, which was reviving Catholicism in Europe, worked with tremendous rapidity in Ireland, influenced and helped to a great extent by Jesuit priests. This religious revival contributed to the outbreak of the Desmond revolts (1569–73 and 1579–83), which were sparked off by the proposed ‘plantations’ (settlements) of Protestants in Munster and Connacht. The second revolt, led by the Earl of Desmond, involved four years' continual struggle. The Irish received some military help from Spain and the papacy, but were finally crushed with great cruelty. The rebellion had been practically confined to Munster, which was finally subdued by huge confiscations and English settlements; among the settlers were the poet Edmund Spenser and the adventurer Walter Raleigh. The final rebellion during Queen Elizabeth's reign broke out in 1595 under Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone. Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, was sent to quell it, but made terms with its leader and returned home. Lord Mountjoy, the lord deputy, continued to fight O'Neill. When Spanish troops landed at Kinsale in 1601 to support O'Neill, Mountjoy defeated the combined forces. Basing his own forces in a series of fortresses, he laid waste great areas, and finally subdued the rebellion in 1603. O'Neill was defeated, but allowed to keep his lands and title. The wars in Ireland were barbarous ones, both because the English saw the Irish as a savage people and because Ireland represented what England hated most – Catholicism and friendship with Spain. The Battle of Kinsale can be seen as marking the destruction of the whole Gaelic fabric of Ireland.

For subsequent events in Irish history, see Ireland: history 1603 to 1782 and Ireland: history 1782 to 1921. For events after 1921, see Ireland, Republic of and Northern Ireland.