1641 AD - 1 -
English Civil War
1641 AD The
population
in
Ireland,
was now up to
2,000,000.
Simon Mac Eniry
had his territory at Castletown
in
Connello in Co. Limerick confiscated, as did
John Mac Eniry, Donough Mac Eniry,
Murtough Mac Eniry, Andrew Mac Eniry, Garret
and
Bryan Mac Eniry and Thomas
mac William Mac Eniry who also had their
particular territory in Co. Limerick in
the north - west of the Munster Province.
The Butlers who were the English Royalist Earls of
Ormonde were
by this period in time comprised of at least 13 individual families, who with their strong Anglo - Norman connection to the
English Monarchy had continued to drive out the remaining
Gaelic
Irish Families /
Septs from their respective confiscated territories
in
Mogha's Half
/ Southern Ireland that had
previously been
composed of both of the previous Milesian Gaelic
kingdoms of
Aur
Mhumhain / Ormond
/ North Eastern Munster of the Heberian
Dal gCais Ui Bloid Ui Turlough
O Kennedys in
Co. Tipperary in
the north - east of the Munster Province,
and the adjoining kingdom of Ossory / Osraige nearby of the Heremonian
Ui Laoghaire Ui Connla Mac
Gilla Padraig / Fitz Patrick in
Co. Kilkenny in the south - west of
Southern Leinster. The
Butlers
were to
control
over 50,000 confiscated acres in both of these territories, and
were always supported by the English Military
over the rights of the
Irish Septs there, including
the frontier regions that surrounded the towns of
Cahir, Callan, Gowran,
Inistioge and
Knocktopher in Co. Kilkenny,
Nenagh,
Roscrea
and
Thurles in Co. Tipperary
and the fertile middle country from
Dunmore
in the north to
Jerpoint. The Butlers
the English Earls of Ormonde had originally emanated from
Theobold Fitz Walter - le buitleir in Ireland, who used
excessive military force in Ormond
to set up their confiscated Estates at
Nenagh
/ Aonach (The Fair), where
they had previously constructed a castle composed of a four - storied circular
keep 100 feet high, which is now partially restored,
and that is considered the finest in Ireland
and they then set
up at Carrick - on - Suir
/
Carraig na Siuire
(The Rock of the River Suir)
where there is also one of the best examples of a 16th Century Manor House still
standing, and then by 1395 AD, they had moved to their main centre at
Kilkenny City
/ Cill
Chainnigh
(St. Canice's Church) in the Valley of the River Nore, after securing it
from the English Spencers
who had previously obtained it also by the same means.
Lord
Mountgarret, who was also of
Butler descent, was to control the
lowlands on the frontier in the north with 20,000
confiscated acres, while other Anglo -
Norman Butler supporters, such as the 6
Graces
/ Le
Gros families, were to take over 5,000 - 10,000
confiscated acres each in the north - west,
along with Edmund Butler,
John Bryan and
Philip Purcell,
with the
2
Anglo - Norman Cantwell
families in the territory to the north -
east, while other Irish
territories there were also to be taken over also by individual
Butler family members,
and their subordinates, such as the 4 families of
the Comerfords.
Also many of the other Anglo - Normans comprising,
3 individual
families of the
Blanchfields,
11
of the Shorthalls,
and 8 of the
St. Legers, took over the fertile lowland
territories, along with the 6 families of the
Archdeacons / Codys, while
Henry Archer also had 5,000 - 10,000 acres there, as did the
4 families of
Rothes, and the
4 families of
the Shees
/ Sheas,
including
Robert Shea
/ Shee, who all also
controlled the economics of
Kilkenny City, while the
Bishop of
Ossory had a further Estate of
5,000 acres in the lowlands.
In the southern regions, there were at least 13 individual families of the
Walshes (The
Lords of the Mountain), who held the territory from Tibberaghny in the west to
Rosbercon in the east, and where
Robert Walsh on his own held an Estate of
10,000 acres, and
there also were the 5
Forestall families at
Ballygurrim and
Kilmakevoge, and 8 families of the
Fitz Geralds at
Brownfield
and
Gurteen, while of
the 2 families of the
Gaules
(who were related to the Burkes), William Gaule
had over 1,600 acres at
Dunkitt
and Gaulskill.
Edmund Dalton
who was near Piltown
had over 2,000 acres, and there were 4
families of
Denns, and
2 families of
de
Freneys, who had territory there also. Other landholders were the
5 families
of Dobbins, and
2 families of
the
Sweetmans and the
Waltons.
22 other Anglo -
Norman families, also held 500 - 900 acres each
there, including
William Drilling and
Thomas Grant, and
29 others had 330 acres -
490 acres each, including
James St. Leger
and Joseph Walsh, while another
41 had 200 - 280
acres each. There were 2 families of
Aylwards,
Bryans, Cowleys,
Howlings and
Kealys
also, who held territory there and 4
families of
Grants and the
Stranges
were along the rivers nearby adjacent to Co. Waterford
in the south - east of
the
Munster Province.
Meanwhile the
Irish territory there in
Southern Leinster
of the O Brennans
of Fassadmin
had shrunken back to 60 acres, and even that would also be finally
taken away from them to be swallowed up by the English Wandesford
Estates, centred on Castlecomer,
while the O Ryans from
Idrone in Co. Carlow
were also at this time still holding onto some of their territory at
Leighlin
in the east of
Co. Kilkenny and in the far
north - east the O Bryans, who were kinsmen to the O
Byrnes of Co. Carlow,
had territory on the edge of the woods and bog lands towards the north - west
while the O Brennans, O Brophys, O Cahills, O
Delaneys, O Hennessys,
O Keefes, O Meaghers, O Murphys
and the O Phelans
were only just hanging in there in the surrounding villages.
By now another
3,000,000 acres
also of
Irish
teritory, had
by now passed into the
hands of the English AScendancy Church of
England and the Lowland Presbyterian "planters" in
the
Ulster
Province,
with the balance of
500,000 acres
still held by the Catholic
Irish there, and some how
regardless of all of the previous oppression, overall the
Catholic Irish and Old
English /
Anglo
- Irish and the
New
English, were still holding onto
60% of
Ireland at this time
while less than half of
Co. Monaghan in
Southern Ulster was still in the hands of the
Irish Septs there, except for the
Barony of Farney, which had been
dominated by the
Gaelic
Irish Families
there
who had somehow also manipulated the English
ways, in order to continue to still survive and retain their territory there. Newtown was held by Captain
Robert Parke.
Griffith Williams, was to be the appointed Ascendancy English
Ascendancy Church of England Episcopalian Bishop of Ossory /
Co. Kilkenny in the south - west of Southern Leinster
this year
until 1672 AD, while the majority of the Landed Gentry in
Co. Kilkenny at this time were still Catholics of Anglo - Norman
descent, but by the end of the 17th Century AD they too would be
replaced by New English Ascendancy Land Lords, of which many
would be officers, soldiers and supporters of Oliver Cromwell who would by then be
in control as the English
Puritan Protector who would institute unbelievable
wholesale slaughter on the
whole of the Irish
population..
April:
Charles 1st,
the second Stuart King of England,
realising that he was now
in real trouble with the Puritans in the English Parliament, instructed
Sir
William Parsons
and
Sir
John Borlase, his two
newly appointed
English Lord Justices in
Ireland, to prepare the necessary
Bills to confirm the previous
51 Graces
in Ireland that he had previously promised for his
own personal monetary gain, but never delivered on, on the previous advice
of
"Black Tom" Wentworth.
May:
The Royalist Bills to confirm the
51 Graces, which had been proposed
originally, that had also included some relief for Catholics in Ireland, to obtain more finance for
Charles 1st, were
forwarded from Ireland,
by his
two Lord Justices to
London for
Charles 1st
to personally peruse and confirm.
May 11:
The Ascendancy
Anglo - Norman Parliament in Ireland,
despite the previous ruling of the recently deceased
Wandesford not to meet until October, met once again this month
putting forward all their grievances that had been carried out against them
under Charles 1st's ardent supporter "Black Tom" Wentworth.
May
12th: The
Ascendancy English
Long Parliament
in England, that was now under the
Puritan leadership of
John Pym, issued an
Attainder
against his old friend and adversary "Black
Tom" Wentworth,
who then had him beheaded, and his new
Irish Army
that had been put together by him to support Charles 1st
was to be demobbed without
any problem as
John Pym no longer
needed the support of the Ascendancy
Anglo - Norman Parliament in Ireland
now, as the demise of
"Black Tom" Wentworth, had also
removed the main agitation for the
Ascendancy in
Ireland
to have anything more in
common with the Catholic
Irish and the Anglo - Irish /
Old English.
Charles 1st,
the Stuart English King, had by now really worked himself into a corner, and was in real desperate
circumstances, so he had discussions with Sir
Rannall
Mac Donnell the
Catholic Earl of
Antrim, to try and gain Catholic
Irish
support,
and wanted the
Heremonian Colla Uais Mac Donnells to also come out and
personally support
him and in return he promoised
them that he would
now support Catholic
"toleration"
while the Old English /
Anglo -
Irish, at this time in the Ascendancy
Anglo - Norman Parliament in Ireland were basically still
Catholics, and they were further encouraged
by the Presbyterian rebellion that was going on in the Lowlands of
Scotland. The Catholic
Irish were still not so sure that the
Ascendancy
Puritan
Parliament
in England would be willing to give any "toleration" to
Catholics
at all.
August:
The English
Civil War
was soon to begin, between the
Royalist forces of
Charles 1st and the
Ascendancy English Puritan Parliament, and the
English
Dublin Castle (The Devil's 1/2 acre) authority in Ireland was to
eventually come out declaring
for the
English Puritan Parliament who were
also
to be
desperate for finance and they
were to offer the
previous confiscated land in the
Ulster
Province
in Ireland to Adventurers for
100
pounds
for
1000
acres, and the same amount of acreage in the
Munster Province for
600 pounds,
with its real value being
2500 pounds. They
were also to
forge letters, to
suite their own agendas, and have them printed in
England, proposing that the
facts
contained in the letters were actually the true news that was coming out of
Ireland.
The Mere
Irish leaders,
Rory O More in
Southern
Leinster,
Sir
Phelim O
Niall, who was a
Royalist from
Kinard in
the Ulster Province,
and
Conor Maguire
the English
appointed first Baron of Enniskillen
in
Co. Fermanagh
in the south - west of Ulster,
held a meeting on
Loch Ross at
Cross Maglen in
Co. Armagh
in the south - east of Ulster,
where they decided that any internal conflict in England for overall control there, was
an opportunity not to be lost
to recover
some of their
previously confiscated
Irish
territories, especially in the
Ulster Province
and the
Leinster Province. They saw the
haphazard events now occurring in England, as a
chance to free Ireland from
the continual ethnic and religious oppression of
those in authority in England, and also by now
Sir
Rannall Mac Donnell, the
Catholic Earl of Antrim, had led
them to believe that
Charles 1st
,who was now really desperate,
would finally back them against the oppression of the
Puritan Ascendancy Parliament in England. They
made contact with
127.Eoghan Ruadh / Owen Roe
- of Red Complexion
O Niall,
who at
this time was involved in fighting for the
Spanish forces in Spain who was also
the nephew of
126.Aed
Dubh
/ Black Hugh O Niall
the last The O Niall the
deceased
English appointed second Earl of
Tyrone,
who had
previously stood up to the ethic and sectarian "Slash & Burn"
policies of
Elizabeth 1st
in
Ireland
for 9 years,
and who had been Attainted by
Charles 1st's
father,
James 1st
to get him out of
Ireland
as the last
Ulster
Chieftain.
Rory O More, Phelim O Niall and
Conor Maguire were 3
of the remaining
Irish Chiefs of importance so they decided that they
now had an opportunity to make a stand for
Irish
Freedom during the following
October, and this was to then see the beginning of the
combined
Catholic Irish
and Anglo - Irish Confederacy,
which
would last for 8 years during the
English Civil War
between Charles 1st and the Puritan English
Parliamant until 1649 AD.
September: The
English Puritan Ascendancy Parliament,
somehow found out about the agreement between
Charles 1st
and the
Irish forces, and
like a true "survivor" he
withdrew his support once again in the immediate interests of his own personal survival.
September 23rd:
The Irish
people, especially the tenants generally in
Ireland, feeling the mood of the moment, also took advantage of this
present unstable opportunity as to the predicament of their overlords in England, to also try and
regain their own
Irish confiscated land back, as they considered that this
was their chance also as individuals to
finally free themselves from the
constant Dubin Castle English yoke of authoritarian physical ethnic and religious oppression and
the never - ending confiscations, and
they began to retaliate whenever the opportunity arose, and in the ongoing turmoil and confusion that
followed, they turned their anger against many of the "foreign planters" who were still on
their Irish territories. Because of the previous
physical ongoing treatment they had received there, they were to be especially extreme in the
Ulster Province.
Rory O More
the Gaelic
Milesian Irian
Chieftain who had his territory
in Co. Offaly in the
north - west of Southern Leinster, and
Conor Maguire who had his
territory in in
Co. Fermanagh in the south - west of the
Ulster Province, who were
two of the Irish
Chieftains decided
between them that they would
first have to gain control in Ireland over the
Puritan Parliament's stronghold the Dublin
Castle (The Devil's 1/2 acre)
in The English Pale in Co.
Dublin in Southern Leinster.
October 22nd: Owen Connolly,
informed Sir
William Parsons
and
Sir
John Borlase, of the plan
by the Irish Chieftains to seize
the Dublin Castle, and the Ascendancy
English Parliament's garrison there was made ready for an attack, and therefore an attempt
could then not be made to try and capture it, and although most of the
Old English / Anglo -
Irish
were not involved at this stage in this particular
Irish Uprising, they too were now also
under
suspicion, because they were also
Irish
Catholics and the pressure, that was now to be brought on them by the English authorities, because of this, was to
also alienate them also further from those in
authority in the Dublin Castle,
and
naturally pushed them once more towards supporting the Mere
Irish.
Sir
Phelim O
Niall and the other
Irish Chiefs,
were to now gain control of
Charlemont and
Dungannon in the Ulster Province, and their
Irish
troops who were now under Sir
Con Mac Gennis
who was also a Gaelic Milesian
Irian Chief there, were to also capture
Newry
in Co. Down
in the south - east of Ulster
and during these various skirmishes, many
of the introduced "foreign planters"
there were to be also killed, and over time most of
Ulster,
and parts of the
Leinster Province,
were to also come under their control.
October 27th:
Charles 1st, the Stuart English King, who was now in Edinburgh
in England, was
informed of the Irish Chieftains'Uprising,
that was now being carried out by the Mere
Irish
themselves.
October
31st: The
English Puritan Ascendancy Parliament, was
now also informed of the Irish Chieftains' Uprising,
and their Puritan leader
John Pym, used
this
information to try and influence
Charles 1st the Stuart English King, and advised him
for his own sake that he must be guided by the
Puritans from now
on or else, and as Puritans they also decided to push on with their
Great Remonstrance
against the
Ascendancy Episcopalian Church of England also, and
made Charles 1st approve their nominated Ministers in the
English Ascendancy Parliament, who were to take
over complete control of the English Military
forces also in Ireland. A
great division now occurred, among the populations in both England
and
Ireland, as to who actually supported the
Puritan Ascendancy Parliament, and who among the
Royalists really supported
Charles 1st the
Stuart English King, and
the
English Civil War
was now further to be further advanced and
James
Butler the
twelth English Earl of Ormonde in
Ireland, came
out as a
committed Royalist, while the
Ascendancy Anglo
- Norman Parliament came out for the
Ascendancy
Puritan Parliament.
All of the
newly
introduced
English "planters" who were on confiscated land in
Co. Clare
in the north - west of the Munster Province fled to
Bally Alla Castle near
Ennis, and their cattle were then driven
off, and
Barnaby O Brien, who was
now the
English appointed fifth Earl of Thomond, acting
out his role as an English
"lackey", went around demanding that all the Mere
Irish, who were involved in the
Irish Chieftains'Uprising should be hung
immediately.
November:
Sir
Con Mac
Gennis the Gaelic Milesain
Irian Chieftain who had an
Irish force of several thousand men, besieged
Lisburn
/ Lisnagarvey in Co. Antrim in the north
- east of the Ulster Province, that had been previously granted to
Conway the English Viscount by Charles 1st, who had built a castle there in 1627
AD, against the Irish Septs there, but he was not able to
capture it and also suffered a great many casualties, while at
Portadown
in Co. Armagh in
the south -
east of Ulster, where there was also a castle that had
been built
by the English Obins against the the
Irish Septs there, the Mere
Irish
captured 100
people
there and threw them into the
River Bann,
many of whom did not survive.
James Butler,
the Royalist English twelfth Earl
of Ormonde, took over command of all the
English Royalist troops in
The English
Pale
for Charles 1st that
then surrounded Dublin in Co.
Dublin in Southern
Leinster, while
Sir
Henry Tichborne
the Royalsit commander was in charge at
Drogheda in Co.
Louth in the north - east
of
Northern Leinster, but being a
committed
Royalist he too was now under suspicion
also by the English
Puritan
Ascendancy Parliament.
The "ferocious"
Heremonian
Ui Laoghaire Cu Corb
Ui Dunlainge
O Byrnes
under their Chief from out of
Co. Wicklow
in the south - east of Southern Leinster,
also joined in
the Irish Uprising, and were able to come within a whisker of reaching
into
Dublin, while nearby other revolts were also occurring within The
English Pale
itself,
followed by another further down along the coast in
Co. Wexford situated also in the south - east
of
Southern Leinster
while other
Irish
forces made it into
Co. Louth in the north - east of
Northern Leinster were they took
Dundalk,
and were then on their way to try and also take
Drogheda there, and were then joined by many of the
Irish
Septs from the surrounding territories.
November 29th:
James Butler
the Royalist twelfth Earl of Ormonde, sent
600
of his men
to the
north from out of
Dublin, to assist those English now under siege
in
Drogheda,
but the
Irish
forces were able to defeat them at
Julianstown, and cut off any chance of further support
of English Militia being
sent up to there.
Thomas Preston,
a Royalist
Anglo - Irish
Catholic,
now realising that there was no hope of the
English Puritan Ascendancy Parliament
allowing any "toleration" for the
Catholic Irish, approached the
Irish leaders in the
Ulster Province
for an "Oath
of Allegiance" to
Charles 1st
the
Stuart English King,
which they
gave, and the Old English / Anglo -
Irish now joined in with the
Mere
Irish in
what was now to become an Irish Confederacy
Uprising as they all
once again had something further in common fearing the agenda of the
English Puritan Ascendancy Parliament's intentions,
as all of the Anglo - Irish ever wanted from
Charles 1st
in return
was the restoration of their
previous privileges, while all the
Mere
Irish wanted was
recognition of their Catholic
faith, and the
restoration of their confiscated
Irish territories.
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