1641 AD - 1
1641 AD The
population
in
Ireland,
was now up to
2,000,000.
Simon Mac Eniry
now had his territory at Castletown in
Connello in Co. Limerick confiscated, as did
John Mac Eniry, Donogh Mac Eniry,
Murtogh Mac Eniry, Andrew Mac Eniry, Garret
and
Bryan Mac Eniry and Thomas
mac William Mac Eniry who also had their
territory in Co. Limerick in
the north - west of the Munster Province.
The Butlers who were the Anglo
- Norman English Royalist Barons were
by now comprised of at least 13 individual families, who with their strong Anglo - Norman connection to the
English Monarchy had continued to drive out, or push out, the remaining
Irish Families from their
respective confiscated territories in Aur
Mhumhain / Ormond / Eastern
Munster in
Mogha's Half
/ Southern Ireland that had
previously been
composed of both of the Milesian Gaelic
kingdoms of Ormond of the Heberian
Dal gCais Ui Bloid Ui Turlogh
O Kennedys in
Co. Tipperary in
the north - east of the Munster Province, and the
adjoining territory nearby of the Heremonian
Ui Laoghaire Ui Connla Mac
Gilla Padraig / Fitz Patrick kingdom of
Ossory in
Co. Kilkenny in the south - west of
Southern Leinster. The
Butlers as the
English
Earls of Ormonde, were to
succeed in being in control of
over 50,000 acres in these territories, by the use of English Military forces
over the
Irish
Septs there,
including the frontier regions, surrounding the towns of
Cahir, Callan, Gowran, Inistioge
and
Knocktopher in Co. Kilkenny
and
Nenagh,
Roscrea
and
Thurles in Co. Tipperary and
the fertile middle country from Dunmore in the north to Jerpoint. As the English
appointed and Military Militia supported Earls of Ormonde, they
had originally emanated from
Theobold Fitz Walter Le Buitleir, who was the first of the Butlers in Ireland, who was to use
excessive military force in the Irish
kingdom of Ormond
to set up their 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,
which is considered the finest in Ireland. 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 eventually 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
too from the English Spencers.
Lord
Mountgarret, who was also of
Butler descent, was to control the
lowlands on the frontier in the north with 20,000 acres, while other Anglo -
Norman Butler supporters, such as the 6
Graces
/ Le
Gros families, were to take over 5,000 - 10,000 acres each in the north - west,
along with Edmund Butler,
John Bryan, and Philip Purcell, and the
2
Cantwell
families in the territory to the north -
east while other Irish
territories there were also to be taken over by individual Butler family members,
and their other subordinates, such as the 4 families of
the Comerfords. Also Anglo - Norman families 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, 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
Munster Province.
On the other hand the
Irish territory in
Southern Leinster
of the O Brennans
of Fassadmin, had shrunken back to 60 acres, and even that would also be finally
taken away to be swallowed up by the English Wandesford Estates, centred on Castlecomer,
while the O Ryans from
Idrone in Co. Carlow
were still holding onto some of their territory in Leighlin in the east of
Co. Kilkenny and in the far
north - east the 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.
Another
3,000,000 acres
also of
Irish land, had
by now passed into the
hands of the English Church of
England and the Scottish 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, except for the
Barony of Farney, which had been
dominated by
Gaelic Families,
who had somehow also manipulated the English
ways, in order to continue to still survive in
Ireland.
Newtown was held by Captain Robert Parke.
Griffith Williams, was appointed the Ascendancy English
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 would be replaced by New English non - Catholic Land Lords, of which many
would be officers, soldiers and supporters of Oliver Cromwell who would by then be the English
Protector who would bring wholesale slaughter on the Irish
population..
April:
Charles 1st,
the second French Stuart King of England,
realising that he was now
in real trouble, 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 previously
promised
51 Graces
in Ireland that he had previously promised, but never delivered on, on the previous bad 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 the Catholics in Ireland, to obtain more finance for
Charles 1st, were
forwarded from Ireland,
by the
two Lord Justices to
London for
Charles 1st
to peruse
personally.
May 11:
The Ascendancy
Anglo - Irish
Parliament,
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 "Black Tom" Wentworth.
May
12th: The
Ascendancy English
Long Parliament in England, now under the
leadership of the Puritan leader,
John Pym, issued an
Attainder
against his old friend and adversary
"Black
Tom" Wentworth,
and they then had him beheaded, and his new
Irish Army
put together to support Charles 1st demobbed without
any proble as
John Pym no longer
needed the support of the Ascendancy
Anglo -
Irish Parliament in Ireland
now, as the permanent removal 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 Anglo - Irish
/
Old English.
Charles 1st,
the Stuart English King, had really worked himself into a corner, and was
now in real desperate
circumstances, so he had discussions with Sir Rannall
Mac Donnell the
Catholic Earl of
Antrim, to gain Catholic
Irish
support,
and wanted the
Mac Donnells to also come out and support
him and in return he would
now support Catholic
"toleration"
while the Old English / Anglo
-
Irish, at this time in the Ascendancy
Anglo - Irish Parliament were basically still
Catholics, and they were further encouraged
by the Presbyterian rebellion that was going on in the Lowlands of
Scotland,
but despite this the Catholic
Irish were not so sure that the Ascendancy
English Parliament
would 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
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 at this time more in the vicinity of
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
the true news 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
territory, 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
England, and also by now Sir
Rannall Mac Donnell, the
Catholic Earl of Antrim, had led
them to believe that the desperate
Charles 1st
would finally back them against the oppression of the
Puritan Ascendancy Parliament in England. They
made contact with
127.Eoghan
/ Owen
Ruadh / Roe
O Niall,
who at
this time was involved in fighting for the
Spanish forces in Spain and he 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
stood up to Elizabeth 1st in
Ireland
for 9 years,
and Attainted by
Charles 1st's
father,
James 1st
to get him out of
Ireland
as the last
Ulster
Chief.
These 3 remaining
Irish Chiefs of importance decided that they
would make their move 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 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 againin 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, took advantage of this
present unstable opportunity as to the predicament of their overlords in England, to also try and
regain their own
Irish land back as they considered that this
was their chance also as individuals to
finally free themselves from the
constant English yoke of authoritarian physical and religious oppression and
the confiscations, and
they began to retaliate as 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 Native Irish territories, and especially because of the ongoing treatment they had received there, they were to be especially extreme in the
Ulster Province.
Meanwhile,
Rory O More
the Gaelic
Milesian Irian
Chieftain who had his territorn
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, decided
between them that they would
first have to gain control over the
Puritan Parliament's new stronghold the Dublin
Castle (The Devil's 1/2 acre)
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
English 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 the original Uprising, they were now also
under
suspicion, because they too were Irish
Catholics and the pressure, that was now to be brought on them by those in the English authorities, because of this, was to
also alienate them further from the Dublin Castle authorities,
and
pushed them towards supporting the Mere
Irish. Sir
Phelim O
Niall and the other
Irish Chiefs,
were now to take over 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
Chief there, were to capture Newry
in Co. Down
in the south - east of Ulster.
During these various skirmishes, many
of the introduced foreign planters
there were also killed, as over time most of
Ulster,
and parts of the
Leinster Province,
were to also come under their control.
October 27th:
Charles 1st, the English King, who was now in Edinburgh, was
informed of the Irish Uprising,
that was now being carried out by the Mere
Irish
themselves.
October
31st: The
English Puritan Ascendancy Parliament, was
also informed of the Irish Uprising, and their
Puritan leader,
John Pym, used this
information to further discredit
Charles 1st the English King, and advised him that he must be guided by the
Puritans now
or else and as Puritans they now also pushed on with their
Great Remonstrance
against the
Ascendancy Episcopalian Church of England, and
made Charles 1st approve their Ministers only in the
English Ascendancy Parliament, who were to take
over 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
English King, and
the
English Civil War
was by now further along in the making and
James
Butler the
twelth English Earl of Ormonde in
Ireland, came
out as a
committed Royalist,
while the Ascendancy Anglo - Irish Parliament came out for the
Ascendancy
Puritan Parliament. All of the
introduced
English planters 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 Uprising should be hung.
November:
Sir
Con Mac
Gennis, with an
Irish force of several thousand men, attacked
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 Families there, but he was not able to
capture it and 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 Families there, the Mere
Irish
seized
100 people
there and threw them into the
River Bann,
and many of them did not survive.
James Butler,
the Royalist English twelfth Earl
of Ormonde, took over command of all the
English troops in
The English
Pale
for Charles 1st that
surrounded Dublin in Co.
Dublin in Southern
Leinster, while
Sir
Henry Tichborne
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 from
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
Dublin, while other revolts were also occurring within The
English Pale
itself,
followed by another further down along the coast in
Co. Wexford also in the south - east
of
Southern Leinster
and other Mere
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 joined by many of the
Mere Irish
in the surrounding region.
November 29th:
James Butler
the Royalist twelfth Earl of Ormonde, sent
600
of his men
north out of
Dublin, to assist those English now under siege
in
Drogheda,
but the Mere Irish
forces were able to defeat them at
Julianstown, and were able to cut off any chance of further support 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 Mere
Irish leaders in the
Ulster Province
for an "Oath of Allegiance" to
Charles 1st,
which they
gave, and the Old English / Anglo
-
Irish now joined in with the
Mere
Irish in
what now to become an Irish Confederacy
Uprising as they all
once again had something further in common fearing the Puritan Ascendancy Parliament's intentions,
as all the Anglo - Irish 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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