1642 AD
1642 AD
The Civil War
that was occurring in England
also meant that l
Meanwhile, Charles 1st the second French Stuart English King was still trying to survive in England, and as a true "survivor" he gave into the English Puritan Parliament once again, by giving his assent to the Adventures Act for the sale of vast tracts of land in Ireland, which was in reality only a guise by them to gain extra finances to eventually use to fight against the Royalist forces of Charles 1st himself and bring about his ultimate demise and Puritan supremacy.
February:
The
Irish Confederacy
forces were by now in control of the greater part of
Ireland, and they continued
with their
siege against the English
stronghold at Drogheda in
Co. Louth in the north - east of
Northern
Leinster, but there were still also a few scattered areas under
English Episcopalian control
there. Meanwhile the two "survivors"
the English
Royalist Lord Justices,
who in reality supported the English Puritan Parliament, were
still holding out in the city of
Dublin in
Co. Dublin in
Southern Leinster,
while in the
Munster Province
St. Leger
the English appointed President of Munster was holding onto
the City of
Cork
in Co. Cork in the south and the
surrounding territory there. In the
Ulster
Province the
Scottish army was still under the command
of
General
Robert Munroe acting for the Puritan Parliament and they had control of the
north of
Co. Down and the south of
Co. Antrim to the north of there, including
Belfast and
Carrickfergus, together with a
small area in the north of
Co. Donegal, while a large group of Episcopalian and
Lowland Presbyterian
planters still had control of
Coleraine, Derry and
Enniskillen. The
Old English / Anglo
- Irish there had also
decided to join in with the
Irish Septs as due to the never - ending oppression
in Ireland the majority of the
population was now involved somehow in
the Irish Confederacy Uprising, except for those parts previously
mentioned still under the control of foreign planter forces in
Co. Antrim
and
Co. Donegal
in
Ulster,
and
Co. Cork
in
Southern Munster.
March:
Charles 1st
had agreed with the English
Puritan Parliament, under their
Adventurer's Bill, to
confiscate
a further
2,500,000
Irish acres for the
intended purpose of paying the English
troops to retake
Ireland, but instead
this money was to be used to take on
Charles 1st's own Royalist forces
instead and the
Puritan Parliament
in England
was to eventually raise
2,000,000 pounds
on the proposed sale of the
Irish
territory by auctioning it off to individual speculators and
adventurers, and this was to once again be the direct means whereby once more
Irish
women
and
children
were to be forced to lay by the wayside were their
emaciated bodies would eventually be
devoured by
wolves and birds of prey,
O Reilly
the
Catholic Archbishop of
Armagh in
the south - east of the Ulster Province, held a
Catholic Synod at
Kells in Co.
Meath in the south - east of
Northern Leinster,
were it was
agreed by all to support the War against the English Puritan Parliament in the hope of ridding
Ireland of the ongoing English oppression once and
for all, and to also
outline the basic
rules of the
Irish
Confederacy's
conduct to maintain
order throughout Ireland.
James Butler the
Royalist English twelth Earl of Ormonde acting for Charles
1st was finally able to break through the
Irish Confederacy forces siege at
Drogheda
in Co. Louth in the north - east of
Northern Leinster, and bring relief and reinforcements to the
English
Military who were trapped there.
Charles 1st in
England
was denied any chance of supply for his
forces, by the
English Puritan Parliament, to try and continue to bring him
further under
their control
and force him
to give assent to another part of the Adventurers
Act, "To forbid pardons for the Irish rebels," and
this particular
part of this English Act would come to serve
Oliver Cromwell's agenda
much better later on,
and it would last until
1660 AD.
May: The Irish Confederacy forces, that now included the Irish Gentry and Nobles, met at Kilkenny City in Co. Kilkenny in the south - west of the Southern Leinster with the Catholic Irish clergy, to institute the Irish Provisional Government in Ireland that would have an Irish Supreme Council and an Irish General Assembly and a Seal was adopted, and a Mint established and taxes were levied where foreign ambassadors were received and further Irish forces were raised and both of the new Irish Houses of Parliament where to be convened in the house of Robert Shee in Parliament Street.
Dermot O Brien
put together an Irish
Confederacy
force composed of
1,000 men
from the south of the
Connacht
Province and the adjacent region in
Co. Clare
in the north - west of the Munster Province,
and then requested those in
the
English held Bunratty Castle in
Co. Clare to surrender and come out who
refused, so he had
Turlogh O Brien
lay siege to it with his
Irish
forces, while a member of the
Mac Namara Sept went north to get a
cannon to assist them in the siege, but none could be found
and eventually
Donnell
O Brien from
Leamenagh
Castle
together with
Teague Ruadh
O Brien
decided to besiege the Bunratty Castle
themselves and
the English in there surrendered with no one being
harmed. Among the
Irish
forces were
Sir
Daniel O Brien and his son,
Conor O Brien,
Daniel O Brien
of Carrowduff,
Conor O Brien
of
Leamenagh
Castle
and many more from the old
Heberian Dal gCais
Ui Bloid Ui Turlogh Ui mBriain Septs. This also included the
Heberian Dal gCais
Ui Caisin
Mac Namaras
and their Septs,
the Heberian Dal gCais
O Gradys,
the Dal Cuinn
Ui Fiachrach Aidni
O
Shaughnessys
from
Kilmacduagh in
Co. Galway
in Southern Connacht,
St. Leger the English appointed President in Munster, died, and Murrogh O Brien an Toitean - of the Burnings who was now the English Earl of Inchiquin, who had previously been reared in England as an Ascendancy Episcopalian also for an English purpose, was to hold out against the Irish Confederacy forces first as a Royalist, but he would eventually accept the cease fire that was to come, because he was to be passed over by the English Dublin Castle authorities to replace St. Leger as their English appointed President in Munster to which he believed was his herediatry right. The position was to then be given to the English Earl of Portland instead, which was to upset Murrogh O Brien - of the Burnings no end, who was to then join forces with the English Puritan Parliament who would only use him to their own advantage also, by granting him the position of President of Munster that he so desired and then dump him later on when his services were of no longer of any advantage to them.
William Bedell the Episcopalian Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh who had translated the Bible into the Celtic Erse language against the wishes of the English Government, and had subsequently been protected by the Irish, and later captured by the English Militia had died and was interred at Kilmore / Cill Mor (The Big Church) in Co. Cavan in Southern Ulster.
June: General Robert Munroe with his Puritan Scottish army was able to retake Newry, Mountjoy and Dungannon in the north - east of the Ulster Province back from the Irish Confederacy forces.
July: 127,Eoghan Roe O Niall, who was a nephew of the deceased 126.Aodh Dubh / Black Hugh O Niall "The O Niall," who had since arrived back from Spain into Loch Swilly had been put in charge of the Irish Confederacy forces in the Ulster Province by the Irish Supreme Council, where he was joined in his resistance there by the Mere Irish Septs and the Anglo - Irish from the south, including General Thomas Preston, (a brother to Lord Gormanston), who had landed at Waterford in Co. Waterford in the south - east of the Munster Province, after also coming back from the Spanish Netherlands, and had originally been put in control of the Leinster Province for the Irish Confederacy. General Garret Barry an Anglo - Irish Confederacy commander was placed in charge of the Munster Province, while the Connacht Province was under the command of John Burke also an Anglo - Irish Confederacy commander. Unfortunately Thomas Preston and 127.Eoghan Roe O Niall were not capable of being subordinate to each other, and this was to create a very shaky alliance and many problems were to surface because of this discontent between them for the Irish Confederacy.
Patrick Donnelly / Patraic Ui Donnghaile, was from the Heremonian Dal Cuinn "northern" Ui Niaill Cenel nEogain Sept, whose Family branch had previously been composed of poets and warriors who had been descended directly from Donnell O Niall who had died in 876 AD and they had their original territory in Co. Donegal in the north - west of the Ulster Province where they were Chiefs, but they later migrated to Bally Donnelly in Co. Tyrone in Central Southern Ulster where they were also Chiefs and from where they had also been dispossessed by the English. In keeping with the mood now prevailing for retaliation he took the opportunity to personally burn down the English stronghold at Donaghmore in Co. Tyrone in Central Ulster, which had previously been the site of the fort of his own family Sept.
August: The Civil War in England had been between the Royalist forces who had remained loyal to Charles 1st the Stuart English King, and those loyal to the English Puritan Parliament, but the dividing lines were much clearer now, and James Butler the Royalist English twelth Earl of Ormonde openly declared himself a Royalist for Charles 1st in Ireland, but the two English Lord Justices that Charles 1st had previously appointed were still in reality acting as "survivors" in Ireland continuing to cover their tracks by declaring for both Charles 1st and the English Puritan Parliament.
Backing for the Irish
Confederacy
forces had by now also been organized with the
Pope in Rome, were
Mazarin
and
Luke Wadding had arranged
for
Cardinal
Rinuccini to be sent to
Ireland to act as a go between on his behalf.
October: The Irish Confederacy General Assembly held another meeting at Kilkenny City in Co. Kilkenny in the south - west of Southern Leinster, and "officially" set up their Irish Provisional Government and took a 3 stage oath, "To restore the common rights of the Catholic Church, To maintain the English Crown, and To defend their personal Liberties." They also "officially" put the separate Irish Confederacy commanders and their military divisions into each of the 4 Provinces, and as the Old English / Anglo - Irish dominated the proceedings Lord Mountgarrett, who was a "Butler" kinsman, was elected as their overall President.
Conor Mac Brody from Letter Maolin, the son of Maolin Oge - the Younger Mac Brody, from the renowned Heberian Eoghanacht Chaisil Sept of renowned historians and poets in the Munster Province, died this year.
Despite all of the previous religious persecution and the confiscation of
the Irish Catholic Institutions the
Franciscan friars from the
Creevelea Friary in
Co. Sligo
in the north - west of the Connacht Province
were still hanging in there at this time, and would continue to remain in the area for many years
to come.