1650 AD
1650
AD During the previous 10 years of
the
Irish Confederacy's
resistance to the continuing oppression of the English overbearing authority in
Ireland,
the population had reduced by 850,000 declining from
1,466,000 persons
to 616,000 due to the continuing ongoing violence and
the constant repression
used against them, the forced exiles, or the harrowing results of the ensuing devastating
Famines.
Oliver Cromwell the
Lord Protector for the English Puritan Ascendancy Parliament
had by now did away
with the Long
Parliament in England to suite his own agenda, and the Puritan Army
forces were
split for the first time, with
General
George
Monck now in control of
Scotland
(He had originally been a committed Royalist, who had been imprisoned and
released for this specific purpose.) Oliver Cromwell now
published a declaration of a ,"Godly
retribution upon the barbarous wretches of
Ireland,"
and to this end he continued on with his all out onslaught on the general population in
Ireland.
The
Dunhill Castle,
belonging to the de la
Poers
/ Powers,
situated
5 mile west of
Tramore
in
Co. Waterford
in the south - east of the Munster
Province,
was now also surrendered up to the English Ascendancy Puritan forces who were by now well and truly under the
control of
Oliver
Cromwell who also destroyed the
Trim Castle and
St. Marys Abbey in
Co. Meath in
the south - east
of
Northern
Leinster
with
English cannon, (Despite this destruction it's
125' steeple is
still there to seen).
Charles the Prince of Wales who would become a real "survivor" as the future Charles 11 in England,who was the oldest son of the recently deceased Charles 1st, was to revoke the allegiance that was previously given to the Irish Confederation forces who had supported him, and along with this as a further "survival" tactic he also abandoned his most loyal supporter, James "Black Tom" Butler the twelfth Earl and first Marquis of Ormonde who had been acting as his Royalist Lieutenant in Ireland.
February 24th: Oliver Cromwell now turned his unbending fury on Co. Kilkenny in the south - west of Southern Leinster, and after four attempts his Puritan Parliamentary forces were able to finally secure the Royalist stronghold of James "Black Tom" Butler the 1st Marquis of Ormonde's Castle at Gowran, where they burnt it right down to the ground and also stormed Thomastown, and the Fortress of Grianan, which is now also in ruins situated there half a mile to the south of Thomastown, where he was to stay over for 3 days while his Ascendancy Puritan Parliament forces went about obliterating what was by then the utter remnants of the surrounding Irish population.
March 22nd: Oliver Cromwell appeared with his Puritan Ascendancy Parliament army before the walls of Kilkenny City itself in Co. Kilkenny in the south - west of Southern Leinster.
March 28th:
Oliver Cromwell's
Puritan Parliament forces had been laying siege to
Kilkenny City
in
Co. Kilkenny
in
Southern Leinster
for 5
days, and one of his
Puritan
commanders,
Axtel, had also attacked
James
"Black Tom" Butler's
Ormonde Castle at Grannagh on the
River Suir,
and as well was to capture the
Ballyshawnmore Castle to the south of
Gowran and Kilkenny City
was then also taken
with further Puritan Parliamentary reinforcements under Henry Ireton, another of
Oliver Cromwell's Puritan
commanders, who was also his son - in - law, and
nearby the besieged
Callan Castle,
and the town of Callan itself were also taken. Oliver Cromwell was to
lose more of his Puritan forces while capturing Kilkenny City then he had previously lost taking the town of Drogheda
in
Co. Louth
in the north - east of
Northern Leinster, and during the conflict the 13th Century AD St. Canice's Cathedral there, and the
100 foot high Round Tower, were almost completely destroyed. (They have since been
restored.)
April 20th: David Rothe the Anglo - Irish Catholic Bishop of Ossory in Co. Kilkenny in the south - west of Southern Leinster, who had been greatly involved in supporting the Irish Confederacy, died during this period, whose all out commitment to the Catholic Irish cause is commemorated in St. Canice's Cathedral.
April:
Oliver Cromwell
and his English Puritan Ascendancy Parliamentary
forces now moved onto the
Munster Province
nearby, and laid siege
to
and captured, the town of
Clonmel
in
Co. Tipperary
in the north - east
of
Munster,
where
due to the strong
Irish
resistance there he was to lose another
2,000 of his Puritan forces in a long drawn out battle
against the
Irish
Families
there
under
the leadership of
Eogan Ruadh
/ Owen "Roe"
O Niall
who was also able to escape himself during the night into
Co. Wexford
nearby
into the south - east of
Southern
Leinster.
King
John's Castle
at
Shannon Bridge
in
Co. Limerick
in the mid - north -
west of Munster, was
also destroyed by Oliver Cromwell's
Puritan forces,
and it would later be also brought back to its former glory, when it would undergo a rebuilding
programme in the 20th Century AD by the
Irish Government.
Henry Ireton,
Oliver Cromwell's
son - in - law and Puritan commander, who was the cavalry
leader of the English Ascendancy Puritan Parliamentary
forces attacked
the castle
at Ard Finnan in
Co. Tipperary
also, in the north - east of the Munster
Province,
(It had been originally constructed there by
the English Plantagenet King,
John,) with his English cannon, and also destroyed the castle at
Fethard
where
the ruins are also still there to be seen and they then burnt the fortress stronghold of the
Heremonian Cu
Corb O Dwyers
of
Killenlure Castle there in
Co. Tipperary,
and destroyed the
Heberian Dal gCais
Ui Turlogh
O Kennedy's
Franciscan Friary
there at
Nenagh
also.
At Knockshegaowna, where the land was surrounded by Loch Derg,
the Ballingarry Castle
of the
O Kennedys
was also put under siege by Oliver Cromwell's Puritan forces, but the
Irish
forces there were able to drive them off, until they eventually had to capitulate
after
they were eventually starved out.
May 26th: Oliver Cromwell
was sure that he had by now broken all signs of any real
Irish resistance, so he left
behind two of his son - in - laws and their Puritan Parliamentary forces, to carry out
any further destruction in
Ireland
with Henry Ireton, who was
previously his second
in command, appointed the new
Puritan
Ascendancy Parliamentary Commander - in - Chief
to act as the English Lord Deputy in
Ireland
for Oliver Cromwell, to continue on with
their obliteration tactics on the
Irish
Families
for another
two years.
The
Lowland
Scottish Presbyterians
in
Scotland
wanted a Covenant of a
separate
Scottish
Parliament and
their own
Presbyterian religion, and this was
to be agreed to by the real "survivor,"
Charles
the Prince of Wales,
the son of the recently deceased Charles 1st,
who was now in France, to gain their support later on when he would become
Charles 11
when all of those in control in
Ireland
and
Scotland
would declare for the return of the English Monarchy and as
Charles
the Prince of Wales was now also relying on future Scottish support, he also
publicly denounced the
previous
Treaty
arranged by James "Black Tom" Butler
the 1st Marquis of Ormonde whop had been his Royalist commander in
Ireland,
in
January 1649 AD with the
Irish Confederation.
This would now also undermine
James "Black Tom" Butler's
position with the
Irish Confederation
who would
now have to
try to convince the leaders
that the future
Charles 11
had really only made the Treaty
with the Lowland Presbyterians as another of his "survival" tactics while
he was under pressure, to ensure
their future support so as to regain the English throne. James "Black Tom"
Butler was now made well aware that the
Irish
and the Anglo
-
Irish
/ Old English could
never trust the
word of the future holder of the English Crown, and
any further unity
with the Royalist forces was now well and truly out of the question.
August: The City of
Waterford on the coast in
Co. Waterford
in the south - east of the
Munster Province
finally caved in to Oliver
Cromwell's
Puritan
forces, but the Cities of
Limerick
in
Co.
Limerick
in the mid - north - west of
Munster, and
the City of Galway in
Co. Galway
in
Southern Connacht
were to continue to hold
their resistant positions.
October:
Oliver Cromwell
appointed 4 Puritan Parliamentarian
Commissioners to control the whole of
Ireland
for the English Puritan Ascendancy Parliament in
England.
December 11th: James
"Black Tom" Butler the
1st Marquis of Ormonde,
also handed over control of the Royalist
forces to his deputy,
Burke the Anglo - Irish Earl of Clann Rickarde and
left for
France, and although
Burke was an
Irish Catholic the
Irish Confederation members, who
still had 30,000 men to continue on with the
Irish resistance
to the Puritan take over in
Ireland,
had no faith in him as he also originally refused to take the
Irish Confederation "Oath of Association"
and they were now well aware that Charles
IV,
the Duke of Lorraine in France, was now the only hope for the Catholic
Irish Confederation
and they turned to him to become the protector of
Ireland
against the Puritan Ascendancy Parliament in England, but he would not commit any troops,
although he did send arms and money to assist them.
During this period Killenure Castle was constructed between Cashel and Tipperary in Co. Tipperary in the north - east of the Munster, Province.
The English Earl of Longford was also to build a castle in the previous ancient territory there of the Gaelic Milesian Irian O Farrells / O Ferrells at Longford in Co. Longford in the north - west of Northern Leinster.
The Irish Families were by now really feeling the pressure
of their existence as a separate people, and
Duald Mac Firbis
/
Dubhaltach
Mac Firbhisigh
from the Dal Cuinn "northern"
Ui Fiachrach
Muadh
Ui Dubhda / O Dowd Sept
had begun to
compile his
"Irish Book of Genealogies"
in
Co. Galway
in
Southern Connacht,
and would continue to do so for the next 16 years
until 1666 AD as his fa