The Normans came to Ireland in 1169. They had great success when they arrived here. They conquered many towns and villages throughout Ireland. They built stone castles on huge areas of land. However the Normans never succeeded in conquering the entire country. Over time these Norman settlers became known as the English and by by 1540 the English only controlled a part of Ireland called the Pale. The area included Dublin and parts of Kildare, Meath and Louth. Within the Pale many Irish still lived but they felt no royalty to their English rulers.
The Pale
What was Plantation?
In the 16-century the English were seeking to extend their control over Ireland. One of the ways they tried to do this was to drive the Irish landowners off their land and replace them with English or Scottish settlers. Between the 1540’s and the 1650’s Four Plantations took place in Ireland.
| Plantation | RULER WHO ORDERED IT. |
| PLANTATION OF LAOIS AND OFFALY IN 1556. | QUEEN MARY I |
| PLANTATION OF MUNSTER IN 1586. | QUEEN ELIZABETH I |
| PLANTATION OF ULSTER IN 1609. | KING JAMES I |
| CROMWELLIAN PLANTATION IN 1652. | OLIVER CROMWELL |
Laois Offaly Plantation
The first Plantation took place because two families, the O’Moores who ruled Laois and the O’Connors who ruled Offaly were proving to be troublesome to the English. These were constantly raiding The Pale (stealing cattle) and they had to be dealt with.
Meanwhile in England a new queen had taken over. She ordered that the O’Moores and O’Connors be driven from their land. She renamed Offaly Kings County and Laois Queens County. Portlaoise was renamed Maryborough after Mary and Daingain in Offaly was remained Philipstown after her husband Philip.
Queen Mary wanted to put people on this new land that was loyal top their English rulers. The land was divided up among loyal English and Scottish people. This became known as the Plantation of Laois and Offaly. The people who came were known as Planters.
- These people were told to bring English workers and servants
- They were not allowed to use Irish servants or workers
- They had to set up towns and villages
- they had to arm themselves for defence
- They could not mix or marry the Irish
Aim of Laois Offaly Plantation
- Punish the rebels for attacking the Pale and make rebellion in Ireland undesirable.
- That the armed soldiers would control the Irish
- That the Irish would become Protestants
- Obey English Laws and use the English language instead of the Irish Language
Outcome of the Plantation
The Plantation was not very successful, for the following reasons;
· The O Moores and the O Connors terrorised the Planters who had taken their land.
· The Planters were unable to attract workers from England and had to employ Irish labourers.
· More money was spent protecting the Planters than was raised by them.
THE PLANTATION OF MUNSTER 1586
Queen Mary died in 1558 and her half sister Elizabeth became queen and she ruled until 1603.Elizabeth was a Protestant and she wanted the people of Ireland become Protestant.
The Fitzgeralds of Desmond was the most powerful family in Munster. Their leader was the Earl of Desmond.
He was Catholic and Queen Elizabeth was afraid that the Pope and Spanish (who were Catholic)would send him troops to help defeat the English. Queen Elizabeth needed a reason to rage a war on him. There was a dispute over the land border between the Butlers of Ormond and the Fitzgeralds of Desmond. The queen summoned both leaders to London and she obviously took the side of the Butlers and locked the Earl of Desmond up in the Tower of London. The Fitzgeralds became very annoyed to hear their leader was locked up and they decided to fight to get their boundary back.
In 1581 Elizabeth sent her army into Munster to deal with the situation. The English army laid waste to the whole of Munster, destroying farms, killing livestock and wiping out the peoples’ ability to feed themselves. A famine resulted killing 30,000 people and the Earl of Desmond was captured and executed. To ensure the future peace of Munster Queen Elizabeth I decided to carry out a Plantation.
How the Plantation Worked; The Government divided the Earl of Desmonds’ land into 35 huge holdings. These holdings were granted to army officers and government officials and favourites of Queen Elizabeth. One of these was Sir Walter Raleigh who was granted 42,000 acres near Youghal in Co. Cork.
These people were called Undertakers, because they undertook to fulfil certain conditions;
- To bring in English workers.
- To employ English farming methods.
- To maintain a part-time army to protect the Plantation.
- Follow English Customs
- Not to marry Irish people
- To build a defensive enclosure.
Outcome of the Munster Plantation
The Plantation of Munster did not work as well as was hoped. The land was so badly damaged as a result of the war and the famine that it was difficult to farm. The Irish, who had been driven from their land, constantly attacked the Planters. Due to these attacks most of the Planters fled back to England. Those who remained behind had to employ Irish workers and even rent out land to them. Also the Planters did not give enough money to support the parttime army and it was never strong enough. On the plus side however new towns such as Bandon and Killarney were established and new industries such as a timber export business were set up. The Irish way of farming where cattle with big herds roaming freely around the country was ended. Hedges and ditches were built around fields.
The crown learned valuable lessons from the Plantation and these were to be seen in the next Plantation in Ulster.
The Ulster Plantation
Between 1594 and 1603 the leading Chieftains in Ulster, Hugh O Neill and Hugh O Donnell. They were known as the Two Hughs.
They led a rebellion against Queen Elizabeth. This was known as the Nine Years War and included some spectacular victories.
The two Hughs were anxious to get help from abroad to help defeat the English Army. They contacted the King of Spain. He sent troops and they were supposed to land somewhere in Ulster but unfortunately they landed in Kinsale, Co.Cork which was hundreds of miles away. The two Hughs army marched South to meet the Spanish troops. It was such a long march and they were exhausted. A huge battle took place in Kinsale on Christmas day 1601 and the Ulster and Spanish armies suffered a major defeat.
The two Hughs returned to Ulster with their powers now in decline. Every day that passed they and many other Ulster chiefs feared they would be killed by English soldiers. Eventually they and 100’s of Ulster chiefs decided to flee Ulster for countries such as Spain and Italy. This became known as The Flight of the Earls.
The lands of the Earls were confiscated and prepared for a massive Plantation of Ulster .
King James I of England was determined to avoid the mistakes of the previous Plantations.
Under the rules drawn up there were three types of Planters.
- Undertakers – English or Scottish Gentleman to receive estates of between 400 and 800 hectares at the cost of €6.00 per year to the King. The Undertaker had to build a Castle, Stone house or Bawn and they could only take English or Scottish tenants, which they had to bring with them from Britain.
- Servitors – They were soldiers who were rewarded for their brave service during the 9 Years War. to receive estates of between 400 and 800 hectares at the cost of €10.00 per year to the King. The Servitor had to build a Stone House or Bawn. They were allowed to take Irish tenants and this meant they had an easier time than the Undertakers.
- Deserving Irish – Irish men who had remained loyal to the Crown during the nine years war to receive estates of 400 hectares at the cost of €12.70 per year to the King. They were allowed to take Irish tenants also.
The Ulster Planation was the most successful Plantation. The Plantation transformed the face of Ulster which remains to this day. Over 50,000 British settlers came to live in Ulster.
- Land Ownership – Almost all Irish landowners lost their land. The Planters became the new landowning class. They became very wealthy and enforced the law. They helped the British control Ulster until the 20 Century.
- The Countryside – The Planters cleared forests and drained the land. Farming for profit replaced the subsistence farming of the Irish. Wheat, Barley, Oats and Potatoes were grown for sale. New styles of housing of stone and slated roofs were introduced.
- Towns – The Government built 16 new towns in Ulster including Donegal, Dungannon and Enniskillen. Each town had a central square or Diamond. A network of roads was built to link the towns.
The native Irish were forbidden to live in them.
- Religion – The Scottish settlers were Presbyterians while the English settlers were Anglican. This created a Protestant majority. This created high religious tension with the Catholics, which continues to this day.
- Culture – The Irish way of dress and living was banned by law. English language, music, dancing and fashions became more widely used as Gaelic culture faded away.
Derry
King James made a special arrangement for the county of Derry. He got 12 London companies to invest money in buying land in Derry. They divided the land between them and called it Co. Londonderry. A large wall was built around the city of Derry. Any Irish people living inside that wall were forced to move outside that wall. Most Irish went to live in an area called the Bogside which is just outside the walls of Derry.
