** Iriush rebellion of 1641








England and Ireland: Irish Rebellion of 1641


Figure 1.--The Cathlic Irish rebellion of 1641 involved terrible atrocities against the Protestant settlers in the Ulster Plantations. Protestant propagandits infkated the numbers, but about a third of the settlers were killed including some armed settlers who resisted. It is difficult to know of imcidents like this occurred, but there was terrible slaughter and there is mno evidence to suggest atht children were spared. After the actions in Ulster, the rebels moved south and came close to driving the English from Ireland before Cromwells anf his New Model Army invaded Ireland (1649).

Just before the outbrek of the English Civil War and the disasters to follow, the disposed Irish Catholics rose up against the English Protestant settlers who we now call the Scotts Irish in Ulster (October 1641). The circumstance are not well understood, especially just why the rebellion occured in 1641. The rebellion has been portrayed by Protestants as a vicious Catholic slaughter. Catholics have viewed it as a justified response to repression. The truth of course lies somewhere in between. [Gibney]The Ulster Plantation began (1610). Just what set the Irish off in 1641 is unknown. Some argue that it was the accumation of grevinces and the dispossed Irish were pushed too far. Others suggest that the prospect of a Puritan ominated England was seen as an existential threat to Catholic Irelandand the onset of religious persecution in Ireland. The 1641 rising may have a pre-emptive strike by Catholic Ireland in an effort to end Protestant control. Smoldering resentment combined with relgious differences ia atoxix brew. One of the many relgious wars of the 17th century. There is no doubt, however, that it proved to be one of the bloodiest episodes in Irish history. The dominant view is that the Irish apparently blamed the new Protestant settlers for their desperate plight. Some modern scholars maitain that substantial economic and social interaction developed between the Protestant settlers and the Catholic indigenous population. This is an issue that has yet to be resolved. There is no doubt, however, that the Catholic rebels surprised Protestant settlers who had no inkling of the rising and they massacring the Protestant settlers in large numbers. The numbers of Protestant victims was inflated to several hundreds of thousands by Protestant authors to far exceed the number of settlers. The Protestant settler population is known to a fair degree of accuracy and was about 40,000. Modern scholars place the massacres at abour 12,000 about a third of the settler population. Somf the feaths weremilitary casualties and not hystr the slaughter of the defenless which apparently was very substantial. The rebellion actualy lasted akmost a decade. What began in Ulster sporead south. The rebels were joined by some of their Old English co-religionists. The rebels came close to ending English control of Ireland. Owen Roe O'Neill led the Catholic rebels in Ulster to victory at the battle of Benburb (County Tyrone) (1646). The main Protestant army in Ireland was basically destroyed. The rebels do not seem to have attacked the Old English estanlishment as they did the setters in Ulster. Then the Lord Protector Oliver Crowwell after victories in the English Civil War led his New Model Army into Ireland (1649). The slauhter of the Catholic population of Drogheda and Wexford were added to the bloody history of Ireland






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Created: 6:02 AM 9/26/2012
Last updated: 6:02 AM 9/26/2012