The Rise and Fall of Protestantism in Ireland, 1534–1603

Abstract

The sixteenth century in Ireland witnessed great turmoil and uncertainty. Throughout the century English monarchs sought to increase control over their Irish colonies, and in the process exported to Ireland many of the same problems that existed in Tudor England — problems of constitutionalism, of the relationship between the crown and local government, and above all, the problem of religious conformity.1 Just as the changing religious climate brought about by the turbulence of the Tudor succession affected political alignments in England, so also was the case in Ireland.2 Issues of political, cultural, social, and religious identity became increasingly confused, as elements from each area became entangled in a great morass of shifting definitions. Did being English necessarily mean being Protestant? Was there a difference between those who spoke Gaelic in the towns as opposed to those in the rural hinterlands? Was someone who spoke English but who was born in Ireland more politically suspect than a transplanted settler who was born in England? It would take over a century before popular rhetoric had produced some sort of consensus on these questions. During the sixteenth century, however, both government policy and popular attitudes appear confused, inconsistent, and subject to extreme variation in interpretation. To simplify discussion, the terms that would come to be used in the seventeenth century will be used here: ‘Old Irish’ or ‘Gaelic-Irish;’ ‘Old English;’ and ‘New English.’ It must be noted, though, that these specific terms were not used in any systematic sense during the sixteenth century.3KeywordsSeventeenth CenturySixteenth CenturyIrish PopulationReligious ObservanceEnglish CommunityThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.