1. Christianity and
Identity in Ireland
Ireland into the
Eighteenth Century

2. Recap.
• 4 Distinctive Communities inhabiting Ireland
– Gaelic Irish (Catholic, politically weak)
– Old English (Catholic, still wary of Gaelic Irish, increasingly
disenfranchised)
– New English (Protestant: Puritan CoI, disproportionately
powerful)
– Scots Settlers (Protestant: Presbyterian, worship in Puritan
CoI [no presbytery!], close links to Scotland)
• 30 Years War on Continent, 1618-1648 (Catholic
Europe vs. Protestant Europe, 1000s of mercenaries
recruited from both Ireland and Scotland)
• Charles I king of 3 sovereign Kingdoms, but
increasingly unpopular

3. Ulster Rising/Rebellion
• 1638: Scots Covenant
• 1639: Bishops War
• 1641: Parliament recalled headed by John
Pym
– “Godly Government”
– Anti-catholic policies
– Massachusetts is example
• How would Catholic Ireland view this? What
‘success story’ could they look to for an example?
• Rebellion planned by three Irish MPs, Sir
Phelim O’Neill, Owen Roe O’Neill and
Lord Maguire
• 23rd Octoboer: soon deteriorates into bitter
sectarian fighting, why?
• Sir John Temple’s Irish Rebellion (1646)
claimed 120,000 Protestants killed.
– More than are actually in the country.
• Perhaps accurate number 3-5,000

7. 1. What do these woodcuts remind you of?
2. How was this propaganda likely to affect
popular Puritan opinion?

8. Confederacy and Civil War
• June 1642: Confederate Oath
of Association
“Ireland united for God, King and
Country”

9. I, A.B., do profess, swear, and protest before God and His saints and angels, the I will, during
my life, bear true faith and allegiance to my Sovereign Lord, Charles, by the grace of God,
King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, and to his heirs and lawful successors; and that I
will, to my power, during my life, defend, uphold and maintain, all his and their just
prerogatives, estates, and rights, the power and privilege of the Parliament of this realm, the
fundamental laws of Ireland, the free exercise of the Roman Catholic faith and religion
throughout this land; and the lives, just liberties, possessions, estates, and rights of all those
that have taken, or that shall take this Oath, and perform the contents thereof; and that I will
obey and ratify all the orders and decrees made, and to be made, by the Supreme Council of
the Confederate Catholics of this Kingdom, concerning the said public cause; and I will not
seek, directly or indirectly, any pardon or protection for any act done, or to be done, touching
this general cause, without the consent of the major part of the said Council; and that I will
not, directly or indirectly, do any act or acts that shall prejudice the said cause, but will, to the
hazard of my life and estate, assist, prosecute and maintain the same.
Moreover, I do further swear that I will not accept of, or submit unto any peace, made, or to
be made, with the said Confederate Catholics, without the consent and approbation of the
General Assembly of the said Confederate Catholics, and for the preservation and
strengthening of the association and union of the kingdom. That upon any peace or
accommodation to be made, or concluded with the said Confederate Catholics as aforesaid, I
will, to the utmost of my power, insist upon and maintain the ensuing propositions, until a
peace, as aforesaid, be made, and the matters to be agreed upon in the articles of peace be
established and secured by Parliament.
So help me God and His holy gospel.

10. Confederacy and Civil War
• June 1642: Confederate Oath
of Association
• What does this document remind you
of?
• Oct. 1642, Confederation meet
in Kilkenny
– 4 provincial armies
– Mint
– Printing press
– Tax Collection
– Supply provision
– Foreign diplomacy
“Ireland united for God, King and • First successful autonomous
Country” government in Irish history

11. Civil War in England
• Aug 1642: Charles raises royal standard
in Nottingham
• At war with Parliament
• Appoints Earl of Ormond (Irish-
Protestant Royalist) to negotiate with
Confederacy
• Reluctant to come to terms and accept
help. Why?
• June 1645: Parliament win major victory
at Naseby with Fairfax and Cromwell’s
New Model Army
• Charles seeks help from Confederates
• 12th Oct 1645: Papal nuncio Rinuccini
arrives
• Why is he outraged at willingness of
confederacy to offer support to Charles?
• Rinuccini threatens excommunication
• Splits confederacy

12. Cromwell in Ireland
• June 1647: Michael Jones arrives in
Dublin with Parliamentary force
– Battle of Dungan’s hill
• Country descends into chaos
• Dec 1647: Charles escapes prison,
signs “Engagement” with Scots
• Presbyterianism seen by Parliament
as threat to “liberty”. What does this
mean?
• Putney Debates
• Parliament makes war on Scotland
• 30 Jan 1649: Charles beheaded
• Aug 1649: Cromwell arrives in
Ireland with 20,000 Ironsides
– Massacres in Drogheda and
Wexford
– Why?

13. Cromwellian Ireland
• John Morrill, “Britain’s
wars of religion”
• Cromwell wanted to
establish a godly
commonwealth
• Ireland was seen as a
“blank sheet” to paint
a “New Jerusalem”
– 20-40% of Irish
population of 1.5mil.
died in war

14. Cromwellian Ireland
• 1652: Act of Settlement
• Colonisation and Anglicisation,
Independent Churches
• Fines for Recusancy
• Anti-Catholicism – bounty for
wolves and priests
• Transportation – 40,000
soldiers, priests, school
teachers, “vagrants”
• Transplantation
• Change in land ownership
– 1641: 60% held by Catholics
– 1660: only 20%

15. Restoration in Ireland
• 1660 Commonwealth collapsed and invited
Charles II to return
• Expectations for both Protestants and Catholics
in Ireland
• Cromwell’s soldiers wanted to keep land
• Irish desired to be restored to what they lost
fighting for:
• Religion
• King
• Ormond, Lord Lieutenant:
‘there must be new discoveries of a new Ireland, for
the old will not serve to satisfy these engagements’.

16. • All Protestant Parliament (75% of 2
mil. population Catholic!)
• Status quo except for ‘Innocents’
• Specific Royalists
• Court of Claims to discern who
was innocent
• 500 innocent Catholic landowners
• Too many innocent!
• Ireland increasingly treated
economically as another Atlantic
colony

17. ‘The catholics of Ireland...lost their estates
in the great rebellion, for fighting in
defence of their king., whilst the
schismatics, who cut off the father’s head,
forced the son to fly for his life, and
overturned the whole ancient frame of
government...obtained grants of those
estates the catholics lost in defence of the
ancient constitution, and thus they gained
by their rebellion what the catholics lost by
their loyalty’.
-Jonathan Swift

18. James II: 1685-1688
• James was a Catholic, this raised
hopes in Ireland, but
– Upheld CoI
– Refused to budge on land question
• yet: appointed Richard Talbot, earl
of Tyrconnell LD
• Pro-Catholic policy in Dublin
Castle
• Tyrconnell willing to reopen land
question
• James was tolerated by Parliament
• June 1688: his wife gives birth to a
son
• Nov 1688: William of Orange lands
in Devon
• James flees and sets up court-in-
exile in France

19. James II: 1685-1688
• French encourage James to
use his kingdom of Ireland as
a base to go to war with
William, why?
• Apr 1689: Siege of Derry
• May 1689: General
Schomberg arrives in Foyle
with Danish mercenaries
• June 1690: William arrives at
Carrickfergus
• 12th July 1690: Battle of the
Boyne
– Indecisive but clear that James
will not win the war

20. James II: 1685-1688
• Irish initially shown
leniency by William
(Galway Treaty), yet
France encouraged them
to keep fighting, why?
• 3 Oct 1691: war ends,
Articles of Limerick
• William ready to still
show leniency but
Protestant Irish fudge
treaty

21. Penal Laws: 1692-1705
• Westminster favoured a strong • 1695: Catholic disabilities
(though limited) Protestant – No catholic institutions of education
elite – No arms carrying
• Penal laws ensured that CoI – No horses worth more than £5
Protestants were first class • 1697: act of banishment
citizens and that Catholics (and – Bishops and regular clergy banished
– Undercover bishops appointed by
dissenters!) were rendered James (Donnelly of Armagh)
harmless – 1000s of secular clergy allowed to stay,
• Background: War with France, why?
Irish continued contact with • 1704: Popery Act
Stuart court in France – No catholic to buy land
– Leases limited to 31 years
• Catholics essentially banished – Estate divided between all sons
from cities – Protestant heirs to receive all land
• Also: Introduction of the – No Catholics to act as guardians
potato complicated matters by • 1709: oath of abjuration
causing population explosion – Essentially disenfranchises entire
catholic population

22. ‘I A.B. do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of God, Profess,
Testify, and Declare, That I do believe, That in the Sacrament of the
Lord's Supper there is not any Transubstantiation of the Elements of
Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, at, or after the
Consecration thereof by any person whatsoever; And that the
Invocation or Adoration of the Virgin Mary, or any other Saint, and
the Sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now used in the Church
of Rome, are Superstitious and Idolatrous.’

23. Construction of Catholic-
Irish Identity
•Continentally trained Catholic Clergy wrote popular Gaelic
poetry
•5 sectarian poems from 1650-70 re-published and
distributed in bi-lingual versions to elites and clergy through
18th/19th centuries
•Played on Gael (Irish language speaker) and Gall
(foreigner)
•10 surving manuscripts = ‘popular tradition’, 242 copies of
‘Ireland’s Dirge’ (c. 1655) survive!
•This combines in the late 17th/18th century with
developments in political philosophy to GRADUALLY
create an idea of CATHOLIC NATIONHOOD

24. Extracts from An Síogaí Rómhánach (The
Roman Vision) c. 1650
…Then none shall league with the Saxon,
Nor with the bare-faced Scot,
Then shall Erin be freed from settlers,
Then shall perish the Saxon tongue
The Gaels in arms shall triumph
Over the crafty, thieving, false sect of Calvin…
…True faith shall be uncontrolled;
The people shall be rightly taught
By friars, bishops, priests and clerics…

25. Irish = Gaelic
Irish = Catholic

26. • Catholic forced to meet in illegal mass-houses
or ‘sacathlans’
• 18th century actually witnesses a rejuvenation in
Irish Catholicism
• 1760: Pope refutes the Stuart dynasty’s claim to
the British and Irish throne (1707 – act of
union!)
• Populaiton growth and renewed war with
France forces a change in policy in ‘On Sunday, 30th May 1784, St Mary's was
Westminster opened in Crooked Lane (now Chapel Lane).
This was the first Catholic Church in Belfast
• Catholicism legalized in 1782
and it was built at a time when there was a
• This combines with the spirit of strong ecumenical spirit within the town.
“Enlightenment” and Progress” Indeed, its Protestant inhabitants contributed
substantially towards the cost of the building
• Legal churches built and the 1st Belfast Volunteer Company, under
the command of Captain Waddell
• St. Mary’s built in Belfast in 1784 Cunningham, lined the Chapel yard as a guard
• 1782 census recorded 365 Catholics living in of honour, in full dress, and presented arms to
Belfast the priest as he passed into the Chapel.’
• 1866 45,000 Catholics living in Belfast

27. Formation of Protestant
Nation
• Penal laws ensured wealth was concentrated in hands
of a few CoI Protestant families
• Land: 1703: 14%
1778: 5%
• Irish Parliament becomes incredibly important
• Despite the grandeur and pomp of ascendency
Ireland, Protestant power is undeniably weak
• 1717: Dissenting Protestantism legalised (though still
prohibitions)

29. Construction of Protestant
Identity
• Markus Barth: communities form identities by
differentiation and exclusion
• Increasingly Catholicism=Gaelicism
• Protestant identity formed by:
– anti-catholicism (differentiaiton from Catholic-Gaels)
– repressive English policies which curtailed the Irish
Parliaments power (kingdom or colony?)
• William Molyneux, Jonathan Swift and others argue for
increased “Irish” independence
• Describe themselves as “THE WHOLE IRISH
NATION”

30. Formation of Protestant-
Irish Identity
•Irish historical texts were re-read by ascendency Ireland to justify their anti-
Catholicism
•The native-Irish were Catholic because they were Gaelic, and Gaels dangerous,
disloyal because they were Catholic
•James Ussher, 1620: “as Jehu said to Joram, “What peace can there be, as long as the
whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? So I must say unto them:
What peace can there be, as long as you suffer yourselves to be led by “the mother of all harlots.”
•William Temple: The Irish Rebellion, 1646 – Catholics unconvertible
•Archbishop of Armagh, 1745:
“You are to raise in your people a religious abhorrence of the Popish government and polity, for I
can never be brought to call Popery in the gross a religion… Their absurd doctrines… their
political government … make it impossible for them to give any security of their
being good governors, or good subjects in a Protestant kingdom.”
• Some attempts at conversion but hindered by lack of funds, desire and doctrine
of election (John Ricahrdson)
•Increasingly out of touch with England
•What about dissenters??