Plantations

• The Pale


  The area around Dublin directly under the control of the English Crown, the base of English power in Ireland
• In the Pale, the English language, customs, dress, farming methods (mainly crop farming) and laws were practised
• Only the Pale was fully under the Crown's control
• Those living in the Pale by the early 1500s


  • Included a great many English merchants or administrators, who were loyal to the English Crown
• The Reformation in England

  Led to increased tension between the Gaelic Irish, the Anglo-Irish and the English who lived in the Pale
• Anglo-Irish


  The descendants of the Anglo-Normans who had invaded Ireland in the twelfth century
• Anglo-Irish by 1500


  • Had adopted the Gaelic traditions and laws as well as the English ones
  • Became independent of the English Crown
  • Examples of powerful Anglo-Irish families: the Fitzgeralds of Kildare, the Butlers of Ormond/Kilkenny and the Fitzgeralds of Munster
• From 1468 onwards, the Lord Deputy (the king's representative in Ireland) was from an Anglo-Irish family
• Gaelic Irish


  The Gaelic chieftains who followed Irish law (known as Brehon law)
• Brehon laws


  • Gaelic Irish laws dating back as far as the Iron Age, a civil rather than a criminal code dealing with fines for harm caused and rules about property, leadership, marriage and other contracts
• The Gaelic Irish did not recognise the English king as ruler of Ireland
• The Gaelic Irish feared that the Crown would try to expand its control over Ireland and therefore disliked and attacked English settlers
• Powerful Gaelic Irish families (clans)

  • The O'Neills of Tyrone, the O'Donnells of Donegal and the MacCarthys of Cork
• To spread English customs, culture and laws, seen as superior to those of the Gaelic Irish, who were portrayed as being barbaric and unable to look after themselves
• To spread their new religion (Protestantism) in Ireland
• To prevent the Catholic Gaelic Irish forming an alliance with other Catholic countries, such as Spain, and offering Ireland as a base from which to attack England
• To prevent further rebellions, such as the Fitzgerald rebellion of 1534 begun by the Lord Deputy's own son Thomas Fitzgerald, or 'Silken Thomas'
• To save money, as planting settlers in Ireland would be cheaper in the long term than paying soldiers to protect the English already in Ireland
• Surrender and regrant


  A policy where Anglo-Irish and Gaelic Irish rulers surrendered themselves and their lands to Henry VIII, who would grant their land back to them along with an English title
• Titles such as earl, lord and baron were given to local rulers who acknowledged Henry VIII as King of Ireland, accepted that he had a legal right to their land and promised their loyalty to him
• Henry VIII could confiscate the lords' land if their behaviour angered him
• Land was passed directly from father to son in the English system known as succession, previously under Brehon law a clan chose its own leader and owned all its land as a group, not divided up individually
• This led to increased wealth and power for certain families
• The Crown had hoped for 20,000 settlers in the Munster Plantation, but only one-fifth of that number went
• The Gaelic Irish continued to attack the plantations
• New towns were set up (for example, Killarney, Lismore, Youghal, Mallow and Bandon), which became centres of trade
• New farming methods were brought to Ireland, and tillage (crop farming) grew in popularity
• New trades came to Ireland, such as coopering (making timber barrels)
• Lessons were learned for future plantations
• Munster Plantation


  An attempt by Queen Elizabeth I to encourage Englishmen known as 'adventurers' to claim land in Munster, and to appoint presidents to impose English law, English language and the Protestant religion
• The Irish lords were angered by this, and two rebellions (the Desmond Rebellions) followed
• The Desmond Rebellions


  1. First rebellion in 1569 led by James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald, put down easily

  2. Second rebellion in 1579 began when Fitzgerald returned to Ireland with soldiers sent by Pope Gregory XIII, soon killed but his cousin the Earl of Desmond took over, finally defeated in 1583
• The Desmond lands were given to undertakers, men who undertook (agreed) to do as they were told with the land given to them
• What undertakers agreed to do

  • Split the land into enormous estates of 4,000-12,000 acres
  • Only hire English farmers, labourers and craftsmen
  • Bring their own tenants, servants, sheep, cattle and horses from England
  • Pay rent to the Crown
  • Spread Protestantism and English laws and customs
  • Be prepared for Catholic attacks, including a possible Spanish invasion, and construct defences
  • Completely remove the Gaelic Irish from the land
• The Plantations


  1. English and Scottish settlers intentionally moved to Ireland

  2. The purpose was to gain control and promote their religious beliefs

  3. This was organized by the English government in the 16th and 17th centuries

  4. Irish landowners were pushed out and settlers were given their land

  5. The settlers brought new systems for law, money, and government
• These changes had long-term effects on Irish society, politics
• English settlers


  Wanted to establish control and expand their influence in Ireland
• The English government


  Desired to consolidate power and assert dominance over Irish land
• Irish land was seized and redistributed to English settlers


  Leading to the displacement of many native Irish people
• The plantations disrupted traditional Irish society and caused tensions between the English settlers and the native Irish population