Ireland Personal Rule

• English involvement in Ireland began

  1169
• Ireland was divided among its various lords and the more systematic attempt by Henry VIII to control Ireland
• Irish people resented English control and it led to unsuccessful rebellions e.g., Nine Year's War
• Groups in Ireland

  • The Irish (Catholics)
  • Old English (Catholic)
  • New English (Protestant Settlers)
  • Scottish (Presbyterians)
• In the north of Ireland there was "plantation" in which land was taken by the English Crown and given to English settlers
• English control was limited to Dublin
• Wentworth

  Appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1632, his role was to stand outside the different factions to rule them
• Wentworth succeeded in enhancing authority of the English Crown and church
• It allowed the English crown to get more money through increasing customs duty
• Protestants in Ireland felt threatened by Laudian reforms
• RISE OF “TOM TYRANT”

  Was an MP and was a critic of the crown

  Charles tried to stop him causing trouble by making him sheriff of Yorkshire

  • In 1627, he refused to pay force loans, but ended up abandoning his opposition
• “THROUGH” IN IRELAND

  Through was an attempt to increase authority through imposing religious conformity

  English crown was controlling Ireland’s parliament, this scared many English people because they saw Ireland as a testing ground for new policies

  • Wentworth applied this policy in Ireland. He built an Irish army for the king and introduced schemes to develop trade.
• COURT OF CASTLE CHAMBER 1637

  Wentworth got confirmation from Charles that the chamber had power to hear suits between private parties. This was to encourage ordinary citizens to complain about abuses of authority from the rick

  The chamber saw a big increase in business

  • Wentworth made full use of his powers against men who he regarded as the king’s opponents
• RELGIOUS CONFORMITY

  Wentworth introduced reforms into church

  Expelled native Catholic Irish population from lands and confiscated lands for new settlers

  • The OLD ENGLISH hated Wentworth’s policies for putting protestants on their land. NEW ENGLISH resisted Arminianism, most had a large amount of wealth
• ENGLISH VIEW

  • Castle Chamber was accused of being too brutal, they had harsh punishments like mutilating people
  • Worrying development for the English political nation. The year 1637 marked a turning point, English opposition to Charles all happened against the backdrop of the Scottish Rebellion. Nobles like Fiennes opposed ship money, he started legal action against the crown with the aim of creating a show trail. Charles ignored him.  
• HAMPDEN CASE 1637 

  • Hampden, a member of the gentry was taken to court for refusing to pay for ship money, Charles hoped this would make him look authoritative. The judgement for the crown was narrow majority, 5/12 judges agreed with Hampden. Open opposition was mainly because of Charles’ imposition of Laudianism.