The Plantations
Background
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In the 1500's Ireland was supposedly ruled by the English Crown however in reality only a small area of Ireland around Dublin called the Pale was loyal to the king
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In the Pale English law and custom was followed
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The rest of Ireland was ruled by Gaelic chieftans and the Anglo-Norman lords
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The Gaelic chieftans did not follow any English law or customs instead they followed their own Brehon law e.g o'Neills and o'Donnels
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The Anglo-Norman lords such as the Fitzgeralds of Kildare were descendants of the Normans and controlled large areas of Munster and some parts of Leinster
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When the Tudor kings in England came to power they were short of money to pay for wars over seas. As a result they decided to conquer Ireland, turn it into a protestant country and make the irish pay taxes
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The English got the idea of plantations from the new world where the Spanish Conquistadors forced the natives off their lands and turned them into slaves
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An example of this can be seen when Henry the 8th tricked the Earls of Kildares (An Anglo-Norman lord) son "Silken Thomas" into rebelling. 2,000 soldiers, cannons and gunpowder were sent to Maynooth castle and Thomas surrendered. He, his father and 5 uncles were all executed and their lands confiscated. It was an important victory but an expensive one.
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The laois-Offaly Plantation
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The Gaelic Chieftans the O'Moores and the O'Connors were constantly raiding the Pale and in retaliation the English confiscated their lands
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The English settlers were invited to Ireland and the land was divided amongst 80 of them
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Laois was renamed kings county and Offaly Queens county. Each was ruled by a sheriff
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However the planation was a failure as many of the settlers who arrived quickly returned as the O'Moores and the O'Connors constantly attacked
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The land had to be given to the "Loyal Irish" which went against the idea of the planations as only English settlers should have been given land
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The O'Moores and o'Connels continued to raid the settlements
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The laois offaly plantation started by Queen Mary was a complete failure but it was thought to be a good one if improved upon
Left: King Henry VIII was responsible for the death of The Earl of Kildare, his son and brothers, when he tricked his son into commiting treason
Right: A map of Ireland during the 16th century showing the land controlled by the English, Irish Chieftans and Anglo-Norman Lords
The Munster Plantation:
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Munster was ruled by the Fitzgeralds, who resisted all attempts made by the English to make them follow their customs, laws and change to protestanism
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James Fitzmaurice Fitzgeralds led a rebellion against the English and persuaded the Pope to send trops to help him.
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The rebellion was brutally put down.-All the leaders were executed (beheaded) and their lands confiscated after years of war.
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The lands conficated were surveyed and mapped and there were around 300,000 acres of land available
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They decided to divide it into estates of 4,000, 6,000, 8,000 and 12,000 acres and give it to undertakers who promised to do certain things
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They promised to: Employ only English tenants and workers
Be able to defend themselves after 7 years
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However. problems arose: Not enough settlers and workers came to Ireland and land had to be rented to the Irish and many settlers that came to Ireland returned
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Yet, some aspects of this plantaion were successful, such as the construction of new towns such as Youghal, Bandon, Mallow and Lismore
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New, stronger breeds of English cattle were introduced
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New industries were introduced:The tree felling industry provided the barrel-making trade with resources and tallow was used to make candles
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Even though the Munster Plantation was not a complete success it was far more successful than the Laois-Offaly plantation.
