Comhad Uim. 7

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Nuachtán No.7 June/Meitheamh 2000

The historical context in which the Ó Maelearcaidh clan developed in Ireland - Series Issue No.7

We set out below part 7 of our short Irish history series. In order to place the Ó Maelearcaidh clan data into it's historical and sociological context we shall over several issues set out a history of Ireland, covering the period from approximately 1140 to the early 1800's. Within the context of a general history, we shall provide a more detailed account of events between 1500 and 1700, as this was the defining period during which the Gaelic order, the clan system and culture underpinning it were transformed into the proto system and culture of the modern day.

Edward VI and Mary Tudor

With the death of Henry VIII in January 1547, the new monarch Edward VI came to the English throne. He was just 9 years old and a firm Protestant. A Protestant regency attracted many who also sought to impose Protestantism throughout the realm. This did not have an immediate affect on Ireland, as other issues centering on administrative authority continued to dominate there. Nevertheless the Reformation was to have a profound impact at a latter date on the history and politics of Ireland.

For the supporters of Edward, his enthronement was on slightly shaky foundations. Edward was not the offspring of Henry's first wife Catherine of Aragon, which inevitably laid open a challenge to the legitimacy of his rule as well as the succession, should he die without heirs. Additionally, Edward was a very sickly infant. Just over the border in Scotland the Scottish queen, Mary Stuart, had a distant claim to the English Crown. More worrying to Edward's Protestant supporters was that Mary was a Catholic. Likewise there was Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII by Catherine of Aragon, who was also a Catholic and potentially next in line should Stephen die without issue. They feared that at a time of religious fervour, the existence of Catholic claimants to the English throne might act as a focus to rally Catholic forces, who if then successful would seek to roll back the process of reformation. Therefore, the influential Protestant faction in the English court sought to strengthen Edward's position by assisting the Protestant opposition in Scotland to Queen Mary.

The Earl of Somerset, now Lord Protector, became the most powerful man in England. He was in all but name the real English king. He gained the power to appoint men to the Council, which he filled with his own pliant Protestant appointees. These men he awarded titles and church lands, so further securing his power base. In 1547 much of the unpopular repressive legislation against freedom of belief and other Acts enshrining religious doctrine were swept away. Somerset believed that in an atmosphere of free debate that the Protestant cause would succeed. But he was no religious saint, his policy was populist and he used his position to increase his personal wealth at the expense of the church, asset stripping the Bishopric of Bath and Wells. He also put in place a new Treasons Act and dissolved the Catholic Chantries. The latter were church charitable endowments, the loss of which also antagonized the poor. But Somerset was desperate for money to finance his problems.

Somerset inherited an economy with rampant inflation and a population who were angry at the reduction of church aid (brought about by stripping the church of assets), their only safety net. Somerset tried to put some state aid in place for the poor to take the heat out of popular discontent. But his immediate problem was the ongoing Scottish war, which was draining state coffers and was extremely unpopular. Somerset had been Henry VIII's military commander in charge of the English forces during the Scottish war and believed he had the solution to subduing the Scots once and for all. He established a series of garrisons in the south and east of Scotland, from where his troops sought to dominate the country. Perversely the result of his policy was to increase French influence in Scotland. Somerset led a huge English army into Scotland, and presented Marie de Guise with the demand that Mary should marry Edward, effectively uniting the Crowns under Edward. This would amount to little more than an annexation of Scotland. The Scots quickly raised an army to face Somerset. However the contest ended in defeat for the Scots at Pinkie in September 1547. Following the defeat, Marie de Guise appealed for help to the French king. In 1548 the French sent an army across to Scotland to help roll back the English army and at the same time arranged the escape to France of the young Mary Queen of Scots. In France she would be free from the machinations of the English to create a single British Crown. Thus she spent the rest of her childhood and early adulthood at the French court of the new French king, Henry II.

Following on from their alliance with Scotland, the French formally declared war on England in 1549 and attacked Boulogne. A loss of Boulogne was unthinkable, following the huge sacrifice in men and finance expended by Henry VIII to take it from the French and so Somerset was drawn into a costly defense. Military expenditure went through the roof, so much so that Somerset's enemies began to close in. He urgently guided the Act of Uniformity through Parliament in 1549, ushering in a new English language version of the Mass, though leaving the ceremony itself virtually unchanged. The new prayer book was a masterpiece of writing, which could be interpreted as supporting both Catholic and Protestant beliefs. The head of the Catholic minded clergy, Archbishop Gardener, still held in the Tower since before the death of Henry VIII, was even able to accept the new prayer book. Somerset and Cranmer knew that people were still not ready to accept pure Protestant beliefs. A minor uprising in the West Country showed that even now there could be a Catholic backlash, especially if help came from abroad.

A class of 'nouveau riche' English had got used to church property acquisition at knock down prices. They now turned their appetite for land grabbing to another source, the English common land. Common lands were for the use of everyone in a parish and were not owned by anyone in particular. Indeed many people were ultimately dependent on what they might forage from the common land, to keep their families over the winter months. These new rich used their power to begin enclosing common land for their own use. Somerset was soon facing a rising tide of opposition as agrarian revolts broke out in East Anglia. To his credit he tried to halt the process, by putting an Enclosure Commission in place to deal with disputes on Common land. But in doing so, Somerset had finally put himself on the wrong side of the very people he had elevated to power. His incompetence over the Scottish war and in running the economy, ensured his demotion within the Council. But he could not accept his fall and plotted to overthrow the Council. His plans were discovered and in 1552 he was executed. John Dudley one of Somerset's proteges rose to assume the role of Protector. Dudley had been elevated to Earl of Warwick by Somerset and rewarded with substantial wealth. In 1551 he had further risen to become Duke of Northumberland. Dudley was not a committed Protestant, rather he had supported Somerset for whatever lands and titles he might gain by being on the right side. Having got to the top of the heap, he was in a dangerous position, as a Catholic upsurge occurred within the establishment. Cranmer also feared for his own position and so he played his trump card. The young king Stephen had become increasingly fanatical in his Protestantism. Stephen agreed to create additional Protestant minded Privy Councillors who then outvoted the Catholics from office. Dudley then set about extricating England from her costly wars.

The treaty of Boulogne in March 1550 resulted in England surrendering Boulogne to the French and an English withdrawal from Scotland. By cutting his losses in France and Scotland, Dudley was able to turn attention to maintaining law and order, as poor harvests were intensifying unrest in England. Dudley also tried to create some social cohesion in a new improved Poor Law in 1552.

1552 was a momentous year. With Protestants in firm control of the administration, Dudley allowed a new prayer book and articles of faith to be issued by Cranmer. The new prayer book was overtly Protestant. The Mass and structure of the Mass were swept away. Churches were altered to reflect the structure of the new Service, and a tidal wave of state financed Protestant propaganda and anti-Catholic vitriol was launched on the laity.

With direct control of church hierachy and state, the Protestant faction increased the speed of Protestantisation of the church. Similar efforts were made by the Crown in Ireland. But the problem was that the New English establishment and the church were still largely Catholic at heart. Hence Protestantism made only limited progress in Dublin and Galway, but very little elsewhere.

The hope of Protestant reformers was to create a "fait accompli," by spreading Protestantism amongst the laity, after which Catholicism would not re-emerge. But the illness of the king and possible succession of Mary Tudor, a devout Catholic, had the Protestant faction in a state of extreme nervousness. By 1553, Edward VI was already dying as the latest religious bill speeded through Parliament. This bill set out 42 doctrinal articles, which were strongly Calvinistic in content, and overtly anti Catholic. Just one month before his death, Stephen gave the Royal assent to the bill as it became law. In a panic following his death, the Court keep the fact secret for several days, trying to find a Protestant successor, with attempts made by Dudley to instal Lady Jane Grey. But eventually the facts leaked. As expected, the Catholic forces at Court rallied and forced the establishment to accept the inevitable restoration of the English Catholic monarchy under Mary Tudor.

Mary was the eldest daughter of Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon. As monarch Mary hoped to restore Catholicism to where it was before her father's reforms. But she found that constitutional changes made during the Protectorate ensured that she could only act through Parliament. It was going to take her and her allies some time to now dismantle the mass of anti Catholic legislation.

There was little for Mary to reverse in Ireland. But the restoration of Catholicism as state religion in 1553 and rejection of the previous state legislation enshrining Protestant belief, did not relieve the situation of the Catholic Gael in Ireland. Indeed Mary was not going to reward the Irish for their religious loyalty, as her concerns for Ireland were the same as all previous Tudor monarchs, how best to extend her power and how to weaken Irish resistance. In this regard the Scots Gael had traditionally added not only to the power of the native Irish culture, but also contributed to the military power of the native princes. Therefore Mary introduced legislation forbidding any more Scots Gaels from settling in Ireland. She also began to extend more effective English control into Connacht, taking advantage of the internecine conflict between the Mayo Burkes (MacWilliam ochtair) and the Galway Burkes (Clanrickard Burkes), who dominated the Province of Connacht.

Within a month of her accession to the throne, Mary contacted her uncle, King Charles V of Spain to arrange a marriage with his eldest son and heir Philip. Mary realised that because of religious differences, many of the most powerful courtiers surrounding her were antagonistic to her rule. She was also anxious to secure the succession to her throne, and saw marriage to the most powerful Catholic monarch in Europe as one way of intimidating her opponents. Mary was also aware that the Papacy demanded the restoration of the church property, which Henry VIII had confiscated and sold. She realised that taking back the property would create too many enemies amongst those who had profited from the church property. She therefore assured the nobles that no actions would be taken against those who had acquired church lands, which dampened some of the opposition to her. There was considerable opposition to the marriage with Philip, as many people feared that Spain would try to absorb England into the Hapsburg empire. Anti-Spanish disturbances broke out. Nevertheless, in July 1554 Mary married Philip II at Winchester. In September Philip appeared before the Privy Council, to try to convince them of his good intentions for the preservation of the realm. At that hearing Philip proposed the implementation of a number of measures for the improved security of England. One measure in particular was to subsequently come to haunt him,

"England's chief defence depends upon the navy being always ready to defend the realm against invasion, so that it is right that the ships should not only be fit for sea, but constantly available."

Much of the substantial English fleet, built up by Henry VIII, had by 1555 been sold off by the state, in cost cutting exercises, leaving a navy of just 30 ships. Because of Philip's exertions, the English fleet was refurbished and added to by more up to date vessels, in an ongoing program of naval development. The irony is that these same vessels which Philip had built were ultimately to be used against Spain, in the destruction his Armada in 1588. Through the efforts of Mary's ambassadors, she gained continental recognition and by November 1555 the Papacy and the Church in England were again reconciled. Things looked increasingly secure for Mary, however this did not take account of her own extremism and she now embarked on a course of persecution of Protestants. Protestantism had not made much progress amongst the general population, except in a few parts of the south east of England. Perversely for Mary, it was amongst the clergy and the literate class that the greatest impact had been made. These also tended to be idealists prepared to die for their beliefs. The divisions and hatreds this generated in English society, added to the hatreds caused by previous persecutions of Catholics. Her Spanish allies advised her against continuing such a divisive policy, but to no avail.

Against the wishes of her government, Mary allowed Philip to draw England into a war with France in 1557, which culminated in the French overrunning Calais, the last English outpost in France. Defeat was a humiliation, which made hollow the English Crown's claim to the Crown of France. Problems at home were compounded by the poor harvests. Intrigues at home and abroad amongst the English Protestant emigres, multiplied. In particular intrigues surrounded the succession to Queen Mary, who it became apparent was not able to produce an heir. The persecution of Protestants had not halted the movement, and did not revitalize Catholicism amongst the laity, indeed it created hostility to Catholicism. The period had a deep impact on the psyche of the English people. The unpopularity of the Spanish alliance and persecutions metamorphosed in the minds of a many, equating Catholicism with the foreign, especially with Spain and religious persecution with Catholicism and Spain. With this negative perception and the years of Protestant propaganda, ensured that during Mary's brief reign there was no Catholic revival. Equally there was still no major religious shift to Protestantism, but a new Protestant regime could now expect to find a population more receptive to conversion. Mary's new head of the Catholic clergy, Cardinal Pole did reorganize the training of the clergy and appointed able Catholic Bishops to administer the church. But Pole did not have the time to see his initiatives take effect. Mary's death from cancer in 1558, laid the way open to the crowning of Elizabeth Tudor as monarch and with her the restoration to power of the invigorated Protestant faction at court. Following on from breaking taboos on acquiring church lands, and the enclosure of Common land, this new Protestant faction sought new lands to acquire. In the process they enjoyed a buccaneer philosophy, that marked the Elizabethan era, and would see expression in Ireland and latter in the New World.

Elizabeth I

Elizabeth was a committed Protestant. She was Queen Mary's half sister by Ann Boleyn, and her claim to the throne was based on the legality of Henry's divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Divorce was not a widely recognised concept, which weakened her case. A potential rival claimant was the legitimate grand-daughter of Henry VIII's sister, the Queen of Scotland, Mary (Stuart). Mary Stuart, had been raised in the French court of Henry II as a French princess, and was engaged to marry the French dauphin. On marriage to the dauphin Francis in 1559, Mary Stuart not only became queen of France, but also stood to claim the Crowns of Scotland and England. Her continental loyalties were naturally to France, which also happened to be Scotland's traditional European ally and England's traditional enemy.

As outlined previously, France was Spain's traditional enemy. France and Spain were the super powers of the period, with the two states in continual dispute as they tried to extend their political influence and economic power into neighbouring European states. In particular their conflict focused on their rivalry for domination of the Italian city states. These same superpower politics cut across religious ideology. As regards the English succession one might imagine that Mary Stuart's Catholicism would be conclusive in gaining the support of King Philip of Spain. But it is clear that Mary's natural affiliation with France was more worrying for Philip, than the Protestantism of Elizabeth. Reluctantly and because he had no desire to increase the influence of France, Philip chose to support Elizabeth in her immediate struggle for power.

As a result, Spain remained England's ally. Nevertheless Philip as a committed Catholic grew increasingly anxious, as Elizabeth swept away Roman Catholics from both the Royal household and the Privy Counsel. Within the administration as a whole relatively few lost their posts, as Elizabeth planned to include such Anglo-Catholics as were not outright supporters of Papal authority. Nevertheless she pushed ahead with her main religious policy, so that in 1559 Elizabeth set on a course of re-establishing Protestantism as the state religion in England. His conscience now hurt and no doubt surprised by the boldness of the young queen, Philip confided in Feria, his ambassador in London, that when the opportunity arose, he fully intended to have Elizabeth replaced, even if that would involve Spain going to war with England,

"The evil that is taking place in that kingdom has caused me the anger and confusion that I have mentioned ... but we must try to remedy it without involving me or any of my vassals in a declaration of war until we have enjoyed the benefits of peace ( for a while)."

Yet her method of handling the Anglo-Catholics, as opposed to the Roman Catholics, ensured an acceptance of the situation by most Catholic opponents in England. Elizabeth proved a multi talented queen, who despite the prejudice against her sex, took control over the various affairs of state. For now she had to put Irish affairs to one side, until she was more secure in England, both against her religious enemies and against those ambitious men who sought to control her. Elizabeth's state Protestantism did have an indirect impact on Ireland, by cuttting off the supply of English trained Catholic priests. The consequence was the official Irish Catholic church was obliged to look to the seminaries of Continental Europe to meet the demand for clergy. These new priests in just a short time transformed the church in Ireland. They came imbued with the zeal of the Counter-Reformation, snuffing out any drift towards Protestantism. Whilst Elizabeth did not have the time to address the situation in Ireland, the New English faction gained her ear. They advised her to pursue a new policy of plantation of New English Protestant settlers and instead of attempting a reconciliation with the Irish, waging war on them. The internal politics and religious intrigues in England and its unfolding relations with Spain, were eventually to result in conflicting parties using Ireland as a place where they could play out their power games.

Elizabeth concluded the treaty of Câteau-Cambrésis with France in 1559. This formalized the loss of Calais, England's last toe-hold on the continent. The resulting peace with France made England less dependent on an alliance with Spain. Over the forthcoming years Elizabeth even had French suitors, all in the cause of strengthening the alliance with France.

In Ireland, Conn Bacach Ó Néill, who had accepted the title of Earl of Tyrone from the English Crown, in exchange for his acceptance of English sovereignty, died in 1559. Under the English law of Primogeniture, the successor to his title was his eldest son Matthew. This contravened Brehon clan laws, by which the most able contender was elected. With the Crown more concerned with other matters, Shane Ó Neill claimed the clan leadership under traditional law. To ram home his claim, Shane murdered Matthew, his brother, thereby rejecting the rule of English law. This was a terrible risk, as he stood to bring down the wrathe of the Dublin authorities on him, the loss of lands, title and possibly his life. It was effectively a declaration of war, but in his defiance he was backed by the majority of the Uí Néill. Shane cleverly made approaches to Sir Henry Sidney, the new Lord Justice with pledges of allegiance to the Crown. Sidney was an exponent of New English policy, and hoped to gain from the acquisition of Ó Néill lands. He also believed that Shane was too duplicitous to deal with and not powerful enough to resist Crown forces. He refused to accept Shane as The O'Neill. In this Sidney had totally underestimated Shane, who in quick time dominated Ulster, forcing the Uí Dhonaills of Tír Chonaill, the Uí Néill of Clandeboye and the Scots of Antrim to accept him as overlord. Shane recruited unheard of numbers of Scots Gallóglaigh into his army and with Ulster subservient to him, he struck south, ravaging part of the Dublin Pale in 1561. This defiance of England was to continue for years to come.

Opposition to primogenitur now spread to the Old English in Ireland, Elizabeth's response was to create new English Protestant peers and replace the rebel Old English peers. With the New English in her court gaining more influence over her, she also applied a much more effective policy of plantation, which would become a blueprint for colonial settlements in North America.

Plantation involved the forceful acquisition of clan lands, accompanied by settlement on them of English speaking settlers. Land acquisition was piecemeal, but steady and fuelled in no small part by religious zeal for the new Protestant religion. Over the course of time the Irish clans saw the the numerical strength of the settlers increase and with it the ongoing threat both to the remaining clan land and the entire Gaelic order. Settlers in the South of Ireland were increasingly confident in their possessions, protected by military might and the English courts. In their anti-native propaganda the New English faction at court painted Shane Ó Néill as a major threat not just to the North of Ireland, but to Elizabeth herself. His crude attempts to forge European contacts with Elizabeth's European enemies and his faltering attempts to harness the manpower of the Gaelic world, were magnified out of all proportion into boggy man status. The land grabbers were hopeful that a major Irish war would result, out of which they would profit.

Books researched in the Society of Genealogists library, in London