The Kingdom of Ireland, 1641–1760 Toby Barnard British History in Perspective General Editor: Jeremy Black Toby Barnard The Kingdom of Ireland, 1641–1760 Eugenio Biagini Gladstone Keith M. Brown Kingdom or Province? Scotland and the Regal Union, 1603–1715 A. D. Carr Medieval Wales Eveline Cruickshanks The Glorious Revolution Anne Curry The Hundred Years War (2nd edn) John Derry Politics in the Age of Fox, Pitt and Liverpool (rev. edn) Susan Doran England and Europe in the Sixteenth Century Seán Duffy Ireland in the Middle Ages David Gladstone The Twentieth-Century Welfare State Brian Golding Conquest and Colonisation: the Normans in Britain, 1066–1100 (rev. edn) Sean Greenwood Britain and the Cold War, 1945–91 Steven Gunn Early Tudor Government, 1485–1558 Richard Harding The Evolution of the Sailing Navy, 1509–1815 David Harkness Ireland in the Twentieth Century: Divided Island Ann Hughes The Causes of the English Civil War (2nd edn) I. G. C. Hutchison Scottish Politics in the Twentieth Century Ronald Hutton The British Republic, 1649–1660 (2nd edn) Kevin Jeffreys The Labour Party since 1945 T. A. Jenkins Disraeli and Victorian Conservatism T. A. Jenkins Sir Robert Peel J. Gwynfor Jones Early Modern Wales, c. 1525–1640 H. S. Jones Victorian Political Thought D. E. Kennedy The English Revolution, 1642–1649 Christine Kinealy The Great Irish Famine Diarmaid MacCulloch Later Reformation in England, 1547–1603 (2nd edn) John F. McCaffrey Scotland in the Nineteenth Century W. David McIntyre British Decolonisation, 1946–1997 A. P. Martinich Thomas Hobbes Roger Middleton The British Economy since 1945 W. M. Ormrod Political Life in Medieval England, 1300–1450 Richie Ovendale Anglo-American Relations in the Twentieth Century Ian Packer Lloyd George Keith Perry British Politics and the American Revolution Murray G. H. Pittock Scottish Nationality Murray G. H. Pittock Jacobitism A. J. Pollard The Wars of the Roses (2nd edn) David Powell British Politics and the Labour Question, 1868–1990 David Powell The Edwardian Crisis: Britain, 1908–1914 Richard Rex Henry VIII and the English Reformation David Scott Politics and War in the Three Stuart Kingdoms, 1637–49 G. R. Searle The Liberal Party: Triumph and Disintegration, 1886–1929 (2nd edn) John Stuart Shaw The Political History of Eighteenth-Century Scotland W. M. Spellman John Locke William Stafford John Stuart Mill Robert Stewart Party and Politics, 1830–1852 Bruce Webster Medieval Scotland Ann Williams Kingship and Government in Pre-Conquest England Ian S. Wood Churchill John W. Young Britain and European Unity, 1945–99 (2nd edn) Michael B. Young Charles I Paul Ziegler Palmerston Please note that a sister series, Social History in Perspective, is available covering the key topics in social and cultural history. British History in Perspective Series Standing Order: ISBN 0–333–71356–7 hardcover ISBN 0–333–69331–0 paperback You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England The Kingdom of Ireland, 1641–1760 TOBY BARNARD © Toby C. Barnard 2004 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2004 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 0–333–61076–8 hardback ISBN 0–333–61077–6 paperback This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10987654321 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 Printed in China Contents Introduction vii Chapter 1 Land and Peoples 1 Ireland before 1641 1 Natives and New Settlers 4 Ideas of Government 8 Chapter 2 Rebellions and Reconquests, 1641–1691 15 The Uprising of 1641 15 War, 1641–1649 19 Cromwellian Reconquest, 1649–1660 25 Resettlement and Restoration, 1653–1685 30 The Reign of James VII and II, 1685–1691 33 Chapter 3 Governing Ireland, 1692–1760 42 Settlement and Self-Protection 42 Taxes 47 Penal Laws 51 Defences 54 Relations with England, Britain and Europe 58 Chapter 4 Parliament, Improvement and Patriotism, 1692–1760 66 Parliament, 1692–1760 66 Politics 68 v vi CONTENTS Improvement 78 Patriots 89 Improvers and Patriots 93 Chapter 5 Rulers and Ruled 99 The Viceroyalty 99 Parish, Manor and Barony 103 County 108 Sheriffs 109 Grand Jurors 114 Magistrates 116 Justice 120 Boroughs 122 Chapter 6 Catholic Masses and Protestant Élites 125 Majorities 125 Minorities 133 Abbreviations 144 Notes 146 Further Reading 181 Index 194 Introduction This account outlines the events between 1641 and 1691, and identifies the processes that substituted a small number of Protestants for the numerous Catholics who had hitherto dominated the government, owned the property, and exercised power in Ireland. It also probes how the new dominance of the Protestants was exercised, what it meant throughout the island, and what were its limitations. Alongside the activities of the governors in Dublin Castle and the nearby parliament, the seemingly humdrum business of ruling the localities is investigated in detail not before attempted. The study necessarily rests heavily on records left by the privileged Protestants. However, these are used to investigate neglected aspects of daily life in the provinces. Much of the text deals with official institutions and those who manned them. Through the officials and their activities, it is possible to recover something of the impact of the British state in Ireland, even on the majority of inhabitants who lacked formal opportunities to participate in public ventures. Accordingly, the strengths and weaknesses of the confessional state erected in Ireland in the late seventeenth century, and maintained for almost a century there- after, are revealed. vii This page intentionally left blank Chapter 1: Land and Peoples Ireland before 1641 The English intention to rule Ireland had first been acted on when (in 1169) Henry II, king of England and duke of Normandy, was author- ized by the pope to invade and annexe the island. Until the sixteenth century, English control waxed and waned. During those centuries, its authority seldom extended beyond the capital, Dublin, a narrow corridor of land around Dublin and the eastern seaboard (known as the Pale from the ditch which demarcated its boundary), and a few ports strung along the coast, such as Waterford, Cork, Drogheda and Limerick. In 1541, worries over security made Henry VIII’s advisers assert English authority in Ireland more aggressively. This aggression matched similar initiatives in the north and far west of England and in Wales. The most legible sign was an act, devised in England and passed by the Dublin parliament, which declared Henry VIII king of Ireland. Before this, he and his predecessors were styled simply as the lords of Ireland. The act for the kingly title of 1541 announced an ambition: to bring Ireland completely under English rule and to turn it into a provincial dependency little different from northern and western England or Wales. Distance, an unwillingness of England to spend heavily on the venture, the interference of other European states, and – above all – the distinctive cultures and attitudes of the inhabitants of Ireland conspired to defeat the scheme. Notwithstanding the setbacks, reputation obliged successive English monarchs to persist with efforts to subject Ireland. Moreover, arguments of security warned that England itself would never be safe so long as Ireland eluded proper control. The Tudors and Stuarts were surrounded 1 2 THE KINGDOM OF IRELAND, 1641–1760 by potential and actual enemies: pretenders to their thrones and rivals among continental monarchs. Ireland offered ground from which trouble- makers might assault England. Accordingly, the troublesome and costly English engagement with Ireland continued. Throughout the sixteenth century, and into the seventeenth, efforts were concentrated on trying to extend the systems of English law and administration deeper into the Irish provinces. The creation of shires throughout the kingdom was followed by the introduction of law courts – assizes and quarter sessions – in each. From the 1530s, the danger of Ireland either being wrested from English control or used as a base to destabilize the Tudor or Stuart monarchy became intertwined with the question of religion. Once the Tudors had opted for Protestantism as their state religion, they had to impose it across all their territories. By the end of the sixteenth century, this had been accomplished throughout much of England and portions of Wales, but notoriously not in Ireland. The stubborn devotion of Ireland to Catholicism challenged the contemporary axiom that religious disunity within any state risked serious destabilization.