Causes of the 1641 Rebellion

2020 Words9 Pages
What caused the 1641 rebellion? The 1641 rebellion plunged Ireland and particularly the province of Ulster into massacre and mayhem, which led to bloodshed, man-made famine and unnecessary deaths. Throughout the sixteenth century, and into the seventeenth, a series of efforts took place in order to extend English rule and law in Ireland. The causes of the rebellion of 1641 have been discussed and debated by historians time and time again. It is necessary to question why exactly the unjustly deaths and casualties took place in 1641 in a war between the new English, the native Irish and the Old English. The causes that will be discussed in this essay include the plantation of Ulster in 1610, the failure of the plantations, the threat of further plantations, religion and disagreements between Catholics and Protestants, the infamous graces, the economic situation and lastly, Scotland’s victory over the English as a source of hope for the Irish. The Plantation of Ulster is recognised as a central cause of the 1641 rebellion due to a dissatisfied native Irish population, as a result of a largely transformed Ulster under the impact of extensive settlement by both English and Scottish settlers. Ulster was predominantly the most Gaelic part of Ireland at the time and was a province that was fundamentally out of the control of the English much to the annoyance of the King of England. Therefore, subsequent to the infamous flight of the earls, it was apt for the English to seize the opportunity that was presented to them and reduce the size of the catholic population in Ulster. According to Bartlett (2010), an astonishing ten thousand Scots moved into Antrim and Down, with another thirty thousand British settling. The treatment of the natives at the time left much cause for resentment on their part. Almost immediately, the settlers went about radical change in the
Open Document