Christianity and Identity in Ireland

Ireland into the Eighteenth Century

Recap.• 4 Distinctive Communities inhabiting Ireland

– Gaelic Irish (Catholic, politically weak)– Old English (Catholic, still wary of Gaelic Irish,

increasingly disenfranchised)– New English (Protestant: Puritan CoI,

disproportionately powerful)– Scots Settlers (Protestant: Presbyterian, worship in

Puritan CoI [no presbytery!], close links to Scotland)

• 30 Years War on Continent, 1618-1648 (Catholic Europe vs. Protestant Europe, 1000s of mercenaries recruited from both Ireland and Scotland)

• Charles I king of 3 sovereign Kingdoms, but increasingly unpopular

Ulster Ulster Rising/RebellionRising/Rebellion• 1638: Scots Covenant

• 1639: Bishops War • 1641: Parliament recalled headed

by John Pym– “Godly Government”– Anti-catholic policies– Massachusetts is example

• How would Catholic Ireland view this? What ‘success story’ could they look to for an example?

• Rebellion planned by three Irish MPs, Sir Phelim O’Neill, Owen Roe O’Neill and Lord Maguire

• 23rd Octoboer: soon deteriorates into bitter sectarian fighting, why?

• Sir John Temple’s Irish Rebellion (1646) claimed 120,000 Protestants killed.– More than are actually in the country.

• Perhaps accurate number 3-5,000

1. What do these woodcuts remind you of?

2. How was this propaganda likely to affect popular

Puritan opinion?

Confederacy and Civil Confederacy and Civil WarWar

“Ireland united for God, King and Country”

• June 1642: Confederate Oath of Association

I, A.B., do profess, swear, and protest before God and His saints and angels, the I will, during my life, bear true faith and allegiance to my Sovereign Lord, Charles, by the grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, and to his heirs and lawful successors; and that I will, to my power, during my life, defend, uphold and maintain, all his and their just prerogatives, estates, and rights, the power and privilege of the Parliament of this realm, the fundamental laws of Ireland, the free exercise of the Roman Catholic faith and religion throughout this land; and the lives, just liberties, possessions, estates, and rights of all those that have taken, or that shall take this Oath, and perform the contents thereof; and that I will obey and ratify all the orders and decrees made, and to be made, by the Supreme Council of the Confederate Catholics of this Kingdom, concerning the said public cause; and I will not seek, directly or indirectly, any pardon or protection for any act done, or to be done, touching this general cause, without the consent of the major part of the said Council; and that I will not, directly or indirectly, do any act or acts that shall prejudice the said cause, but will, to the hazard of my life and estate, assist, prosecute and maintain the same.Moreover, I do further swear that I will not accept of, or submit unto any peace, made, or to be made, with the said Confederate Catholics, without the consent and approbation of the General Assembly of the said Confederate Catholics, and for the preservation and strengthening of the association and union of the kingdom. That upon any peace or accommodation to be made, or concluded with the said Confederate Catholics as aforesaid, I will, to the utmost of my power, insist upon and maintain the ensuing propositions, until a peace, as aforesaid, be made, and the matters to be agreed upon in the articles of peace be established and secured by Parliament.So help me God and His holy gospel.

Confederacy and Civil Confederacy and Civil WarWar

“Ireland united for God, King and Country”

• June 1642: Confederate Oath of Association

• What does this document remind you of?

• Oct. 1642, Confederation meet in Kilkenny– 4 provincial armies– Mint– Printing press– Tax Collection– Supply provision– Foreign diplomacy

• First successful autonomous government in Irish history

Civil War in EnglandCivil War in England• Aug 1642: Charles raises royal

standard in Nottingham• At war with Parliament• Appoints Earl of Ormond (Irish-

Protestant Royalist) to negotiate with Confederacy

• Reluctant to come to terms and accept help. Why?

• June 1645: Parliament win major victory at Naseby with Fairfax and Cromwell’s New Model Army

• Charles seeks help from Confederates

• 12th Oct 1645: Papal nuncio Rinuccini arrives

• Why is he outraged at willingness of confederacy to offer support to Charles?

• Rinuccini threatens excommunication

• Splits confederacy

Cromwell in Cromwell in IrelandIreland• June 1647: Michael Jones arrives

in Dublin with Parliamentary force– Battle of Dungan’s hill

• Country descends into chaos• Dec 1647: Charles escapes prison,

signs “Engagement” with Scots• Presbyterianism seen by

Parliament as threat to “liberty”. What does this mean?

• Putney Debates• Parliament makes war on Scotland• 30 Jan 1649: Charles beheaded• Aug 1649: Cromwell arrives in

Ireland with 20,000 Ironsides– Massacres in Drogheda and

Wexford– Why?

Cromwellian Cromwellian IrelandIreland

• John Morrill, “Britain’s wars of religion”

• Cromwell wanted to establish a godly commonwealth

• Ireland was seen as a “blank sheet” to paint a “New Jerusalem”– 20-40% of Irish

population of 1.5mil. died in war

Cromwellian Cromwellian IrelandIreland

• 1652: Act of Settlement• Colonisation and Anglicisation,

Independent Churches• Fines for Recusancy• Anti-Catholicism – bounty for

wolves and priests• Transportation – 40,000

soldiers, priests, school teachers, “vagrants”

• Transplantation• Change in land ownership

– 1641: 60% held by Catholics– 1660: only 20%

• 1660 Commonwealth collapsed and invited Charles II to return

• Expectations for both Protestants and Catholics in Ireland

• Cromwell’s soldiers wanted to keep land

• Irish desired to be restored to what they lost fighting for:

• Religion

• King

• Ormond, Lord Lieutenant:

‘‘there must be new discoveries of a new there must be new discoveries of a new Ireland, for the old will not serve to satisfy Ireland, for the old will not serve to satisfy these engagements’.these engagements’.

Restoration in Restoration in IrelandIreland

• All Protestant Parliament (75% of 2 mil. population Catholic!)

• Status quo except for ‘Innocents’

• Specific Royalists

• Court of Claims to discern who was innocent• 500 innocent Catholic

landowners

• Too many innocent!

• Ireland increasingly treated economically as another Atlantic colony

‘The catholics of Ireland...lost their estates in the great rebellion, for fighting in defence of their king., whilst the schismatics, who cut off the father’s head, forced the son to fly for his life, and overturned the whole ancient frame of government...obtained grants of those estates the catholics lost in defence of the ancient constitution, and thus they gained by their rebellion what the catholics lost by their loyalty’.

-Jonathan Swift

James II: 1685-James II: 1685-16881688

• James was a Catholic, this raised hopes in Ireland, but– Upheld CoI– Refused to budge on land

question• yet: appointed Richard Talbot,

earl of Tyrconnell LD• Pro-Catholic policy in Dublin

Castle• Tyrconnell willing to reopen

land question• James was tolerated by

Parliament• June 1688: his wife gives birth

to a son• Nov 1688: William of Orange

lands in Devon• James flees and sets up court-

in-exile in France

James II: 1685-James II: 1685-16881688

• French encourage James to use his kingdom of Ireland as a base to go to war with William, why?

• Apr 1689: Siege of Derry• May 1689: General

Schomberg arrives in Foyle with Danish mercenaries

• June 1690: William arrives at Carrickfergus

• 12th July 1690: Battle of the Boyne– Indecisive but clear that

James will not win the war

James II: 1685-James II: 1685-16881688

• Irish initially shown leniency by William (Galway Treaty), yet France encouraged them to keep fighting, why?

• 3 Oct 1691: war ends, Articles of Limerick

• William ready to still show leniency but Protestant Irish fudge treaty

Penal Laws: 1692-Penal Laws: 1692-17051705• Westminster favoured a

strong (though limited) Protestant elite

• Penal laws ensured that CoI Protestants were first class citizens and that Catholics (and dissenters!) were rendered harmless

• Background: War with France, Irish continued contact with Stuart court in France

• Catholics essentially banished from cities

• Also: Introduction of the potato complicated matters by causing population explosion

• 1695: Catholic disabilities– No catholic institutions of

education– No arms carrying– No horses worth more than £5

• 1697: act of banishment– Bishops and regular clergy

banished– Undercover bishops appointed by

James (Donnelly of Armagh)– 1000s of secular clergy allowed to

stay, why?• 1704: Popery Act

– No catholic to buy land– Leases limited to 31 years– Estate divided between all sons– Protestant heirs to receive all

land– No Catholics to act as guardians

• 1709: oath of abjuration– Essentially disenfranchises entire

catholic population

‘I A.B. do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of God, Profess, Testify, and Declare, That I do believe, That in the

Sacrament of the Lord's Supper there is not any Transubstantiation of the Elements of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, at, or after the Consecration thereof

by any person whatsoever; And that the Invocation or Adoration of the

Virgin Mary, or any other Saint, and the Sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now used

in the Church of Rome, are Superstitious and Idolatrous.’

Construction of Construction of Catholic-IrishCatholic-Irish Identity Identity

•Continentally trained Catholic Clergy wrote popular Gaelic poetry•5 sectarian poems from 1650-70 re-published and distributed in bi-lingual versions to elites and clergy through 18th/19th centuries •Played on Gael (Irish language speaker) and Gall (foreigner)•10 surving manuscripts = ‘popular tradition’, 242 copies of ‘Ireland’s Dirge’ (c. 1655) survive!•This combines in the late 17th/18th century with developments in political philosophy to GRADUALLY create an idea of CATHOLIC NATIONHOOD

Extracts from An Síogaí Rómhánach (The Roman Vision)

c. 1650

…Then none shall league with the Saxon,

Nor with the bare-faced Scot,Then shall Erin be freed from settlers,

Then shall perish the Saxon tongueThe Gaels in arms shall triumph

Over the crafty, thieving, false sect of Calvin…

…True faith shall be uncontrolled;The people shall be rightly taught

By friars, bishops, priests and clerics…

Irish = GaelicIrish = Catholic

• Catholic forced to meet in illegal mass-houses or ‘sacathlans’

• 18th century actually witnesses a rejuvenation in Irish Catholicism

• 1760: Pope refutes the Stuart dynasty’s claim to the British and Irish throne (1707 – act of union!)

• Populaiton growth and renewed war with France forces a change in policy in Westminster

• Catholicism legalized in 1782

• This combines with the spirit of “Enlightenment” and Progress”

• Legal churches built

• St. Mary’s built in Belfast in 1784

• 1782 census recorded 365 Catholics living in Belfast

• 1866 45,000 Catholics living in Belfast

‘On Sunday, 30th May 1784, St Mary's was opened in Crooked Lane (now Chapel Lane). This was the first Catholic Church in Belfast and it was built at a time when there was a strong ecumenical spirit within the town. Indeed, its Protestant inhabitants contributed Protestant inhabitants contributed substantially towards the cost of substantially towards the cost of the building the building and the 1st Belfast Volunteer Company, under the command of Captain Waddell Cunningham, lined the Chapel yard as a guard of honour, in full dress, and presented arms to the priest as he passed into the Chapel.’

Formation of Formation of Protestant NationProtestant Nation

• Penal laws ensured wealth was concentrated in hands of a few CoI Protestant families

• Land: 1703: 14% 1778: 5%• Irish Parliament becomes incredibly important• Despite the grandeur and pomp of ascendency

Ireland, Protestant power is undeniably weak• 1717: Dissenting Protestantism legalised

(though still prohibitions)

Construction of Construction of Protestant IdentityProtestant Identity

• Markus Barth: communities form identities by differentiation and exclusion

• Increasingly Catholicism=Gaelicism• Protestant identity formed by:

– anti-catholicism (differentiaiton from Catholic-Gaels)– repressive English policies which curtailed the Irish

Parliaments power (kingdom or colony?)

• William Molyneux, Jonathan Swift and others argue for increased “Irish” independence

• Describe themselves as “THE WHOLE IRISH NATION”

Formation of Formation of Protestant-Irish Protestant-Irish

IdentityIdentity•Irish historical texts were re-read by ascendency Ireland to justify their anti-Catholicism•The native-Irish were Catholic because they were Gaelic, and Gaels dangerous, disloyal because they were Catholic •James Ussher, 1620: “as Jehu said to Joram, “What peace can there be, as long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? So I must say unto them: What peace can there be, as long as you suffer yourselves to be led by “the mother of all harlots.”•William Temple: The Irish Rebellion, 1646 – Catholics unconvertible•Archbishop of Armagh, 1745: “You are to raise in your people a religious abhorrence of the Popish government and polity, for I can never be brought to call Popery in the gross a religion… Their absurd doctrines… their political government … make it impossible for them to give any security of their being good governors, or good subjects in a Protestant kingdom.”

• Some attempts at conversion but hindered by lack of funds, desire and doctrine of election (John Ricahrdson)•Increasingly out of touch with England•What about dissenters??