Ireland: history 1485 to 1603

The monarchs of the Tudor dynasty tried to extend their control over Ireland. During the reign of Henry VII Poynings' Law (1494) gave the English Parliament control over the Irish Parliament, and in 1541 Henry VIII assumed the title ‘King of Ireland’. Ireland was divided into counties, and brought under English law. The mere fact of English occupation made the Irish hate them, but the Act of Supremacy (1534) and the break with Rome during the Reformation introduced another factor into the conflict: disagreement over religion. Concerned about growing Catholic Irish conspiracy with their Catholic enemies abroad, Elizabeth I and James I went further, confiscating lands from Irish Catholic rebels and giving them as plantations to ‘loyal’ Protestant settlers, many of them from Scotland. The result was a string of further revolts and rebellions, the worst of which were the Desmond revolts of 1569–83. These uprisings were put down with great ruthlessness.