Cromwellian Reconquest

Military Government

The Cromwellian reconquest of Ireland fatally undermined the powers of the remaining Gaelic lords and old English magnates. Cromwell came to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant and Commander in Chief. He left in 1650 and delegated the establishment of a civil administration to four commissioners of Parliament.

The country was initially divided into six precincts, later expanding to 15 and finally ending up with 12. Each was put under a military governor, and commissioners of revenue performed civil functions for a period.

The commissioners were ordered to raise £40,000 per month, promulgate the Gospel and the power of religion and holiness, and ensure that the laws of England were executed in Ireland as closely as the current state would allow.

Union with England – Commonwealth

In March 1653, the so-called Rump Parliament voted that Ireland be represented by 30 new members in the House of Commons, creating a short-lived political unity with England and Wales. The Rump Parliament was shortly dissolved thereafter and surrendered its powers to Cromwell, who was named Lord Protector at the end of 1653.

The government confirmed the Irish representation of 30 members in Parliament, which was to sit for at least five months every third year. Elections were held, and governmental authorities generally succeeded in securing the election of their required candidates.

Oliver Cromwell was proclaimed Lord Protector in Ireland in January 1654, and the Lord Deputy was appointed, assisted by a Council of State. The Council included his son, and Cromwell’s son-in-law was Lord Deputy.

By 1655/56, the local government and judicial systems were restored. Approximately half the government officials, including half the sheriffs appointed in 1656, had been in office in 1641. Legislation, albeit ineffective, was passed against the so-called popery and the Catholic profession.

Post-Cromwell

The Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, died in 1658, and his son, who was nominated as successor, was ineffective. Henry Cromwell, brother of Richard Cromwell, was appointed Lord Lieutenant in 1658, but power slipped from his brother’s hands in England.

Factions in the army refused to have a successor to Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector and called for a free Parliament. The army forced him to recall the Rump Parliament, and in May 1659, he resigned as Lord Protector. The restoration of Charles II followed the recall of excluded members from the House of Parliament.

At the same time, the same faction staged an effective coup in Dublin, giving them control of the army in defence of their interests, threatened by loyalist Catholics and Protestants supporting the exiled King. They asserted Irish legislative independence. This influential group, also called Old Protestants, effectively supported the rule in Ireland.

The Irish countryside was utterly devastated by the wars of the 1640s. It was estimated that up to a quarter to a third of the population had perished since 1641.

Punishment of Rebels

The Commonwealth Act for Settling Ireland, 1652, pardoned the life and estate of the inferior sort, and those of rank and quality would be dealt with according to their merits. Five groups were exempted from pardon for life or estate, including all those who, before the first assembly at Kilkenny, abetted the rebellion; all judges and priests involved in any way in the rebellion; over 105 named magnates, including the Earl of Ormond; all guilty of the murder of civilians; and all who refused to lay down arms within 28 days.

All officers who fought against Parliament were to be banished with their families, wives and children, being given one-third of their forfeited estates or whatever Parliament might decide. Others who had fought were to forfeit their estate in return for the same compensation.

Persons who had not shown constant good affection to the Parliament were to be compensated by two-thirds of the estate allotted where Parliament might decide. Others who had not manifested good affection were to surrender one-fifth and retain possession of the remainder. A huge amount of land was confiscated, ranging from 76% in Meath and 77% in Tipperary to smaller proportions in other counties.

Under the first clause alone, as many as 80,000 people, or half the adult males, were liable for the death penalty. No serious attempt was made to enforce this. The drive for land confiscation was real and amounted to very significant collective punishment. There was an economic motive necessitating the confiscation of land to satisfy debts Parliament had pledged against Irish land.

A High Court of Justice was established in 1652 to try those allegedly guilty of murder. The court sessions were held in Dublin and several provincial centres and largely constituted political intimidation rather than a serious attempt to deal with matters judicially. Prominent leaders were tried, found guilty, and executed. Several hundred, if not thousands, had been executed by 1654, by which time the courts’ activities came to an end. Many persons were pardoned, while others were sent or commuted.

Adventures and Land Confiscation

The demand for Irish lands had commenced with the Adventurers’ Act in 1642. This had allotted 2,500 acres in return for £1,000,000 of loans. Land was allotted in all four provinces on the supposition that all Irish were guilty. The adventurers included a strong commercial element from the city of London.

In 1643, an additional ordinance allowed soldiers serving Parliament in Ireland to receive their pay in Irish land on the same terms as adventurers. Very little money was sent to pay the army in the years 1642 to 1649, and arrears accumulated. Approximately 35,000 men had claims for service in Ireland and previous service in England.

In 1644, Parliament accepted the Irish war as a charge on English public finances but assumed it would be discharged from Irish land.

The Act for the Settling of Ireland contemplated virtually universal confiscation of land held by Catholics. Proposals to transplant the Ulster Scots to Munster, initially proposed, did not proceed, and an accommodation was reached.

Surveys

In 1653, an order was made for the taking of three surveys: a survey by inquisition from juries, a survey by measurement and mapping, and a gross survey. The last survey, which was not scientific in any way, began with counties allotted to soldiers and adventurers and was completed within a year. It was then extended to other confiscated lands.

In 1654, a civil survey was ordered to be taken from juries of the most ancient and able inhabitants. It was carried through quickly and was more accurate than the earlier survey. The most famous survey was commenced at the end of 1654, known as the Down Survey, by William Petty.

It extended first to the soldiers’ lands and then to other confiscated lands. It was completed in 1659. It was remarkably advanced for its time but underestimated lands by between 10% and 15%.

Removal of Persons

Many Irish soldiers were permitted to go abroad. Many fought in the war between France and Spain, and up to 35,000 left the country. Others were transported to English plantations in America. Others, it appears, were rounded up and transplanted to the Indies as convicts or beggars. Orders for the transportation of significant numbers were issued.

Owners whose lands were forfeited were to be resettled in Connacht and Clare, but not in any port or garrison town. None was to be settled within four miles of the Shannon or the sea, exclusive of Sligo and part of Mayo.

It became clear that there would be no mass resettlement of colonists. The old Protestants were consolidating their position. It became evident that the plan would have to be worked by the Catholic tenants by the mid-1650s.

Ultimately, landowners and their dependents were transplanted. Some claimed they had established on the basis that they would be entitled to retain part of their land. Many such claims were rejected and were deemed to have been superseded by the Act of Settlement.

Act of Settlement

Courts of delinquency were established in each military precinct to determine the qualifications according to the Act of Settlement. New commissioners issued passports with certificates giving details of the party and the allotment of land in Connacht to be made by commissioners sitting in Loughrea.

Allotments were made provisionally, pending the completion of the survey. Transplantable persons were ordered to leave by November 1654. They presented themselves to the Loughrea commissioners for the allotment of land in Connacht.

At the end of 1654, a court of claims and qualifications was established. It was provided with the civil survey and the Book of Distribution, comprising depositions compiled in 1642 and records of the Confederate Parliament in Kilkenny.

By the middle of the 1650s, Sligo, Leitrim, and part of Mayo were taken for the purpose of allotments to soldiers from their original allotment to Irish Catholics.

The transplantation operation was crude, corrupt in parts, and flawed, with people ultimately being moved indiscriminately. The exempt line along the Shannon and the sea was reduced to one mile to make more land available. By 1656, there was no more land left for Catholics.

An Act for the Attainder of Rebels in Ireland was passed in 1657 to regulate the legal uncertainty and confusion. It deemed the transplantation to be finished and executed, clearing all rebels and papists guilty of high treason. Those not transplanted by 24 September 1657 would forfeit all claims, and no claim could be taken after 1 June 1658.

It appears that of the 3,000 landed Catholic owners in 1641, approximately 1,900 received decrees for about 700 acres plantation measurement in Connacht. Of these, only 770 came from other provinces, who received approximately 420,000 acres. Other owners were transplanted within Connacht.

Cromwellian Plantation

By the time of the settlement, many of the adventurers had sold their original interests. Investors claimed over 1,000,000 acres of confiscated land. A plan emerged involving satisfaction by equal divisions between adventurers and soldiers in 10 contiguous counties along the east coast from Antrim, Down, Meath, Westmeath, King’s County, Queen’s County, Tipperary, Limerick, and Waterford, with Louth to be added. Four counties were reserved for the government: Dublin, Kildare, Carlow, and Cork.

For strategic security reasons, soldiers and adventurers were to be mixed in the plantation. The barony of each county was to be divided into two to be drawn by lots. At this stage, the extent and profitability of land were far from clear. Many adventurers who drew lots appear not to have planted, and numerous speculators were active.

The sum due to each soldier had to be established, and he was given a debenture. A rate was established relating to the monies due to the available land, and a rate of 12 shillings sixpence to the pound was established. It appears that approximately 12,000 soldiers settled, and approximately three-fifths of them had their titles confirmed after the restoration. Many settlers were officers in the Cromwellian army. Protestant colonists did not come from England or elsewhere despite the attempt to transplant all Catholics who were deemed to have failed the constant good affection test, being, in effect, almost all Catholics.

Effect of Catholic Landowners

It appears that up to two-thirds of landed owners were either killed in the war, subsequently emigrated, or were transplanted out of Ireland. The Catholics lost control of the town corporations during the Commonwealth period and were not permitted to engage in trade.

Apart from the confiscations, there was a very significant erosion in the economic position of Catholics. Catholics could not be retained in towns without the special consent of the military powers.

Despite the plan to clear Catholics from the east of the country, the absence of planters necessitated the landowners to seek the retention of the Catholic sedentary working class. Many remained as labourers and tradesmen in the towns and tenants in the countryside.

Three-quarters of the population were made up of both landless labourers who were liable to transportation on the basis set out above. The ultimate effect of the confiscations was the establishment of a landed class that came for land or interest with older Protestant interests. The Catholics were the largest losers. For the old Irish, it was effectively the last of a series of blows. The old English lost their property and influence.