Plantation of Ulster Essay Example

war. But the plan didn’t last long because it faced resistance from Cahir O’Doherty in 1608. The resistance however did not last long since the idea was not packed especially by Wing field. But after O’Doherty’s death, Chichester expanded his effort, and plans. The plantation of Ulster was then sold to James I, who was the king of England, Scotland and the Ireland. This was mainly a joint British plot to civilize Ulster. Causes of plantation One of the reasons that led to the plantation was mainly due to the failure of the first Munster plantation. Rather than settling the planters in isolated fields which had been taken away from the rebels, all the lands was to be taken away and distributed to the settlers in order to strengthen the concentration of the British around the towns. The new settlers were also disallowed from taking tenants from the Ireland and had to import them mainly from England and Scotland.

One quarter of the land in Ulster was offered to the remaining Irish landowners. All the remaining ordinary people who were natives of Ireland were then relocated to the fields near garrisons and the protestant churches. There were rules which were set regarding the selling of land by the planters i.e. planters were not allowed to sell their land to any Irish man. Irish men planters were also required to start their own defense system in order to prepare them counter come any possible invasion from the Irish. A new community consisting of their own defense system and controlled by the British was predicted to be completed after almost three years. Another cause for the plantation was

the agreements which were reached after various consultations and discussions involving various groups from Britain who had much interest in the continuation of planting. The land was to be offered to the rich and wealth men from Britain and Scotland who were to import tenants from their own countries. Each one of them was to be given land of around 3000acres.

They were also required to import nearly 50 males’ adults and 20 females for their own countries. The adults were required to be very well familiar with the English language and also they should be Protestants. The veterans of the war which was led by Arthur Chichester did not want to settle anyone in the lands they were granted and they were later allowed so. Although the veterans did not have funds to involve themselves in colonization, they searched for anyone who was ready in supporting the idea. Their idea was later supported by the twelve great guilds and livery companies which originated from London. They both provided funds which were to be used in colonization. The great guilds was given free land on the west bank of River Foyle in which they were to use in building their own city.

A large portion of land was also awarded to the protestant church. The land they were granted was confiscated from the Catholic Church. This was mainly because England wanted all the Irish men and women to be converted into protestant. The Ulster plantation also had financial benefits for the king of England who were at the moment king James, I. The king did not pay the soldiers who fought in the Ireland with money but

he rewarded them by giving each one of them a portion of land which they had control over it in Ulster.

Also there was no need for the king to waste money to use soldiers in protecting the already acquired land. Instead, the king used the settlers to protect the land by building defense system such as bawns, to protect land and also to protect themselves. Also the soldiers were suppose to pay rent to the king and therefore the king benefited a lot from the Ulster plantation since he acquired a very large size of land belonging to Hugh O’Neil around Dungannon in 1607.

Another reason was that, by the time Henry VIII came to power in 1509 England were no longer ruling Ireland strongly. The main reason was basically because the Irish had intermarried with the England Lords. Therefore Henry VIII wanted to increase England control over the Ireland. He also wanted to civilize Ireland by spreading the protestant religion and also by ensuring that England’s enemies do not seek refuge in Ireland. Henry VIII used the policy of ‘surrender and Regrant’ which required Gaelic Lords to give up their land to him. Incase they will accept him as the leader of Ireland, and the head of their church and also by adopting to the English laws, he would return their land. This was not received well and many Gaelic leaders still remained stuck to their own laws. Plantation policy was also used by Mary I and Elizabeth I by settling the English people in Ireland and also by building their own defense. This saved the English crown the money they would have used in

paying their soldiers and also the training they would have offered to the troops.

Therefore the primary causes of Ulster plantation are summarized as follows. - The plantation would ensure Ireland were under England - Protestant religious would be introduced in Ireland - England enemies will no longer seek refuge in Ireland - The king could make money out of the plantation by renting the land to soldiers. Implementation of Ulster plantation. Nearly around the time the Ulster plantation was being planned, there was another emergence of a plantation known as Virginia plantation which took place in Jamestown at around 1607. The idea of the London guilds to provide fund which were to be used during the plantation of the Ulster changed and they decided to back the Virginia company instead. By the end of 1630 almost 20,000 adult British male had already settled in Ulster. This increased the number of the settlers in Ulster to almost 80,000 people. They dominated most of Armagh and also in the eastern part of Tyronne.

Also the Scottish settler James Hamilton who owned a sizeable piece of land in Ulster, had sponsored the settlement in some unplanted parts of land mainly in the south of Antrim and also in the north of Down. The settlers multiplied and their population grew at a very high rate. Due to risk of attack by the displaced Irish, the Irish had very difficult time in getting attraction from the settlers. The settlers were then forced to keep tenants who were mainly of Irish origin. This decision broke the original agreement where the settlers and the native were not allowed to live together. This led

to the difficulties in getting rid of Irish culture and also proved hand in converting them from being Catholics to Protestants.

The settlers were mostly occupied in the best lands mainly around the urban centers and also in the areas where land was very fertile to enable Agricultural practices. In around 1609, Chichester deported 1300 Irish soldiers who were living Ulster in order to serve in the Swedish army and also to reduce any attempt of rebellion by the Irish people. But this action by Chichester did not solve much of their problems because the settlers still faced resistance from Irish attackers who used each and every opportunity they could get to strike on the Irish settlers.
The attempts to convert catholic Irish to protestant also faced a hurdle. This was mainly because of the language barrier. Most of the clerics who went to Ulster were mainly English speakers and the natives of the Ireland were Monoglot Irish Gaelic speakers.

Though most of the clerics who were to preach the religious in the plantation were required to take a course on Irish language, the religion convention did not go on as expected. Nearly 10% of the natives were converted and most of them said the reasons for their conversation were mainly because of their social and also political reasons. The slavery which was conducted by Sir. George Carew in 1611 showed that little progress was made during the plantation process. The king was even thinking of reconciling with Earl of Tyronne who was exiled during 1613. This truly shows that considerations were being made on the ways of abandoning the plantation process altogether. But after the death of

Earl of Tyrone’s in 1616, the immediate abandoning of the scheme was lifted. The planned three year implementation of the plantation seemed not realized and as the years passed by, there was an increase in the migration of protestants to Ulster .

This migration was mainly due to the economic and social condition, which was existing in England and Scotland. In 1644 the population of Protestants in Ulster had increased drastically and had reached almost 40,000. The increase in population helped the Protestants in withstanding the resistance which were experienced from the Catholics.