Irish Insurrevtion

            The Rebellion of 1641 has proved to have lasting effects on the modern Irish state. There were several distinct factors that ultimately led to the uprising, representing the independent interests of different groups within Ireland. The years directly preceding the outbreak of the Rebellion and the political climate of both England and Ireland at the time offer important insight into the inevitable course the Irish state took at the time of the uprising. However, the roots of the 1641 Rebellion can be traced back to the Protestant Reformation and the first English settlements through Plantations. The lasting significance of the Uprising, therefore, has more to do with the religious tensions that persisted in both the Catholic and Protestant communities as a result of the conflict than with the particular political events that surrounded it. .
             For almost four centuries, the royal administration in Ireland had distinguished between the Gaelic Irish populations in the lands of Leinster, Munster, Connacht, and Ulster, and the English population in the Pale, a relatively urbanized settlement centered in Dublin and the outlying towns of Leinster and Munster (Becket, Short History). The Protestant Reformation introduced into Ireland in the 1530s made little progress in winning converts among the indigenous Irish population. King James I was, however, a committed member of the Church of England and was concerned to promote the established church in Ireland. Consequently, religious reformation was central to the ideological framework of the Plantation scheme in Ireland. One of the criteria for the selection of undertakers and tenants was that they be conformable in Protestant religion. Each portion in the Plantation was designated a parish and provision for parochial land was incorporated into the scheme (Canny, Religion). Considering this, the most prominent factor in the growing religious tension and ultimate Insurrection of 1641 was the increasing seizure of land and power from the native Irish population.