Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
groupsfearedtheriseofProtestantpowerinEngland,andtogethertheyformedapro-Roy-
alist confederation in opposition to the new Protestant Parliament of
Oliver Cromwell.
(This meant, oddly enough, that the Irish now found themselves on the side of the English
monarchy.)
Once Cromwell had pulled off his
coup d'état
and executed King Charles I, he invaded
Irelandwith12,000men(1649-1650).OuttoobliteratethelastRoyalistforcesandtoexact
retaliation for the Massacre of the Planters, and armed with Puritanical, anti-Catholic reli-
gious zeal, he conquered the country—brutally. Thousands were slaughtered, priests were
tortured, villages were pillaged, and rebels were sold into slavery. Cromwell confiscated
11 million acres of land from Catholic Irish landowners to give to English Protestants.
Cromwell's scorched-earth invasion was so harsh that it became known as the “curse of
Cromwell”—and it still raises hackles in Ireland (for more on Cromwell, see the sidebar
In 1688-1689, rebels again took advantage of England's political chaos. They rallied
around Catholic
King James II,
who had been deposed by the English Parliament in the
“GloriousRevolution” of1688andthenhadfledtoFrance.HewoundupinIreland,where
he formed an army to retake the crown. In the
Siege of Londonderry,
James' Catholic
army surrounded the city, the last loyal Protestant power base. But some local apprentice
boys locked them out, and after months of negotiations and a 105-day siege, James went
away empty-handed.
Theshowdowncame atthemassive
Battle of the Boyne
(1690),northofDublin.Cath-
olic James II and his 25,000 men were defeated by the 36,000 troops of Protestant
King
William III
of Orange. From this point on, the color orange became a symbol in Ireland
for pro-English, pro-Protestant forces.
