Irish Confederates

Irish Confederates
Raymond1922A · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Name	Irish Confederates
Caption	Signing of the Confederate Oath at Kilkenny (stylized)
Founded	1642
Dissolved	1653
Headquarters	Kilkenny
Ideology	Catholic royalism, Confederate nationalism
Area	Kingdom of Ireland
Key people	Owen Roe O'Neill, James Butler, 12th Earl of Ormond, Viscount Mountgarret, Richard Bellings, Nicholas Plunkett, Rory O'More, Phelim O'Neill, Lord Gormanston, Donough MacCarty, 2nd Viscount Muskerry

Irish Confederates were the Catholic political and military coalition that governed much of Ireland from 1642 to 1652 during the wider conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Emerging after the Irish Rebellion of 1641, they established the Confederation of Kilkenny as a de facto administration that sought to secure rights for Irish Catholics while negotiating with Charles I of England and resisting forces loyal to the English Commonwealth and later Parliament of England. Their fortunes were shaped by leaders such as Owen Roe O'Neill, Donough MacCarty, 2nd Viscount Muskerry, and negotiators like Richard Bellings and Nicholas Plunkett.

Origins and Formation

The movement coalesced in the aftermath of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, sparked by conspirators including Phelim O'Neill and Rory O'More, and influenced by Gaelic families such as the O'Neill dynasty and the O'Donnell dynasty. Initial military actions around Belfast, Dublin, and Munster provoked responses from royal officials like James Butler, 12th Earl of Ormond and garrison commanders under Patrick Purcell. Delegates from counties and cities—representatives from Kilkenny, Leinster, Connacht, Ulster, and Munster—convened at the Kilkenny assembly and formed the Confederation of Kilkenny in 1642 to coordinate diplomacy, taxation, and war efforts. Influential clerics including Rory O'More's allies and bishops aligned with figures such as Nicholas French and Malachy Ó Caollaidhe supported the constitutional and religious aims that underpinned the Confederation's legitimacy.

Political Structure and Leadership

The Confederation established a Supreme Council at Kilkenny composed of noblemen like Viscount Mountgarret, Donough MacCarty, and professional advisers such as Richard Bellings and Nicholas Plunkett. Provincial councils in Munster, Leinster, Connacht, and Ulster paralleled institutions in Dublin and linked to Catholic officials including bishops from Armagh and Cashel. Royalist negotiators such as James Butler, 12th Earl of Ormond and envoys from Charles I of England engaged with Confederate plenipotentiaries during the First Ormond Peace and the later Second Ormond Peace efforts. The Supreme Council oversaw minting at Kilkenny Mint, levied cess and cess taxes in collaboration with commanders like Lord Castlehaven, and issued proclamations often drafted by legal figures influenced by Common Law of England traditions and Irish patrimonial customs associated with the Gaelic Irish and the Old English community.

Military Organization and Campaigns

Confederate armies drew on veteran elements from the Spanish Army tradition through officers with Continental experience and native levies led by commanders including Owen Roe O'Neill, Thomas Preston, Patrick Sarsfield in later stages, and Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin who at times shifted allegiances. Key engagements included the battles of Benburb, where Owen Roe O'Neill defeated Robert Monro; the sieges of Limerick and Kilkenny; and clashes with Parliamentary commanders such as Oliver Cromwell during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland including sieges of Drogheda and Wexford. Naval and supply links with Spain and contacts with agents of France complicated the strategic situation, while defections and negotiated truces—such as the Ormonde Peace and the Cessation of Arms (1643)—affected force cohesion. Guerrilla actions in Ulster and sieges in Munster involved Gaelic clans like the MacCarthy and O'Connor families, with Scottish intervention by forces under James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose and Scottish Covenanter armies in Ulster shaping outcomes.

Religion, Society, and Land Policy

Religion was central: Confederate statutes sought protection for the Catholic Church, episcopal rights involving bishops like Malachy Ó Caollaidhe and clerics such as Nicholas French, and restoration of church property taken under Tudor and Stuart plantations—policies impacting Plantation of Ulster settlements and landholders from English and Scottish backgrounds. Land commissions and committees negotiated with magnates including Earl of Cork (Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork), Viscount Loftus, and Irish chiefs over tenure, composition, and the restitution of confiscated estates. Social measures attempted to reconcile the interests of the Old English gentry, Gaelic families like the O'Neills, and Catholic clergy while addressing the economic dislocation caused by sieges, the depredations of armies under commanders such as Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin and the imposition of wartime levies.

Relations with Royalists and Parliamentarians

Diplomatic interactions involved repeated negotiations with Charles I of England's representatives, including James Butler, 12th Earl of Ormond and envoys to Oxford and Paris, while Parliamentarian leaders—Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton, Sir William Brereton—sought to neutralize Confederate power. The Confederation oscillated between alliance with Royalist forces under Ormond and independent action; treaties such as the Cessation of Arms (1643) and the Ormond Peace (1646) reflected this complexity. International dimension included overtures to Spain and informal contacts with France and the Papal States, with papal nuncios and Irish clerical envoys influencing Confederate policy and negotiations over soldiery and subsidies.

Decline, Surrender, and Aftermath

Internal divisions between moderates led by figures such as Richard Bellings and hardliners allied to Owen Roe O'Neill weakened cohesion as military defeats mounted. The arrival of Oliver Cromwell in 1649 and the subsequent Cromwellian conquest of Ireland culminated in catastrophic sieges at Drogheda and Wexford, leading to mass deaths and the collapse of organized resistance. Surrenders at Clonmel and negotiated terms with Parliamentary commanders like Henry Ireton and Charles Fleetwood preceded the confiscation policies enforced by the Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652 and transplantation of Catholic landowners to Connacht. Prominent leaders faced exile, execution, or service in Continental armies such as the Spanish Army in the Netherlands, while survivors like Patrick Sarsfield later served in the Williamite War in Ireland diaspora. The social and legal consequences fed into the Penal Laws (Ireland) era and reshaped ownership patterns, demographics, and the political landscape of the Kingdom of Ireland (1542–1800) for generations.

Category:17th-century Ireland Category:Wars of the Three Kingdoms