Tudor conquest of Ireland

Tudor conquest of Ireland
Part of the European wars of religion and the English Reformation
18th-century depiction of the Treaty of Mellifont, which marked the start of English rule over all of Ireland
Date 1536–1603 Location Ireland Result English victory Gaelic Ireland annexed by Tudors Hegemony of the New English Catholic Church in Ireland outlawed Treaty of Mellifont
Belligerents
England  Lordship of Ireland (until 1542)  Kingdom of Ireland (from 1542)	Gaelic Ireland  Spain
Commanders and leaders
Henry Sidney Thomas Radclyffe Leonard Grey Richard Bingham William Drury Arthur Grey William Pelham William FitzWilliam John Perrot John Norreys Walter Raleigh Humphrey Gilbert George Carew Arthur Chichester Henry Docwra Charles Blount Walter Deveraux Henry Bagenal	Gaels: Aodh Mór Ó Néill Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill Aodh Mag Uidhir Ruairí Óg Ó Mórdha Fiach Mac Aodha Ó Broin Fínghin Mac Cárthaigh Domhnall Cam Ó Súileabháin Bhéara Domhnall Ó Briain Somhairle Buidhe Mac Domhnaill Brian Óg na Samhthach Ó Ruairc Gráinne Ní Mháille FitzGeralds: James FitzMaurice FitzGerald Silken Thomas FitzGerald Gerald FitzGerald Spanish generals: Juan del Águila

Part of a series on the
Wars of Tudor England
Italian Wars War of the League of Cambrai Four Years' War War of 1542–46 Habsburg–Valois War
Anglo-Scottish Wars Flodden Hornshole Haddon Rig Solway Moss Rough Wooing Leith Redeswire Fray
Reformation Prayer Book Rebellion Nine Years' War Eighty Years' War Anglo-Spanish War
Other conflicts Cornish Rebellion Desmond Rebellions
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The Tudor conquest (or reconquest) of Ireland took place during the 16th century under the Tudor dynasty, which ruled the Kingdom of England. The Anglo-Normans had conquered swathes of Ireland in the late 12th century, bringing it under English rule. In the 14th century, the effective area of English rule shrank markedly, and from then most of Ireland was held by native Gaelic chiefdoms. Following a failed rebellion by the Earl of Kildare in the 1530s, the English Crown set about restoring its authority. Henry VIII of England was made "King of Ireland" by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542. The conquest involved assimilating the Gaelic nobility by way of "surrender and regrant"; the confiscation and colonisation ('plantation') of lands with settlers from Britain; imposing English law and language; banning Catholicism, dissolving the monasteries and making Anglican Protestantism the state religion.

The Tudor policies in Ireland sparked the Desmond Rebellions (1569–1573, 1579–1583) and the Nine Years' War (1594–1603).^[1] Despite Spanish support for Irish Catholics during the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604), by 1603 the entire country was under English rule. The Flight of the Earls in 1607 largely completed the destruction of the Gaelic aristocracy and left the way open for the Plantation of Ulster, which established a large British Protestant population in the north. Several people who helped establish the plantations of Ireland also played a part later in the early colonisation of North America, particularly a group known as the West Country Men.^[2]

The conquest technically extended into the Stuart period, as the Treaty of Mellifont, which ended the Nine Years' War, was signed mere days after the death of Elizabeth I.^[3]