1500-99
| 1600-99
| 1700-1899
| 1900-89
| 1990-98
| 1999-2000
|
The Protestants |
| Middle 1500's |
1541: King Henry VIII of England, a Protestant, forced Ireland's Parliament to declare him
king of Ireland, a Catholic nation since the 400's. The Reformation, during which Henry changed England from a Roman
Catholic to a Protestant nation, had little effect on Ireland. English rule there was ineffective, and most Irish people remained Catholics.
|
| Late 1500's |
|
Revolts against English rule began in Ulster, a large province in northern Ireland. Queen Elizabeth I outlawed Roman Catholic
services and executed a number of bishops and priests. Irish Catholics suffered discrimination at the hands of Protestant English
rulers.
|
|
Rebellions and Kings |
| Early 1600's |
In an attempt to quell the revolts that began in the late 1500's, King James I seized
land in Ulster and gave it to Protestant English and Scottish settlers. Protestants then became the majority group in Ulster
and have been ever since.
1607: Local Irish chieftains who opposed the English fled from Ulster,
a large province in northern Ireland. King James I of England then gave the chieftains' land to English and Scottish Protestants. This action was
partly responsible for the Protestant majority found in Northern Ireland today.
|
| Middle to Late 1600's |
Two attempts were made to reestablish Catholic power in Ireland.
Attempt One
1641: An uprising began that was not put down by English forces until 1653.
Attempt Two
1685: James II, a Catholic, became king of England. As the new
King, James abolished many of the anti-Catholic laws in England.
1688: The English people, who were mainly Protestant, were unhappy with James's policies
and feared that a Catholic succession to the throne would be established.
As a result, the English invited William of Orange, a Protestant, to invade
England with Dutch forces. King James was forced from the throne and fled
England.
1689: William of Orange was crowned as King William III. Meanwhile, James went to France and then to
Ireland, where he organized an army that he hoped would help him reclaim the throne from
William.
1690: Protestants in Ulster gave their support to King William III and helped him defeat
James in the Battle of the Boyne, near Dublin, Ireland. After the battle,
Anglican Protestants owned most of the land in Ireland, controlled Ireland's Parliament, and restricted the rights of Catholics and
Presbyterian Protestants alike. Following William's victory, Catholics were forbidden to purchase or
inherit land, and their rights to practice their religion were restricted.
Catholics also were excluded from Ireland's Parliament. |
|
Union with Britain, Need for Home Rule |
| Late 1700's |
Ireland's all-Protestant Parliament restored the right of Catholics to hold land, and religious rights were restored, but Parliament still refused to give Catholics any political rights.
|
|
Early 1800's
|
1801: The Act of Union took effect. This act abolished the Irish Parliament and created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Ireland elected representatives to the British Parliament.
During the 1800's, the standard of living in northern Ireland rose as manufacturing flourished. But southern Ireland, where most of the Catholics lived, had a low living standard due to unequal distribution of land and a growing population.
|
| Late 1800's |
In the late 1800's, the Irish began to demand home rule, allowing Ireland to rule over domestic affairs.
1886: The British Liberal Party proposed a plan for Ireland called home rule. Under this plan, Ireland would have remained part of the United Kingdom, but it would have had its own parliament for domestic affairs. Ulster Protestants, who feared that such a parliament would be
Catholic and would make them the religious minority, opposed the plan. The plan was defeated in the British Parliament. |
Conflict Timeline was compiled from
information gathered on the web by Matthew Schlukebier.
A more extensive chronology is available on the CAIN Project Web Site
(click here)
|
