Summary: Cromwellian Settlement
Key dates:
In 1649 Oliver Cromwell came to Ireland probably for two main reasons. He wished to punish the Irish Roman Catholics who had rebelled in 1641 and also he wanted to ensure that Ireland accepted the rule of Parliament after the King’s defeat in the Civil War. Cromwell acted with much brutality but he did succeed in making the Irish submit to his rule. As part of his plan to keep the Irish under control, and because many soldiers had not been paid, he decided to take land in Ireland and grant it to these loyal soldiers. Almost all the Roman Catholic landowners lost their land or were offered land in the poorest areas of Connaught and Clare. Their land was then granted to the soldiers and other planters. Many of these soldiers were not interested in either farming or Ireland and they sold their land. As a result the plantation did not create the large English Protestant population which Cromwell intended.
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