When Henry Till undertook to make himself the head of the Church in his dominions he met in Ireland with a violent opposition. The opywsition was the more popular as it was intimated that henceforth only such priests as understood the English language would be appointed. The Ijmlishman, George Brown, who' was appointed bisliop of Ihililin, met, therefore, in spite of liis earnest and incessant labors in behalf of the Ref- ormation, with but little success. The English liturgy was introduced in 1551, under Edward VI, but the order to hold divine service in the English language seems not to have been executed. The germs of Protestant- Lsm were wholly destroyed under the government of JIary. The people were not prepared for the Reforma- tion, and the clergy were not as corrupt as in many other countries. INloreover, there were among the min- isters who had been sent to Ireland a^ Protestant mis- sionaries many adventurers, who, by disreputable con- duct, strengthened the aversion of the people to Protes- tantism. Under the government of Elizabeth, an order was issued in 1560 to introduce the general use of the English liturgy and of the English language at divine service. Some years later, however, concessions appear to have been made in favor of the old Irish language. In 1G02 the first translation of the New Testament into the Irish language by William Daniel appeared, but the translation of the whole Bible was not finished until 1665. The persistent endeavors of the English govern- ment to extirpate the native language established a close union between the Irish nationality and the Church of Rome. The excitement against England greatly increased when Elizabeth showed a design to confiscate the whole ]iroperty of the Roman Catholic Church in bchall' of tlie Protestant clergy. A number of revolts consequently occurred, which found a vigor- ous support Oil the jiart of the pope and the Spanish court. A plan submitted by the English lord lieuten- ant, Sir Jolm Perrot, for thoroughly Anglicizing Ireland, was rejected as being too expensive, and thus England was compelled to maintain at a heavy expense a large military force in Ireland. In 1595 the chieftain Hugh O'Niele, whom Elizabeth had made earl of Tyrone, placed himself at the head of a powerful insurrection, which was mainly supported by Irish soldiers who had returned from military sei vi:-e in foreign countries. The earl of Essex, Avith an aimy of 22,000 men, was unable
IRELAND
642
IRELAND
to quell the insurrection ; but liis successor, lord ]\ronnt- joy, was more successful, and pacified the whole island. InlGOl the Irish again rose, aided by Spanish troops under Aquila and Ocampo; but the combined forces of Ocampo and O'Niele were, on Dec. 24, 1601, totally de- feateil by 3Iountjoy near Kinsale. The Spaniards left Ireland "in January, 1002, and O'Niele made peace with the Knglish. At'the death of Elizabeth the whole of Ireland was under English nde. As a large number of Irish had perished in this conflict, 600,000 acres of land were confiscated in favor of English colonists. In view of the close alliance between the Church of Eome and the native Irish, the government of Elizabeth proceeded witli equal severity against both: the pubhc exercise of the Catholic religion was totally ft)rbiclden, and every inliabitanf, under penalty of twelve pence, was com- niaiided to lie present at divine service celebrated in the Anglican cluirches. Decrees like this provoked a gen- oral dissatisfaction, v.^hich was carefully fomented by the Jesuits of the University of Douay, in the Nether- lands ( now belonging to France). On the accession of James I to the English throne tlie papal party was very powerful: it expelled the Protestant ministers from many places, and re-established the service of the Cath- olic Church. These attempts were forcibly suppressed, and new insurrections consequently were caused, all of which proved of short duration. In order to break the power of the Catholic chieftains, the government of James, following the example of queen Elizabeth, was especially intent upon wresting from them their landed property. \\'hoever was unable to (ivovc, by means of a bill of feoffment, his title to his property, lost it. Thus, in the northern part of Ireland alone, about 800,000 acres were confiscated by the crown, which sold them to English speculators and to Scottish colonists, who founded the town of Lond<mderri% From this time dates the predominance of Protestantism in Ulster, the northern province of Ireland. At the same time, however, many most beneficent measures were taken for improving the social condition of the people. The English law supplanted the previous lawlessness; all inhal)itants were declared to be free citizens, and the country was divided into parishes. In 1615 an Irish National Parliament was called to sanction these meas- ures. In consequence of the interference of the govern- ment, there were among the 226 members of the lower liouse only 101 Catholics, while the upper house, con- sisting of 50 members, consisted almost entirely of Prot- estants. The Catholics were, moreover, excluded from the public offices, because most of them refused (hence their name "Kecusants") to take the oath of supremacy, which designated the king of England as head of the Church. At the beginning of the reign of Charles I the Anglican Church was nevertheless in a deplorable condition. IMany churches were destroyed, the l)ishop- rics impoverished, the clergy ignorant, indolent, and impoverished. A convocation called in 1G34 adopted the 3!) articles of the Church of England, and retained the 104 articles of the Irish Church which had been adopted I)y the Parliament of 1615. The constitution of the Church of Ireland was defined in 100 canons, whidi were of a somewhat more liberal character than the 14 1 canons of the Church of England. The Poman Catholics were generally allowed to celebrate divine service in private houses, and many priests who had fled returned. At the same time the Irish nationality continued to be persecuted, and a number of new con- fiscations were added to the old ones. On Oct. 23, 1644, a bloody insurrection broke out luider the leadership of Jiogor More, O'Nealc, and lord Maguire. the descendants of former chieftains. Within a few days from 40,000 to 50,00(1 Protestant Englishmen were murdered (accord- ing to (ither accounts the number of killed amounted to only ()00()), and an equally largo number is said to have perished \vhile trying to ilee. The enraged Parliament ordered the confiscation of two and a half million acres of land, but, in consequence of its conflict with the king,