Essay Database

The five monarchs of the 118 year Tudor Dynasty in England (1486-1603) -- particularly Henry VIII (r.1509-47) and his daughter Elizabeth I (r.1558-1603) -- had an enormous impact on Ireland and its people. In addition to imposing Poynings Law on Ireland, they ousted the Catholic Church (with the Pope as its head), and replaced it with a Protestant Church (with the English Crown as its head), thereby sowing the seeds for centuries of religious …

…not as petit kings within the old Gaelic social system. He pardoned them, but only on condition they accept the "surrender and regrant" program. The celebrated "Flight of the Earls" occurred four years later. Dissatisfied with their new roles, and still fearing retaliation, O'Neill and virtually the entire remaining Gaelic leadership (99 leaders in all), secretly boarded a ship at night at Loch Swilley and sailed for the Continent, never to return. The date was September 14, 1607.