Cromwellian conquest of Ireland

Oliver Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of the English Parliament in 1649. Since the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Ireland had been mainly under the control of the Irish Confederate Catholics, who in 1649, signed an alliance with the English Royalist party, which had been defeated in the English Civil War. Cromwell defeated the Confederate and Royalist coalition in Ireland and occupied the country - bringing to an end the Irish Confederate Wars. He passed a very harsh series of Penal laws against Catholics and confiscated almost all of their land. The Parliamentarian re-conquest of Ireland was extremely brutal, and it is alleged that many of Cromwell's actions during the re-conquest would today be called war crimes and genocide. Cromwell is still a hated figure in Ireland. However, a recent book claims that many of the actions taken by Cromwell were within the then accepted rules of war, or were exaggerated or distorted by later propagandists{{fn|1}}. Debate over his impact in Ireland is lively{{fn|2}}.

Main Sources

• Reilly, Tom, Cromwell, an Honourable Enemy, Dingle 1999
• Scot-Wheeler, James, Cromwell in Ireland, Dublin 1999
• Lenihan, Padraig, Confederate Catholics at War, Cork 2001.
• Ohlmeyer, Jane, Kenyon John (ed.?s) The Civil Wars, Oxford 1998.
• Canny, Nicholas P, Making Ireland British 1580-1650, Oxford 2001.