Desmond Rebellions

The Desmond Rebellions occurred in the 1560s, 1570s and 1580s in Munster in southern Ireland. They were rebellions of the Earl of Desmond dynasty—the Fitzgerald family or Geraldines—and their allies against the efforts of the Elizabethan English government to extend their control over the province of Munster. The rebellions were primarily about the independence of feudal lords from their monarch but also had an element of religious conflict (Roman Catholic against Protestant). The result of the rebellions was the destruction of the Desmond dynasty and the subsequent plantation or colonisation of Munster with English settlers. See also Tudor re-conquest of Ireland

Sources

• Colm Lennon, Sixteenth Century Ireland ? The Incomplete Conquest, Dublin 1994.
• Edward O'Mahony, Baltimore, the O'Driscolls, and the end of Gaelic civilisation, 1538-1615, Mizen Journal, no. 8 (2000): 110-127.
• Nicholas Canny, The Elizabethan Conquest of Ireland, Harvester Press Ltd, Sussex 1976.
• Nicholas Canny, Making Ireland British 1580-1650, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001.