Violence In 1640

I definitely agree with the question that both violence and warfare drove the Island’s history between the years of 1460-1800 because there was a lot of fighting and bloodshed between the native Irish and the English invaders throughout those years. The reign of the Tudors set the violent manner of Irish politics and paved the way for the rebellions and wars which would plague seventeenth century Ireland. In all the years between 1460-1800, the years between 1640-1660 were especially full of violence and warfare. This was due to the Rebellion of 1941, and, the Cromwellian war. The violent nature of the 1600’s set the mood for later Irish history, where bloodshed and rebellions were common.
While there was much violence in the 1600’s – which
Some might call it a Rebellion as it is historically referred to as. Others might call it a massacre of civilians. Darcy put it as the following, “What began on 23rd October 1641? Was it a rebellion? An uprising? A nationalist rising? A catholic plot? A pre-meditated massacre?” Regardless of what the actual events are called, it is without a doubt, a very violent event which resulted in many deaths. From the murder of Protestants by the Old English to the torturing of English owned animals, many vile, violent acts have been described by Darcy in his book. Phelim O’Neill (Catholic, Irish leader) ordered the murders of one of the survivor’s brother. “The Old English also partook in this violence and killed ‘British Protestants’. O’Neill ordered the execution of Maxwell’s brother and sister-in-law, while other soldiers tortured English animals and killed prominent members of settler society, such as the local school teacher and several landowners. The killings spread as settlers from the lower social orders were attacked. Such was the scale of death and destruction that corpses were left unburied in ditches and on the streets.” The sadistic nature of the 1641 rebellion is hard to comprehend in modern Irish context, but, it is clear that such violence would become the norm for early modern Ireland. Douglas Besharov also backs up the violent streak that the rebellion held. In his book, he wrote, “The Clergy were prime targets of violence because many had ready cash from church fines.” This view is very interesting because it adds a new narrative of violence as a result of greed, rather than as a result of the native Catholics wanting to rid the land of Protestants as other sources claimed. Padraig Lenihan was one such historian who claimed that ‘reconciling religious and political allegiance’ was one of the key reasons why the natives wanted a