View source for Irish Rebellion of 1641

{{Short description|Rebellion by Catholics in Ireland}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Irish Rebellion of 1641
| partof            = the [[Irish Confederate Wars]]
| image             = Sir Phelim O’Neill.png
| caption           = [[Felim O'Neill of Kinard]], leader of the rebellion
| date              = 23 October 1641&nbsp;– May 1642<br/>(7 months)
| place             = [[Ireland]]
| territory         = Most of Ireland is under Catholic control
| result            = Founding of [[Confederate Ireland]] 
*Beginning of the [[Irish Confederate Wars]]
| combatant1        = {{flagicon image|Green harp flag of Ireland 17th century.svg|size=22px}} [[Confederate Ireland]]
| combatant2        = {{flagcountry|Kingdom of England}}
* {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Ireland|1542}}
{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Scotland}}
| commander1        = {{plainlist|
*{{flagicon image|Green harp flag of Ireland 17th century.svg|size=22px}} [[Felim O'Neill of Kinard|Felim O'Neill]]
*{{flagicon image|Green harp flag of Ireland 17th century.svg|size=22px}} [[Rory O'Moore]]
*{{flagicon image|Green harp flag of Ireland 17th century.svg|size=22px}} [[Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty|Donough MacCarty]]
*{{flagicon image|Green harp flag of Ireland 17th century.svg|size=22px}} [[Connor Maguire, 2nd Baron of Enniskillen|Connor Maguire]]
*{{flagicon image|Green harp flag of Ireland 17th century.svg|size=22px}} [[Rory Maguire (soldier)|Rory Maguire]]
*{{flagicon image|Green harp flag of Ireland 17th century.svg|size=22px}} [[Philip O'Reilly (Cavan County MP)|Philip O'Reilly]]}}
| commander2        = {{plainlist|
*{{flagicon image|Royal Standard of Ireland (1542–1801).svg}} [[William St Leger]]
*{{flagicon image|Royal Standard of Ireland (1542–1801).svg}} [[James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond|James Butler]]
*{{flagicon image|Royal Standard of Ireland (1542–1801).svg}} [[Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Mountrath|Charles Coote]]
*{{flagicon|Kingdom of Scotland}} [[Robert Monro]]}}
| commander3        = 
| strength1         = 
| strength2         = 
| strength3         = 
| casualties1       = 
| casualties2       = 
| casualties3       = 
| notes             = 
| campaignbox       = {{Campaignbox Irish Confederate Wars}}
}}
The '''Irish Rebellion of 1641'''{{efn|{{lang-ga|Éirí Amach 1641}}}} was an uprising in [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]], initiated on 23 October 1641 by [[Catholic]] gentry and military officers. Their demands included an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and return of [[plantations of Ireland|confiscated Catholic lands]]. Planned as a swift ''[[coup d'état]]'' to gain control of the [[Protestant]]-dominated [[Dublin Castle administration|central government]], instead it led to the 1641–1653 [[Irish Confederate Wars]], part of the wider [[Wars of the Three Kingdoms]]. 

Despite failing to seize [[Dublin Castle]], rebels under [[Felim O'Neill of Kinard|Felim O'Neill]] quickly over-ran most of [[Ulster]], centre of the most recent [[Plantation of Ulster|land confiscations]]. O'Neill then issued the [[Proclamation of Dungannon]], a forgery claiming he had been authorised by [[Charles I of England]] to secure Ireland against his opponents in [[Kingdom of England|England]] and [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]]. Many [[Cavalier|Royalist]] [[Normans in Ireland|Anglo-Irish]] Catholics responded by joining the uprising, and the rebellion spread throughout Ireland. 

In November, rebels [[Siege of Drogheda (1641)|besieged Drogheda]] and defeated a government relief force at [[Battle of Julianstown|Julianstown]]. Especially in Ulster, thousands of Protestant settlers were expelled or [[Portadown massacre|massacred]], and Catholics  killed in retaliation. By April 1642, Royalist troops held [[Dublin]], [[Cork (city)|Cork]], and large areas around them, with much of Ulster occupied by a Scottish [[Covenanter]] army and [[Laggan Army|local Protestant militia]]. This left approximately two thirds of Ireland under rebel control. 

In May 1642, Ireland's Catholic bishops met at [[Kilkenny]], and declared the rebellion a [[Just war theory|just war]]. Along with members of the Catholic nobility, they [[Confederate Oath of Association|created]] an alternative government known as [[Confederate Ireland]]. For the next ten years, the Confederacy fought a three-sided war with Irish Royalists, Scottish Covenanters and English [[Roundheads|Parliamentarians]].

==Causes==
{{see|History of Ireland (1536–1691)}}
The roots of the 1641 rebellion derived from the colonisation that followed the [[Tudor conquest of Ireland]], and the alienation of the [[Catholic]] gentry from the newly-Protestant English state in the decades following. Historian Aidan Clarke writes that religion "was merely one aspect of a larger problem posed by the Gaelic Irish, and its importance was easily obscured; but religious difference was central to the relationship between the government and the colonists".{{Sfn|Clarke|2009|p=188}} During the decades between the end of the Elizabethan wars in 1603 and the outbreak of rebellion in 1641, the political position of the wealthier landed Irish Catholics was increasingly threatened by the English government of Ireland. As a result, both the [[Gaels|Gaelic]] Irish, and the [[Old English (Ireland)|Old English]] communities increasingly defined themselves as Irish and were viewed as such by the newcomers.{{Sfn|Lenihan|2001|pp=4–6}}

The pre-Elizabethan population of [[Ireland]] is usually divided into the native Irish and Old English, many of whom were descendants of medieval English and [[Anglo-Normans]] settlers. These groups were historically antagonistic, with English settled areas such as [[the Pale]] around [[Dublin]], [[Wexford]], and other walled towns being fortified against the rural Gaelic clans.{{Sfn|Lennon|2005|pp=67–68}} By the 17th century, the cultural divide between these groups, especially at elite social levels, was narrowing; many of the Old English spoke [[Irish language|Irish]], patronised [[Irish poetry]] and music, and have been described as being "[[More Irish than the Irish themselves]]". Writing in 1614, one author claimed that previously the Old English "despised the mere Irish, accounting them a barbarous people, void of civility and religion and [each viewed] the other as a hereditary enemy" but cited intermarriage "in former ages rarely seen", education of the Gaelic Irish and "the late plantation of New English and Scottish [throughout] the Kingdom whom the natives repute a common enemy; but this last is the principal cause of their union".{{Sfn|Canny|2001|pp=411–412}} In addition, the native population became defined by their shared Catholicism, as opposed to the Protestantism of the new settlers.{{Sfn|Darcy|2013|p=6}} {{Efn|Religion often took precedence over community links; [[James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond]], a member of one of the leading Old English families, and the Gaelic Irish [[Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin]], were both Protestant converts who played prominent roles in suppressing the rebellion}}  

===Plantations===
[[File:Map of British plantations of Ireland, 1550–1610.png|thumb|right|upright=1.0|Ireland in 1609, showing the major [[Plantations of Ireland]]]]

The Tudor conquest of the late 16th and early 17th century led to the [[Plantations of Ireland]], whereby Irish-owned land was confiscated and colonised with British settlers. The biggest was the [[Plantation of Ulster]], which utilised estates confiscated from the northern lords who [[Flight of the Earls|went into exile]] in 1607. Around 80% of these were distributed to English-speaking Protestants, with the remainder going to "deserving" native Irish lords and clans.{{Sfn|Robinson|2000|p=86}} By 1641, the economic impact of the plantations on the native Irish population was exacerbated because many who retained their estates had to sell them due to poor management and the debts they incurred. This erosion of their status and influence saw them prepared to join a rebellion, even if they risked losing more.{{Sfn|Robinson|2000|p=190}}

Many of the exiles, such as [[Owen Roe O'Neill|Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill]], served in the Catholic armies of [[Kingdom of France|France]] and [[Habsburg Spain|Spain]], particularly the [[Army of Flanders]]. They formed a small émigré Irish community, militantly hostile to the English-run Protestant state in Ireland, but restrained by the generally good relations England had with Spain and France after 1604. In Ireland itself, resentment caused by the plantations was one of the main causes for the outbreak and spread of the rebellion, combined with [[Poynings' Law (on certification of acts)|Poynings' Law]], which required Irish legislation to be approved by the [[Privy Council of England]]. The Protestant-dominated administration took opportunities to confiscate more land from longstanding Catholic landowners.{{Sfn|Lenihan|2016|pp=56–57}} In the late 1630s [[Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford|Thomas Wentworth]], the [[Lord Deputy of Ireland]], proposed a new round of plantations designed to expand Protestant cultural and religious dominance.{{sfn|Lenihan|2001| p=10}} Delays in their implementation caused by Charles' struggles with his political opponents in England and Scotland meant that Catholics still owned over 60% of land in 1641.{{Sfn|Lenihan|2016|p=58}}

===Religious discrimination===
[[File:Thomas Wentworth execution 1641.png|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Etching, by [[Jan Luyken]], depicting the execution of [[Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford]] in May 1641]]

Most of the Irish Catholic upper classes were not opposed to the sovereignty of Charles I over Ireland but wanted to be full subjects and maintain their pre-eminent position in Irish society. This was prevented by their religion and the threat of losing their land in the Plantations. The failed [[Gunpowder Plot]] of 1605 had led to further legal discrimination against Catholics.{{sfn|BBC}}

The Protestant [[Church of Ireland]] was the only approved form of worship, although it was a minority even among Irish Protestants, many of whom were Presbyterians. Both they and the majority Catholic population were required to pay [[tithes]] to the church, causing great resentment, while practicing Catholicism in public could lead to arrest, and non-attendance at Protestant service was punishable by [[Recusancy|recusant]] fines. Catholics could not hold senior offices of state, or serve above a certain rank in the army. The [[Privy Council of Ireland]] was dominated by English Protestants. The constituencies of the [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish House of Commons]] gave Protestants a majority.<ref>TW Moody, FX Martin, FJ Byrne (editors). ''A New History of Ireland: Vol. III''. p. xlv</ref>

In response, the Irish Catholic upper classes sought '[[The Graces (Ireland)|The Graces]]', and appealed directly first to [[James I of England|James I]] and then his son [[Charles I of England|Charles]], for full rights as subjects and toleration of their religion. On several occasions, they seemed to have reached an agreement under which these demands would be met in return for raising taxes. However, despite paying increased taxes after 1630, Charles postponed implementing their demands until 3 May 1641 when he and the English Privy Council instructed the [[Lords Justices of Ireland]] to publish the required Bills.{{Sfn|Carte|1736| p=236}}

The advancement of the Graces were particularly frustrated during the time that Wentworth was [[Lord Deputy]]. On the pretext of checking of land titles to raise revenue, Wentworth confiscated and was going to plant lands in counties [[County Roscommon|Roscommon]] and [[County Sligo|Sligo]] and was planning further plantations in counties [[County Galway|Galway]] and [[County Kilkenny|Kilkenny]] directed mainly at the Anglo-Irish Catholic families.{{Sfn|Lenihan|2001|p=11}} In the judgement of historian Pádraig Lenihan, "It is likely that he [Wentworth] would have eventually encountered armed resistance from Catholic landowners" if he had pursued these policies further.{{Sfn|Lenihan|2001|p=12}} However, the actual rebellion followed the destabilisation of English and Scottish politics and the weakened position of the king in 1640. Wentworth was executed in London in May 1641.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Clavin |first=Terry |date=October 2009 |title=Dictionary of Irish Biography: Wentworth, Sir Thomas |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/wentworth-sir-thomas-a8968 |website=Dictionary of Irish Biography}}</ref>

===Conspiracy===
From 1638 to 1640 [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]] rose in a revolt known as the [[Bishops' Wars]] against Charles I's attempt to impose Church of England practices there, believing them to be too close to Catholicism. The King's attempts to put down the rebellion failed when the English [[Long Parliament]], which had similar religious concerns to the Scots, refused to vote for new taxes to pay for raising an army. Charles therefore started negotiations with Irish Catholic gentry to recruit an Irish army to put down the rebellion in Scotland, in return for granting longstanding requests for religious toleration and land security. Composed largely of Irish Catholics from Ulster, an army was slowly mobilised at [[Carrickfergus]] opposite the Scottish coast, but then began to be disbanded in mid-1641. To the Scots and [[Parliament of England]], this seemed to confirm that Charles was a tyrant, who wanted to impose his religious views on his kingdoms, and to govern again without his parliaments as he had done in 1628–1640. In early 1641, some Scots and English Parliamentarians even proposed invading Ireland and subduing Catholics there, to ensure that no royalist Irish Catholic army would land in England or Scotland.{{Sfn|Lenihan|2001|pp=22–23}}

Frightened by this, and wanting to seize the opportunity, a small group of Irish Catholic [[landed gentry]] (some of whom were [[Parliament of Ireland|Members of Parliament]]) plotted to take [[Dublin Castle]] and other important towns and forts around the country in a quick ''coup'' in the name of the King, both to forestall a possible invasion and to force him to concede the Catholics' demands. At least three Irish [[colonel]]s were also involved in the plot, and the plotters hoped to use soldiers from the disbanding Irish army.{{Sfn|Perceval-Maxwell|1994|pp=208–209}}

===Economics===
Unfavourable economic conditions also contributed to the outbreak of the rebellion. This decline may have been a consequence of the [[Little Ice Age]] event of the mid 17th Century. The Irish economy had hit a recession and the harvest of 1641 was poor. Interest rates in the 1630s had been as high as 30% per annum. The leaders of the rebellion like Phelim O'Neill and [[Rory (Roger) O'Moore|Rory O'Moore]] were heavily in debt and risked losing their lands to creditors. What was more, the Irish farmers were hard hit by the bad harvest and were faced with rising rents. This aggravated their desire to remove the settlers and contributed to the widespread attacks on them at the start of the rebellion.{{Sfn|Kenyon|Ohlmeyer|1998|pp=29–30}} A [[creditor]] of O'Neill's, "Mr Fullerton of Loughal{{nbsp}}... was one of the first to be murdered in the rebellion".{{Sfn|Canny|2001|pp=473–474}}

==Rebellion==
{{Location map many|Ireland|caption = The 1641 Rebellion; key locations|relief=yes|border = black| width = 300| float = right
|label1 = Limerick |pos1=top  |lat1_deg=52.66 |lon1_deg =-8.62
|label2 = Dublin   |pos2= bottom|lat2_deg=53.35|lon2_deg =-6.26
|label3 = Athlone  |pos3=top|lat3_deg=53.42|lon3_deg = -7.94
|label4 = Drogheda |pos4=left|lat4_deg=53.72|lon4_deg = -6.41
|label6 = Cork     |pos6=left|lat6_deg=51.90 |lon6_deg = -8.48
|label7 = Dungannon|pos7=left|lat7_deg=54.5|lon7_deg = -6.77
|label8 = Kilkenny |pos8=top|lat8_deg=52.65|lon8_deg = -7.25
|label9 = Waterford|pos9=top|lat9_deg=52.26|lon9_deg = -7.11
|label10= Galway  |pos10=top|lat10_deg=53.27|lon10_deg = -9.06
|label11= Newry     |pos11=top|lat11_deg=54.176|lon11_deg = -6.439
|label12 = Carrickfergus    |pos12=top|lat12_deg=54.716 |lon12_deg = -5.809
|label13 = Derry    |pos13=left|lat13_deg=54.9958|lon13_deg = -7.3074
|label14 = Julianstown    |pos14=right|lat14_deg=53.670222|lon14_deg = -6.280191
|label15 = Coleraine    |pos15=right|lat15_deg=55.133|lon15_deg = -6.661
|label16 = Dundalk    |pos16=right|lat16_deg=54.009|lon16_deg =  -6.4049
|label17 = Tipperary  |pos17=left|lat17_deg=52.474|lon17_deg=-8.162
|label18 = Kildare   |pos18=left|lat18_deg=53.15772|lon18_deg=-6.91128
|label19 = Lisburn   |pos19= right|lat19_deg=54.512|lon19_deg =-6.031}}

The rebellion was planned by a small group of Catholic [[landed gentry]] and military officers, many of whom were Gaelic Irish from [[Ulster]] who had lost lands and influence in the post 1607 Plantation. Due to take place on Saturday 23 October 1641,{{Efn|After the 1660 [[Stuart Restoration]], the [[Parliament of Ireland]] made 23 October an annual day of thanksgiving via the '''{{visible anchor|Observance of 23rd October Act 1662}}''' (14 & 15 Chas. 2 Sess. 4. c. 23 (I)).<ref>{{cite book|title=Statutes Passed in the Parliaments Held in Ireland: 1310–1662|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VYRRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA610|year=1794|publisher=George Grierson, printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty|pages=610–612|chapter=1662 (14 & 15 Chas. 2 Sess. 4 c. 23}}</ref>}} armed men led by [[Connor Maguire, 2nd Baron of Enniskillen|Connor Maguire]] and [[Rory O'Moore]] were to seize [[Dublin Castle]] and its [[arsenal]], then hold it until help came from insurgents in neighbouring [[County Wicklow]]. Meanwhile, [[Felim O'Neill of Kinard|Felim O'Neill]] and his allies were to occupy strategic points in Ulster.<ref name="dorney">Dorney, John. [https://www.theirishstory.com/2010/10/23/today-in-irish-history-october-23-first-day-of-the-1641-rebellion "Today in Irish History – First Day of the 1641 Rebellion, October 23"]. ''The Irish Story''.</ref> 

The English garrison of Ireland was only about 2,000 strong and scattered around the country,<ref name="dorney"/> but the plot relied on surprise rather than force to achieve their objectives, after which they would issue their demands, in expectation of support from the rest of the country.<ref>"But when they engaged in their insurrection on 22 October 1641, unquestionably they weren’t intending on the destruction of the entire Plantation that had been brought into place. We don’t know precisely what they intended: they presumably intended to seize the positions of strength, the military fortification of the province; having done that to, from this position of strength, to engage in some negotiation with the Crown with a view to bettering their condition in some way. But they, I think it is correct to say, that they weren’t intent on destroying the Plantation." (Nicholas Canny, [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/plantation/transcripts/es10_t04.shtml "The Plantation of Ireland: 1641 rebellion"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222010552/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/plantation/transcripts/es10_t04.shtml |date=22 February 2012 }} [[BBC]] lecture. Accessed 12 February 2008.)</ref> The plan to seize Dublin Castle was foiled when one of the ringleaders, Hugh Og MacMahon, revealed details to his foster-brother, a Protestant convert named Owen O'Connolly. He promptly informed one of the Lord Justices, and MacMahon and Maguire were arrested,{{Sfn|Perceval-Maxwell|1994|p=210}} while the remaining plotters slipped out of Dublin.<ref name="dorney"/> Warnings of an imminent rising had also been communicated to Dublin by [[William Cole (planter)|Sir William Cole]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/cole-sir-william-a1830 |title=Cole, Sir William |last=Clavin |first=Terry |date=October 2009 |website=Dictionary of Irish Biography |access-date=19 February 2023 }}</ref>

Despite this failure, the rebellion in Ulster went ahead and Felim O'Neill and his allies, including [[Rory Maguire (soldier)|Rory Maguire]], quickly captured positions throughout the province, including [[Dungannon]], [[Charlemont Fort]], [[Newry]], [[Tandragee]], [[Portadown]], [[Mountjoy Castle]], [[Castleblaney]] and [[Carrickmacross]]. Those that did not surrender, such as [[Enniskillen Castle]], were besieged and within two days the insurgents held most of counties [[County Armagh|Armagh]], [[County Tyrone|Tyrone]], [[County Fermanagh|Fermanagh]] and [[County Monaghan|Monaghan]].{{Sfn|Kennedy|Ollerenshaw|2012|p=29}} The [[Proclamation of Dungannon]], issued by O'Neill on 24 October, stated they had taken up arms only to defend their freedoms and meant no harm to the king's subjects.{{Sfn|Corish|2009|pp=289–296}} This was followed on 4 November by the Newry declaration which claimed Charles had approved the rising to secure Ireland against his opponents in England.{{Sfn|Perceval-Maxwell|1994|p=218}} 

Although the declaration is now accepted as a forgery,{{Sfn|Cunningham|2021|pp=55–84}} many of the Anglo-Catholic gentry were dismayed by indiscriminate anti-Catholic measures taken by the Dublin authorities, including those who had initially condemned the rebellion. The suspension of the Irish Parliament on 17 November deprived them of the political means to resolve these issues and the declaration provided cover for moderates such as Nicholas Plunkett to make common cause with the rebels.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ó Siochrú |first1=Micheál |title=Nicholas Plunkett |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/plunkett-nicholas-a7371 |website=Dictionary of Irish Biography |access-date=19 May 2022}}</ref> Rumours also circulated that radical Protestants were seeking to replace Charles I with his exiled German nephew the [[Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine|Elector Palatine]], paving the way for increased repression of Irish Catholics.{{Sfn|Jackson|2021|p=253}}  

The influential Lords of the Pale joined the rising in early December, while rebels in [[County Cavan|Cavan]] were led by [[Philip O'Reilly (Cavan County MP)|Philip O'Reilly]], the local [[Irish House of Commons|Member of Parliament]], and Mulmore O'Reilly, the [[High Sheriff of Cavan|High Sheriff]].{{Sfn|Perceval-Maxwell|1994|p=220}} [[Dundalk]] was occupied,{{Sfn|Perceval-Maxwell|1994|p=222}} while an army under Brian McMahon moved south from Ulster towards Dublin and on 21 November [[Siege of Drogheda (1641)|besieged Drogheda]] from the north. Others advanced through [[County Meath]] and blockaded the town from the south, then defeated a relief force sent from Dublin at [[battle of Julianstown|Julianstown]] on 29 November, inflicting over 600 casualties.{{Sfn|Perceval-Maxwell|1994|pp=222–223}} On 28 November, around 8,000 rebels besieged [[Lisnagarvey]] but after losing some 300 men in an unsuccessful assault, they set fire to the town and retreated.{{Sfn|Manganiello|2004|p=317}} This setback and the stubbornness displayed by the town's defenders allegedly made a deep impression on the attackers, since it showed hopes of a quick and relatively painless victory in Ulster were over optimistic.{{Sfn|Canny|2001|p=484}} 

Further south, the rebellion spread into counties [[County Leitrim|Leitrim]], [[County Longford|Longford]], Wicklow, [[County Wexford|Wexford]], [[County Tipperary|Tipperary]] and [[County Kildare|Kildare]].{{Sfn|Perceval-Maxwell|1994|pp=225,256}} The Dublin government called it "a most disloyal and detestable conspiracy" by "some evil affected Irish Papists", which was aimed at "a general massacre of all English and Protestant inhabitants".{{Sfn|Bellings|1879|pp=9, 18}} In December, troops led by [[Sir Charles Coote, 1st Baronet|Charles Coote]], Governor of Dublin Castle, and [[William St Leger]], [[Lord President of Munster]], attacked rebel-held areas in counties Wicklow and Tipperary respectively, expeditions characterised by "excessive and indiscriminate brutality" against the general Catholic population.{{Sfn|Lenihan|2001|p=23}} This provoked many into joining the insurgency, including previously peaceful [[Munster]] where St Leger had imposed a brutal [[martial law]] regime.{{Sfn|Corish|2009|p=292}}

===Ulster massacres===

When the rebellion began, Phelim O'Neill sought to exploit divisions between English and Scots settlers by offering the latter protection, hoping thereby to gain their support. This strategy initially contributed to the rapid spread of the revolt, in part because the Dublin government was uncertain who to trust and thus delayed a coordinated response.{{Sfn|Canny|2001|pp=480-482}} The situation changed when it became clear the rising had been only partially successful, while the breakdown of state authority prompted widespread attacks by the Catholic peasantry on Protestants, regardless of nationality.{{Sfn|Canny|2001|p=486}} {{Efn|"But on the 23rd and the 24th and 25th of October 1641, the popular attacks which are relatively spontaneous, are clearly focused upon the tenants who had moved in and become beneficiaries of the Plantation; and that these actions, as well as the words which are articulated in justifying those actions&nbsp;– targeted attacks upon those who had moved in and benefited from the Plantation&nbsp;– these indicate that there was a popular sentiment of dispossession which was articulated in action as well as in words when the opportunity provided itself, when the political order was challenged."<ref>Nicholas Canny [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/plantation/transcripts/es10_t04.shtml "The Plantation of Ireland: 1641 rebellion"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222010552/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/plantation/transcripts/es10_t04.shtml |date=22 February 2012 }} [[BBC]] lecture. Accessed 12 February 2008.</ref>}} They were soon joined by members of the gentry; O'Neill's authority was largely confined to County Armagh and even there was not total, his own brother being one of those who took part in these actions.{{Sfn|Canny|2001|p=486}} 

A contemporary Catholic source wrote that O'Neill "strove to contain the raskall multitude from those frequent savage actions of stripping and killing" but "the floodgate of rapine, once being laid open, the meaner sort of people was not to be contained".{{Sfn|Bellings|1879|pp=14–15}} It has been argued the initial purpose of the attacks was economic and killings occurred only when the victims resisted.{{Sfn|Canny|2001|p=476}} They intensified as the rebellion progressed, particularly in Ulster where many had lost land in the post 1607 Plantations,{{Sfn|Edwards|Lenihan|Tait|2007|p=154}} while attacks on local Protestant clergy were in part due to resentment at the relative wealth of the Church of Ireland in that province.{{Sfn|Edwards|Lenihan|Tait|2007|p=155}} Other factors included religion and culture; in County Cavan, rebels justified the rising as a defensive measure against a Protestant threat to "extirpate the Catholic religion",{{Sfn|Edwards|Lenihan|Tait|2007|p=153}} reinstated original [[Irish language]] place names and banned the use of English.{{Sfn|Edwards|Lenihan|Tait|2007|p=154}}

[[File:Wenceslaus Hollar – supposed Irish atrocities during the Rebellion of 1641.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.0|English [[atrocity propaganda]] of alleged rebel attacks on women and children]]

Following their repulse at Lisnagarvey in November, rebels killed about 100 Protestants at [[Portadown]] by forcing them off the bridge into the [[River Bann]], and shooting those who tried to swim to safety.{{efn|A deposition made by one William Clarke claimed "about 100 Protestants (including women and children) from the nearby parish of Loughal, who were already prisoners" were killed.{{Sfn|Canny|2001|p=485}}}} Known as the [[Portadown massacre]], it was one of the bloodiest such events to take place in Ireland during the 1640s.{{Sfn|Darcy|2013|pp=68–69}} In nearby [[Kilmore, County Armagh|Kilmore]], English and Scottish men, women and children were burned to death in the cottage in which they were imprisoned, while in Armagh as a whole, some 1,250 died in the early months of the rebellion, roughly a quarter of the local settler population.{{Sfn|Kenyon|Ohlmeyer|1998|p=74}} In [[County Tyrone]], modern research has identified three blackspots for the killing of settlers, the worst being near [[Caledon, County Tyrone|Kinard]], "where most of the British families planted... were ultimately murdered".{{Sfn|Lenihan|2001|p=31}} Elsewhere at [[Shrule]] in [[County Mayo]], Protestant prisoners were killed by their Catholic escorts, despite attempts by their officers to intervene.{{Sfn|Jones|2012|p=68}}

Killings of Catholics also took place, including the murder of two dozen at [[Islandmagee]] by members of the Carrickfergus garrison in November 1641.{{Sfn|Jones|2012|p=68}} The arrival of a [[Covenanter]] army in Ulster in April 1642 led to further such atrocities, [[William Lecky]], a 19th-century historian of the rebellion, concluding "it is far from clear on which side the balance of cruelty rests".{{Sfn|Corish|2009|p=292}} The Scots executed Irish prisoners taken in a skirmish near Kilwarlin woods outside [[Dromore, County Down|Dromore]], while [[James Turner (soldier)|James Turner]] records that after retaking Newry, local Catholics were lined up on the banks of the Newry River and killed "without any legal process".{{Sfn|Royle|2004|p=142}} On [[Rathlin Island]], Scottish soldiers from [[Clan Campbell]] were encouraged by their commanding officer [[Sir Duncan Campbell, 2nd Baronet|Sir Duncan Campbell]] to kill the local Catholic [[MacDonnell of Antrim|MacDonnells]], who were related to the Campbells' enemies in Scotland, [[Clan MacDonald]]. They threw scores of MacDonnell women over cliffs to their deaths.{{Sfn|Royle|2004|p=143}} The killings were brought under some degree of control by [[Owen Roe O'Neill]], who in July 1642 was given command of Irish forces in Ulster and hanged several rebels for attacking civilians. Though still brutal, the war thereafter was fought according to the code of conduct both O'Neill and the Scottish commander [[Robert Monro]] had learned as professional soldiers in mainland Europe.{{Sfn|Lenihan|2001|p=212}} 

Contemporary pamphlets published in London contained lurid details of the massacres and suggested over 200,000 Protestants (more than entire settler population) had lost their lives.{{Sfn|Royle|2004|p=139}} These figures were recognised even then as wildly exaggerated and in November 1641 Parliament jailed a publisher who admitted paying for fictitious atrocity tales.{{Sfn|Jackson|2021|p=253}} Recent research suggests around 4,000 were killed in the attacks, with thousands more expelled from their homes,{{Sfn|Kenyon|Ohlmeyer|1998|p=278}} many of whom died of exposure or disease, leading to an upper estimate of around 12,000 deaths.{{sfn|Marshal|2006|p=58}} This represents around 10% of the total settler population in Ireland, though in Ulster the ratio of deaths would have been somewhat higher, namely around 30%.<ref>Mary O'Dowd. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/plantation/planters/es10.shtml 1641 rebellion] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171026131712/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/plantation/planters/es10.shtml |date=26 October 2017 }} [[BBC]]. Accessed 8 March 2008</ref> They were used to support the view of the rebellion as a Catholic conspiracy to wipe out all Protestants in Ireland,{{Sfn|Mac Cuarta|1993|p=126}} a narrative constructed in the ''Depositions'', a collection of victim reports gathered between 1642 and 1655 and now housed in [[Trinity College Dublin]].<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/feb/18/1641-irish-rebellion-anti-catholic-propaganda | work = The Guardian | title = How lies about Irish 'barbarism' in 1641 paved way for Cromwell's atrocities | date = 18 February 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://1641.tcd.ie/ | publisher = Trinity College Dublin | title = 1641 Depositions | accessdate = 5 March 2021 }}</ref> In 1646, these accounts were summarised in ''The Irish Rebellion'', a book by [[John Temple (judge)|John Temple]], {{Sfn|Noonan|2004|pp=224–225}} in which he urged the military re-conquest of Ireland and segregation of Irish Catholics from British Protestants.{{sfn|Darcy|2013|pp=99–100}} 

In the long term, the 1641 massacres intensified existing sectarian animosity on both sides, although modern historians argue the killings had an especially powerful psychological impact on the Protestant community.<ref>Staff [http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/dp/2007101901 Massacres and myths] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080221195517/http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/dp/2007101901 |date=21 February 2008 }}, [[University of Cambridge]], Information provided by news.online@admin.cam.ac.uk, 21 October 2007. [[John Morrill (historian)|John Morrill]] wrote: "The 1641 massacres have played a key role in creating and sustaining a collective Protestant and British identity in Ulster."</ref>{{Efn|Dr. Raymond Gillespie of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, "I think in some ways it's what happens after the Plantation which is much more important for the enduring legacy. It's the fears of the Irish which are created in 1641, the fear of massacre, the fear of attack, that somehow or other accommodations which had been made before were no longer possible after that because the Irish were quite simply, as John Temple put it in his history of the rebellion 'untrustworthy'. And that book was repeatedly reprinted&nbsp;– I think the last time it was reprinted was 1912, so that this message (the message not of the Plantation but the message of the rebellion) is the one that persists and the one which is used continuously right through the 19th century&nbsp;– that the Catholics are untrustworthy; that we can’t do business with them; we shouldn’t be involved with them; they are part of a large conspiracy to do us down" <ref>{{cite web | first=Raymond | last=Gillespie | title=The Plantation of Ulster: Long Term Consequences | website=BBC | date=2002-06-20 | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/plantation/transcripts/es11_t04.shtml | access-date=12 February 2008 | archive-date=22 February 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222011448/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/plantation/transcripts/es11_t03.shtml | url-status=dead }}</ref>}} Dr. Mary O'Dowd wrote they "were very traumatic for the Protestant settler community in Ulster, and left long-term scars within that community".<ref>Mary O'Dowd. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/plantation/transcripts/es11_t03.shtml The Plantation of Ulster: Long term consequences] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222011448/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/plantation/transcripts/es11_t03.shtml |date=22 February 2012 }} [[BBC]]. Accessed 12 February 2008</ref> Contemporary Protestant accounts depict the rebellion as a complete surprise; one stated that it was "conceived among us and yet we never felt it kick in the womb, nor struggle in the birth".{{Sfn|Kenyon|Ohlmeyer|1998|p=29}} Many argued Catholics could not be trusted and in Ulster, Protestants commemorated the anniversary of the rebellion for over two hundred years. According to historian Pádraig Lenihan, this "helped affirm communal solidarity and emphasise the need for unrelenting vigilance [against] the masses of Irish Catholics surrounding them [who] were and always would be, unregenerate and cruel enemies".{{Sfn|Lenihan|2003|pp=257–258}}

===English and Scottish intervention===
[[File:Portrait of James Butler, 12th Earl and 1st Duke of Ormonde (Peter Lely).jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|right|James Butler, Duke of Ormond, who commanded the royal army during the rebellion]]

Although Charles, the English Parliament and Scottish Covenanter government all agreed the rebellion should be crushed, doing so was delayed by political tensions. Charles was in [[Edinburgh]] when he received news of the uprising on 28 October and immediately urged the Scots to send troops to [[Ulster]], once approved by their colleagues in England.{{Efn|Since Ireland was subordinate to English political authority, only they could sanction intervention}} On 4 November, Parliament voted to send weapons and gunpowder to Ireland and recruit 8,000 men to suppress the rising but the situation was complicated since any such army would be legally controlled by the king.{{Sfn|Wheeler|2003|p=46}} A series of alleged [[Army Plots (1641)|Royalist military conspiracies]] in 1641 and rebel claims that Charles supported their actions heightened fears he would turn it against his opponents in England and Scotland, rather than the Irish.{{Sfn|Perceval-Maxwell|1994|p=264}}

The Covenanters urged the English Parliament to fund a Scottish army rather than recruiting their own, arguing it could reach Ireland more easily and would be independent of both Charles and his Parliamentary opponents.{{Sfn|Stevenson|1981|pp=45, 48}} In the meantime, Charles sent weapons, gunpowder and a small number of Scots volunteers to Ireland at his own expense, but had insufficient money to finance an expedition on his own.{{Sfn|Perceval-Maxwell|1994|p=262}} [[James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond]], a member of one of the leading [[Butler dynasty|Old English families]] and Protestant convert, was made commander of Royal forces in Ireland and recruited three infantry regiments from the refugees flooding into Dublin.{{Sfn|Wheeler|2003|p=46}} Several prominent Ulster Scots were also commissioned to raise troops, including [[Robert Stewart (soldier)|Robert Stewart]] and his brother William, who formed the [[Laggan Army]].{{Sfn|Stevenson|1981|p=52}} 

Many politicians and officials in Dublin and London opposed Scottish intervention in Ulster, seeing a well-armed and independent Presbyterian army as a threat to the status quo, and Parliament continued recruiting English regiments.{{Sfn|Wheeler|2003|p=49}} On 21 December, the [[House of Lords of England|Lords]] approved a Scottish army of 10,000 but the Covenanter government insisted they should also be given control of the three largest ports in Ulster, Carrickfergus, [[Coleraine]] and [[Derry]], along with land grants. These demands were rejected by the [[House of Commons of England|Commons]], leading to further delay and allowing the rebellion to spread. With the situation deteriorating, in February 1642 the two sides put aside their differences and agreed to send 2,500 Scots to Ulster.{{Sfn|Perceval-Maxwell|1994|pp=267–268}}

Parliament now adopted two measures intended to manage concerns over control of the forces needed for Ireland and how to raise funds for it as quickly as possible, both of which had significant consequences. On 15 March, the [[Militia Ordinance]] brought the military and [[Trained bands|county militia]] under the control of Parliament, rather than the king.{{Sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=36}} When Charles refused to give it his [[royal assent]], Parliament declared the legislation in force regardless, marking a major step on the road to civil war. On 19 March, the [[Adventurers' Act]] invited members of the public to provide loans which would be repaid with land confiscated from the rebels.{{Sfn|Ohlmeyer|2002|p=192}} This need to ensure these were repaid and maintain government credit was one of the factors behind the [[Cromwellian conquest of Ireland]] in 1649.   

In the first few months of 1642, Ormond regained much of the Pale, relieved Drogheda, re-took Dundalk and defeated a rebel force at [[Battle of Kilrush|Kilrush]] on 15 April.{{Sfn|Corish|2009|pp=289–296}} On the same day, the Covenanter army led by [[Robert Monro]] landed at Carrickfergus and recaptured Newry on 1 May.{{Sfn|Corish|2009|pp=289–296}} By mid-1642, Protestant forces in Ireland totalled 40,000 infantry and 3,600 horse, {{Sfn|Ryder|1987|p=14}} but the outbreak of the [[First English Civil War]] in August 1642 ended the flow of reinforcements and money from England and a military stalemate ensued.{{Sfn|Kenyon|Ohlmeyer|1998|p=77}}

===Founding of the Confederation===
{{main|Confederate Ireland}}
[[File:Great seal of Irish Catholic Confederation.svg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|The Great Seal of the Irish Catholic Confederation, with the motto "Irishmen united for God, king and country"]]

By early 1642, there were four main concentrations of rebel forces; in Ulster under Felim O'Neill, in the Pale around Dublin led by Viscount Gormanston, in the south-east, led by the Butler family&nbsp;– in particular Lord Mountgarret, and in the south-west, led by [[Donagh MacCarthy, Viscount Muskerry]]. In areas where British settlers were concentrated, around [[Cork (city)|Cork]], Dublin, [[Carrickfergus]] and [[Derry]], they raised their own militia in self-defence and managed to hold off the rebel forces.{{Sfn|Kenyon|Ohlmeyer|1998|pp=73–74}}

Within a few months of the rebellion's outbreak, almost all of the Catholic gentry had joined it, including the Anglo-Irish Catholics. There are three main reasons for this. First, local lords and landowners raised armed units of their dependents to control the violence that was engulfing the country, fearing that after the settlers were gone, the Irish peasantry would turn on them as well. Secondly, the [[Long Parliament]] made it clear that Irish Catholics who did not demonstrate their loyalty would have their lands confiscated under the [[Adventurers' Act]], agreed on 19 March 1642.{{sfn|Manganiello|2004|p=10}} Charles was also forbidden by parliament to pardon those accused of rebellion.{{sfn|Curtis|2005|p=210}}

Thirdly, it looked initially as if the rebels would be successful after they defeated a government force at [[Battle of Julianstown|Julianstown]] in November 1641. This perception was soon shattered when the rebels [[Siege of Drogheda 1641|failed to take]] nearby [[Drogheda]], but by then most of the Catholic gentry had already committed themselves to rebellion.<ref>Lenihan, Confederate Catholics at War, pp. 24–26</ref> The Catholic gentry around Dublin, known as the "Lords of the Pale", issued their Remonstrance to the king on 17 March 1642 at [[Trim, County Meath]]. 

[[Hugh O'Reilly (archbishop of Armagh)]] held a [[synod]] of Irish bishops at [[Kells, County Meath]] on 22 March 1642, which legitimised the rebellion as war in defence of the catholic religion.{{sfn|McGettigan|2009}}

On 10 May 1642, Archbishop O'Reilly convened another [[synod]] at [[Kilkenny]]. Present were 3 archbishops, 11 bishops or their representatives, and other dignitaries.{{Sfn|Meehan|1846|p=27}} They drafted the [[Confederate Oath of Association]] and called on all Catholics in Ireland to take it. Those who took the oath swore allegiance to [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] and vowed to obey all orders and decrees made by the "Supreme Council of the Confederate Catholics". The rebels henceforth became known as Confederates. The synod re-affirmed that the rebellion was a "just war".{{Sfn|Meehan|1846|p=29}} It called for the creation of a council (made up of clergy and nobility) for each [[Provinces of Ireland|province]], which would be overseen by a national council for the whole island. It vowed to punish misdeeds by Confederate soldiers and to excommunicate any Catholic who fought against the Confederation. The synod sent agents to France, Spain and Italy to gain support, gather funds and weapons, and recruit Irishmen serving in foreign armies.{{Sfn|Meehan|1846|p=30}} 

Lord Mountgarret was appointed president of the Confederate Council,{{Sfn|Meehan|1846|p=31}} and a General Assembly was held in Kilkenny on 24 October 1642, where it set up a [[provisional government]].{{Sfn|Meehan|1846|p=43}} Present were 14 [[Lords Temporal]] and 11 [[Lords Spiritual]] from the [[Parliament of Ireland]], along with 226 commoners.{{Sfn|Meehan|1846|p=41}} The Assembly elected a Supreme Council of 24, which controlled both military and civilian officers. Its first act was to name the generals who were to command Confederate forces: [[Owen Roe O'Neill]] was to command the Ulster forces, [[Thomas Preston, 1st Viscount Tara|Thomas Preston]] the Leinster forces, [[Garret Barry (soldier)|Garret Barry]] the Munster forces and John Burke the Connaught forces.{{Sfn|Meehan|1846|p=44}} A National Treasury, a mint for making coins, and a press for printing proclamations were set up in Kilkenny.{{Sfn|Meehan|1846|p=45}}

The Confederation eventually sided with the [[Cavalier|Royalists]] in return for the promise of self-government and full rights for Catholics after the war. They were [[Cromwellian conquest of Ireland|finally defeated]] by the English Parliament's [[New Model Army]] from 1649 through to 1653 and land ownership in Ireland passed largely to Protestant settlers.<ref>Canny pp. 562–566</ref>

==See also==
*[[Chronology of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms]]
*[[Cromwellian conquest of Ireland]]
*[[List of Irish rebellions]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
===Books===
*{{cite book|author-last=Bellings|author-first=Richard|editor-last=Gilbert|editor-first=JT|title=''History of the Confederation and War in Ireland'' in History of the Affairs of Ireland|publisher=Irish Archaeological and Celtic society|year=1879}}
* {{Cite book|last=Canny|first=Nicholas|title=Making Ireland British 1580–1650|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2001|isbn=0-19-925905-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Carpenter|first=Stanley|title=Military Leadership in the British Civil Wars|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=978-0714655444}}
* {{cite book|last=Carte|first=Thomas|title=An History of the Life of James Duke of Ormonde from His Birth 1610 to His Death 1688 Etc, Volume I|publisher=J.J Knapton|year=1736}}
* {{cite book|author-last=Clarke|author-first=Aidan|editor-last1=Moody|editor-first1=TW|editor-last2=Martin|editor-first2=FX|editor-last3=Byrne|editor-first3=FJ|title=''Plantation and the Catholic Question 1603–1623'' in A New History of Ireland, Volume 3: Early Modern Ireland 1534–1691|publisher=OUP|year=2009|isbn=978-0199562527}}
* {{cite book|author-last=Corish|author-first=Patrick J.|title=''The Rising of 1641 and the Catholic Confederacy 1641–1645'' in A New History of Ireland, Volume 3: Early Modern Ireland 1534–1691|publisher=OUP|year=2009|isbn=978-0199562527}}
* {{cite journal|last=Cunningham|first=John|title=Who Framed Charles I? The Forged Commission for the Irish Rebellion of 1641 Revisited|journal=The English Historical Review|year=2021|volume=136|issue=578|pages=55–84|doi=10.1093/ehr/ceab001|doi-access=free}}
* {{cite book |last1=Curtis |first1=Edmund |title=A History of Ireland: From the Earliest Times to 1922 |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-46666-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cwOCAgAAQBAJ&dq=Irish+rebel+leaders+were+outlawed+february+1642&pg=PA210 |language=en}}
* {{cite book|editor-last1=Edwards|editor-first1=David|editor-last2=Lenihan|editor-first2=Padraig|editor-last3=Tait|editor-first3= Clodagh|title=Age of Atrocity, Violence and Political Conflict in Early Modern Ireland|publisher=Four Courts Press|year=2007| isbn=978-1-85182-962-0}}
* {{cite book|last=Darcy|first=Eamon|title=The Irish Rebellion of 1641 and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|year=2013|isbn=978-0861933204}}
* {{cite book|last=Jackson|first=Clare|title=Devil Land: England under siege, 1588–1688|publisher=Allen Lane|year=2021|isbn=978-0241285817}}
* {{cite book|author-last=Jones|author-first=Inga|editor-last1=Ryan|editor-first1=Lyndall|editor-last2=Dwyer|editor-first2=Phillip G|title=''A Sea of Blood? Massacres in Ireland during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms'' in Theatres of Violence: Massacre, Mass Killing and Atrocity Throughout History|publisher=Berghahn Books|year=2012|isbn=978-0857453006}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Kennedy|first1=Liam|last2=Ollerenshaw|first2=Philip|title=Ulster Since 1600: Politics, Economy, and Society|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0199583119}}
* {{cite book|last1=Kenyon|first1=John|last2=Ohlmeyer|first2=Jane|year=1998|title=The Civil Wars: A Military history of England, Scotland, and Ireland 1638–1660|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0198662228}}
* {{cite book|last=Lenihan|first=Pádraig|year=2001|title=Confederate Catholics at War, 1641–49|publisher=Cork University Press|isbn=1-85918-244-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Lenihan|first=Pádraig|year=2016|title=Consolidating Conquest: Ireland 1603–1727 |publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1138140639}}
* {{cite book|last=Lenihan|first=Pádraig|year=2003|title=1690, Battle of the Boyne|publisher=Tempus|isbn=0-7524-2597-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Lennon|first=Colm|title=Sixteenth Century Ireland, The Incomplete Conquest|year=2005|publisher=Gill Books|isbn=978-0717139477}}
* {{cite book|last=Mac Cuarta|first=Brian|title=Ulster 1641: Aspects of the Rising|publisher=Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's University of Belfast|year=1993|isbn=978-0853894919}}
* {{cite book|last=Manganiello|first=Stephen C|title=The Concise Encyclopedia of the Revolutions and Wars of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1639–1660|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2004|isbn=978-0810851009}}
* {{cite book|last=Marshal|first=John|year=2006|title=John Locke, Toleration and Early Enlightenment Culture|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-65114-X}}
* {{cite book|last=Meehan|first=Charles Patrick|title=The Confederation of Kilkenny|publisher=James Duffy|year=1846}}
* {{cite journal|last=Noonan|first=Kathleen|title=Martyrs in Flames: Sir John Temple and the conception of the Irish in English martyrologies|journal=Albion|year=2004|volume=36|issue=2|pages=223–255 |doi=10.2307/4054214 |jstor=4054214}}
* {{cite book|last=O'Siochru|first=Michael|title=Confederate Ireland 1642–49|publisher=Four Courts Press|year=1999}}
* {{cite book|last=Ohlmeyer|first=Jane|title=Ireland from Independence to Occupation, 1641–1660|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0521434799}}
* {{cite book|last=Perceval-Maxwell|first=Michael|title=The Outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press|year=1994|isbn=978-0773511576}}
* {{cite book|last=Robinson|first=Philip|year=2000|title=The Plantation of Ulster|publisher=Ulster Historical Foundation|isbn=978-1-903688-00-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Royle|first=Trevor|year=2004|title=Civil War: The Wars of the Three Kingdoms 1638–1660|publisher=Abacus |isbn=978-0-349-11564-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Ryder|first=Ian|title=An English Army for Ireland|publisher=Partizan Press|year=1987|isbn=978-0946525294}}
* {{cite book|last=Stevenson|first=David|title=Scottish Covenanters and Irish Confederates|publisher=Ulster Historical Foundation|year=1981|isbn=978-0901905246}}
* {{cite book|last=Wheeler|first=James|title=The Irish and British Wars, 1637–1654: Triumph, Tragedy, and Failure|publisher= Routledge|year=2003|isbn=978-0415221313}}

===Articles===
*{{cite web |last1=BBC |title=The Gunpowder Plotters, 1605 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z3jb3j6/revision/5#:~:text=The%20Gunpowder%20Plot,about%2036%20barrels%20of%20gunpowder. |website=BBC Bitesize |publisher=BBC |access-date=1 June 2024}}
*Canny, Nicholas.  [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/plantation/transcripts/es10_t04.shtml The Plantation of Ireland: 1641 rebellion] [[BBC]]. Accessed 12 February 2008
*Gillespie, Raymond.  [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/plantation/transcripts/es11_t04.shtml Plantation of Ulster: Long term consequences], [[BBC]]. Accessed 13 February 2008).
*{{cite journal |last1=McGettigan |first1=Darren |title=O'Reilly, Hugh (Aodh Ó Raghallaigh) {{!}} Dictionary of Irish Biography |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/oreilly-hugh-aodh-o-raghallaigh-a6989 |website=Dictionary of Irish Biography |publisher=Royal Irish Academy |access-date=1 June 2024 |language=en |doi=10.3318/dib.006989.v1 |date=2009}}
*Noonan, Kathleen M. "Martyrs in Flames": Sir John Temple and the conception of the Irish in English martyrologies. ''Albion'', June 2004.
*O'Dowd, Mary. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/plantation/transcripts/es11_t03.shtml The Plantation of Ulster: Long term consequences] [[BBC]]. Accessed 12 February 2008.
*Staff. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/myths_legends/northern_ireland/ni_6/article_2.shtml Secrets of Lough Kernan] [[BBC]], Legacies UK history local to you, website of the BBC. Accessed 4 February 2008

===Depositions of witnesses===
* [http://www.1641.tcd.ie/index.php  Fully searchable digital edition of the 1641 Depositions at Trinity College Dublin Library] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028202624/http://www.1641.tcd.ie/index.php |date=28 October 2018 }}

==External links==
*[http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/glossary/irish-uprising-1641.htm 1641: The Irish Uprising (Plant, David)] on [http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/ British Civil Wars] website.
*[http://www.theirishstory.com/2010/10/23/today-in-irish-history-october-23-first-day-of-the-1641-rebellion/ Article on the outbreak of the Rebellion]
*[http://www.libraryireland.com/articles/rebellion1641/index.php The Rebellion of 1641] From the Ecclesiastical Record, 1905.
*[https://1641.tcd.ie/index.php/historical-rebellion/ Trinity College – What was the 1641 Rebellion?]
* [http://homepage.eircom.net/~jjcondon/Cromwell.html Rebellion of 1641 in County Tipperary] by Jim Condon
{{Wars of the Three Kingdoms}}
{{Kingdom of Ireland}}
{{Ireland topics |expanded=History}}
{{Gaels}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irish Rebellion of 1641}}
[[Category:Irish Rebellion of 1641| ]]
[[Category:17th-century rebellions]]
[[Category:Wars of the Three Kingdoms]]
[[Category:Catholic rebellions]]
[[Category:Massacres of Protestants]]
[[Category:Massacres in 1641]]