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{{Short description|Period of Irish Catholic self-government
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{More footnotes|date=April 2009}}
{{Infobox former country
|native_name =
|conventional_long_name = Irish Catholic Confederation
|common_name = Ireland
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|era = [[Irish Confederate Wars]]
|government_type = [[Confederation|Confederal]] [[constitutional monarchy]]
|event_start = <!-- Default: "Established" -->
|year_start = 1642
|event_end = [[Cromwellian conquest of Ireland|Cromwellian conquest]]
|year_end = 1652
|event_pre = [[Irish Rebellion of 1641]]<!-- Optional: A crucial event that took place before "event_start" -->
|date_pre = 1641
|event_post = <!-- Optional: A crucial event that took place after "event_end" -->
|date_post =
|p1 = Kingdom of Ireland
|flag_p1 = Royal Standard of Ireland (1542–1801).svg
|s1 = Commonwealth of England
|flag_s1 = Flag of The Commonwealth.svg
|image_flag = Green harp flag of Ireland.svg
|image_coat = Colorized Confederate Ireland Seal.png
|coa_size = 150px
|symbol_type = Great Seal
|image_map =
|image_map_caption =
|capital = [[Kilkenny]]
|national_motto =
|common_languages = [[Irish language|Irish]], [[English language|English]]
|religion = [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]]
|title_leader = [[List of Irish monarchs|King]]
|leader1 = [[Charles I of England|Charles I]]
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|leader2 = [[Charles II of England|Charles II]]
|year_leader2 = 1649–1653
|legislature = [[General Assembly]]▼
▲|legislature = General Assembly
}}
[[File:Confederate Ireland flag, Kilkenny.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|right|Replica of a Confederation flag found in [[Rothe House]], Kilkenny; it depicts the [[Coronation of the Virgin|Coronation of Mary]] as [[Queen of Heaven]] by
'''Confederate Ireland''', also referred to as the '''Irish Catholic Confederation''', was a period of Irish [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] self-government between 1642 and
The Confederates included Catholics of [[Gaels|Gaelic]] and [[Normans in Ireland|Anglo-Norman descent]]. They wanted an end to anti-Catholic discrimination within the [[Kingdom of Ireland]] and greater Irish self-governance; many also wanted to roll back the [[plantations of Ireland]]. Most Confederates professed loyalty to [[Charles I of England]] in the belief they could reach a lasting settlement in return for helping defeat his opponents in the [[Wars of the Three Kingdoms]].<ref name="bcw">[http://bcw-project.org/church-and-state/confederate-ireland/the-confederate-assembly The Confederate Assembly of Kilkenny] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028204331/https://bcw-project.org/church-and-state/confederate-ireland/the-confederate-assembly |date=28 October 2020 }}. British Civil Wars Project.</ref> Its institutions included a legislative body known as the General Assembly, an executive or Supreme Council, and a military. It minted coins, levied taxes and set up a printing press.<ref name="bcw"/> Confederate ambassadors were appointed and recognised in [[Kingdom of France|France]], [[Habsburg Spain|Spain]] and the [[Papal States]],<ref name="bcw"/> who supplied them with money and weapons.
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In 1647, the Confederates suffered a string of defeats at [[Battle of Dungan's Hill|Dungan's Hill]], [[Sack of Cashel|Cashel]] and [[Battle of Knocknanuss|Knocknanuss]]. This prompted them to make an agreement with the Royalists, leading to internal divisions which hampered their ability to resist a Parliamentarian invasion. In August 1649, a large [[New Model Army|English Parliamentarian army]], led by [[Oliver Cromwell]], [[Cromwellian conquest of Ireland|invaded Ireland]]. By May 1652 it had defeated the Confederate–Royalist alliance, although Confederate soldiers continued a [[guerrilla warfare]] campaign for a further year.
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 1650s]]
==Formation==
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The initiative for the Confederation came from a Catholic bishop, [[Nicholas French]], and a lawyer named [[Nicholas Plunkett]]. They put forth their proposals for a government to Irish Catholic nobles such as [[Viscount Gormanston]], [[Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret|Viscount Mountgarret]], [[Donagh MacCarthy, Viscount Muskerry|Viscount Muskerry]] and the [[Baron of Navan]]. These men would commit their own armed forces to the Confederation and persuaded other rebels to join it. The declared aims of the Confederates were similar to those of Sir [[Phelim O'Neill]], the leader of the early stages of the rebellion in Ulster, who issued the [[Proclamation of Dungannon]] in October 1641.
On 17 March 1642, these nobles signed the "Catholic Remonstrance" issued at [[Trim, County Meath]] that was addressed to King Charles I. On 22 March, at a synod in nearby [[Kells, County Meath|Kells]] chaired by [[Hugh O'Reilly (Archbishop of Armagh)|Hugh O'Reilly, Archbishop of Armagh]], a majority of the Catholic bishops proclaimed that the rebellion was a [[Just war theory|just war]].{{sfn|Austin|1913|p=[https://archive.org/details/catholicencyclo07herbgoog/page/n326/ 294]|ps=: "He convened a provincial synod at Kells early in February 1642 in which the bishops declared the war undertaken by the Irish people for their king, religion, and country to be just and lawful."}}
[[File:Cattedrale di san canizio kilkenny.jpg|right|thumb|[[St Canice's Cathedral|Cathedral of St Canice]], where members of the Assembly heard mass.{{sfn|Meehan|1882|p=[https://archive.org/details/confederationki01meehgoog/page/n194/ 176]|ps=
On 10 May 1642, Ireland's Catholic clergy held a [[synod]] at [[Kilkenny]]. Present were the [[Archbishop]]s of [[Archbishop of Armagh|Armagh]], [[Archbishop of Cashel|Cashel]] and [[Archbishop of Tuam|Tuam]], eleven bishops or their representatives, and other dignitaries.{{sfn|Meehan|1882|p=[https://archive.org/details/confederationki01meehgoog/page/n38/ 20]|ps=: "... the synod met at Kilkenny on the 10th May 1642. The Archbishops of Armagh, Cashel and Tuam, with 6 other bishops and the proxys of five more ..."}} They drafted the [[Confederate Oath of Association]] and called on all Catholics in Ireland to take the oath. 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|1882|p=[https://archive.org/details/confederationki01meehgoog/page/n41/ 23]|ps=: "... declare that war, openly Catholic, to be lawful and just;"}} 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
===The first Confederate Assembly===
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[[File:King Charles I after original by van Dyck.jpg|left|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Charles I of England|Charles I]]; the Confederates pledged him allegiance, but the two sides struggled to agree terms]]
The last piece of legislation agreed by [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] and [[Parliament of England|Parliament]] was the 1642 [[Adventurers' Act]], which provided funds to suppress the 1641 Rebellion by confiscating "rebel" lands. In order to keep their estates, in the context of the [[Wars of the Three Kingdoms]] the Confederates claimed to be [[Cavalier|Royalists]] loyal to the king, which made reaching an agreement with him a matter of primary importance.{{Sfn|Lowe|1964|p=2}} As a result, the Confederacy never claimed to be an independent government and since only Charles could legally call [[Parliament of Ireland|Parliament]], their General Assembly never claimed to be one, although this did not prevent it enacting legislation.
Confederate political demands included Irish self-government, secure tenure of their lands, amnesty for any acts committed during the Rebellion, an equal share in government positions and that these concessions be ratified by a post
The Confederate position was further weakened by divisions between the Old English, mostly descendants of those who arrived during the [[Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland]] in 1172, and the native [[Gaels|Gaelic]] Irish. While many historians dispute the extent of the differences between the two groups, there are significant variations in terms of political, religious and economic objectives. In general, the Old English wanted to regain the power and influence they had lost under the Tudors and although they were sincere Catholics, did not support establishing the church as the [[state religion]].{{Sfn|Lowe|1964|pp=5-6}} Gaelic Irish leaders such as [[Owen Roe O'Neill]] wanted to reverse the [[Plantations of Ireland]], since this was the only way to retrieve their ancestral lands; however, they were far less united in their demands than the Old English and it has been argued they formed a pressure group, rather than a distinct political philosophy.{{Sfn|Lowe|1964|pp=5-6}}
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==Civil War within the Confederation==
[[File:Owen Roe O'Neill.JPG|right|thumb|Engraving copy of portrait of Owen Roe O'Neill]]
However, many of the Irish Catholics continued to reject a deal with the royalists. [[Owen Roe O'Neill]] refused to join the new royalist alliance and fought a brief internal civil war with the royalists and Confederates in the summer of 1648. So alienated was O'Neill by what he considered to be a betrayal of Catholic war aims that he tried to make a separate peace with the English Parliament and was for a short time effectively an ally of the English parliamentary armies in Ireland. This was disastrous for the wider aims of the Confederacy, as it coincided with the outbreak of the [[English Civil War#
It is often argued that this split within the Confederate ranks represented a split between Gaelic Irish and [[Old English (Ireland)|Old English]]. It is suggested that a particular reason for this was that Gaelic Irish had lost much land and power since the English conquest of Ireland and hence had become radical in their demands.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}} However, there were members of both ethnicities on each side. For example, [[Felim O'Neill of Kinard|Phelim O'Neill]], the Gaelic Irish instigator of the Rebellion of 1641, sided with the moderates, whereas the predominantly Old English south Wexford area rejected the peace. The Catholic clergy were also split over the issue.
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==Significance==
Confederate Ireland's style of parliament was similar to the landed oligarchy [[Parliament of Ireland]] established by the Normans in 1297, but it was not based on a democratic vote. Given their large notional power base, the Confederates ultimately failed to manage and reorganise Ireland so as to defend the interests of Irish Catholics. The [[Irish Confederate Wars]] and the ensuing Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649–53) caused massive loss of life and ended with the confiscation of almost all Irish Catholic-owned land in the 1650s, though
==See also==
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*{{citation|last=Carte |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Carte |date=1851 |title=The Life of James Duke of Ormond |edition=new |volume=3 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |publication-place=Oxford |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofjamesdukeo03cart/}} – 1643 to 1660
* {{citation|last=Cusack |first=Mary Francis |date=1871 |title=A Compendium of Irish History |publisher=Patrick Donahoe |publication-place=Boston |url=https://archive.org/details/compendiumofiris00cusa/}}
* {{cite journal|last=Lowe|first=Lowe|title=Charles I and the Confederation of Kilkenny,
* {{citation|last=Meehan |first=Rev. Charles Patrick |date=1882 |title=The Confederation of Kilkenny |edition=New revised and enlarged |publisher=James Duffy |publication-place=Dublin |url=https://archive.org/details/confederationki01meehgoog/}}
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