Restoration (Ireland) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Restoration of the monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

after the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms

Wars of the Three Kingdoms

The Wars of the Three Kingdoms formed an intertwined series of conflicts that took place in England, Ireland, and Scotland between 1639 and 1651 after these three countries had come under the "Personal Rule" of the same monarch...

. The term Restoration may apply both to the actual event by which the monarchy was restored, and to the period immediately following the event.

End of the republic

With the collapse of the The Protectorate in England during May 1659 the republic

Commonwealth of England

The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...

which had been forced upon Ireland

Cromwellian conquest of Ireland

The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in 1649...

by Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

quickly began to unravel.

Royalists planned an uprising in Ireland and sought to turn Henry Cromwell

Henry Cromwell

Henry Cromwell was the fourth son of Oliver Cromwell and Elizabeth Bourchier, and an important figure in the Parliamentarian regime in Ireland.-Life:...

and Lord Broghill

Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery

Roger Boyle redirects here. For others of this name, see Roger Boyle Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery was a British soldier, statesman and dramatist. He was the third surviving son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork and Richard's second wife, Catherine Fenton. He was created Baron of Broghill on...

(who was in contact with the King's court in the summer of 1659) towards the cause but the plan came to aught. Henry Cromwell left Ireland in June 1659. Broghill showed reluctance to declare for the King, but nevertheless republicans were suspicious of him following Booth's revolt in England in 1659.

Sir Theophilus Jones, a former soldier under Charles I of Ireland

Charles I of England

Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

and governor of Dublin during the republic, seized Dublin Castle

Dublin Castle

Dublin Castle off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, was until 1922 the fortified seat of British rule in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of it dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland...

with a group of officers and declared for Parliament. Sir Charles Coote

Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Mountrath

Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Mountrath , was an Irish peer, the younger was the son of Charles Coote and Dorothea Cuffe, the former being a veteran of the battle of Kinsale who subsequently settled in Ireland....

seized Galway

Galway

Galway or City of Galway is a city in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It is the sixth largest and the fastest-growing city in Ireland. It is also the third largest city within the Republic and the only city in the Province of Connacht. Located on the west coast of Ireland, it sits on the...

. Lord Broghill held firm in Munster. On 9 January 1660 a council of officers declared Edmund Ludlow

Edmund Ludlow

Edmund Ludlow was an English parliamentarian, best known for his involvement in the execution of Charles I, and for his Memoirs, which were published posthumously in a rewritten form and which have become a major source for historians of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. After service in the English...

a traitor and he fled to England. The regicide

Regicide

The broad definition of regicide is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a monarch. In a narrower sense, in the British tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after a trial...

Hardress Waller

Sir Hardress Waller , cousin of Sir William Waller, was an English parliamentarian of note.-Life:Born in Groombridge, Kent, and descendant of Sir Richard Waller of Groombridge Place, Waller was knighted by Charles I in 1629...

re-took Dublin Castle in February 1660 but with little support he surrendered to Sir Charles Coote. Waller along with fellow regicide John Cook

John Cook (regicide)

John Cook , was the first Solicitor General of the English Commonwealth and led the prosecution of Charles I...

was arrested and sent to England. The officers in Dublin supported General Monck.

The army was purged of radicals and a Convention Parliament

Irish Convention (1660)

The Irish Convention sat 7 February, 2 March and 27 May 1660, and again January 1661. It sought to restore the monarchy, episcopacy and the also the right for the King's Irish Parliament to tax and legislate for itself, rejecting claims of legislative supremacy by the King's English Parliament.Sir...

called. Coote sought to move the Convention Parliament towards restoration, but his rival Broghill did not openly declare for the King until May 1660.

In February 1660 Coote sent a representative to King Charles II in the Netherlands and invited him to make an attempt on Ireland, but the King regarded it as inexpedient to try and reclaim Ireland before England. At the same time Broghill sent his brother to invite the King to land at Cork

Cork (city)

Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...

. In March 1660 a document was published asking for the King's return, "begged for his forgiveness, but stipulated for a general indemnity and the payment of army arrears"

Following events in England Charles was proclaimed King of Ireland in Dublin on 14 May without any dissent.

Return of Charles II

"The commonwealth parliamentary union was, after 1660, treated as null and void". As in England the republic was deemed constitutionally never to have occurred. The Convention Parliament was dissolved by Charles II in January 1661, and he summoned his first parliament in Ireland in May 1661.

In 1662, 29 May

Oak Apple Day

Oak Apple Day or Royal Oak Day was a holiday celebrated in England on 29 May to commemorate the restoration of the English monarchy, in May 1660...

was made a public holiday.

Coote, Broghill and Sir Maurice Eustace

Sir Maurice Eustace

-Family background:Eustace was born between 1590 and 1595, at Castlemartin, County Kildare, the son of William Fitzjohn Eustace,constable of Naas. The Eustaces of Castlemartin were cousins of Viscount Baltinglass, but played no part in the Desmond Rebellions, being generally noted for loyalty to...

were initially the main political figures in the Restoration. George Monck, Duke of Albemarle was given the position of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was the British King's representative and head of the Irish executive during the Lordship of Ireland , the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

but he did not assume office. In 1662 the 1st Duke of Ormonde

James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde

James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde PC was an Irish statesman and soldier. He was the second of the Kilcash branch of the family to inherit the earldom. He was the friend of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, who appointeed him commander of the Cavalier forces in Ireland. From 1641 to 1647, he...

returned as the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and became the predominant political figure of the Restoration period.

Religious Settlement

Irish people were encouraged by the Declaration of Breda

Declaration of Breda

The Declaration of Breda was a proclamation by Charles II of England in which he promised a general pardon for crimes committed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum for all those who recognised Charles as the lawful king; the retention by the current owners of property purchased during...

(1660), by which Charles declared for religious toleration: ".. that no man shall be disquieted or called in question for differences of opinion in matter of religion which do not disturb the peace of the kingdom." The declaration was then markedly reduced by the Clarendon Code Acts of 1661-65.

The Church of Ireland

Church of Ireland

The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...

was restored as the national Church. "On 22 January 1661 the King issued a proclamation declaring all meetings by papists, Presbyterians, Independents and separatists illegal". Parliament later passed the Act of Uniformity 1666 similar to an Act in England of the same name. Whilst the religious settlement was satisfactory neither to Catholic nor Presbyterian, there was some degree of toleration, penal laws were laxly enforced and there was no equivalent of the Conventicle Act 1664

Conventicle Act 1664

The Conventicle Act of 1664 was an Act of the Parliament of England that forbade conventicles...

.

Catholics and Dissenters were allowed to take their seats again in the Irish parliament session of 1666.

Land Settlement

The most controversial aspect after the Restoration was the expected revision of the 1652 Cromwellian land settlement

Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652

The Act for the Settlement of Ireland imposed penalties including death and land confiscation against participants and bystanders of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and subsequent unrest.-Background:...

. Prior to the Republic 60% of Irish land was owned by the Catholic landed gentry

Landed gentry

Landed gentry is a traditional British social class, consisting of land owners who could live entirely off rental income. Often they worked only in an administrative capacity looking after the management of their own lands....

, but much had been forfeited

Forfeiture (law)

Forfeiture is deprivation or destruction of a right in consequence of the non-performance of some obligation or condition. It can be accidental, and therefore is distinguished from waiver; see waiver and forfeiture....

de jure under the 1642 Adventurers Act

Adventurers Act

The Adventurers' Act is an Act of the Parliament of England, with the long title "An Act for the speedy and effectual reducing of the rebels in His Majesty's Kingdom of Ireland".-The main Act:...

and de facto after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland

Cromwellian conquest of Ireland

in 1649-53.

Irish Protestants who had guaranteed the Restoration in 1660 expected to retain the lands they had paid the State for in the 1650s without further interference, relying on privity of contract

Privity of contract

The doctrine of privity in the common law of contract provides that a contract cannot confer rights or impose obligations arising under it on any person or agent except the parties to it....

. Against this, many Irish Catholic Royalists had supported Charles during his exile and now expected their lands back. Other dispossessed Catholic landlords had been given lands in Connacht

Connacht

Connacht , formerly anglicised as Connaught, is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the west of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for...

that were confiscated from landlords there, who naturally wanted all of their land back.

A Declaration was made on the land issue in 1660, followed by the Act of Settlement 1662

Act of Settlement 1662

The Act of Settlement 1662 passed by the Irish Parliament in Dublin. It was a partial reversal of the Cromwellian Act of Settlement 1652, which punished Irish Catholics and Royalists for fighting against the English Parliament in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms by the wholesale confiscation of their...

. As this did not settle the matter there followed the Act of Explanation 1665. The result was a compromise; Charles needed the continuing support of the former republicans and Catholics ended up with about 20% of the land. Charles also gave some of the Irish land taken from the regicides to his (Catholic) brother the Duke of York

James II of England

James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...

.

In Ulster

Ulster

Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...

"Cromwell's settlement was not overturned" Landless Catholics who struggled against the Protestants who had taken the land were known as tóraidhe or tories

Tory

Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...

. They were "perceived as dispossed Catholics waging a war of revenge against the new social order created by the land confiscations of the 1640's and 1650's". Some royalists were compensated with land elsewhere; the viscount Magennis

Magennis

Magennis is an Irish surname, derived from or the Sons of Angus, sometimes also spelt as Maginnis. The most famous branch controlled west County Down, particularly the Iveagh baronies, and occasionally Dundrum Castle to the east. The Magennis, Lords of Iveagh, are descendants of the Uí Echach Cobo...

lost land in County Down

County Down

-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...

and was given 3,000 acres in Roscommon

County Roscommon

County Roscommon is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the town of Roscommon. Roscommon County Council is the local authority for the county...

instead.

End of the republic

Return of Charles II

Religious Settlement

Land Settlement

See also