Archived: 14 October 2026
Abstract
In 1660, Ireland’s Protestant leaders used the General Convention to support Charles II’s restoration, proclaiming him king before his return to England while seeking to preserve parliamentary influence, episcopacy and Cromwellian landholdings. Former Commonwealth figures, notably Charles Coote and Roger Boyle, became royal brokers and regional magnates, while commissioners governed amid uncertainty. Charles’s November Declaration addressed competing claims of Catholic former proprietors, Adventurers and soldiers, protecting many possessors while offering limited restoration through proof of innocence. The Church of Ireland revived under bishops, yet Catholics remained excluded. Restoration restored monarchical institutions but postponed conflict over land, religion, loyalty and power.
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Archived: 14 October 2026
Abstract
In 1652, Galway, the last major Confederate Atlantic port, surrendered to parliamentary forces after siege and blockade, ending its military significance but leaving Catholic inhabitants uncertain. Resistance persisted through irregular fighters, while agreements offered some soldiers foreign service. Charles Fleetwood’s appointment signalled army-backed civil rule. On 12 August, the Rump Parliament’s Act for the Settling of Ireland established punitive categories of guilt, enabling forfeiture, banishment and redistribution of land to soldiers and Adventurers, although later measures shaped transplantation. War, famine, disease and displacement devastated communities. Thus conquest evolved into a programme restructuring property, authority, religion and belonging under Commonwealth rule.
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