Ormond’s Last Earl
On 2 April, James I rebuked the Irish Catholic representatives who had travelled to England to complain about the conduct of the Irish parliament elected in 1613. Their grievances were substantial. The Crown had created many new boroughs, including plantation and small corporate towns, which returned members likely to support the government. Catholic opponents argued that this distorted representation; they also protested against the enforcement of the oath of supremacy and the exclusion of Catholics from municipal office. Their objections joined constitutional argument to the practical anxieties of established landowners and urban elites.