Year by Year
Explore Year by Year articles from the most modern historical year back to the oldest.
3,294 Articles Archived
Portumna's Refusal
Archived: 16 October 2026
In 1635, Thomas Wentworth’s Dublin administration intensified efforts to reshape Ireland through parliamentary legislation, religious conformity, economic regulation and investigations of land title. Parliament passed measures on correction houses, alehouses, husbandry, clergy and Protestant schools, but failed to secure promised protections for established estates. Crown pressure reached Ulster when London plantation companies lost their charter, and peaked in Connacht, where Galway jurors at Portumna rejected the king’s claimed title and were fined and imprisoned. Wentworth also crushed Lord Mountnorris politically. Meanwhile, Hugh Ward’s death at Louvain marked a loss to Irish scholarship. The year revealed widening distrust of coercive government.
Graces Withheld
Archived: 16 October 2026
In 1634, Thomas Wentworth convened Charles I’s first Irish parliament, tightly managing elections, procedure and debate from Dublin Castle. Parliament unanimously granted six subsidies, expecting enactment of the Graces, concessions sought by Catholic and Old English elites, especially secure land titles. Wentworth subsequently refused the crucial land-security measure, confirming that revenue did not purchase limits on royal power. He also constrained parliamentary action over Sir Vincent Gookin’s inflammatory letter. Church convocation adopted the English Thirty-Nine Articles under pressure, advancing conformity despite resistance. Meanwhile, Geoffrey Keating completed Irish-language history; customs, trade and emigration to Spanish Flanders linked Ireland to Stuart Europe.
Wentworth Arrives
Archived: 16 October 2026
In 1633 Thomas Wentworth arrived as Charles I’s lord deputy, replacing interim rule by the lords justices and initiating a centralised Irish administration. Facing heavy debts and limited revenue, he prioritised customs, trade regulation, provincial accounts and a self-financing government, while cautiously managing Catholic and Protestant interests. He promoted allies, including Christopher Wandesford, John Bramhall and the earl of Ormond, and prepared for a future parliament. Church developments included St Columb’s Cathedral’s completion and inquiries into ecclesiastical resources. Meanwhile, the Four Masters continued preserving Gaelic history in Donegal. The year established stronger royal direction amid confessional, social and cultural divisions.
Lough Derg
Archived: 16 October 2026
In 1632, Ireland experienced mounting political, fiscal and religious strain under Lords Justices Adam Loftus and Richard Boyle, while Charles I appointed Thomas Wentworth as future lord deputy. Government need for army revenue prompted Boyle’s proposed recusancy fines, but Loftus and Wentworth favoured negotiation, preserving fragile Catholic expectations surrounding the Graces. In October, Bishop James Spottiswood destroyed St Patrick’s Purgatory cave at Lough Derg, forcefully suppressing a major Catholic pilgrimage. Meanwhile Catholic synodical discipline, Ussher’s historical scholarship, plantations and planned towns reflected competing religious and colonial visions. The year exposed an uneasy peace, foreshadowing Wentworth’s more rigorous administration in Ireland.
Baltimore Raid
Archived: 16 October 2026
In 1631, Baltimore, a West Cork fishing settlement shaped by plantation, local rivalries and Atlantic commerce, suffered a corsair raid. Before dawn on 20 June, forces led by Murad Reis the Younger seized 107 inhabitants, chiefly women and children, after landing from vessels sailing from Algiers. The captives entered North African systems of sale, labour, ransom and household service; few are known to have returned. Suspicions of local collusion remain unproven. The raid exposed limited coastal protection. Elsewhere, royal honours reinforced hierarchy, Patrick Fleming founded a college in Prague and died in Bohemia, and Sir Henry Docwra died in Dublin.
Donegal Martyrology
Archived: 16 October 2026
In 1630, Ireland experienced contested government, religion and cultural memory rather than a single decisive event. Lords Justices Adam Loftus and Richard Boyle governed after Falkland’s departure, amid rivalries, plantation ambitions and uncertainty over Catholic concessions. Authorities suppressed visible Catholic houses in Dublin, although household networks sustained recusant worship. Malachy Ó Queely’s appointment as Tuam archbishop demonstrated continuing Catholic organisation. On 19 April, Franciscan scholar Mícheál Ó Cléirigh completed the Martyrology of Donegal, preserving Irish sacred learning and helping establish collaboration later associated with the Four Masters. Cork’s tomb commission highlighted elite Protestant power, Catholic insecurity, and uneven state authority.
Elinor Nugent
Archived: 16 October 2026
In 1629, Ireland experienced administrative change, religious tension and renewed Catholic confidence. Henry Cary’s recall left Richard Boyle and Adam Loftus as lords justices, committed to royal order and Protestant ascendancy. Despite pressure on recusancy, Dublin’s Catholic networks expanded, exemplified by Poor Clares returning from Flanders to found a convent. On St Stephen’s Day, officials led by Archbishop Lancelot Bulkeley raided the Franciscan chapel in Cook Street. Congregants, notably merchant widow Elinor Nugent and other women, rescued friars and drove raiders into hostile streets. The incident exposed Catholic urban solidarity, women’s agency, transnational links, and the limits of state coercion.
Deferred Parliament
Archived: 16 October 2026
In 1628, Charles I’s government negotiated the Graces with Irish Catholic and Old English elites, exchanging reforms for £120,000 towards the army. The package sought security of land titles, limits on martial law, billeting, monopolies and administrative abuses, and relief from Catholic disabilities. Lord Deputy Falkland prepared an Irish parliament to ratify these measures, but procedural defects under Poynings’ Law caused its October deferral, leaving guarantees unconfirmed. Official proclamations revealed concern over grain supply, poverty and disorder. Catholic life gained an Irish College in Rome, while William Daniel died. The unresolved settlement deepened tensions over land, religion and Crown authority.
Eleven Agents
Archived: 16 October 2026
In 1627, Irish politics centred on negotiations over Crown funding, land security and Catholic disabilities. After failed discussions with Lord Deputy Falkland, a convention appointed eleven agents, mainly Old English Catholics but including Protestants, to negotiate in England. Their mission anticipated, but did not yet constitute, the Graces agreed in 1628. Spanish invasion rumours heightened security concerns without producing an expedition. Government business included Adam Loftus’s recall, creation of a Second Serjeant-at-Law, and William Brabazon’s elevation as earl of Meath. William Bedell became Trinity’s provost, encouraging Irish-language ministry. Robert Boyle was born at Lismore, within the prominent Protestant plantation elite.
Waterford Charter
Archived: 16 October 2026
In 1626, Lord Deputy Falkland governed Ireland amid fiscal, religious and landholding tensions. Charles I restored Waterford’s charter, withdrawn after civic officers refused the oath of supremacy, enabling Catholic municipal leadership within Protestant legal constraints for an alleged £3,000. The Crown advanced plantation in Upper Ossory, reshaping contested Fitzpatrick lands. To fund 5,500 troops during war with Spain, Falkland offered proposed Graces, including land-title security, reduced recusancy penalties and officeholding opportunities for Catholics. Protestant bishops, led intellectually by James Ussher, opposed toleration. Aodh Mac Cathmhaoil became Catholic archbishop of Armagh, dying in Rome; Niall Garvach O’Donnell died imprisoned in Tower.
Some records do not yet have a verified historical year and are awaiting chronological placement.