Irish Catholic Confederation

Confederate Ireland, also referred to as the Irish Catholic Confederation, was a period of Irish Catholic self-government between 1642 and 1649, during the Eleven Years' War. Formed by Catholic aristocrats, landed gentry, clergy and military leaders after the Irish Rebellion of 1641, the Confederates controlled up to two thirds of Ireland from their base in Kilkenny; hence it is sometimes called the "Confederation of Kilkenny".

The Confederates included Catholics of Gaelic and 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.The Confederate Assembly of Kilkenny
. British Civil Wars Project. 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. Confederate ambassadors were appointed and recognised in France, Spain and the Papal States, who supplied them with money and weapons.

At various times, Confederate armies fought Royalists, Parliamentarians, Ulster Protestant militia and Scots Covenanters; these controlled the Pale, parts of eastern and northern Ulster, and the region around Cork. Charles authorised secret negotiations which in September 1643 resulted in a Confederate–Royalist ceasefire and led to further talks, most of which proved unsuccessful. In 1644, a Confederate military expedition landed in Scotland to help Royalists there. The Confederates continued to fight the Parliamentarians in Ireland, and decisively defeated the Covenanter army in the Battle of Benburb.

In 1647, the Confederates suffered a string of defeats at Dungan's Hill, Cashel and 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 English Parliamentarian army, led by Oliver Cromwell, invaded Ireland. By May 1652 it had defeated the Confederate–Royalist alliance, although Confederate soldiers continued a guerrilla warfare campaign for a further year.

Formation

The Irish Catholic Confederation was formed in the aftermath of the 1641 rebellion, both to control the popular uprising and to organise an Irish Catholic war effort against the remaining English and Scottish armies in Ireland. It was hoped that by doing this, the Irish Catholics could hold off an English or Scottish re-conquest of the country.

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, Viscount Mountgarret, 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 chaired by Hugh O'Reilly, Archbishop of Armagh, a majority of the Catholic bishops proclaimed that the rebellion was a just war.

On 10 May 1642, Ireland's Catholic clergy held a synod at Kilkenny. Present were the Archbishops of Armagh, Cashel and Tuam, eleven bishops or their representatives, and other dignitaries. 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 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". It called for the creation of a council (made up of clergy and nobility) for each 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 fights against the Confederation. The synod sent agents to France, Spain and Italy to gain support, gather funds and weapons, and recruit Irishmen serving in foreign armies. Lord Mountgarret was appointed president of the Confederate Supreme Council, and a General Assembly was fixed for October that year.

The first Confederate Assembly

The first Confederate General Assembly was held in Kilkenny on 24 October 1642, where it set up a provisional government. The Assembly was a parliament in all but name. Present at the first Assembly were 14 Lords Temporal and 11 Lords Spiritual from the Parliament of Ireland, along with 226 commoners. The Confederate's constitution was written by a Galway lawyer named Patrick D'Arcy. The Assembly resolved that each county should have a council, overseen by a provincial council made up of two representatives from each county council. The Assembly agreed orders "to be observed as the model of their government".

The Assembly elected an executive known as the Supreme Council. The first Supreme Council was elected on or about 14 November. It consisted of 24 members, 12 of whom were to abide always in Kilkenny or wherever else they deemed fitting.

The members of the first Supreme Council were as follows:

James Tuchet, 3rd Earl of Castlehaven, representing the Crown, was the final member of the Supreme Council.

The Supreme Council would have power over all military generals, military officers and civil magistrates. Its first act was to name the generals who were to command Confederate forces: Owen Roe O'Neill was to command the Ulster forces, Thomas Preston the Leinster forces, Garret Barry the Munster forces and John Burke the Connacht forces. Ulick Burke, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde was named head general, as they thought he would sooner or later join the Confederates. The Supreme Council issued an order to raise £30,000 and a levy of 31,700 men in Leinster who were to be trained at once.

The Supreme Council also made its own seal, described as follows: "'Twas circular, and in its centre was a large cross, the base of which rested on a flaming heart, while its apex was overlapped by the wings of a dove. On the left of the cross was the harp , and on the right the crown." The motto on the seal was ''Pro Deo, Rege, et Patria, Hiberni Unanimes'' (''For God, King and Fatherland, Ireland is United'').

A National Treasury, a mint for making coins, and a press for printing proclamations were set up in Kilkenny. This first General Assembly sat until 9 January 1643.

Policies

The last piece of legislation agreed by Charles I and 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 Royalists loyal to the king, which made reaching an agreement with him a matter of primary importance. As a result, the Confederacy never claimed to be an independent government and since only Charles could legally call 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 war Parliament. In terms of religion, they insisted on toleration of Catholicism and in June 1645 added the stipulation that the Catholic clergy should retain all properties taken from the Church of Ireland since 1641. In reality, these were almost impossible to achieve, since they were asking Charles to make concessions he had refused to make to Parliament, while the vast majority of his advisors opposed them on the grounds that doing so would fatally undermine the Royalist cause in England and Scotland.

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 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. 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.

The 1643 Cessation

In September 1643, the Confederates negotiated a " cessation" with James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, Royalist Governor of Ireland, which was signed at Jigginstown, near Naas. This ended hostilities ceased between the Confederates and Ormonde's royalist army based in Dublin. However, Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin, a rare Gaelic Irish Protestant who commanded the Royalist garrison of Cork, objected to the ceasefire and declared his allegiance to Parliament in England. The Scottish Covenanters had also landed an army in Ulster in 1642, which remained hostile to the Confederates and to the king – as did the Laggan Army of the Scottish settlers living in Ulster.

The Jacobite historian Thomas Carte mentioned the financial terms of the Cessation, whereby the Confederates undertook to pay Ormonde £30,000 in stages up to May 1644, half in cash and half in live cattle.

In 1644 the Confederates sent around 1,500 men under Alasdair MacColla