The Graces were a series of reforms sought by

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s in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in 1628–1634. Since the introduction of the

Reformation in Ireland The Reformation in Ireland was a movement for the reform of religious life and institutions that was introduced into Ireland by the English administration at the behest of King Henry VIII of England. His desire for an annulment of his marriage wa ...

, based on the English model and directed by the

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, the rights of the Catholic majority in the

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had been curtailed. A number of influential Catholics in the

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(both

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and members of the

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) sought to redress this during the reign of King Charles I by proposing reforms to allow Catholics loyal to the Crown to play their full role in Irish society, both legally and officially. Although the King was sympathetic, during the time that Thomas Wentworth, who was the

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from 1632 to 1640, these aims were frustrated. The discontent resulting from the lack of reform played a part in the outbreak of the

Irish Rebellion of 1641 The Irish Rebellion of 1641 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1641) was an uprising by Irish Catholics in the Kingdom of Ireland, who wanted an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and to partially or fully reverse the plantatio ...

Background

The

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forced

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of ...

to maintain troops in Ireland to defend the country against a possible Spanish invasion. Despite the introduction of the

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, most people in the

had remained Roman Catholic. On the accession of King Charles I in 1625, whose queen was the French Catholic princess

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, many Catholics expected the new king to be more favourable to their religion. The wealthier Catholics who sat in the

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and the Irish House of Commons formed a committee in which participated Luke Plunket, 1st Earl of Fingall, Luke Plunket, 10th Baron of Killeen and Sir William Talbot, 1st Baronet. That committee petitioned the king to have anti-Catholic legislation removed.

Negotiation

King Charles I had indicated in 1626 that he would concede certain rights to the Irish Catholics and Irish landlords in general if paid well enough. In June 1627 a convention was elected that chose 11 agents to be sent to England to negotiate with the King. Three were Protestants, the remaining eight Old English Catholics. They were: *Luke Plunket, 1st Earl of Fingall, Lord Killeen *Sir Thomas Lutrell *Sir William Talbot, 1st Baronet *Lucas Dillon of Loughglynn, Sir Lucas Dillon *Sir Henry Lynch, 1st Baronet *Sir Edward FitzHarris *Sir John Meade *Lord Power *Richard Osborne *Sir Arthur Forbes, 1st Baronet, Arthur Forbes *Andrew Stewart At Whitehall in 1628 the King and the Irish delegation agreed on 51 articles. These concessions are known as the Graces because the agreement was entitled "Matters of Grace and Bounty". At the core of the Graces were land rights and religious freedom. The payment was fixed at £120,000 sterling (about £ in ) in three yearly instalments. The Graces had been proclaimed, and a first instalment had been paid.

Incomplete ratification

The Irish Parliament should have ratified the Graces promptly, but the Lord Deputy Henry Cary, 1st Viscount Falkland, Lord Falkland never summoned the parliament needed for this purpose. The 1st Irish Parliament of King Charles I, parliament called in 1634 was the first Irish parliament since the proclamation of the Graces. The Irish therefore expected to see them confirmed in this parliament, while Wentworth expected trouble when he refused. The Irish parliament next sat in late 1634 and the order of business was led by Thomas Wentworth who had been

since 1632. Wentworth's priority was to make Ireland profitable for Charles, and the first items on the agenda were taxation, supply bills that were passed without dissent. The Catholic members had all agreed to the new taxes on the understanding that their Graces—by now in form of a list of 51 articles—would be passed in the second session from 4 November to 14 December. The Catholic MPs in the Commons briefly had a majority caused by the absence of some Protestant MPs, and this increased their hopes that all the Graces would be enacted. On 27 November Wentworth refused to allow two of the Graces. These were to extend the English statute of limitations to Ireland (then 70 years), and to guarantee the titles of the current landowners in Connacht, a province where the great majority of landlords were Catholic. Consequently, the subsequent bills introduced by Wentworth were all opposed by the Catholic members. The Graces were shelved despite further representations to Charles. On 16 December Wentworth wrote as follows to Edward Coke in London: :"''The Popish Party have been ill to please this Session, but after I had the 27th of last Month given our Answer to their Graces, they lost all Temper ...''" Historians disagreed to what extent Wentworth's letters on the 1634 session reflect reality, or whether were an unduly boastful and selective account to his colleagues in London. Given the few opportunities for parliamentary sessions at that time, debate also continues on whether or not the Catholic parliamentarians were unduly inflexible; they should perhaps have accepted 49 out of the 51 Graces in 1634, and then campaigned in London to try to secure the last two.

Outcomes

The hopes dashed by the matter of the Graces were compounded by Wentworth's subsequent policies in Ireland. Particularly, he then challenged the freehold titles of many Old English families in Connacht that could be rectified only by the payment of large fines. The ensuing ill-feeling contributed in part to the

and the establishment of Confederate Ireland that led on, ultimately, to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649–53. For English political reasons, Wentworth was tried by parliament and executed in May 1641. Following Wentworth's attainder in April 1641, King Charles and the Privy Council of England instructed the Irish Lords Justices on 3 May 1641 to publish the required Bills to enact the Graces. However, the law reforms were not properly implemented before the rebellion in late 1641.

Citations and sources

Citations

Sources

* – 1613 to 1641 * * – 1624 to 1632 * * * * * * * * * {{Kingdom of Ireland 17th century in Ireland History of Catholicism in Ireland Irish Rebellion of 1641