CHAPTER IV
THE CONFISCATION OF CONNAUGHT AND ORMOND
There remained of purely Irish territories untouched by confiscation or English settlement the province of Connaught less the County of Leitrim, Clare and the districts east of the Shannon in Tipperary and Limerick which had formed down to the time of Henry VIII. part of the Kingdom of Thomond, the MacCarthy lands in west Cork and south Kerry, Monaghan and some districts in Down and Antrim, and some small parts of Leinster.[1] From time to time we hear of the possibility of further plantations in these districts; but it was left to the energetic Strafford to take any effective steps in this direction.
The main facts of Strafford's confiscation of Connaught, and of his abortive scheme for a plantation are well known.[2]
In 1228, Henry III., after the death of Aedh King of Connaught, had treated that province as
- ↑ The majority of the landowners in Mayo, as well as those in about half of Galway were of course really of old English descent; but they had practically all become to all intents and purposes identical with the old Irish.Monaghan had been divided amongst the clansmen first under Elizabeth and again under James. The barony of Farney was in possession of the Earl of Essex.
- ↑ It is noticeable that the Calendars of State Papers have very few references to Strafford's proceedings with regard to Connaught. Mr. Bagwell gives a pretty full account.
