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England 1558–1603

Ireland and the Nine Years' War

  • 3 things to know
  • A2 Unit 2

Overview

Elizabeth I's basic aims in Ireland, policy of surrender and regrant and desmond rebellions.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What happened at Smerwick in 1580?

Key term

What were Elizabeth I's basic aims in Ireland?

Numbers

Who was Shane O'Neill?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What were Elizabeth I's basic aims in Ireland?

    Model answer

    Elizabeth I wanted Ireland governed obediently and cheaply, and above all wanted to deny it to Spain as a base from which England could be attacked from the west.

  2. 2

    What was the policy of surrender and regrant?

    Model answer

    Under surrender and regrant an Irish lord gave up his lands to the Crown and received them back with an English title, holding by English law rather than by Gaelic custom. That was intended to anglicise the Irish nobility without conquest.

  3. 3

    Who was Shane O'Neill?

    Model answer

    Shane O'Neill dominated Ulster and defied the Dublin government from 1559 until 1567, when he was killed by the MacDonnells after a defeat, and his career showed how little authority the Crown held in the north.

  4. 4

    What were the Desmond rebellions?

    Model answer

    The Desmond rebellions of 1569–73 and 1579–83 were risings of the Fitzgerald lordship in Munster against the extension of English government, the second of them fought under a papal banner and with foreign help.

  5. 5

    What happened at Smerwick in 1580?

    Model answer

    A small papal and Spanish force landed at Smerwick in Kerry to support the Desmond rising, surrendered to the English commander and was massacred, which showed both the reality of foreign intervention and the brutality of the war.

  6. 6

    What was the Munster plantation?

    Model answer

    After the second Desmond rebellion the forfeited estates were granted from 1586 to English undertakers who were to settle them with English tenants, and although it fell far short of its targets it created a settler interest that deepened resentment.

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