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Ireland 1685–1714

The Protestant Ascendancy, Molyneux and the Union of 1707

  • 3 things to know
  • A2 Unit 2

Overview

Protestant Ascendancy and argument of Molyneux's Case of Ireland.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What is meant by the Protestant Ascendancy?

Numbers

How secure was the Protestant Ascendancy by 1714?

Key term

How complete was Protestant control of land and office by 1714?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is meant by the Protestant Ascendancy?

    Model answer

    The Protestant Ascendancy describes the monopoly of land, office and political power held by members of the established Church of Ireland, though the phrase itself was not coined until the 1780s and is applied to this period by later writers.

  2. 2

    How complete was Protestant control of land and office by 1714?

    Model answer

    Members of the Church of Ireland held about six sevenths of the land, every seat in Parliament, every place on the bench and in the army, and every corporation office, while Catholics were three quarters of the population.

  3. 3

    How did the Irish Parliament's position change after 1692?

    Model answer

    The Irish Parliament began to meet regularly for the first time, because the government needed additional duties voted for short terms, and a body that had not sat between 1666 and 1689 became a permanent part of Irish government.

  4. 4

    What was the sole right dispute of 1692?

    Model answer

    The Irish House of Commons claimed the sole right to prepare money bills, the Lord Lieutenant Sydney denied it and prorogued Parliament, and the quarrel was settled in 1695 by a compromise under which the Commons accepted heads of bills while keeping much of their financial influence.

  5. 5

    What was Poynings' Law?

    Model answer

    Poynings' Law, dating from 1494, provided that no Irish Parliament could meet and no bill could pass without prior approval in England, and it remained the constitutional foundation of Ireland's subordination throughout this period.

  6. 6

    What commercial restrictions did the English Parliament place on Ireland?

    Model answer

    The Cattle Acts had already closed the English market to Irish livestock, the Navigation Acts limited Irish colonial trade, and the Woollen Act of 1699 forbade the export of Irish woollen cloth anywhere except to England, where duties made it unsaleable.

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