A Mighty Fortress: The Origins of an Ulster Identity
Since the time of Henry II's invasion of Ireland in the late twelfth century, the English
have attempted to colonize and subjugate the Emerald Isle. Following the English Civil War and
the massacre of English colonists in Ulster, Oliver Cromwell pushed forward his own agenda
with his dream to make England the Kingdom of God in truth. As is frequently the case with
human endeavors, his plans failed to come to their full fruition. However, the colonists in the
Ulster region of Ireland would establish their own identity that was neither fully English nor
fully Irish in character.
Origins of the Conflict
The situation in Ireland was extremely complex during the Interregnum as there were
four groups interacting with one another. They were the native Irish, the Old English, the
Scottish Presbyterian settlers (from the time of James I), and the New English. The Old
English were composed of the families that had arrived in the Pale from the time of Henry II
onward. Since the Reformation, they had remained Catholic. However, they did not empathize
with the Irish and saw their Catholic identity as more refined; they had embraced the ideals of
2
the Council of Trent and the Counter-Reformation. They saw the Irish Catholics as old-fashioned
and provincial in their practices. They were loyal to the Crown despite their Catholic faith.
The Irish Catholics were the instigators of the massacres of the Scottish Presbyterians in
the uprising of 1641. The effects of this action was highly instrumental in the formation of the
Ulster identity. Without this initial attack, it is unclear as to whether or not the Ulster identity
could have formed. The Ulster identity was born in the blood of the massacre of 1641 as much
as it was the result of English incompetence and arrogance.
The Scottish Presbyterians were brought in during the reign of James I in a vain attempt
to tame and Anglicize the Irish lords and ultimately their subjects. 1 It was from this stock that
settled in the areas around Antrim and Down that the line of the Ulstermen would ultimately
arise.2 However, it was the massacre of the Ulstermen in 1641 and the later infusion of the New
English that would eventually set them apart from the others in the isle and forge their own
unique identity.3
The New English were the settlers that came into Ireland during the Interregnum. They
were a mixed lot. They were composed of retired soldiers, adventurers, and, ironically, those
who were fleeing the rigidity of Puritan rule in England. 4 The so-called adventurers were
essentially land speculators. Prior to the Irish revolt of 1641, they had received grants of land
from Charles I in Ireland. The uprising and the English Civil War prevented them from taking
that land at the time. Cromwell and Parliament after the War were inclined to honor the
1 Jane H. Ohlmeyer, 'Civilizinge of those Rude Partes': Colonization within Britain and Ireland, 1580s-1640s in
The Origins of Empire: British Overseas Enterprise to the Close of the Seventeenth Century, ed. Nicholas Canny
and Alaine Low, vol. 1 of The Oxford History of the British Empire, ed. Wm. Roger Louis (Oxford University
Press: Oxford, 1998), 135.
2 Cyril Falls, The Birth of Ulster (London: Methuen, 1973), 157.
3 James S. Wheeler, Cromwell in Ireland (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1999), 236.
4 Constantine Fitzgibbon, Red Hand: The Ulster Colony (Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Co., 1972), 25.
3
agreements that Charles had formed with them in the interest of civilizing Ireland. The
speculators had a different problem from that of the old English: the speculators had the correct
religion, but had supported the king.5 Cromwell, however, saw the expansion of England through
Protestantism as the correct way to go about changing Ireland.6
These new settlers were to have privileged treatment in Ireland. Rather than treating the
New English as colonists living in a foreign land, Cromwell wished them to be treated as
Englishmen living in England proper, with the same rights and privileges. Furthermore, he
wished them to gain economic superiority in Ireland. 7 In fact, Cromwell even wrote to the
Puritans in New England to come to Ireland since he viewed them as very industrious and the
type that he needed to prosper in Ireland; he was unsuccessful in persuading them to return to
Europe, however.8 Cromwell's ultimate objective was to insure the growth and success of the
interest of England newly begun to be planted in Ireland.9
Cromwell's plan to achieve this English domination of Ireland was threefold. First, the
native Irish were to be transplanted to areas across the Shannon River. Second, the English
settlers were planted in their place (hence, the term plantation). And third, Catholicism was
to be ruthlessly stamped out.10 Unfortunately for the Scottish Presbyterians, they were considered
for this forced removal project as well.11 Ultimately, they were not removed; it quickly became
apparent that the economic stability of the region was dependent among the use of the natives in
5 Sean J. Connolly, Religion, Law, and Power: The Making of Protestant Ireland, 1660-1760 (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1992), 7.
6 Toby C. Barnard, Cromwellian Ireland: English Government and Reform in Ireland, 1649-1660 (London:
Oxford University Press, 1975), 90.
7 Charles H. Firth, Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England (London: Putnam, 1947), 271-72.
8 Ibid, 266.
9 Ibid, 272.
10 Fitzgibbon, 36-7.
11 Richard Bagwell, Ireland Under the Stuarts and During the Interregnum (Somerset: Holland Press, 1963),
2:341.
4
many of the avenues of production and distribution. 12 The exact number of displaced peoples
will never be known exactly; what is verifiable, however, is that ultimately in excess of 700,000
acres of land were seized and redistributed to the settlers. 13 Catholics were forced out of urban
areas and into the countryside. The English retained control of the cities; their plan was to
grow England in Ireland just as it was in England through the establishment of English
commerce and law.
The Establishment of a Unique Identity
But what does all this mean in actuality? What made the Ulstermen unique? Why did
they consider themselves beset on all sides by enemies? It is clear that their treatment was
highhanded by both the governments of the Interregnum and of the Restoration. The Irish
uprising in the 1640's that preceded the English Civil War affected their psyche as well. An
examination of the source material reveals what the mindset of the English was at the time. By
extrapolation, we can thus infer what was pressing on the Ulstermen and the creation of the
siege mentality that equates to such modern examples as the Republic of South Africa under
Apartheid and modern Israel.
First, the Ulstermen had the remembrance of the Irish Uprising of 1641 to bolster their
fears. Following the Restoration of the Stuarts to the throne of England, annual days of
remembrance where held to commemorate the massacre of the Protestants at Irish Catholic
12 Barnard, 54.
13 Karl S. Bottigheimer, English Money and Irish Land: The 'Adventurers' in the Cromwellian Settlement of
Ireland (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971), 140.
5
hands. The sermons preached in the churches were very inflammatory and characterized the
Catholics as underhanded and evil with the goal of destroying Protestantism around the world. It
was clear by their tone that this was an eternal struggle that would end only when one side
triumphed over the other.14 In fact, the rhetoric in these was so vehemently delivered that the
royal government refused to allowed their publication.15
The published historical accounts of the rebellion also added fuel to the fire. Daniel
Harcourt's The Clergies Lamentation called on the title page for Englishmen to rise up as one
man to resist those rebels16 and goes on to describe the torture inflicted upon the righteous
Protestants in 1641.17 A secondary effect of this type of writing was to instill among the
Ulstermen the idea that they were the elect of God and were enduring suffering to gain the
martyr's crown in Heaven. It was a direct result of the Pope's plan to destroy the Protestants. In
Harcourt's words: For this Romish Machiavellian plot took effect. . .But our brethren paid
dearly for the cruel mercy of the Irish...of which some were slain, some stripped and sent away,
were most of them man, woman and child, cruelly massacred.18 A sense of persecution can
often bind a group closer together as a shared threat makes them work together for survival.
The published numbers in the eyewitness accounts sound almost trivial to a generation
that still has events like the Holocaust in living memory. However, remember that these
numbers, while exaggerated, were from a time where killing could not occur quickly. Also, while
England had seen disruption under the Tudor family and internecine strife between Protestant
14 T. C. Barnard, The Uses of 23 October 1641 and Irish Protestant Celebrations, The English Historical Review
126, no. 421 (October, 1991): 892.
15 Ibid, 891.
16 Please note that as a convenience to the reader, I have modernized the language of various period tracts quoted
herein.
17 Daniel Harcourt, The Clergies Lamentation (1644): 1.
18 Ibid, 5.
6
and Catholic, it was nothing like the horror of the Thirty Years Wars that wracked the Continent.
An anonymous eyewitness writes: It is too well known (the more is to be pitied and lamented)
that they have murdered, and starved to death of the English in the province of Ulster and other
provinces where they have risen up in rebellion, of men, women, and, children, above
20000. . .the Irish having no more compassion of their age or youth, then of dogs.19
It is clear that the Irish were a threat to the survival of the Ulstermen. However, why were
they not able to rely upon the government to protect them? As was mention previously, the
Interregnum initially considered removing the Scottish Presbyterians to the other side of the
Shannon along with the Irish Catholics. Prudence kept them from doing so initially. However,
there is plenty of evidence to show that the tension between the English and the Scottish settlers
was palpable.
Robin Clifton posits that the reason that the Puritans were able to overthrow Charles and
commit regicide is that earlier fears of Catholic assault on the monarchy had shifted to a general
fear of the population for itself.20 In other words, the people were convinced that the Catholics
meant to destroy them rather than the king. This general atmosphere of fear was enhanced in the
Scottish Presbyterians because of the massacre. Combined with a sense that the authorities saw
them as a potential threat, it is no wonder that they began to look to themselves for support.
The Scottish Presbyterians also received no real military aid or protection following the
aforementioned massacre. This lack of effective response could only add to a growing feeling of
isolation and abandonment.21 Combined with the idea that they were a persecuted elite
19 Anonymous, A True and Credible Relation of the Barbarous Cruletie and Bloudy Massacres of the English
Protestants (1642): 3.
20 Robin Clifton, The Popular Fear of Catholics During the English Revolution, Past and Present, no. 52
(August, 1971): 54.
21 T. C. Barnard, Crisis of Identity Among Irish Protestants, 1641-1685, Past and Present, no. 127 (May, 1990):
52.
7
undergoing the purification of fire to purge out the dross and refine them for the heavenly
kingdom,22 we have a recipe for a new identity rapidly emerging.
Another stone in the wall in the treatment of the Scottish Presbyterians was the fact that
the English government completely ignored, or at the very least slowly acted, to prevent the
problem of Catholics in Ireland in the first place. In 1641, the Protestants of Ulster sent a petition
to the House of Commons outlining the problems with the Church of England's hierarchy, such
as it was, in Ireland. Thirty-one grievances are posted in the petition. Among these are the
excommunication of Presbyterian ministers and teachers by the Anglican hierarchy; 23 the
continued existence of papist nunneries and monasteries; the existence of Catholic schools in
areas where the Presbyterians were forbidden and restrained from keeping schools;24 and the
seizure of lands by the Church of England from Presbyterians by unjust means. 25 For the
Calvinist-inclined Presbyterians, all of this seemed like an assault on their very lives and souls,
as they state in their petition: By their ways have they enviated [sic] and undone many families,
cast away thousands of souls....26 Denied secular aid by the government, the state religion also
became a stumbling block to their livelihood and prosperity.
But what of the government? In the years of the Interregnum, a somewhat hostile
approach was taken by the Puritans toward the Scottish Presbyterians. In an anonymous tract of
1649, the author equates the Presbyterians as pawns of the devil and servants of the Prince of
Darkness and his aides in destroying the nation of England.27 While it is couched in religious
22 Harcourt, 23.
23 Anonymous, The Humble Petition of the Protestant Inhabitants of the Counties of Antrim, Downe, Tyrone, &c,
Part of the Province of Vlster, in the Kingdom of Ireland, Concerning Bishops (1641): 2.
24 Ibid, 6.
25 Ibis, 11.
26 Ibid, 11.
27 Anonymous, A Necessary Examination of a Dangerous Design and Practice Against the Interest and
Soveraignty of the Nation and Common-wealth of England (1649): 1-3.
8
terminology, the argument is not religious in nature. It is a condemnation of the Scottish
Presbyterians for their interference with Parliament and its decrees. We must also ask, who this
Presbytery at Belfast is, that take upon themselves magisterial [authority], to examine and
condemn the proceedings of the Parliament of England. . . .But the men are inhabitants of
Ireland, and that subject to the jurisdiction and sovereignty of England.28 For the Puritan
government under Cromwell, any disagreement was see as a denial of the Almighty. For the
Scottish Presbyterians, however, this was yet another acknowledgment of the rightness of their
cause and another barrier to integration with England.
Conclusions
The Scottish Presbyterians were brought to Ireland by James I. His hope was that they
would bring a civilizing influence to the area and help to stabilize it for the betterment and
expansion of the England. However, like many of James's (and later Charles's) attempt at
government, there was little follow up and support for the settlers. The effect was quite the
opposite and lead instead to increasing tensions in the area.
On the eve of the Civil War, Irish Catholics rose up and massacred a large number of the
Scottish Presbyterian inhabitants of Ulster. While the number was probably not as large as the
propaganda of the time makes it, the fact is that it did have an effect on the psyche of Scottish
Presbyterians. Coupled with the fact that they practiced a more English form of urbanization and
settlement and the fact that the Irish were resigned to the countryside, it is very easy to concede
28 Ibid, 5.
9
that the only logical course was to stay in their safe urban areas as a defensive measure. This is
clearly when the beginnings of the siege mentality began to set in. The Scottish Presbyterians
were surrounded on all sides by foes, a clearly defined other. These were the Catholics who
had slaughtered their kith and kin in 1641.
So, why did the Scottish Presbyterians not ally more closely with the English then? Even
prior to the massacre, the Scottish Presbyterians were unsatisfied with the English. The Church
of England had taken a different confessional route than the Presbyterians had. The Church of
England was High Church in forms of ritual and had a diocesan/episcopal organization with a
structured hierarchy. The Presbyterians were Calvinist in orientation and believed more in the
individual priesthood of the believer. Thus, the Presbyterians saw the Anglican ecumenism
toward the Irish Catholics as tainted, possibly even heretical. The fact that their pleas to
Parliament went unheard merely fueled the fire of their imagination and caused them to see the
Church of England as a disinterested party at best or colluding with their enemies at worst. The
high-handed manner with which the Church hierarchy treated their ministers and schools also
served to fuel the fire of resentment.
The English government was not any better in their treatment of the Province of Ulster.
With the onset of the Interregnum and Cromwell's vision of what England should become, the
Puritans began to view the Scottish Presbyterians in a negative light as well. The Puritans went
so far as to see them as servants of Lucifer sent to hinder the Puritans' holy work. This mutual
antagonism was duly noted by the Presbyterians and reciprocated.
Even after the Restoration, the Ulstermen fared little better at the hands of Charles II. The
Scottish Presbyterians had remained loyal to the Crown. However, they saw the Puritan settlers
10
and Irish Catholics receive title to their holdings while many of their own were slighted. The
reason of course, was political expediency on Charles's part. He did not wish to upset the balance
of power in Ireland any more than he had to; the fact was, the Presbyterians had little in the way
of political pull.
The final summation then is that first, the Presbyterians saw themselves as surrounded by
enemies hostile to their world view and who had attempted, at least once, to exterminate them.
The English government was hostile or indifferent depending on who was in power at the time.
The English form of Protestantism was also inimical to their Calvinist leanings. Thus, the hostile
environment combined with a lack of support from the government caused the beginnings of the
Ulster identity. It was an identity that became fiercely Protestant, fiercely Irish, and fiercely
independent. Ulster was to become, for the Ulstermen anyway, a mighty fortress.
11
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