Irish Confederate Wars

The Irish Confederate Wars, also called the Eleven Years' War (derived from the Irish language name Cogadh na hAon-déag mBliana), took place in Ireland between 1641 and 1653. It was the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms – a series of civil wars in the kingdoms of Ireland, England and Scotland (all ruled by Charles I). The conflict in Ireland essentially pitted the native Irish Catholics against English and Scottish Protestant colonists and their supporters. It was both a religious and ethnic conflict – fought over who would govern Ireland, whether it would be governed from England, which ethnic and religious group would own most of the land and which religion would predominate in the country.

Read more about Irish Confederate Wars:  Overview, The Plot – October 1641, The Rebellion – 1641–42, The Confederates' War – 1642–48, The Cromwellian War 1649–1653, The Cost, Appendix: Shifting Allegiances

Famous quotes containing the words irish, confederate and/or wars:

    Earth, receive an honoured guest:
    William Yeats is laid to rest.
    Let the Irish vessel lie
    Emptied of its poetry.
    —W.H. (Wystan Hugh)

    During the Civil War the area became a refuge for service- dodging Texans, and gangs of bushwhackers, as they were called, hid in its fastnesses. Conscript details of the Confederate Army hunted the fugitives and occasional skirmishes resulted.
    —Administration in the State of Texa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    O how wretched
    Is that poor man that hangs on princes’ favors!
    There is betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
    More pangs and fears than wars or women have;
    And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
    Never to hope again.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)