About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about how the idea for the Plantation of Ulster arose, focusing in particular on: (i) James I as the monarch in power at the time of the establishment of the Plantation of Ulster; (ii) the celebration of the ascension of James I by Gaelic people as they saw this as an opportunity for all of Gaeldom to be under one Gaelic ruler; (iii) the Nine Years’ War (1593-1603), which had ravaged Ireland in the latter part of Elizabeth I’s reign; (iv) Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, as a key figure in the opposition to English rule over Ireland; (v) Hugh O’Neill’s leadership of the Irish Catholic Confederates during the Nine Years’ War alongside ‘red’ Hugh Roe O’Donnell and Hugh Maguire; (vi) the implementation of a scorched earth campaign by the English during the Nine Years’ War to great effect; (vii) the damage incurred from the Nine Years’ War by both Ireland and England; (viii) John Davies, Attorney General for Ireland, who advocated for the reallocation of Irish land to loyal English and Scottish people; (ix) James I’s response to the Nine Years’ War being to pardon and return land to Hugh O’Neill and his Irish Catholic Confederate leaders, so as to avoid another war; (x) the presence and authority of Hugh O’Neill in Ulster as a limiter of English crown plans to establish colonies in the North of Ireland; (xi) the Flight of the Earls in 1607, when Hugh O’Neill and other leaders fled Ireland for Italy; (xii) O’Doherty’s Rebellion in 1608, which saw the burning of Derry in April, before his death in July at the Battle of Kilmacrennan; (xiii) the Plantation of Ulster as a proposed solution to rule over Ireland in the absence of the native leaders; (xiv) Thomas Blenerhasset’s writing, which highlighted the view that Ireland was an opportunity for England’s self-sufficiency.

About the lecturer

Dr Ruth Canning is a senior lecturer in early modern history in the Department of History and Politics at Liverpool Hope University. Dr Canning’s research interests are in sixteenth century Ireland and Anglo-Irish relations. Some of Dr Canning’s recent publications include ‘The Baron of Delvin’s plot for the reformation of Ireland, March 1584’ (2022) and The old English in early modern Ireland: The Palesmen and the Nine Years’ War, 1594-1603 (2019).