An organized colonization of Ulster by settlers from England and Scotland began in 1609 under King James I. Half a million acres in Ulster were confiscated and given to colonists who had to be English-speaking Protestants and agree to dispossess the native Irish. Later, in 1638, a group of Scottish Presbyterians signed a covenant to maintain the Protestant Reformation and the anti-Catholic rhetoric of these ‘Covenanters’ led James’ successor, Charles I, to threaten them with an army of Irish Catholics. The Scottish Parliament, in turn, threatened to invade Ireland to achieve the extirpation … [Read more...] about The Confederation of Kilkenny