Protestantism

Main division of Christianity that emerged from Roman Catholicism at the Reformation in the 16th century. The three largest denominations in Ireland are the (Anglican) Church of Ireland, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, and the Methodist Church in Ireland. Protestants are found predominantly in Northern Ireland, where the English crown planted large numbers of Protestant settlers on the confiscated lands of rebellious Irish Catholic lords in the 17th century. Here Protestantism is inextricably linked with the concept of political union with Britain.

Protestant The term comes from the protest movement in 16th-century Germany led by the German Christian church reformer Martin Luther against the power of the Roman Catholic Church.

Introduction of Protestantism to Ireland In Ireland, as in England, the Reformation was instituted by King Henry VIII in the mid-1530s, mainly for political reasons. The English and Irish parliaments passed the Act of Supremacy in 1537 making him the supreme head of the church in both domains. The Church of Ireland was established and Protestantism was made the official religion of Ireland, with all the power and wealth that this brought. However, it failed to win the support of the people of Ireland. Most stayed loyal to their traditional faith for cultural and political reasons.

Enforcement of Protestantism When the Tudor monarchs attempted to take greater political control over Ireland in the 16th century, some of the lords rose up in rebellion. As the lords were Catholic and had ties with Catholic countries who were often at war with England, the English government feared the possibility of invasion from the west via Catholic Ireland. After defeating the Catholic lords, the government took their lands away and gave them to loyal Protestants from England and Scotland to ensure that Ireland remained under Protestant English control. The Plantation of Ireland with Protestant settlers began in 1556 and continued into the 17th century; major plantations included the Munster plantation, from 1586, and Ulster plantation, from 1609. By the end of the 17th century Protestants of the province of Ulster came to form the majority of the population in some areas, particularly counties Antrim, Down, Armagh, and Londonderry. In the remaining four counties of Ulster, Protestants formed large minorities.

Roman Catholics were forced to pay tithes, or taxes, to the Protestant Church of Ireland, and this caused great resentment. Protestants were given power over Ireland by British governments from the 17th century onwards. With their increasing economic wealth and political power, the Protestants became a privileged and dominant minority in Ireland. The penal code, or penal laws, of 1695 to 1727 discriminated against Catholics. They were prevented from such activities as holding office, buying land and inheriting land from Protestants, and having a Roman Catholic education. This further enhanced the power of the Protestant minority over Ireland. It was not until 1828 that Catholics were allowed to be members of Parliament, while the penal laws were not completely removed until 1829. Protestants remained dominant in Ireland until partition in 1921 gave the Catholic majority control over the Irish Free State in the south of Ireland, while Protestants maintained majority control in Northern Ireland.

Protestant unionism By the 20th century Protestantism in Ireland had become inextricably linked to the political idea of unionism, the maintenance of the union established between Ireland and Britain under the Act of Union in 1801. Protestants in Ulster consider themselves the descendants of people who left Britain to settle in a hostile land for the benefit of the English crown over 300 years ago. Those involved in Irish nationalism and Irish republicanism take a different view. Irish nationalists and republicans see Protestants throughout history as immigrants who stole the land of the Irish and suppressed their rights. This has made Protestantism in Ireland as much a political idea as it is a religious one.