surrender and regrant

In Irish history, term used to summarize the Tudor diplomatic process whereby Gaelic lords were to be assimilated into English political and social culture without significant loss of power or status. The lords revoked their Gaelic title, assumed an English one, and gained a royal grant of their lands. Initiated under the 1541 act, which declared Ireland as a kingdom in which all subjects were equal in the eyes of the crown, the policy was developed in the 1540s by the English lord deputy Anthony St Leger. A growing awareness of the tenurial and political difficulties involved caused the policy to be displaced by the more detailed and flexible strategy of composition (commutation of feudal military dues) in the 1570s.

However, although concerns with foreign invasion and domestic conspiracy caused surrender and regrant to be periodically disrupted, the Tudor government never abandoned it entirely. Almost all the Elizabethan lord deputies made efforts to conclude surrender and regrant arrangements with several of the lesser Gaelic lords throughout Ireland, the last significant programme being in the 1580s.