Nicholas Canny, Professor of History at the National University of Ireland, spoke in the Thompson Room of Burns Library last Wednesday. Kevin O’Neill, history professor and Director of the Irish Studies Program at Boston College, stated that the lecture’s topic, “The Plantation of Ulster,” was “one of the most divisive issues in Irish history.”
In his most recent work, Canny has made contributions to The Oxford History of the British Empire. O’Neill introduced the speaker as “a major influence in the way we think about colonial Ireland.”
According to Canny, Protestant historians view the plantation process as an effective way of establishing order and stability in Ireland. However, he added, from a Catholic, nationalist perspective, the plantation is looked upon as another part of British “injustice, intrusion and an act of theft.”
For the British, stated Canny, “it was not only about transforming Ireland’s religion but also its economy.” Plantations were introduced to Ireland by the British after the Flight of the Earls in 1607. According to Canny, a plantation consisted of the confiscation of traditional clan property, distributing it to those loyal to the Crown.
According to Canny, British Attorney General Sir John Davies and Lord Lieutenant Arthur Chichester were instrumental in deciding how the plantation process would be carried out. He explained that some supporters of plantation recommended a “classical model.”
According to Canny, its proponents drew upon a vague knowledge of Roman history, and how its soldiers had taken over conquered lands, therefore advancing their civilization. “The creation of a perfect society through force was very attractive to those who sat in armchairs back in London,” Canny said.
Davies, Canny said, “presented a neat, legal argument in which the entire land surface of the six counties” would be cleared of traditional boundaries.
“The scheme is composite of inputs from different interests, potential planters ... everyone other than the natives of Ireland,” said Canny.
Canny stated that the British intended on maximizing the land output from the farms of Ulster, as well as introducing textiles, lumber and other industries.
He explained that since Ulster had no port towns, British politicians “insisted that London merchant companies become involved in Ulster.” As a result, Londonderry was created and control was given to a London shipping company.
Repopulation, Canny said, was not considered due to a perceived shortage of people. “It was believed that the remaining natives of high social standing should be given something in the plantation scheme, and so these native families were given land other than that they traditionally used ... they were severed from their natural followers and had native tenants farming the land,” said Canny.
When those given the land grants died, he added, their eldest sons would have to take an oath of supremacy to the British Crown and become Protestant in order to keep the land.
Two types of landlords, said Canny, were common in Ulster. “Servitors” were former soldiers, who were “considered appropriate because of their military expertise and were given land with tenants. Both were obliged to build defensible castles for the protection of the population in the event of foreign invasion or another insurrection,” he said.
“Undertakers,” he said, were landlords of substantial economic and social resources, invited to Ireland from Scotland and England. Canny stated that the main goal of the British government in inviting the undertakers was the spread of Protestantism.
According to Canny, “they were to create communities composed of enterprising Protestants and were regarded as the most essential in the entire arrangement.” Through the undertakers’ support, Protestant schools and churches were endowed, as well as Trinity College in Dublin.
In conclusion, Canny said that the British hoped that through plantation, they would move Ireland “from barbarism to civilization, from waste to productivity.” However, the King of England took personal interest in the plantations and they remained under his control until 1622.
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