View source for Kingdom of Ireland

{{Short description|Client state of England and then of Great Britain (1542–1800)}}
{{Hatnote|This article is about the Irish kingdom that existed from 1542 to the end of 1800. For more ancient Irish kingdoms, see [[List of Irish kingdoms]] and [[Monarchy of Ireland]]. For other uses of "Ireland", see [[Ireland (disambiguation)]].}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox country
| native_name            = {{native name|ga|Ríocht na hÉireann}}
| conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Ireland
| common_name            = Ireland
| status                 = [[Client state]] of [[Kingdom of England|England]] (1542–1707)<br/>Client state of [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] (1707–1800)
| life_span              = {{plainlist|
*1542–1800
*{{nowrap|{{nobold|1652–1660: [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]]}}}}}}
| year_start             = 1542
| date_start             = 18 June
| year_end               = 1800
| date_end               = 31 December
| event_start            = {{nowrap|[[Crown of Ireland Act 1542|Crown of Ireland Act]]}}
| event1                 = [[Treaty of Mellifont]]
| date_event1            = 30 March 1603
| event2                 = {{nowrap|[[Irish Confederate Wars|Confederate Wars]]}}
| date_event2            = 1641–1653
| event3                 = [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]]
| date_event3            = 1652–1660
| event4                 = [[Constitution of 1782|Legislative independence]]
| date_event4            = 1782–1783
| event_end              = [[Acts of Union 1800|Act of Union]]
| p1                     = Lordship of Ireland
| flag_p1                = Banner of the Lordship of Ireland.svg
| s1                     = United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
| flag_s1                = Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
| image_flag             = Royal Standard of Ireland (1542–1801).svg <!-- Do not change to St. Patrick's Saltire. The official flag of the Kingdom of Ireland was the Royal Standard. -->
| image_flag2            = Saint Patrick's Saltire.svg
| flag_type              = Top: [[Flag of Ireland|Flag]]<br/>Bottom: [[Saint Patrick's Saltire|Royal Banner<br/>(since 1782)]]
| image_coat             = Arms of Ireland.svg
| symbol_type            = Coat of arms{{Efn|See [[#Coat of arms|coat of arms]] regarding use of a crowned harp as the arms of Ireland. Although numerous flags of Ireland existed during the period, the Kingdom of Ireland had no official flag or arms.{{sfn|Perrin|Vaughan|1922|pp=51–52}} See [[List of flags of Ireland]].}}
| coa_size               = 70px
| image_map              = Kingdom of Ireland 1789.svg
| image_map_caption      = The Kingdom of Ireland in 1789; other realms in [[personal union]] are in light green
| capital                = [[Dublin]]<br/>{{Coord|53|21|N|6|16|W}}
| common_languages       = {{plainlist|
* '''Official languages:'''
* [[English language|English]] ([[Early Modern English]])
*[[Latin]] and [[Law French]] (used in court [[Administration of Justice (Language) Act (Ireland) 1737|until 1737]])
* '''Majority language:'''
* [[Irish language|Irish]] ([[Early Modern Irish]])
* '''Minority languages:'''
* [[Ulster Scots dialect|Ulster Scots]] (since the 17th century)
*[[Fingallian]] 
*[[Yola language|Yola]] 
}}
| religion               = {{plainlist|
*[[Church of Ireland|Anglican]] (state-official)<ref>{{cite book|title=Remembering as a Cultural Process|first=Sarah |last=H. Awad |year=2019| isbn=9783030326418| page =92|publisher=Springer Nature}}</ref>
*[[Catholic Church|Catholic]] (majority)
*[[Presbyterianism#Ireland|Presbyterian]] (primarily in [[Ulster]])}}
| demonym                = Irish
| government_type        = Unitary parliamentary [[constitutional monarchy]]
| title_leader           = [[List of Irish monarchs|Monarch]]
| leader1                = [[Henry VIII]]
| year_leader1           = 1542–1547 (first)
| leader2                = [[George III]]
| year_leader2           = 1760–1800 (last)
| title_representative   = [[List of chief governors of Ireland|Lord Lieutenant]]
| year_representative1   = 1542–1548 (first)
| representative1        = [[Anthony St Leger (Lord Deputy of Ireland)|Anthony St Leger]]
| year_representative2   = 1798–1800 (last)
| representative2        = [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis|Charles Cornwallis]]
| title_deputy           = [[List of Chief Secretaries for Ireland|Chief Secretary]]
| deputy1                = [[Matthew Locke (administrator)|Matthew Locke]]
| year_deputy1           = 1660 (first)
| deputy2                = [[Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh|Robert Stewart]]
| year_deputy2           = 1798–1800 (last)
| legislature            = [[Parliament of Ireland|Parliament]]
| house1                 = [[Irish House of Lords|House of Lords]]
| house2                 = [[Irish House of Commons|House of Commons]]
| population_link        = Irish population analysis
| currency               = [[Irish pound#First pound|Irish pound]]
| today                  = {{tree list}}
* [[Republic of Ireland]]
* [[United Kingdom]]
** [[Northern Ireland]]
{{tree list/end}}
| iso3166code            = omit
}}
{{History of Ireland}}

The '''Kingdom of Ireland''' ({{langx|ga|label=[[Early Modern Irish]]|Ríoghacht Éireann}}; {{langx|ga|label=[[Modern Irish]]|Ríocht na hÉireann}}, {{IPA|ga|ənˠ ˌɾˠiːxt̪ˠ ˈeːɾʲən̪ˠ|pron}}) was a [[client state]] of [[Kingdom of England|England]] from 1542 to 1707, and subsequently [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] from 1707 to 1800. It was ruled by the [[monarchs of England]] and then [[List of British monarchs|of Great Britain]] in [[personal union]], and was [[Dublin Castle administration|administered from Dublin Castle]] by a [[viceroy]] appointed by the English king: the [[lord deputy of Ireland|Lord Lieutenant of Ireland]]. By the late 17th century, the state was dominated by the [[Protestant]] [[Anglo-Irish people|Anglo-Irish]] minority, known as the [[Protestant Ascendancy]]. The Protestant [[Church of Ireland]] was the [[state church]]. The [[Parliament of Ireland]] was almost exclusively Anglo-Irish. From 1661, the administration controlled an [[Irish Army (1661–1801)|Irish army]]. Although formally a kingdom in personal union on equal footing with England and later Great Britain, for most of its history it was ''[[de facto]]'' a [[Dependent territory|dependency]]<ref>Ellis, Steven. ''The Making of the British Isles: The State of Britain and Ireland, 1450–1660''. Routledge, 2014. p.105</ref><ref>MacInnes, Allan. ''Union and Empire: The Making of the United Kingdom in 1707''. Cambridge University Press, 2007. p.109</ref> with a viceroy sent as an envoy from London. This status was enshrined in the [[Declaratory Act 1719]],<ref name="FarbeySharpe2011">{{cite book |last1=Farbey |first1=Judith |title=The Law of Habeas Corpus |last2=Sharpe |first2=R.J. |last3=Atrill |first3=Simon |date=24 February 2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199248247 |page=xlviii}}</ref> also known as the Irish Parliament Act 1719.<ref name="Altholz2000">{{cite book |last=Altholz |first=Josef L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zsnwc3fadxAC&pg=PA58 |title=Selected Documents in Irish History |date=1 January 2000 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=9780765605429 |page=58 |accessdate=5 December 2014}}</ref>

The territory of the kingdom comprised that of the former [[Lordship of Ireland]], founded in 1177 by King [[Henry II of England]] and the English [[Pope Adrian IV]], after the [[Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland]]. By the 16th century, [[the Pale]], the area of effective English rule,  had shrunk greatly; most of Ireland was held by [[Gaelic Ireland|Gaelic]] nobles as minor [[Principality|principalities]] notionally subject to London but independent in practice. By the terms of the [[Crown of Ireland Act 1542]], [[Henry VIII]] of England became "King of Ireland", theoretically elevating Ireland to coequal status with England as a kingdom in [[personal union]]. There followed an expansion of English control during the [[Tudor conquest of Ireland|Tudor conquest]]. This sparked the [[Desmond Rebellions]] and the [[Nine Years' War (Ireland)|Nine Years' War]]. The conquest of the island was completed early in the 17th century. It involved the confiscation of land from the native Irish Catholics and its [[Plantations of Ireland|colonisation by Protestant settlers]] from Britain. Most Catholic countries at the time did not [[Diplomatic recognition|recognise]] Protestant monarchs as legitimate kings of Ireland (or indeed of England), instead supporting the [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] [[government-in-exile]] from 1688 onwards.

For most of the kingdom's history, the Irish Catholic majority suffered legal discrimination:<ref name=irsoc /> under the [[Penal laws (Ireland)|penal laws]], Catholicism was suppressed and Catholics were barred from government, parliament, the military, and most public offices. This was one of the main drivers behind the [[Irish Confederate Wars]] (1641–1653), during which the [[Confederate Ireland|Irish Catholic Confederates]] controlled most of Ireland. After the [[Cromwellian conquest of Ireland|Cromwellian conquest]], Ireland suffered harsh conditions under [[the Protectorate]] (1653–1659). The brief reign of Catholic king [[James II of England|James II]] (1685–1689) led to the [[Williamite War in Ireland|Williamite War]] (1689–1691). The [[Williamite]] victory strengthened the Protestant Ascendancy, and the kingdom had only Protestant monarchs thereafter.

In the 1780s, the parliament [[Constitution of 1782|gained some independence]], and some [[Roman Catholic relief bills|anti-Catholic laws were lifted]]. This sparked [[Armagh disturbances|sectarian conflict in County Armagh]]. Following the failed republican [[Irish Rebellion of 1798]], the parliament of Ireland and [[parliament of Great Britain]] passed the [[Acts of Union 1800]]. This created, on 1 January 1801, the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]] and the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]].

==History==
{{Main|History of Ireland (1536–1691)|History of Ireland (1691–1800)}}

===Background===

{{See also|Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland|Lordship of Ireland}}

The [[papal bull]] ''[[Laudabiliter]]''<ref>[[Disputed]]</ref> of [[Pope Adrian IV]] was issued in 1155. It authorized the [[House of Plantagenet|Angevin]] King [[Henry II of England]]  to [[Norman invasion of Ireland|invade Ireland]], to bring the country into the European sphere. In return, Henry was required to remit a [[penny]] per [[hearth]] of the tax roll to the Pope. This was reconfirmed by Adrian's successor [[Pope Alexander III]] in 1172. Henry then made his son John ''Dominus Hibernae'' (Latin for "Lord of Ireland") with the intent on later making John King of Ireland.

When [[Pope Clement VII]] excommunicated the king of England, [[Henry VIII]], in 1533, the constitutional position of the lordship in Ireland became uncertain. Henry had broken away from the Holy See and declared himself the head of the Church in [[England]]. He had petitioned Rome to procure an [[annulment]] of his marriage to [[Catherine of Aragon]]. Clement VII refused Henry's request and Henry subsequently refused to recognise the Roman [[Catholic Church]]'s vestigial sovereignty over Ireland, and was excommunicated again in late 1538 by [[Pope Paul III]]. The [[Treason Act (Ireland) 1537]] was passed to counteract this.

===Tudor Ireland===
{{See also|Tudor conquest of Ireland}}
[[File:The Image of Irelande - plate05.jpg|thumb|English soldiers return from a battle with cattle, severed Irish heads, and Irish captives, from ''[[The Image of Irelande, with a Discoverie of Woodkarne|The Image of Irelande]]'', 1581]]
Following the failed revolt of [[Silken Thomas]] in 1534–1535, [[Leonard Grey, 1st Viscount Grane|Grey]], the lord deputy, had some military successes against several clans in the late 1530s, and [[Surrender and regrant|took their submissions]]. By 1540 most of Ireland seemed at peace and under the control of the king's Dublin administration; a situation that was not to last for long.{{sfn|MacCaffrey|1914}}

In 1542, the Kingdom of Ireland was established by the Parliament of Ireland through the Crown of Ireland Act. This act declared [[Henry VIII|King Henry VIII]] of England as the King of Ireland, thus creating a separate political entity known as the Kingdom of Ireland. The act marked a significant shift in Ireland's political landscape, as it sought to consolidate English control over the island and bring it under closer royal governance. The Kingdom of Ireland existed alongside the Lordship of Ireland, which was held by the English monarchs prior to the establishment of the kingdom.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ellis |title=Ireland in the Age of the Tudors: The Destruction of Hiberno-Norman Civilization |date=17 August 1999 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-0649-1903-6}}</ref> The new kingdom was not recognised by the Catholic monarchies in Europe. After the death of [[Edward VI]], Henry's son, the papal bull of 1555 recognised the Roman Catholic [[Mary I]] as Queen of Ireland.<ref name=bull /> The link of "personal union" of the Crown of Ireland to the Crown of England became enshrined in Catholic [[canon law]]. In this fashion, the Kingdom of Ireland was ruled by the reigning [[monarch of England]]. This placed the new Kingdom of Ireland in [[personal union]] with the [[Kingdom of England]].

In line with its expanded role and self-image, the administration established the [[King's Inns]] for barristers in 1541, and the [[Norroy and Ulster King of Arms|Ulster King of Arms]] to regulate [[heraldry]] in 1552. Proposals to establish a [[University of Dublin|university in Dublin]] were delayed until 1592.

In 1593 war broke out, as [[Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone|Hugh O'Neill]], Earl of Tyrone, led a confederation of Irish lords and [[Habsburg Spain|Spain]] against the crown, in what later became known as the [[Nine Years' War (Ireland)|Nine Years' War]]. A series of stunning Irish victories brought English power in Ireland to the point of collapse by the beginning of 1600, but a renewed campaign under Charles Blount, [[Charles Blount, 1st Earl of Devon|Lord Mountjoy]] forced Tyrone to submit in 1603, completing the Tudor conquest of Ireland.<ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Neill |first=James |title=The Nine Years War, 1593-1603: O'Neill, Mountjoy and the Military Revolution |date=2017 |publisher=Four Courts Press |isbn=9781846827549 |location=Dublin}}</ref>

===Stuart Ireland===
{{Main|History of Ireland (1536–1691)}}
{{Further|Irish Confederate Wars|Cromwellian conquest of Ireland}}

In 1603 James VI [[King of Scots]] became [[James VI and I|James I of England and Ireland]], uniting the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland in a [[personal union]]. James established the [[Plantation of Ulster]] in 1606, the largest of all English and Scottish plantations in Ireland. It had a lasting legacy; into the 20th century, most of Ulster had a [[Ulster Protestants|Protestant]] and [[Ulster unionism|Pro-Union]] majority in its population.{{sfn|Stewart|1989|p=38}}

The political order of the kingdom was interrupted by the [[Wars of the Three Kingdoms]] starting in 1639. During the subsequent [[Interregnum (England)|interregnum]] period, England, Scotland and Ireland were ruled as a republic until 1660. This period saw the rise of the loyalist [[Irish Catholic Confederation]] within the kingdom and, from 1653, the creation of the republican [[Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland]]. The kingdom's order was restored 1660 with [[Restoration (Ireland)|the restoration]] of [[Charles II of England|Charles II]]. Without any public dissent, Charles's reign was backdated to his father's execution in 1649.

===Grattan's Patriots===
{{main|Irish Patriot Party}}

Poynings' Law was repealed in 1782 in what came to be known as the [[Constitution of 1782]], granting Ireland legislative independence. Parliament in this period came to be known as [[Grattan's Parliament]], after the principal Irish leader of the period, [[Henry Grattan]]. Although Ireland had legislative independence, executive administration remained under the control of the executive of the Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1788–1789 a Regency crisis arose when King [[George III]] became ill. Grattan wanted to appoint the Prince of Wales, later [[George IV]], as Regent of Ireland. The king recovered before this could be enacted.

===United Irishmen===
[[File:Charlotte Schreiber - The Croppy Boy.jpg|thumb|[[Charlotte Schreiber]]'s ''The Croppy Boy'' (1879), relating to the United Irishmen's [[Wexford Rebellion]]. A man, possibly a rebel from his green cravat, kneels before a Catholic priest who is covertly in military uniform. The church hierarchy opposed the rebellion.]]

The [[Irish Rebellion of 1798]], and the rebels' alliance with Great Britain's longtime enemy the French, led to a push to bring Ireland formally into the British Union. By the [[Acts of Union 1800]], voted for by both Irish and British Parliaments, the Kingdom of Ireland merged on 1 January 1801 with the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] to form the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]]. The Irish Parliament ceased to exist, though the executive, presided over by the Lord Lieutenant, remained in place until 1922.{{sfn|de Beaumont|2006| pp=114-115}}

==Viceroy==
{{Further|History of monarchy in the United Kingdom}}
The Kingdom of Ireland was governed by a ''Lord Deputy'' or [[viceroy]]. The post was held by senior nobles such as [[Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex|Thomas Radcliffe]]. From 1688 the title was usually [[List of Lords Lieutenant of Ireland|''Lord Lieutenant'']].
In the absence of a Lord Deputy, lords justices ruled.
While some Irishmen held the post, most of the lords deputy were English noblemen. While the viceroy controlled the Irish administration as the monarch's representative, in the eighteenth century the political post of Chief Secretary for Ireland became increasingly powerful.

==Parliament==
{{main|Parliament of Ireland}}
The kingdom's [[legislature]] was [[Bicameralism|bicameral]] with a [[Irish House of Lords|House of Lords]] and a [[Irish House of Commons|House of Commons]]. By the terms of [[Poynings' Law (on certification of acts)|Poynings' Law]] (1494) and other acts, the parliament's powers were greatly circumscribed. The legislature was content to "rubber stamp" acts or "suggestions" from the English parliament.

Roman Catholics and dissenters, mostly [[Presbyterians]], Baptists, and Methodists, were excluded from membership of the Irish parliament from 1693. Furthermore, their rights were restricted by a series of laws called the [[Penal Laws against Irish Catholics|Penal Laws]]. They were denied voting rights from 1728 until 1793.  The Grattan Parliament succeeded in achieving the repeal of [[Poynings' Law (on certification of acts)|Poynings' Law]] in 1782. This allowed progressive legislation and gradual liberalisation was effected. Catholics and Dissenters were given the right to vote in 1793, but Catholics were still excluded from the Irish Parliament and senior public offices in the kingdom. As in Great Britain and the rest of [[Europe]], voting and membership of parliament was restricted to property owners. In the 1720s, the parliament was housed in a new [[Irish Houses of Parliament|building]] at [[College Green, Dublin]].

==Army==

The Kingdom maintained a standing force, the [[Irish Army (1661–1801)]]; it was for much of its existence the largest force available to the [[British Crown]], being substantially larger than the [[English Army]] and [[Scottish Army|Scots Army]].

The modern [[Irish Army]] does not trace its lineage to the army of the Kingdom of Ireland.

==Church of Ireland==
[[File:Blazon Trinity College Dublin.svg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|[[Trinity College Dublin]] was founded by the Elizabethans to serve as the organ of the Anglican intelligentsia.]]

{{main|Reformation in Ireland}}

When Henry VIII was excommunicated by the [[Catholic Church]] in 1538, all but two of the bishops in the island of Ireland followed the doctrine of the [[Church of England]],{{sfn|Mant|1840|p=275}} although almost no clergy or laity did so. Having paid their ''[[Annates]]'' to the [[Papacy]], the bishops had no reason to step down, and in the 1530s nobody knew how long the reformation would last. Unlike Henry VIII, this hierarchy was not excommunicated by the Papacy. They retained control of what became the [[State Church]] of the new Kingdom in 1542. As the [[established church]], it retained possession of most Church property (including a great repository of religious architecture and other items, though some were later destroyed). In 1553, Irish Catholics were heartened by the coronation of [[Mary I of England|Queen Mary I]]. In 1555, she persuaded the Pope to recognise the Kingdom in the [[papal bull]] "Ilius".

In 1558, a Protestant – [[Elizabeth I]] – ascended the throne. With the exception of [[James II of England]], all the following monarchs adhered to [[Anglicanism]]. Contrary to the official plan, the substantial majority of the population remained strongly Roman Catholic, despite the political and economic advantages of membership of the state church. Despite its numerical minority, however, the [[Church of Ireland]] remained the official state church until it was [[disestablishment|disestablished]] on 1 January 1871 by the Liberal government under [[William Ewart Gladstone]].

==Ethnic conflict==
{{sources|section|date=February 2023}}
[[File:PRENDERGAST(1870) p 415 Map of the Settlement of Ireland by the Act of 26th September, 1653.jpg|thumb|After [[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwell]]'s victory, huge areas of land were confiscated from the [[Gaelic nobility of Ireland|Gaelic nobility]] and the [[Irish Catholics]] were banished to the lands of [[Connacht]].]]
The legacy of the Kingdom of Ireland remains a bone of contention in [[Irish-British relations]] to this day because of the constant ethnic conflict between the native Irish inhabitants and primarily the new Anglo-Irish settlers across the island. Their background espoused [[English culture]] (law, language, dress, religion, economic relations and definitions of land ownership) in Ireland as it later did across much of what was to become the British Empire. However [[Gaelic culture]] and [[Irish language]], was maintained to a significant extent by the majority of the original native population.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rahman |first=Aziz |last2=Clarke |first2=Mary Anne |last3=Byrne |first3=Sean |date=2017 |title=The Art of Breaking People Down: The British Colonial Model in Ireland and Canada |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44779905 |journal=Peace Research |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=15–38 |issn=0008-4697}}</ref> Sometimes this was presented as "barbaric", "savage" which later was perceived by the native population as a mark of undesirability in respect of maintaining and learning the language. While the [[Lordship of Ireland]] had existed since the 12th century and nominally owed allegiance to the English monarchy, many kingdoms of [[Gaelic Ireland]] continued to exist; this came to an end with the Kingdom of Ireland, where the whole island was brought under the centralised control of an Anglo-centric system based in [[Dublin]]. This phase of Irish history marked the beginning of an officially organised policy of [[settler colonialism]], orchestrated from [[London]] and the incorporation of Ireland into the [[British Empire]] (indeed Ireland is sometimes called "England's first colony"). The theme is prominently addressed in Irish [[postcolonial]] literature.

The religion of the native majority and its clergy – the [[Catholic Church in Ireland|Catholic Church]] – was actively persecuted by the state. A set of [[Penal Laws against Irish Catholics|Penal Laws]] favoured those who adhered to the [[established church]] – the [[Church of Ireland]]. They oppressed those native Irish who refused to abjure their religion. A similar experience happened to English, Scottish and Welsh Catholics during the same period. There is some perception that during Tudor times, elements within the government at times engaged in and advanced a [[genocidal]]{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}} policy against the Irish [[Gaels]], while during the [[Plantations of Ireland]] (particularly successful in Ulster) the local population were displaced in a project of [[ethnic cleansing]] where regions of Ireland became de-Gaelicised. This in turn led to bloody retaliations, which drag on to modern times. Some of the native inhabitants, including their leadership, were permitted to flee into exile from the country following ending up on the losing side in conflicts (i.e. the [[Flight of the Earls]] and the [[Flight of the Wild Geese]]) or in the case of the [[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwellian regime]] were forced into [[Irish indentured servants|indentured servitude]] (although the same happened to English persons involved in the Cromwellian regime) in the [[Caribbean]], following mass land confiscation for the benefit of New English settlers.

On the other hand, the fact that the kingdom had been a [[unitary state]] gave Irish nationalists in 1912–1922 a reason to expect that in the process of increasing self-government the island of Ireland would be treated as a single political unit.

==Coat of arms==
[[File:Royal arms of Ireland.svg|upright=0.8|right|thumb|Coat of arms with the crest]]
[[File:62cdd2f7394d34.03999185-original.jpg|thumb|Crowned harp on a [[Farthing (British coin)|farthing]] coin of 1744]]

The arms of the Kingdom of Ireland were [[blazon]]ed: ''Azure, a harp Or stringed Argent''. These earliest arms of Ireland are described in an entry that reads: ''Le Roi d'Irlande, D'azur à la harpe d'or'', in a 13th-century French roll of arms, the [[Armorial Wijnbergen]], also known as the Wijnbergen Roll, said to be preserved in The Hague, in the Netherlands but currently untraced; a copy is held in the [[Royal Library of Belgium]] (Collection Goethals, ms. 2569). This may have been an aspirational depiction for a putative High-King, for it was not related to the Lordship of Ireland at that time by the English king, who only assumed the title "King of Ireland" later in the reign of [[Henry VIII]]{{sfn|O'Donnell|2019|p=499|loc=Appendices – Notes, The early arms and heraldry of Ireland}}

A crown was not part of the arms but use of a crowned harp was apparently common as a badge or as a device. A crowned harp also appeared as a [[Crest (heraldry)|crest]] although the delineated crest was: ''a wreath Or and Azure, a tower (sometime triple-towered) Or, from the port, a hart springing Argent''.

{{blockquote|King James not only used the harp crowned as the device of Ireland, but quartered the harp in this royal achievement for the arms of that kingdom, in the third quarter of the royal achievement upon his Great Seal, as it has continued ever since. The blazon was azure, a harp or string argent, as appears by the great embroidered banner, and at the funeral of Queen Anne, King James' queen, AD 1618, and likewise by the great banner and banner of Ireland at the funeral of King James. ''The difference between the arms and device of Ireland appears to be on the crown only, which is added to the harp when used as a device.''

At the funeral of King James was likewise carried the standard of the crest of Ireland, a buck proper (argent in the draught) issuing from a tower triple towered or, which is the only instance of this crest that I have met, and therefore was probably devised and assigned for the crest of Ireland upon occasion of this funeral, but with what propriety I do not understand.|Questions and Answers, Notes and Queries, 1855, p. 350}}

{{blockquote|The insignia of Ireland have variously been given by early writers. In the reign of Edward IV, a commission appointed to enquire what were the arms of Ireland found them to be three crowns in pale. It has been supposed that these crowns were abandoned at the Reformation, from an idea that they might denote the feudal sovereignty of the pope, whose vassal the king of England was, as lord of Ireland. However, in a manuscript in the Heralds' College of the time of Henry VII, '''the arms of Ireland are blazoned azure, a harp or, stringed argent'''; and when they were for the first time placed on the royal shield on the accession of James I. they were thus delineated: '''the crest is on a wreath or and azure, a tower (sometime triple-towered) or, from the port, a hart springing argent.''' '''Another crest is a harp or.''' The national flag of Ireland exhibits the harp in a field vert. '''The royal badge of Ireland, as settled by sign-manual in 1801 is a harp, or, stringed argent, and a trefoil vert, both ensigned with the imperial crown.'''|Chambers' Encyclopædia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge, 1868, p. 627}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==

===Citations===
<references>
<ref name=bull>{{Cite web |url=http://www.heraldica.org/topics/national/ireland_docs.htm#bull1555 |title=Text of 1555 Bull |access-date=26 February 2010 |archive-date=23 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123130415/http://heraldica.org/topics/national/ireland_docs.htm#bull1555 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<!--<ref name=statute>The [[Statute Law Revision (Pre-Union Irish Statutes) Act 1962]], [http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1962/en/act/pub/0029/sec0001.html section 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150528000615/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1962/en/act/pub/0029/sec0001.html |date=28 May 2015 }} and [http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1962/en/act/pub/0029/sched1.html Schedule] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011192652/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1962/en/act/pub/0029/sched1.html |date=11 October 2012 }}</ref> -->

<ref name=irsoc>{{cite web|url=http://www.irish-society.org/home/hedgemaster-archives-2/groups-organizations/the-hedge-schools|title=irish-society|website=irish-society|access-date=21 March 2020|archive-date=21 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321122546/https://www.irish-society.org/home/hedgemaster-archives-2/groups-organizations/the-hedge-schools|url-status=live}}</ref>
</references>

===Sources===
{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite book|last1=de Beaumont|first1= Gustave |title=Ireland Social, Political, and Religious |translator= William Cooke Taylor|publisher=Harvard University Press |date= 2006 |isbn=978-0-674-02165-5|orig-year=1839}}
*{{citation |chapter-url=http://catholicity.elcore.net/MacCaffrey/HCCRFR2_Chapter08.html |access-date=5 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100607060812/http://catholicity.elcore.net/MacCaffrey/HCCRFR2_Chapter08.html |archive-date=7 June 2010 |url-status=dead |title=History of the Catholic Church |volume=II: From the Renaissance to the French Revolution |first=James |last=MacCaffrey |date=1914 |chapter=Chapter VIII The Church in Ireland During the Reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI (1509-1553) }}
*{{cite book|author-link=Richard Mant|first=Richard|last=Mant|title=History of the Church of Ireland, from the Reformation to the Revolution|publisher=Parker|location=London|year=1840|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TRjSAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA275|access-date=16 August 2021|archive-date=16 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816084055/https://books.google.com/books?id=TRjSAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA275|url-status=live}}
*{{cite book|first=Vincent|last=Morley|title=Irish opinion and the American Revolution, 1760–1783|publisher=University Press|location=Cambridge|year=2002|isbn=978-1-139-43456-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iBrJz9XYzNgC&pg=PA4|access-date=16 October 2015|archive-date=3 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503035306/https://books.google.com/books?id=iBrJz9XYzNgC&pg=PA4|url-status=live}}
*{{cite book|last=O'Donnell|first= Francis Martin|title=The O'Donnells of Tyrconnell – A Hidden Legacy|publisher= Academica Press LLC |location=Washington DC|date= 2019|isbn=978-1-68053-474-0}}
*{{cite book|first1=W. G.|last1=Perrin|first2=Herbert S.|last2=Vaughan|date=1922|title=British Flags. Their Early History and their Development at Sea; with an Account of the Origin of the Flag as a National Device|location=Cambridge|publisher=University Press|url=https://archive.org/details/britishflagsthei00perruoft/page/50/mode/2up}}
*{{cite book|first=A.T.Q. |last=Stewart|title= The Narrow Ground: The Roots of Conflict in Ulster|location= London|publisher= Faber and Faber |edition= New |date= 1989}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite book |last=Blythe |first=Robert J |title=The British Empire and its Contested Pasts |publisher=Irish Academic Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7165-3016-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bradshaw |first=Brendan |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780521416344 |title=Representing Ireland: Literature and the Origins of Conflict, 1534-1660 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-521-41634-4 |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bradshaw |first=Brendan |title='And so began the Irish Nation': Nationality, National Consciousness and Nationalism in Pre-modern Ireland |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-4724-4256-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=Canny |first=Nicholas |title=Making Ireland British, 1580-1650 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-19-925905-2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Connolly |first=S. J. |title=Contested Island: Ireland 1460-1630 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-19-956371-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Connolly |first=S. J. |title=Divided Kingdom: Ireland 1630-1800 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-19-958387-4}}
* {{Cite book |last=Crowley |first=Tony |title=Wars of Words: The Politics of Language in Ireland 1537-2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-19-953276-6}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ellis |first=Steven G. |title=Ireland in the Age of the Tudors, 1447-1603: English Expansion and the End of Gaelic Rule |publisher=Routledge |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-582-01901-0}}
* {{Cite book |last=Garnham |first=Neal |title=The Militia in Eighteenth-Century Ireland: In Defence of the Protestant Interest |publisher=Boydell Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-84383-724-4}}
* {{Cite book |last=Harris |first=R G |title=The Irish Regiments: 1683-1999 |publisher=Da Capo Press Inc |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-885119-62-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kane |first=Brendan |title=The Politics and Culture of Honour in Britain and Ireland, 1541-1641 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-521-89864-5}}
* Keating, Geoffrey : ''The History of Ireland, from the Earliest Period to the English Invasion''  ([[Foras Feasa Ar Éirinn]]) Translated by John O'Mahony 1866 [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_dE7pMtIozskC <!-- quote=Foras Feasa Ar Eirinn. --> Full text at Internet Archive]
* {{Cite book |last=Lenihan |first=Padraig |title=Consolidating Conquest: Ireland 1603-1727 |publisher=Routledge |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-582-77217-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lennon |first=Colm |title=Sixteenth-Century Ireland: The Incomplete Conquest |publisher=Gill Books |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7171-3947-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=Mac Giolla Chríost |first=Diarmait |title=The Irish Language in Ireland: From Goídel to Globalisation |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-415-32046-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=McCabe |first=Richard Anthony |title=Spenser's Monstrous Regiment: Elizabethan Ireland and the Poetics of Difference |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-19-818734-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nelson |first=Ivan F. |title=The Irish Militia, 1793–1802, Ireland's Forgotten Army |publisher=Four Courts Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-84682-037-3}}
* {{Cite book |last=O'Callaghan |first=Sean |title=To Hell or Barbados: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ireland |publisher=Brandon |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-86322-287-0}}
* {{Cite book |last=O'Neill |first=James |title=The Nine Years War, 1593-1603: O'Neill, Mountjoy and the military revolution |publisher=Four Courts Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-84682-636-8}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pakenham |first=Thomas |title=The Year Of Liberty: The Great Irish Rebellion of 1789: History of the Great Irish Rebellion of 1798 |publisher=Abacus |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-349-11252-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=Palmer |first=Patricia |title=The Severed Head and the Grafted Tongue: Literature, Translation and Violence in Early Modern Ireland |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-107-04184-4}}
* Pawlisch, Hans S., : ''Sir John Davies and the Conquest of Ireland: A Study in Legal Imperialism'' :Cambridge University Press, 2002 : {{ISBN|978-0-521-52657-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Reid |first=Stuart |title=Armies of the Irish Rebellion 1798 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-84908-507-6}}
* {{Cite book |last=Snape |first=Michael |title=The Redcoat and Religion: The Forgotten History of the British Soldier from the Age of Marlborough to the Eve of the First World War |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-136-00742-2}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [http://www.british-values.com/index-to-articles/massacre/ The English in Ireland and the Practice of Massacre] by John Minahane

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