23 October 1641
Ulster Rising

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Beginning in Ulster, the Gaelic Irish rebel against their English overlords. Numerous stories of Catholic atrocities against Protestants lead to panic in England, but disagreements between Charles and Parliament hamper any effective military action. As the Irish make an alliance with the Catholics of the old English population in Ireland, a Catholic Confederacy is created. In October 1642, an assembly at Kilkenny adopts a constitution and sets up a supreme council. The Confederacy raises an army, imposes taxes and confirms the privileges of the Catholic Church.

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Parliament heard with shock details of atrocities against women and children: 'cutting off the privy members, ears, fingers, and hands, plucking out their eyes, boiling the heads of little children before their mothers' faces, then ripping up their mothers' bowels, stripping women naked ...'

From A Century of Troubles by Stevie Davies (Channel 4 Books)

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