King James and the Ulster Plantation

[Music] as most earnest professors know all too well people's historical memories are short and even selective what do i mean by selective well i mean that those who fund schools and colleges have a way of directing what's taught in them this is a way of encouraging odd interpretations or even dismissals of historical events and movements i want to talk about one of the deadliest and most distorted policies and events in the history of ireland and great britain the plantation of ulster even affects the political and religious landscapes of the united states in the 21st century so today on the vantage point we'll be looking at the historical connections between ireland and scotland to help us understand the political and religious forces that brought about the birth of today's scots-irish people i hope you'll join me southwestern scotland is visible from ireland on a clear day and it was from this area of northern ireland that the scotties of del riota a name given to them by the romans migrated to northern great britain in the early 6th century no doubt scotland's proximity to ulster one of the four traditional provinces in ireland encouraged both social interactions and frequent migratory flows across the north channel of the irish sea the direction of those flows was greatly affected by the oftentimes uneven application of laws associated with life under distinct political authorities prior to 1603 and then by the slow but steady evolution of imperial political infrastructure after the union of crowns in that year a century before the scots from ulster migrated across the irish sea to extend the kingdom of del riota romanized britain named ninion according to sources introduced christianity into the picturesque lands of northern great britain that today we call scotland however the church of celtic ireland which was born and ulster and nurtured independently of papal control through the labors of patrick introduced irish monasticism to scotland in 563 in that year an ulster-born cleric named columba established a monastery on the island of iona the initial concerns of columba and his fellow missionaries were with providing ministries to the transplanted scots of del riota once established in western scotland missionaries set about to evangelize pickland and northumbria which is in the northeastern part of england the missionary work of columba and other irish monks kept alive the connections between the scots and britain and their kin in ireland in the 14th century gaelic speaking scottish mercenaries known as gallo glass and later still red shanks helped to sustain social links between scotland and ulster prior to the 17th century scottish and irish connections were also strengthened by their common catholic faith gaelic tongue and in many cases family ties most notably among the bruces and allied families of the mcdonald's also in the 14th century robert the first or robert the bruce own lands on both sides of the north channel elizabeth de berg bruce's wife was an ulster woman of angel norman descent in 1316 and despite his own norman roots robert the first proposed the formation of a celtic union or confederacy to push the english from ireland scotland and wales so he went to ireland to aid his brother edward who had political ambitions in ireland although edward died on their march to dublin and their military effort was deemed an amelia immediate failure their resistance to the english lordship led to a gaelic resurgence recapture of the lost lands and the restoration of sanctified institutions and native lordships in essence the scots and irish were developing a sense of common purpose against a commonly hated domination by london unlike ireland in the 1500s scotland and england were swept up in the protestant reformation meanwhile ireland remained in the roman catholic orbit of influence by 1603 and the union of the crowns james vi of scotland first of england was intensely driven to change the culture of galen which he and his tutor predecessors regarded as backward in the king's way of thinking the west highland mcdonald's and their kinsmen and antrim formed a troublesome clique as scottish historian t.c smout observed there was not much of a difference between the mcdonnell of the isles and the mcdonnell of antrim in addition to the possibility of economic gain the king was especially interested in planting ulster with loyal british subjects or settlers who would help transform a native irish into good citizens of the realm to secure such settlers for ireland the scottish privy council launched an active recruitment campaign in 1609 while the 17th century movements of scottish people to ulster were set in motion by political policy through the plantation of ulster initiative that constituted an immigrant wave that pushed the institution of religion to the forefront as the protestant monarchy's control of the church was set at odds with irish gildam's allegiance to rome and the aspirations among ulster presbyterians to establish an autonomous church polity or governance structure legitimized in part by congregational consent the plantation of ulster changed the nature of scottish and irish interchange the emerging ulster scots population or scots irish was a strange new animal for the gaels scotland's protestant southwestern area was the primary region from which this immigration occurred unlike their scottish predecessors who were often catholic gales from the western highlands and islands these scots did not assimilate into irish gaelic society in truth the antipathy expressed by the irish towards these protestant scots caused the contemporary to write that and i quote they the irish hate the scottish deadly the new scots were settled in ulster who had settled in holster had because of feelings demonstrated by the native irish a strong incentive to maintain ties with family incentives are family institutions and friends back across the irish sea as the english geographer ian white observed the movement of people between ireland and scotland is hard to describe simply because the two-way nature of the flow shifting in direction over various occasions through the centuries this time diversity in language and religion formed a deep chasm that led to continued conflicts that would eventually impact america and the bible bill james attempt to assimilate native irish gaels into the loyal protestant population was an effort to engineer or fix a perceived social problem that centered on what he called the godless lawless and disordered irish and his desire to pacify and improve them through anglicization to james the irish included all gales whether they were in the isles scottish highlands uh the eberties orkneys doesn't matter the court of james vi wrote historian michael lynch had little sympathy for gaelic or gael them as king james wrote in silicon doran those that dwelleth in our mainland are barbarous for the most part yet they are mixed with some show of civility the other that dwelt in the isles are utterly barbarous without any show of civility the stewards who are most often associated with the plantation initiative were not the first monarchs to address the issue of the pacification of the barbarous irish when james vi of scotland ascended the throne of england in 1603 to become that nation as james the first he happily carried on his tudor cousin's effort to anglicize the irish james had formulated his plantation initiative after watching the tudor's miserable attempt to vanquish irish galen elizabeth's military had ravaged ireland including a lands and people in ulster after elizabeth's nine years of warfare and ulster against the irish chieftains o'donnell and o'neill james inherited rule over a land depopulated and a native people toward the english government in 1600 and near the end of elizabeth first reign the population density was less than two people per square kilometer as compared to just under 15 for the scottish lowlands concerning the absence of farmers in the once cultivated region a situation that rejuvenated the soil by the way the minister robert blair from scotland who moved to ulster observed that the wolf and the woodcurren were great assayers to these first planters but the long-rested land yielded to labor such plentiful increase that many followed the first assayers by 1609 there was plenty of agricultural potential in ulster as a result of its aim to obliterate an indigenous culture of a nearly decimated people an effort initially resisted by the guerrillas known as woodcurnes the jacobian plantation initiative created a social situation that institutionalized cultural and political conflict sadly this will not be the last time that a government pitted groups of people against each other within their own borders the institution that the king conceived as his vehicle for social engineering and ulster was a loyal protestant church body that was a replication of what he was trying to do with the kirk in scotland he was attempting this feat through church uniformity based on england's monarchy controlled episcopalian model james believed his very survival as king depended on such an arrangement james believed that if he couldn't control the appointment of bishops and ministers he could not control the thoughts and beliefs of the masses he famously said once no bishop no king you might know that today this notion directs the subjects and values that are taught in public schools historian michael percival maxwell metaphorically described the king's policy in its result by noting that he used scottish earth for his purpose in which the seeds of presbyterian doctrinally buried even some of the scottish gardeners who he employed preferred presbyterian weeds to episcopalian flowers thus what grew bore little resemblance to that imagined by the designer principal maxwell failed to note that the scottish presbyterian seed in ireland was fertilized and watered by the theology of calvinists in geneva and puritans in england improved by their lack of uniformity on issues such as governance this movement or this move the ulster scots population further away from the ideal immigrant imagined by the king it also created the distinct scots-irish community that we see today the result among ulster presbyterians was a church structure that empowered the congregation relative that of church officers the congregation and irish presbyterianism emerged with power exceeding anything held by its counterpart in the scottish kirk parish as a 17th century scottish presbyterian preacher david calderwood wrote if anything was abyss in their lives doctrine or any part of the office their pastors every man had liberty to show wherein they were offended the idea of congregational mutual accountability which was based in part on the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers was a theological scene that sewed together generations of scottish puritan preachers including calderwood to form a religious ideology guided and held together by puritan doctrine in irish presbyterianism discipline extended to everyone they believe that the sins of the community or its leaders may provoke the judgment or wrath of god on the entire country and hence their concern with purity of the body of christ the church the source of this idea was calvin's geneva and the old testament i think if you look at the political and religious cultures of northern ireland and the american south today you can see how these policies and our ancestors reaction to them are still expressed ulster plantation was a major social engineering experiment that was later tried in colonial america i hope you enjoyed today's discussion and look forward to seeing you again here on the vantage point god bless you and yours bye bye [Music]

Channel: The Vanntage Point

Views: 5,669

Keywords: politics, international politics, the Atlantic world, Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Irish Sea, Antrim, North Channel of the Irish Sea, Scotch-Irish, Jacobean, United Kingdom, Seventeenth century, St. Patrick, Pictland, Romans

Id: 8YhG8KXVAsc

Length: 13min 9sec (789 seconds)

Published: Sun May 08 2022