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Why did england conquer Ireland? Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Since that first human settlement in 6000 BC Ireland has had many periods of invasion and change in its civilian populations. This rich history and heritage has helped to shape Ireland (both north and south) into the unique country it is today. 1066 is considered one of those dates in Medieval England which is difficult to forget. At the start of 1066, England was ruled by Edward the Confessor. By the end of the year, a Norman – William the Conqueror – was king after defeating Edward’s successor, Harold, at the Battle of Hastings. With three kings in one year, a legendary battle in October and a Norman in charge of England, it is little wonder that people rarely forget the year 1066. Many historians view 1066 as the start of Medieval England. The Danish Vikings who invaded England during the final two centuries of the first millennium also visited Ireland, but caused fewer depredations, mainly because Ireland was relatively poor and there was far less to plunder. The first Norman invasion of Ireland occurred under the Plantagenet king Henry II, but it was fairly limited in its scope, and resulted mainly in the formation of several English colonies at strategic locations on the East Coast. There were several other inconsequential raids during the early Plantagenet years, but no significant increase in English territories beyond a few colonies (called pales, as in beyond the pale), on the eastern seaboard. They English demanded tribute, but interfered little with Irish affairs. Under Edward I however, the English made a great effort to subjugate Scotland, but were repelled at the Battle of Bannockburn. Shortly after this, Edward Bruce, a brother of Robert the Bruce, landed in Ireland with a troop of Scots with the idea of making himself king of Ireland. He won over many important clans to his cause, but after several years of battling with the Anglo-Irish forces was defeated and killed, and the now-leaderless effort for Irish independence was crushed. The Norman invasion of Ireland was a Norman military expedition to Ireland that took place on May 1, 1169 at the behest of Dermot MacMurrough, the King of Leinster. It was partially consolidated by Henry II on October 18, 1171 and led to the eventual entry of the Lordship of Ireland into the Angevin Empire. The invasion had the Pope's blessing because Irish Christianity did not conform to Rome's rules. Therefore, Ireland could be pacified and brought under the authority of the Pope. From the mid-14th century, after the Black Death, Norman settlements in Ireland went into a period of decline. The Norman rulers and the Gaelic Irish elites intermarried and the areas under Norman rule became Gaelicised. In some parts, a hybrid Hiberno-Norman culture emerged. In response, the Irish parliament passed the Statutes of Kilkenny in 1367. These were a set of laws designed to prevent the assimilation of the Normans into Irish society by requiring English subjects in Ireland to speak English, follow English customs and abide by English law. By the end of the 15th century, central English authority in Ireland had all but disappeared, and a renewed Irish culture and language, albeit with Norman influences, was dominant again. English Crown control remained relatively unshaken in an amorphous foothold around Dublin known as The Pale, and under the provisions of Poynings' Law of 1494, Irish Parliamentary legislation was subject to the approval of the English Privy Council. In the sixteenth century, many parts of Ireland were controlled by different Gaelic chiefs and their families, known as clans. In parts of Munster and Leinster, including an area stretching north and south of Dublin, known as the Pale, there were many groups who were loyal to the king of England and who followed English laws and customs. The Gaelic or Irish parts of these regions had their own laws, customs and language.   In 1541, the king of England, Henry VIII, from a family called the Tudors, took the title “King of Ireland”. Some of the Gaelic chiefs, including Conn O’Neill, gained titles from King Henry in exchange for promising loyalty to him. In exchange for their loyalty and obeying to keep English laws, King Henry promised them that their direct family line would remain in power. By the time Henry died in 1547, about forty Gaelic lords had promised their loyalty to him and had been given English titles. Two of these clans were O’Neill and O’Donnell of Ulster, both of whom had became Earls. In times of peace this arrangement worked, however if the Gaelic lords rebelled against the king, all their lands were confiscated according to English law. The reason the Gaelic chieftains sometimes rebelled was due to the greater demands the Tudor monarchs made on them. Many Gaelic chieftains strongly resisted Henry and the other Tudor monarchs. Some chieftains also attacked people who were loyal to Henry. Many clans who were loyal to the English monarch lived in the Pale. The Pale was an area around Dublin, including parts of Kildare, Meath and Louth, which was under the direct conrtrol of the English government. Two of Henry VIII's children, Queen Mary and her half-sister Queen Elizabeth, decided that the English monarch needed to have more power in Ireland. One way of doing this involved sending more loyal subjects to Ireland and giving them confiscated lands. These lands became known as plantation land as the people were known as having been ‘planted’ on it. Queen Mary ruled between 1553 and 1558 and Queen Elizabeth ruled between 1558 and 1603. Two strong chiefs from the O’Neill and O’Donnell clans resisted the English armies that were sent from England to control Ulster. From 1594 to 1603, Ulster chiefs and their followers began a war against Queen Elizabeth. This war became known as ‘The Nine Years War’. The chiefs won many battles during the war, and Hugh O’Neill hoped to get further help from Elizabeth’s rival, Philip of Spain. Spanish help finally arrived in the Autumn of 1601, however the ships of the Spanish soldiers arrived in the wrong place forcing to march to join the Spanish army. In 1601, the Spanish and Irish forces were defeated. Hugh O’Neill, the most powerful Gaelic chief, signed a treaty at Mellifont in 1603 which brought an end to the Nine Years War. The treaty was called the Treaty of Mellifont. The Ulster chiefs had to promise to live according to English rather than Irish law. They were told that if they did this they could keep their lands. Queen Elizabeth was now dead and a new ruling family called the Stuarts took power in England. Over time, O'Neill's kingdom in Ulster became the English stronghold of North Ireland. The Norman invasion led to a partial conquest of the island again in 1169, marking the beginning of more than 800 years of English involvement in Irish politics and military operations.