The 1500s were a tumultuous time for Christianity. In 1516 the theologian Martin Luther declared that the Catholic Church had gone astray and become corrupt, and proposed a new form of Christianity. This was the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, which resulted in a new category of Christian: the Protestant. Protestants refused to acknowledge the supremacy of the pope in Rome. Protestantism quickly splintered into a profusion of groups with different beliefs, some of which harbored as much rancor against other Protestants as they did against Catholics.

The Reformation hit England during the reign of Henry VIII. Henry wanted to divorce his first wife, but the pope wouldn't permit it. So Henry announced in 1536 that he was now the head of a new church — the Church of England, or Anglican Church. Doctrinally, the Anglican Church is quite similar to the Roman Catholic one, but it does not acknowledge the pope. Henry also took the title “King of Ireland,” and decreed that the Irish people should look to him as their supreme monarch.

Reformed England Meets Unreformed Ireland

Henry's interest in Ireland (and in England) was primarily political, not theological, but subsequent monarchs became much more interested in what people believed. Queen Elizabeth I began a concerted effort to transform Ireland into a Protestant land. During her reign, Irish people were required to attend Anglican churches and use the Protestant Common Book of Prayer. Preaching in the Irish language was outlawed. A number of extreme Protestants called Puritans moved to Ireland.

In the early seventeenth century, King James I sent many Protestant clergymen to Ireland and banished Catholic priests; he fined people who refused to attend Protestant worship services and banned Catholic school-teachers. Priests were persecuted violently — some of them were drawn and quartered. But the Irish proved resistant to conversion. They refused to attend Protestant services and persisted in hearing Mass out in open fields.