ABSTRACT
Contested land possession has been referred to as the 'leit motif' that recurs again and again throughout the Irish history. A variety of factors had contributed to this startling recovery, but chief among them was the ability of Irish Catholics to purchase land from Protestant grantees. Events in England during this period will be referred to only when they are perceived to have had a tangible effect on the Catholic Irish polity. Taking this into account, it is perhaps most constructive to first establish, in so far as is possible, how the divergent Catholic factions in Ireland interacted in co-operation and conflict during the later Stuart period. Ormond's final lord lieutenancy was one marked by a moderate approach towards the problem of Catholicism, and the threat that it was assumed to hold towards the Protestant and English interest. In order to illustrate the continuous thread of Catholic conflict with regard to the land settlement that existed in later Stuart Ireland.
