ABSTRACT
The destinies of England and Ireland had been wedded ever since the Norman conquest of both countries in the eleventh century. By an act of Henry VIII Ireland had been made a kingdom 'united and knit to the Imperial crown of the realm of England'. In other words it was a dependency, not of the English parliament, but the English Crown. Ireland's chief executive, or viceroy, who bore the title of lord deputy or lord lieutenant, was appointed by the king, and reported only to him. From the late twelfth century Norman settlers had taken up residence in a small area within forty miles of Dublin known as the Pale. The English and Scottish planters who arrived in Ireland came up against an economy that was by their standards primitive, pastoral and semi-nomadic. Many Irish peasants still migrated each summer with their livestock to the hills and wastelands in search of fresh pasture.
