Tyrone and Tyrconnel Rebellion

an uprising in Ireland in the period 1595–1603 in protest against the colonization of the country by England. The rebellion was led by the Irish clan leaders Hugh O’Neill, earl of Tyrone, and Hugh Roe O’Donnell, lord of Tyrconnel. The rebellion was widely supported by the masses in the provinces of Ulster and Munster. The rebels won a series of victories over the English, even defeating a 16,000-man army commanded by the earl of Essex in 1599. In 1600, English ground and naval forces under command of the lord deputy of Ireland, Mountjoy, began a war of extermination against the Irish. In December 1601 the rebel army was defeated.

While suppressing the rebellion, English forces devastated entire regions of Ulster. The leaders of the rebellion were compelled to submit to the English in 1603. After the defeat of the rebellion, the English government initiated a policy of massive land confiscations in Ulster.