A BRIEF HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN - PERIODS, MAJOR EVENTS, KEY FACTS AND HISTORICAL FIGURES
http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/timeline.html
PREHISTORIC BRITAIN
The Celts who first arrived from Central Europe around 500 BC, were farmers and lived in small village groups
in the centre of their fields. They were also warlike people. The Celts fought against the people of Britain and
other Celtic tribes.
ROMAN BRITAIN (43 - 450)
The Romans came to Britain nearly 2000 years ago. The Roman Empire made its mark on Britain, and even
today, the ruins of Roman buildings, forts, roads, and baths can be found all over Britain. Britain was part of the
Roman Empire for almost 400 years.
By the time the Roman armies left around 410 AD, they had established medical practice, a language of
administration and law and had created great public buildings and roads.
Many English words are derived from the Latin language of the Romans.
ANGLO-SAXON BRITAIN (450 - 793)
The Roman army left Britain about AD 410. When they had gone there was no strong army to defend Britain, and
tribes called the Angle, Saxon, and Jute (the Anglo-Saxons) invaded. They left their homelands in northern
Germany, Denmark and northern Holland and rowed ( ramer) across the North Sea in wooden boats.
VIKING BRITAIN (793 - 1066)
The Viking Age in Britain began about 1,200 years ago in the 8th Century AD and lasted for 300 years. The
Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons fought for the kingdoms that are in what is now England and Wales. In the end
the Anglo-Saxons took over in 1066.
MEDIEVAL PERIOD - THE NORMANS (1066 - 1485)
The Middle Ages in Britain cover a huge period. They go from the shock of the Norman Invasion, which began
in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings, the Great Famine and the devastating Black Death of 1348, the Hundred Years'
War with France and the War of the Roses, to the Peasants’ Revolt for a better life in 1381.
The Normans built impressive castles, imposed a feudal system and carried out a census of the country.
THE TUDORS (1485 - 1603)
The Tudors were a Welsh-English family that ruled England from 1485 to 1603. They came to power with Henry
VII, ending the War between the Yorks and the Lancasters dynasties. Amongst them, was the infamous King
Henry VIII who had several wives who either died or that he had divorced or killed. It was in his best interest to
make the Church of England independent from the Roman Catholic church thus paving the way for
Protestantism to spread. Indeed, at that time in Europe, Protestant Reformation (1517) had taken place. During
his reign, Ireland was also conquered and colonized by English Protestant settlers. This created a historical
series of many religious and political conflicts.
The Tudor dynasty ended when Elizabeth I died childless. The Throne passed to their cousins, the Scottish
Stuarts, then unifying England and Scotland.
In Tudor England another important phenomenon developed: the ever-increasing demand for wool which had a
dramatic effect on the landscape. The attraction of large profits to be made from wool encouraged lords to
enclose common land and convert it from arable to sheep pasture. The consequent eviction of commoners or
villagers from their homes and loss of their livelihoods became an important political issue for the Tudors.The
resulting depopulation was financially disadvantageous to the Crown. The authorities were concerned that many
of the people subsequently dispossessed would become vagabonds and thieves.
From the time of Henry VII, Parliament began passing Acts either to stop enclosure, to limit its effects, or at least
to fine those responsible.
THE STUARTS (1603 - 1714)
The Stuart (Stewart) dynasty ruled England (1603 - 1714) and Scotland (1371 - 1714) and helped to establish
Protestantism as the main religion in the country and to make the Parliament an essential political institution
thanks to the Bill of Rights (1689). In 1707, England and Scotland officially became one country: Great Britain.
James II tried to make England a catholic country again as it was the religion of his wife, but Parliament did not
like this, overthrew him and replaced him with a Dutch Prostestant King. This was called the Glorious Revolution.
After the last Stuart / Stewart monarch (Queen Anne) the Hanoverian dynasty (invited by a group of leading
Britons) took over thus ensuring a Prostestant succession. At the end of the Stuarts' rule the Parliament became
as important as the monarchy.
GEORGIAN BRITAIN (1714 - 1837)
During that period the United Kingdom was created: Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Ireland
were formally joined under the Act of Union in 1801. It is also a time of early industrial revolution, colonial wars
and economic expansion.
THE VICTORIANS (1837 - 1901)
Queen Victoria reigned for more than 60 years (1837-1901), longer than any other British monarch and it was a
time of contrast between great wealth and extreme poverty. Her reign was a period of significant social,
economic and technological change, which saw the expansion of Britain's industrial power and of the British
empire. This also corresponded to the time of massive flows of emigration towards the USA, Australia and New
Zealand, in particular for the poorest and for many Irish survivors of the Potato Famine.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN - PERIODS, MAJOR EVENTS, KEY FACTS AND HISTORICAL FIGURES
http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/timeline.html
PREHISTORIC BRITAIN
●
6,000 BC Britain became an Island.
The land bridge joining Britain to Europe flooded as the sea level rose.
●
500 BC The Celtic people arrived from Central Europe.
The Celts who first arrived from Central Europe around 500 BC, were farmers and lived in small village
groups in the centre of their fields. They were also warlike people. The Celts fought against the people of
Britain and other Celtic tribes.
ROMAN BRITAIN
The Romans came to Britain nearly 2000 years ago. The Roman Empire made its mark on Britain, and even
today, the ruins of Roman buildings, forts, roads, and baths can be found all over Britain. Britain was part of the
Roman Empire for almost 400 years.
By the time the Roman armies left around 410 AD, they had established medical practice, a language of
administration and law and had created great public buildings and roads.
Many English words are derived from the Latin language of the Romans.
●
43 Romans invaded and Britain became part of the Roman Empire.
●
50 London is founded.
●
70 Romans conquered Wales and the North.
●
122 - 128 Emperor Hadrian built a wall on the Scottish Border.
●
350 The Picts and Scots attacked the border
●
401 - 410 The Romans withdrew (se retirer) from Britain: Anglo-Saxons migrants began to settle.
ANGLO-SAXON BRITAIN
The Roman army left Britain about AD 410. When they had gone there was no strong army to defend Britain, and
tribes called the Angle, Saxon, and Jute (the Anglo-Saxons) invaded. They left their homelands in northern
Germany, Denmark and northern Holland and rowed ( ramer) across the North Sea in wooden boats.
●
450 First invasions of the Jutes from Jutland, Angles from South of Denmark and Saxons from Germany.
Britain is divided up into the Seven Kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, Anglia, Wessex, Essex, Sussex and
Kent.
●
597 St Augustine brought Christianity to England from Rome.
●
The King of Kent (also known as Æthelberht - 560-616) became the first Anglo-Saxon king to turn his back on
paganism and become Christian.
VIKING BRITAIN
The Viking Age in Britain began about 1,200 years ago in the 8th Century AD and lasted for 300 years. The
Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons fought for the kingdoms that are in what is now England and Wales. In the end
the Anglo-Saxons took over in 1066.
●
843 Kingdom of Scotland formed. (Some sources suggest that around 843 AD the kingdom of the Scots and the
Picts was amalgamated.)
●
866-877 Invasion of the Great Danish /Viking Army.
●
The city of York became Yorkvik, the Viking capital in England.
●
877 Welsh king Rhodri Mawr is defeated by the Vikings and flees to Ireland.
●
886 England is Divided. Alfred, Saxon King of Wessex, agrees to a treaty with Vikings to divide England:
The Saxons retained the west, while the east was to be Viking territory where English and Vikings were equal in
law.
●
926 Eastern England was conquered back by the Saxons.
●
927 Athelstan, Saxon king of Wessex, took York (Yorvik) from the Vikings, and forced the submission of
Constantine of the Scots and of the northern kings to form one England..
●
1016 Viking King Canute of Denmark captures the English Crown.
●
1055 Westminster Abbey is completed.
MEDIEVAL PERIOD - THE NORMANS
The Middle Ages in Britain cover a huge period. They go from the shock of the Norman Invasion, which began
in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings, the Great Famine and the devastating Black Death of 1348, the Hundred Years'
War with France and the War of the Roses, to the Peasants’ Revolt for a better life in 1381.
The Normans built impressive castles, imposed a feudal system and carried out a census of the country.
●
1066 Saxon victory over invading Vikings at the Battle of Stamford Bridge Harold II defeats and kills Harald
Hardrada
●
1066 The invading Normans defeat the Saxons at the The Battle of Hastings
William of Normandy defeats and kills Harold II with a lucky shot and becomes King of England - Norman
Conquest
●
1070 Work starts on Canterbury Cathedral
●
1077 Bayeux Tapestry illustrating the Battle of Hastings is completed
●
1078 Work starts on The Tower of London
●
1080 -1100 Great monastery and cathedral building begins
●
1096 Oxford University is founded
●
1154 Henry II, the first 'Plantagenet' king, accedes to the throne
He was not only king of England, but also ruled over most of Wales, Normandy, Anjou, Gascony and other parts
of France (acquired through his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine).
●
1170 Population of London exceeds 30,000 for the first time
●
1290 Edward I expels all Jews from England*
●
1296 -1297 England invades Scotland and then Scotland defeats England.
●
1315 -1322 Millions die in the Great European Famine
The famine was the product of a cooler and damper climate, coupled with the medieval inability to dry and store
grain effectively.
● 1337 - 1453 Hundred Years' War with France
The 'Hundred Years' War' is the name historians have given to a series of related conflicts fought over the
course of more than a century between England and France. It originated from disputed claims to the French
throne between the English royal House of Plantagenet and the French royal House of Valois. Over time, the
war grew into a broader power struggle involving factions from across Western Europe, fueled by emerging
nationalism on both sides.
●
1348 - 1349 The Black Death (bubonic plague) arrives in England and kills nearly half of the population.
●
1381 Peasants' Revolt. In the aftermath of the catastrophic Black Death, agricultural workers were in demand
but landlords were reluctant to pay higher wages or allow migration for work. Coupled with heavy taxation and
an unpopular government, it caused an uprising. The rebels converged on London. The Tower of London was
stormed and prominent individuals were executed. After rebel leader Wat Tyler was killed, Richard II
successfully defused the situation by promising concessions. Reprisals followed instead.
●
1387 Geoffrey Chaucer starts writing the Canterbury Tales
●
1413 St Andrews is established as the first Scottish university
●
1455 Civil War: The War of the Roses began with the Battle of St Albans. A civil war between two branches of
the royal family - York and Lancaster - that lasted intermittently until 1485.
●
1477 William Caxton published the first printed book in England
●
1485 Henry Tudor defeated Richard III (last king of the house of York - end of the War of Roses) at the Battle of
Bosworth
THE TUDORS
The Tudors were a Welsh-English family that ruled England from 1485 to 1603. They came to power with Henry
VII, ending the War between the Yorks and the Lancasters dynasties. Amongst them, was the infamous King
Henry VIII who had several wives who either died or that he had divorced or killed. It was in his best interest to
make the Church of England independent from the Roman Catholic church thus paving the way for
Protestantism to spread. Indeed, at that time in Europe, Protestant Reformation (1517) had taken place. During
his reign, Ireland was also conquered and colonized by English Protestant settlers. This created a historical
series of many religious and political conflicts.
The Tudor dynasty ended when Elizabeth I died childless. The Throne passed to their cousins, the Scottish
Stuarts, then unifying England and Scotland.
In Tudor England another important phenomenon developed: the ever-increasing demand for wool which had a
dramatic effect on the landscape. The attraction of large profits to be made from wool encouraged lords to
enclose common land and convert it from arable to sheep pasture. The consequent eviction of commoners or
villagers from their homes and loss of their livelihoods became an important political issue for the Tudors.The
resulting depopulation was financially disadvantageous to the Crown. The authorities were concerned that many
of the people subsequently dispossessed would become vagabonds and thieves.
From the time of Henry VII, Parliament began passing Acts either to stop enclosure, to limit its effects, or at least
to fine those responsible.
●
1486 Henry VII married Elizabeth of York, uniting the two houses and ending the Wars of the Roses.
●
1534 Henry VIII (1509-1587) became head of the English church - the Anglican Church. This is the English
Reformation. Henry VIII formed the 'Church of England’ separating England from the Roman Catholic Church.
Henry himself was never a Protestant, but the break with Rome was a huge encouragement to Protestants in
England.
●
1536 Act of Union joined England and Wales
●
1536 -1540 Destruction or closure of 560 monasteries and religious houses.
●
1536 Beginning of the period of invasion of Ireland by Britain with the settlements of many Protestant settlers.
(1536 - 1691)*1
●
1536 Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer receives the first Bible in English
●
1554 Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, becomes queen. Mary was the first woman to be
crowned monarch of England in her own right. A devout Catholic, she was determined to halt the growth of
Protestantism initiated by her father, and return England to Roman Catholicism.
●
1558 England's last French possession, Calais, was lost.
●
1570 Sir Francis Drake set sails for his first voyage to the West Indies.
●
1588 The English defeated the Spanish Armada at the Battle of Gravelines.
●
1591 First performance of a play by William Shakespeare.
●
1600 First British involvement in the Indian continent - East India Company formed.
●
Population of Britain just over 4 million.
THE STUARTS
The Stuart (Stewart) dynasty ruled England (1603 - 1714) and Scotland (1371 - 1714) and helped to establish
Protestantism as the main religion in the country and to make the Parliament an essential political institution
thanks to the Bill of Rights (1689). In 1707, England and Scotland officially became one country: Great Britain.
James II tried to make England a catholic country again as it was the religion of his wife, but Parliament did not
like this, overthrew him and replaced him with a Dutch Prostestant King. This was called the Glorious Revolution.
After the last Stuart / Stewart monarch (Queen Anne) the Hanoverian dynasty (invited by a group of leading
Britons) took over thus ensuring a Prostestant succession. At the end of the Stuarts' rule the Parliament became
as important as the monarchy.
●
1603 James VI of Scotland, then crowned James I of England, uniting the two kingdoms. James's accession
meant that the three separate kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland were now united, for the first time,
under a single monarch.
●
1604 - Enclosure Act - Before the enclosures in England, a portion of the land was categorized as "common" or
"waste". "Common" land was under the control of the lord of the manor, but certain rights on the land such as
pasture were held variously in gross by all manorial tenants. "Waste" was land without value as a farm strip –
often very narrow areas (typically less than a yard wide) in awkward locations (such as cliff edges, or
inconveniently shaped manorial borders), but also bare rock, and so forth. "Waste" was not officially used by
anyone, and so was often farmed by landless peasants.
The remaining land was organised into a large number of narrow strips, each tenant possessing a number of
disparate strips throughout the manor, as would the lord. Called the open-field system, it was administered by
manorial courts, which exercised some collective control. What might now be termed a single field would have
been divided under this system among the lord and his tenants; poorer peasants were allowed to live on the
strips owned by the lord in return for cultivating his land. The system facilitated common grazing and crop
rotation.
●
1605 Gunpowder Plot to assassinate James I was discovered. Guy Fawkes was thwarted when he tried to blow
up Parliament.
●
1606 The Union Flag is adopted as the National Flag.
●
1607 First permanent British colony in North America.
Jamestown in Virginia, founded by Captain John Smith.
●
1611 King James Bible was published.
●
1641 Irish Rebellion broke out. There was an uprising by Irish Catholics in the Kingdom of Ireland, who wanted
an end to anti-Catholic discrimination and greater Irish self-governance. Several thousand English and Scottish
Protestant settlers were killed and many more were forced to flee. The wars, which pitted Irish Catholics against
British forces and Protestant settlers, ended in the almost complete dispossession of the Catholic landed elite.
●
1649 Cromwell's conquest of Ireland.
●
1650 Cromwell's conquest of Scotland.
●
1652 Tea arrived in Britain.
●
1664 - 65 The Great Plague of London killed more than 100,000 people. By the time the epidemic finished in
December 1665, a quarter of the capital's inhabitants had perished.
●
1666 Great Fire of London raged from 2 - 5 September destroying two-thirds of the city.
●
1688 - 89 The Glorious Revolution - King James the II, the last Catholic king of Great Britain was deposed, the
very protestant king William of Orange and his wife Mary II were invited to the Crown by leading members of the
political class which helped the final recognition of parliament supremacy.
●
1689 English Bill of rights - From now on England's monarchs ruled in partnership with Parliament.
●
1707 - the Act of Union - England and Scotland officially became one country: Great Britain; The Scottish
parliament was dissolved and England and Scotland became one country - Great Britain.
GEORGIAN BRITAIN
During that period the United Kingdom was created: Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Ireland
were formally joined under the Act of Union in 1801. It is also a time of early industrial revolution, colonial wars
and economic expansion.
●
1759 James Wolfe captured Quebec and added Canada to the British Empire.
Robert Clive brings India under British rule.
●
1769 James Cook became the first European to land on New Zealand.
●
1770 James Cook 'discovered' the south east coast of Australia, landing in Botany Bay.
●
1771 'Factory Age' began with the opening of Britain's first cotton mill.
●
1773 Boston Tea Party - The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India
Company to sell tea from China in American colonies without paying taxes apart from those imposed by the
Townshend Acts. The Sons of Liberty strongly opposed the taxes in the Townshend Act as a violation of their rights.
Protesters, some disguised as American Indians, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India
Company.
●
1775 -76 American War of Independence; America declared independence from Britain on July 4 1776.
●
1780 The Industrial Revolution began.
●
1783 Steam powered cotton mill invented by Sir Richard Arkwright.
●
1787 First fleet of convicts sailed to Australia.
●
1788 First edition of 'The Times' of London was published.
●
1789 French Revolution.
●
1800 Act of Union created the United Kingdom.
Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Ireland were formally joined under the Act of Union to create
the United Kingdom in 1801.
●
1801 The first census. Population of Britain 8 million.
●
1804 Richard Trevithick built the first steam locomotive.
●
1807 Britain abolished the slave trade.
●
1825 World's first steam locomotive passenger service opened between Stockton and Darlington.
●
1829 Robert Peel set up the Metropolitan Police force.
●
1833 Factory Act restricted work hours for women and children. Under the terms of the act, mill owners were
required to show that children up to age 13 received two hours of schooling, six days per week.
●
1833 Parliament passed a bill to abolish slavery in the British empire
●
1834 The Poor Law set up workhouses, where people without homes or jobs could live in return for doing
unpaid work.
THE VICTORIANS
Queen Victoria reigned for more than 60 years (1837-1901), longer than any other British monarch and it was a
time of contrast between great wealth and extreme poverty. Her reign was a period of significant social,
economic and technological change, which saw the expansion of Britain's industrial power and of the British
empire. This also corresponded to the time of massive flows of emigration towards the USA, Australia and New
Zealand, in particular for the poorest and for many Irish survivors of the Potato Famine.
●
1837 Victoria became Queen at the age of 18 after the death of her uncle, William IV.
●
1838 Slavery is abolished in the British empire. In 1834, slaves in the British empire started a period of
'apprenticeship', during which they were obliged to work without pay for their former owners. When the
apprenticeship period ended in 1838, over 700,000 slaves were freed in the British Caribbean. Plantation
owners received about £20 million in government compensation for the loss of their slaves. The former slaves
received nothing.
●
1840 The first postage stamps (Penny Post) came into use.
●
1842 Income tax was introduced for the first time during peacetime.
●
1842 Mines Act ends child labour.
●
1845-49 Ireland suffers the Great Potato Famine when entire crops of potatoes, the staple Irish food, are
ruined. The famine was a consequence of the appearance of blight, the potato fungus. About 800,000 people
died as a result of the famine. A large number of people migrated to Britain, the United States, Canada and
Australia.
●
1850’s The first post boxes were built.
●
1854 A cholera epidemic led to demands for a clean water supply and proper sewage systems in the big cities.
●
1858 India came under direct British government control when the remaining authority of the East India
Company was dissolved.
●
1859 Charles Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species' is published.
●
1860 The first public flushing toilet opened.
●
1860 The first London tram.
●
1863 London Underground opened.
The foundation of the Football Association.
●
1868 Joseph Lister discovered disinfectant.
●
1868 The last public hanging.
●
1870 Education Act meant school for everyone.
●
1876 Alexander Bell invented the telephone.
●
Primary education was made compulsory.
●
1877 The first public electric lighting in London.
●
1880 Education became compulsory for children under ten.
●
1883 First electric railway.
●
1887 The invention of the gramophone.
●
1891 Free education for every child.
●
1901 Population of Britain 40 million
●
1901 Queen Victoria died.
MODERN BRITAIN 20th century
●
1908 Olympic Games
●
1908 Parliament approves old age pensions. New legislation gave a weekly means-tested pension of a
maximum of five shillings to all those aged over 70.
●
1911 National Insurance Act.
●
1912 'Titanic' sank with the loss of 1,503 lives.
●
1914-18 First World War.
●
1919 Lady Astor became the first woman to take her seat in parliament.
●
Exclusion of women from many jobs is made illegal.
●
Women could then become magistrates, solicitors and barristers.
●
1920 Women at Oxford University were allowed to receive degrees. Although women had been able to attend
degree level courses, they could not receive degrees until 1920.
●
Republic of Ireland gained independence.
●
First public demonstration of television.
●
1927 British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is created.
●
1928 All women over the age of 21 get the vote.
●
The first 'talkie' (film with dialogue) was shown in Britain. Cinema-going was immensely popular during the
1920s and 1930s and virtually every town, suburb and major housing development had at least one cinema.
●
1928 Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin.
●
1936 Jarrow men march 300 miles to London to highlight poverty and mass unemployment (as high as 70%) in
the north east of England.
●
1939 - 45 Second World War.
●
1940 Winston Churchill becomes prime minister of the coalition government.
●
1940 Butler Act created free secondary education at the age of 15.
●
1947 India gained independence from Britain.
●
1948 Introduction of the National Health Service.
●
Olympic Games
●
1948 Republic of Ireland came into being.
●
1952 Elizabeth II succeeded her father, George VI
●
1957 Ghana became the first British colony in Africa to gain independence.
●
1958 The first Motorway, the M6 Preston bypass, opened.
●
1965 Comprehensive education system was introduced.
●
1968 Death penalty was abolished. The death sentence for treason and piracy with violence remained until
1998.
●
1971 Decimalised currency replaced 'pounds, shillings and pence'.
●
1973 Britain joins the European Economic Community.
●
1978 World's first test-tube baby is born in Oldham.
●
1979 Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain's first woman prime minister.
●
1982 Falklands War. Argentina invades the British territory of the Falkland Islands
●
1984 -a twelve month 'Miners' Strike' over pit closures began.
●
1984 Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web.
●
1994 Britain handed Hong Kong back to China, after more than 150 years of British rule.
●
1999 Welsh national assembly and Scottish parliament.
*https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/::ognode-637356::/files/download-resource-printable-pdf-5
*1 Ireland during the period 1536–1691 saw the first full conquest of the island by England and its colonization with
Protestant settlers from Great Britain. This established two central themes in future Irish history: subordination of the country
to London-based governments and sectarian animosity between Catholics and Protestants. The period saw Irish society
transform from a locally driven, intertribal, clan-based Gaelic structure to a centralised, monarchical, state-governed society,
similar to those found elsewhere in Europe. The period is bounded by the dates 1536, when King Henry VIII deposed the
FitzGerald dynasty as Lords Deputies of Ireland (the new Kingdom of Ireland was declared by Henry VIII in 1541), and 1691,
when the Irish Catholic Jacobites surrendered at Limerick, thus confirming British Protestant dominance in Ireland. This is
sometimes called the early modern period.
The English Reformation, by which Henry VIII broke with Papal authority in 1536, was to change Ireland totally. While Henry
VIII broke English Catholicism from Rome, his son Edward VI of England moved further, breaking with Papal doctrine
completely. While the English, the Welsh and, later, the Scots accepted Protestantism, the Irish remained Catholic. Queen
Mary I then reverted the state to Catholicism in 1553–58, and Queen Elizabeth I broke again with Rome in 1559. These
confusing changes determined their relationship with the British state for the next four hundred years, as the Reformation
coincided with a determined effort on behalf of the English state to re-conquer and colonise Ireland thereafter. The religious
schism meant that the native Irish and the (Roman Catholic) Old English were to be excluded from power in the new
settlement unless they converted to Protestantism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ireland_(1536%E2%80%931691)