Second Desmond Rebellion - Aftermath

Aftermath

Munster continued to suffer from bubonic plague and famine in the years following the rebellion, and was described as having vast empty areas and a substantially reduced population. Perhaps as much as one third of the province’s population perished in the war.

The main political consequence of the rebellion was the annihilation of the Desmond dynasty’s power in southern Ireland. Their lands were confiscated, along with those of their allies. Following a survey in 1584 by the Surveyor General of Ireland, Sir Valentine Browne it was subsequently colonised with English settlers – the Munster Plantations. The Earl of Desmond title was later restored and during another rebellion, the Nine Years War in the 1590s, the English attempted to introduce a new Protestant Geraldine Earl who had grown up in England, but without success.

In Leinster, Fiach MacHugh O'Byrne submitted but was later killed leading a new rebellion in Nine Years War. James Eustace, 3rd Viscount of Baltinglass went into exile, dying in Spain in 1585. His title and property, including Rathfarnham Castle were confiscated.

Many more former rebels were pardoned but had some land confiscated and had to pay substantial fines.

The destruction of so many important landed families in Ireland and colonisation of their lands with English settlers meant that the Second Desmond Rebellion was one of the most important events in the Tudor conquest of Ireland – a century long process which saw all of Ireland under English control by 1603. The killing of many of the Irish mercenary class in the war was likewise an important development for the English authorities in establishing their monopoly on the use of force in Ireland. The Rebellion also established the theme of religious conflict in Irish history for the first time. The divide between Irish Catholic landowners and Protestant English settlers and government would dominate Irish life for another century and still has reverberations to this day.