The Second Ormonde Peace was a

peace treaty A peace treaty is an treaty, agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually country, countries or governments, which formally ends a declaration of war, state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an ag ...

and

alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...

signed on 17 January 1649 between the

Marquess of Ormonde A marquess (; ) is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German-language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman with the rank of a marquess or the wife (or widow) ...

, the leader of the Irish Royalists, and the

Irish Confederates Confederate Ireland, also referred to as the Irish Catholic Confederation, was a period of Irish Catholic Church, Catholic self-government between 1642 and 1652, during the Irish Confederate Wars, Eleven Years' War. Formed by Catholic aristoc ...

. It united a coalition of former

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

and

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

enemies from

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

– the three Kingdoms ruled by

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

who was then held a prisoner by the

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

Rump Parliament The Rump Parliament describes the members of the Long Parliament who remained in session after Colonel Thomas Pride, on 6 December 1648, commanded his soldiers to Pride's Purge, purge the House of Commons of those Members of Parliament, members ...

. His

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in ...

on 30 January drew together the signatories in allegiance to his young son Charles II. The agreement was widely accepted by Catholics across Ireland, many of whom believed their previous rising had been authorised by the old King. However it was opposed by

Owen Roe O'Neill Owen Roe O'Neill ( Irish: ''Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill;'' – 6 November 1649) was a Gaelic Irish soldier and one of the most famous of the O'Neill dynasty of Ulster. O'Neill left Ireland at a young age and spent most of his life as a mercenary ...

and much of his

Ulster Army The Laggan Army, sometimes referred to as the Lagan Army, was a militia formed by Protestant settlers in the fertile Laggan district in the east of County Donegal in Ulster, during the time of the Irish Rebellion of 1641. Background Follo ...

who instead formed a temporary alliance with the Anglo-Irish Parliamentary forces, relieving their besieged garrison at Derry. When this agreement expired O'Neill's forces then changed sides. In the wake of the vigorous

Cromwellian conquest of Ireland The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649–1653) was the re-conquest of Ireland by the Commonwealth of England, initially led by Oliver Cromwell. It forms part of the 1641 to 1652 Irish Confederate Wars, and wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three ...

the combined forces of the alliance were comprehensively defeated and Ireland was under republican control until the

1660 restoration The Stuart Restoration was the reinstatement in May 1660 of the Stuart monarchy in England, Scotland, and Ireland. It replaced the Commonwealth of England, established in January 1649 after the execution of Charles I, with his son Char ...

. A number of the surviving soldiers loyal to Charles II later served in his

Royalist Army in Exile The Royalist Army in Exile was the army formed by those loyal to Charles II from 1656 to 1660 during his exile from the throne. They were a mixture of Royalist troops from his three Kingdoms. It included men from England and Scotland, but the bul ...

Background

While proclaiming their loyalty to

, the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Confederates had followed the

1641 Rebellion The Irish Rebellion of 1641 was an uprising in Ireland, initiated on 23 October 1641 by Catholic gentry and military officers. Their demands included an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and return of confiscat ...

by seizing strongholds throughout Ireland and seeking to secure concessions from the government. Meanwhile a

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

broke out in England between the King and his opponents. In 1643 a

truce A ceasefire (also known as a truce), also spelled cease-fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions often due to mediation by a third party. Ceasefires may b ...

with the Confederates known as the Cessation of Arms had freed Anglo-Irish Royalist troops to fight in the English Civil War. After lengthy negotiations the First Ormonde Peace was agreed in 1646 between Charles' envoy and the Irish Confederates. This however provoked a civil war in Catholic Ireland between the Moderate and Clerical factions of the Irish Confederacy. The former Spanish mercenary

who commanded the

, had intervened on behalf of the anti-Treaty forces which thwarted the implementation of the agreement. Meanwhile the situation of Charles in Britain had declined. He surrendered to the

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

Covenanters Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son ...

in 1646 who then handed him over to the English Parliamentary forces. By late 1648 the Irish Catholics and Royalists and the Scottish Covenanters had all come to see the London Parliament as their greatest threat.Whittock p. 83 Following the defeat of his supporters during the Second Civil War, Charles I was executed by the

English Parliament The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised th ...

who declared both England and Ireland to be a

republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

Treaty and effects

In Ulster, O'Neill moved to relieved the besieged troops of Charles Coote who were trapped in Derry. Meanwhile the allies secured many of the town and cities across Ireland and Ormonde's troops advanced to lay siege to the capital Dublin. However even before the arrival of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

's reinforcements, his local Irish commander Michael Jones routed the coalition forces at the

Battle of Rathmines The Battle of Rathmines was fought on 2 August 1649, near the modern Dublin suburb of Rathmines. Part of the Irish Confederate Wars, an associated conflict of 1638 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, it has been described as the 'decisive battl ...

. Cromwell then took the offensive, storming Drogheda and then

Wexford Wexford ( ; archaic Yola dialect, Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the ...

. In the north the Catholic Ulster Army now changed sides to join the other allies, but were routed and virtually destroyed at the

Battle of Scarrifholis The Battle of Scarrifholis, also spelt Scariffhollis was fought on 21 June 1650, near Letterkenny in County Donegal during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. A force loyal to the Commonwealth of England under Charles Coote defeated the C ...

. The Scottish

Covenanter Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son C ...

Army in the North had previously been smashed at the

Lisnagarvey Lisnagarvey or Lisnagarvy ()Placenames NI
is a

. Ormonde left Ireland, turning over command to the Catholic Royalist Lord Clanricarde. However organised resistance effectively ceased following the loss of Galway and further resistance was largely carried out by a guerilla war. Ormonde and a group of leading Irish Catholics went into exile along with a number of troops. Four regiments that fought at the Battle of the Dunes were broadly drawn from former members of the Allied forces of 1649, topped up by fresh recruits from Ireland. Ormond was ultimately restored as

Lord Lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ov ...

while many Catholics successfully appealed to the Court of Claims to have land returned to them that had been confiscated by Cromwell due to their service in the Royalist alliance.

References

{{Reflist

Bibliography

* Casway, Jerrold I. ''Owen Roe O'Neill and the Struggle for Catholic Ireland''. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984. * Nolan, Cathal J. ''The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000–1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization, Volume 2''. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006. * O Siochru, Micheal. '' Confederate Ireland, 1642–1649''. ''A Constitutional and Political Analysis''. Four Courts Press, 1999. * Whittock, Martyn. ''When God was King: Rebels & Radicals of the Civil War & Mayflower Generation''. Lion Books, 2018. 1649 in Ireland Peace treaties of Ireland Cromwellian conquest of Ireland 1649 treaties