← Richard Archdekin, Jesuit, educator and missioner to Ireland, is born in Louvain
King James I disbands the English parliament →- January 20, 1621
The granting of patents for plantations in various parts of Ireland during the early 17th century was a significant historical event. These plantations were a part of the broader English colonization efforts in Ireland, which aimed to establish English and Protestant control over the land and suppress the native Irish population.
The patents granted in 1621 represented a further step in the plantation of Ireland. The lands mentioned in your query, including Leitrim, Kings County (now County Offaly), Queens County (now County Laois), and Westmeath, were among the areas targeted for plantation. This process involved the confiscation of land from Irish landowners and the redistribution of that land to English settlers, often with the condition that they establish English-style farms and communities.
The plantation of Ireland had profound and long-lasting consequences for the country’s history and the relationships between the native Irish population and the incoming English settlers. It played a role in shaping the demographic and cultural landscape of Ireland in the centuries that followed.