Editing Irish Confederate Wars (section)

==The rebellion, 1641–42==
From 1641 to early 1642, the fighting in Ireland was characterised by small bands, raised by local lords or among local people, attacking civilians of opposing ethnic and religious groups. At first, Irish Catholic bands, particularly from Ulster, took the opportunity given them by the collapse of law and order to settle scores with Protestant settlers who had occupied Irish land in the [[plantations of Ireland]]. Initially, the Irish Catholic gentry raised militia forces to try to contain the violence<ref>Padraig Lenihan, Confederate Catholics at War 1641–49, pp. 33–34, "The Catholic elite of Meath dithered for a whole month between trying to rein in popular rebels and going into rebellion themselves". "Right up to the eve of the encounter at Julianstown, the local Catholic nobility and most of the gentry still backed the government"</ref> but afterwards, when it was clear that the government in Dublin intended to punish all Catholics for the rebellion,<ref>Lenihan, p. 23, "Bellings, the future secretary of the Confederate Catholics, claimed the Lords Justice, in response to the rebellion, showed they wanted to drive the Old English into following the example of the Ulster insurgents by their offensively wide description of the insurgents as some "evil affected Irish Papists"</ref> participated in the attacks on Protestants and fought English troops sent to put down the rebellion. In areas where British settlers were concentrated, around [[Cork (city)|Cork]], [[Dublin]], [[Carrickfergus]] and [[Derry]], they raised their own militia in self-defence and managed to hold off the rebel forces. All sides displayed extreme cruelty in this phase of the war. Around 4,000 Protestants were massacred and a further 12,000 may have died of privation after being driven from their homes.<ref>Kenyon & Ohlmeyer, p. 278, '[[William Petty]]'s figure of 37,000 Protestants massacred... is far too high, perhaps by a factor of ten, certainly more recent research suggests that a much more realistic figure is roughly 4,000 deaths.'</ref><ref name=BBC-Lough-Kernan>Staff, [https://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/myths_legends/northern_ireland/ni_6/article_2.shtml Secrets of Lough Kernan] [[BBC]], Legacies UK history local to you,website of the BBC. Accessed 17 December 2007</ref> In one notorious incident, the Protestant inhabitants of [[Portadown Massacre|Portadown]] were taken captive and then massacred on the bridge in the town.<ref>Hull, Eleanor (1931). ''[http://www.libraryireland.com/HullHistory/Contents.php A History of Ireland]'', Chapter "[http://www.libraryireland.com/HullHistory/16412.php The Rebellion of 1641–42]" website of [http://www.libraryireland.com/about.php Library Ireland]</ref> The settlers responded in kind, as did the Government in Dublin, with attacks on the Irish civilian population. Massacres of Catholic civilians occurred at [[Rathlin Island]] and elsewhere.<ref name=TR-143>{{Citation| surname1 = Royle | given1 = Trevor| year = 2004 | title = Civil War: The Wars of the Three Kingdoms 1638–1660|page=143 | publisher = London: Abacus | isbn = 978-0-349-11564-1}}</ref> The rebels from Ulster defeated a government force at [[battle of Julianstown|Julianstown]], but failed to take nearby [[Drogheda]] and were scattered when they advanced on Dublin.

By early 1642, there were four main concentrations of rebel forces: in Ulster under [[Phelim O'Neill]], in the [[the Pale|Pale]] around Dublin led by Viscount Gormanstown, in the south-east, led by the Butler family – in particular Lord Mountgarret and in the south-west, led by [[Donagh MacCarthy, Viscount Muskerry]].