King Charles I of England (1600-1649) was way too ambitious in proving his belief in the divine right of kings. More specifically, of course, the divine right of himself. After he dissolved parliament, the atmosphere was ripe for a rebellion by the nobility. In 1628, when Oliver Cromwell become a member of Parliament, his rousing speeches to the already-disgruntled gathering heated their blood and their tempers. When civil war broke out in 1642, Cromwell proved himself to be an even more remarkable soldier than orator, and he led the cavalry against King Charles. Charles fled to Scotland, forgetting how little love the Scots had for him -- bad move for the king! They trussed him up like a cooked goose and sent him back home to his fate. On January 30, 1649, Parliament relieved Charles I of his crown by removing it right down to his royal neck.

Now, how did all of this affect Ireland? Well, the Irish had allied themselves loosely with Charles I, hoping he would be gentle with them because of his Catholic wife -- bad move for Ireland! In the process, they managed to make a formidable enemy in Cromwell, who was not only a Roundhead (strict Protestant) but also a papist-hater. After Cromwell became "Lord Protector of the New English Commonwealth," he made Ireland pay a terrible price. In 1649, Cromwell and 17,000 of the most able-bodied, well-trained, and well-equipped troops on the planet invaded Ireland. He mercilessly slaughtering thousands of men, women, and children in the fortified town of Drogheda, including such acts as barring a group of townspeople into a church and then burning the church to the ground. Who did this guy think he was? Vlad the Impaler? Cromwell's troops then marched across the island, burning, destroying, and conquering as they went. Priests were wanted -- dead or alive, preferably dead.

By the time Cromwell had beaten the island into submission, a third of the Irish Catholics were dead. In the years that followed, Irish landowners were forced off their fertile land and relocated to the barren lands of Connacht. The common Irish phrase "To Hell or Connacht" illustrates how little difference the Irish saw between the two. This particular flavor of English persecution continued until Cromwell's death in 1658. By then, the English realized that a despot such as Cromwell was no better than a king. In 1660, Charles II, son of Charles I, was placed on the throne, signaling the beginning of the "Restoration Period." Charles II restored the land of a third of the Irish landowners and stopped the deliberate persecution of Catholics and their priests, but even so, life for the Irish was only marginally better.