Page 210 - Demo

210 Stephen Dunford: The Journey of The IrIsh
The Flight of the Earls, or, in other words, the vacuous departure of the Irish chieftains O’Neill, O’Donnell, and Maguire, from Lough Swilly, in September 1607, was held by the English Government to be tantamount to the renunciation of their allegiance. As a result, their vast estates and that of Cahir O’Doherty, Chief of the territory of Innishowen, who rushed to arms to avenge an insult offered him by the Governor of Derry, were declared forfeited to the Crown.
These lands, along with some others, also declared forfeited, embraced the following six counties: Tyrone, Armagh, Derry, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Cavan-Down and Antrim were already in the hands of both Scotch and English-chiefly confiscated after Shane O Neill was overthrown-while Monaghan was to be seized later.
The total area confiscated was 2,836, 837 Irish acres, which included 511, 465 acres described as being Fertile Land-the remainder, about four-fifths of the escheated territory was therefore referred to as “Barren Land.” In any case, the Government now proposed to plant this extensive area.
The Viceroy, Sir Arthur Chichester, assisted by Sir John Davies, Attorney General, and Sir William Parsons, Surveyor-General, had charge of the scheme to Plant Ulster, and in May 1609 they issued their scheme of plantation. The confiscated land was divided into lots of 2,000, 1,500, and 1,000 acres each, to be granted at reserved quit rents of 1 and a quarter pennies, two pence, and two and a quarter pence per acre. The grantees were to be composed of three classes:
1. English and Scottish colonists, or ‘Undertakers,’ were invited to take the largest lots. They were required to be “civil men well affected in religion” and were forbid- den to take Irish tenants or labourers-a practice they later found impossible to adhere to. They also ‘undertook’, hence the name, to build strong castles or bawns and to keep a number of armed retainers for use against the Irish, if need should arise.
2. The 1,500 acre plots went to the King’s servitors in Ireland, that is, those who had held civil or military positions in the country. Unlike the colonists, the Servitors were permitted to take Irish tenants, but, if they did, they would then be forced to pay a much higher rent. There were obvious exceptions to the Servitor’s class, favourites, such as the Viceroy, Sir Arthur Chichester, amongst others, who was handsomely
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