In the Early 17th century, the Dublin administration - initially under Chichester but then even under subsequent Lord Deputies - they do begin to become tougher on the public practice of Catholicism. And particularly in the reign of James I, prosecution of Catholics, particularly prominent Catholics, becomes more frequent - the idea being that you would make an example of some of the leaders of the Catholic community, and if they are prosecuted, then they might conform and then their subordinates or their followers would also conform.

So, in general, rather than specifically in Ulster, in general there was more prosecution against Catholicism in the reign of James I. Ironically, in the reign of Charles, particularly when Thomas Wentworth becomes Lord Deputy in 1633, Wentworth’s concern is with the state of the Church of Ireland, so he is specifically concerned to rid the Church of Ireland of any Presbyterian or low church elements, and that’s why he focuses on the Presbyterians in the church in the north of Ireland. So, he puts all his energy into reforming the Church of Ireland, and while he’s doing that, he’s fairly relaxed about the status of the Catholic church in Ireland.

So the Catholic church in the 1630s actually strengthens its infrastructure. So you do get, in the 1630s, more and more resident bishops in the Catholic church in Ireland, they even begin to have resident priests in almost every parish: which means that by 1641 the Catholic church is really a national network, it has bishops in every diocese and priests in every part of the island. There is no massive prosecution of Catholics at any time in the Early 17th century: there is a discouragement of it, there’s a discouragement of the public practice of Catholicism: but if you kept your head down, if the priests said their services in local houses and it was all done at a low-key level, then broadly speaking the government turned a blind eye on it.