At the time of James I's accession, the state of the Irish Reformed Church, never since Henry VIII's day satisfactory, was, owing to the wars and unrest of the last years of Elizabeth's reign, more unsatisfactory than ever. The King was most anxious to establish order and uniformity, and to correct abuses. Several times he appointed Royal Commissions, to investigate and suggest remedies for the neglect and corruption which nearly everywhere prevailed, but the Commissions could do little beyond making known the ... Read More

The Clause in the various submissions by which the chiefs agree to hold their lands from the King under certain feudal conditions should be noted; they furnish, in some sort, the key to the whole situation. We have seen {Book I) that, according to the old Irish system the land of a clan was considered as fundamentally belonging, in its several portions, to the family groups, which, taken together, constituted the State. The chief's mensal land was ultimately the property of the State ... Read More