The English crown is too poor to govern Ireland directly, so it governs through the greatest of the Geraldines instead. For sixty years the Earls of Kildare are kings in all but name, holding Gaelic and English Ireland in balance against each other. Then Silken Thomas rebels in 1534. After that the Tudors decide to govern Ireland themselves.
Henry VIII takes the royal title, replacing the medieval papal lordship.
Quick answersWhen was the Kildare Ascendancy in Ireland?
The Kildare Ascendancy spans 1470 to 1541 in this atlas. The English crown is too poor to govern Ireland directly, so it governs through the greatest of the Geraldines instead.
Who ruled Ireland during the Kildare Ascendancy?
Power was divided: The English Pale (5 counties); Earldom of Desmond (FitzGerald) (4 counties); O'Neill of Tír Eoghain (3 counties); Clandeboye O'Neills & MacDonnells (2 counties); O'Connor lordships (2 counties), among others. County boundaries are modern approximations.
What is a lesser-known fact about the Kildare Ascendancy?
In 1487 Ireland crowned a King of England. The Dublin establishment crowned the ten-year-old pretender Lambert Simnel as 'Edward VI' in Christ Church Cathedral and invaded England on his behalf. After the defeat, Henry VII pardoned the boy — and set him to work in the royal kitchens.
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