James VI and I

Elizabeth I never had children, and when she died in 1603 the English throne needed a new occupant with a strong enough claim. That turned out to be her Scottish cousin, who was crowned King James I of England while remaining King of Scotland in his own right, joining the two crowns under one ruler for the first time even though the countries themselves stayed separate.

Religion in Ireland had already been a source of conflict under Elizabeth, and James continued the approach of confiscating land from Catholic landholders and handing it to Protestant settlers instead. Building on plantations already under way in the north, he pushed the same settlement policy into several further regions of Ireland, moving more English and Scottish Protestant families onto land that had belonged to Catholic families. The pattern of settlement he extended reshaped the religious and political map of Ireland in ways that lasted for generations, feeding resentment that would resurface again and again in Irish history long after his own reign had ended.