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The Protestant Ascendancy, usually known simply as the Ascendancy, was the political, economic and social domination of Ireland by a minority of landowners, Protestant clergy and members of the professions, all members of the Established Church (the Church of Ireland and Church of England) between the 17th century and the early 20th century. The Ascendancy excluded other groups from politics and high society – widely seen as primarily Roman Catholics, but also members of the Presbyterian and other Protestant denominations, along with non-Christians such as Jews. Until the Reform Acts even the majority of Irish Protestants were effectively excluded from the Ascendancy, being too poor to vote. In general, the privileges of the Ascendancy were resented by Irish Catholics, who made up the majority of the population. The gradual dispossession of large holdings belonging to several hundred native Roman Catholic landowners in Ireland took place in various stages from the reigns of the Roman Catholic Queen Mary and her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth I onwards. Unsuccessful revolts against English rule in 1595–1603 and 1641–53 and then the 1689–91 Williamite Wars caused much Irish land to be confiscated by the Crown, and then sold to people who were thought loyal, most of whom were English and Protestant. English soldiers and traders became the new ruling class, as its richer members were elevated to the Irish House of Lords and eventually controlled the Irish House of Commons (see Plantations of Ireland). This class became collectively known as the Anglo-Irish. From the 1790s the phrase became used by the main two identities in Ireland: nationalists, who were mostly Catholics, used the phrase as a "focus of resentment", while for unionists, who were mostly Protestants, it gave a "compensating image of lost greatness". ==Origin of term== The phrase was first used in passing by Sir Boyle Roche in a speech to the Irish House of Commons on 20 February 1782. George Ogle MP used it on 6 February 1786 in a debate on falling land values: Then on 20 January 1792 Dublin Corporation approved by majority vote a resolution to George III that included: The Corporation's resolution was a part of the debate over Catholic emancipation. In the event, Catholics were allowed to vote again in 1793, but could not sit in parliament until 1829. The phrase therefore was seen to apply across classes to rural landowners as well as city merchants. The Dublin resolution was disapproved of by a wide range of commentators, such as the Marquess of Abercorn, who called it "silly", and William Drennan who said it was "actuated by the most monopolising spirit". The phrase became popularised outside Ireland by Edmund Burke, another liberal Protestant, and his ironic comment in 1792 was then used by Catholics seeking further political reforms: 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Protestant Ascendancy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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