Editing Kingdom of Ireland (section)

==Church of Ireland==
[[File:Blazon Trinity College Dublin.svg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|[[Trinity College Dublin]] was founded by the Elizabethans to serve as the organ of the Anglican intelligentsia.]]

{{main|Reformation in Ireland}}

When Henry VIII was excommunicated by the [[Catholic Church]] in 1538, all but two of the bishops in the island of Ireland followed the doctrine of the [[Church of England]],{{sfn|Mant|1840|p=275}} although almost no clergy or laity did so. Having paid their ''[[Annates]]'' to the [[Papacy]], the bishops had no reason to step down, and in the 1530s nobody knew how long the reformation would last. Unlike Henry VIII, this hierarchy was not excommunicated by the Papacy. They retained control of what became the [[State Church]] of the new Kingdom in 1542. As the [[established church]], it retained possession of most Church property (including a great repository of religious architecture and other items, though some were later destroyed). In 1553, Irish Catholics were heartened by the coronation of [[Mary I of England|Queen Mary I]]. In 1555, she persuaded the Pope to recognise the Kingdom in the [[papal bull]] "Ilius".

In 1558, a Protestant – [[Elizabeth I]] – ascended the throne. With the exception of [[James II of England]], all the following monarchs adhered to [[Anglicanism]]. Contrary to the official plan, the substantial majority of the population remained strongly Roman Catholic, despite the political and economic advantages of membership of the state church. Despite its numerical minority, however, the [[Church of Ireland]] remained the official state church until it was [[disestablishment|disestablished]] on 1 January 1871 by the Liberal government under [[William Ewart Gladstone]].