The Kingdom of Ireland (Early Modern Irish: an Ríoghacht Éireann; Modern Irish: an Ríocht Éireann, pronounced [ənˠ ˌɾˠiːxt̪ˠ ˈeːɾʲən̪ˠ]) was a monarchy on the island of Ireland that was a client state of England and then of Great Britain. It existed from 1542 until 1800. It was ruled by the monarchs of England and then of Great Britain, and was administered from Dublin Castle by a viceroy appointed by the English king: the Lord Deputy of Ireland. Aside from brief periods, the state was dominated by the Protestant English (or Anglo-Irish) minority. The Protestant Church of Ireland was the state church. The Parliament of Ireland was composed of Anglo-Irish nobles. From 1661, the administration controlled an Irish army. Although styled a kingdom, for most of its history it was, de facto, an English dependency. This status was enshrined in Poynings' Law and in the Declaratory Act of 1719. The territory of the kingdom comprised that of the former Lordship of Ireland, founded in 1177 by King Henry II of England after the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. By the 16th century, the effective area of English rule had shrunk greatly; most of Ireland was held by Gaelic nobles as principalities and chiefdoms. By the terms of the Crown of Ireland Act 1542, Henry VIII of England became "King of Ireland". There followed an expansion of English control during the Tudor conquest. This sparked the Desmond Rebellions and the Nine Years' War. The conquest of the island was completed early in the 17th century. It involved the confiscation of land from the native Irish Catholics and its colonisation by Protestant settlers from Britain. Catholic countries at the time did not recognise Protestant monarchs as kings of Ireland. For most of the kingdom's history, the Irish Catholic majority suffered official discrimination: under the penal laws, Catholicism was suppressed and Catholics were barred from government, parliament, the military, and most public offices. This was one of the main drivers behind the Irish Confederate Wars (1641–53), during which the Irish Catholic Confederates controlled most of Ireland. After the Cromwellian conquest, Ireland suffered harsh conditions under The Protectorate (1653–59). The brief reign of Catholic king James II (1685–89) led to the Williamite War (1689–91). The Williamite victory strengthened the Protestant Ascendancy, and the kingdom had only Protestant monarchs thereafter. In the 1780s, the parliament gained some independence, and some anti-Catholic laws were lifted. This sparked sectarian conflict in County Armagh. Following the failed republican Irish Rebellion of 1798, the parliament of Ireland and parliament of Great Britain passed the Acts of Union 1800. This created, on 1 January 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Source: Wikipedia (en)