The Irish Rebellion of 1641 begins as an attempted coup d'état by Irish Catholic gentry, but develops into inter-communal violence between native Irish and English and Scottish Protestant settlers, starting a conflict known as the Irish Confederate Wars.The rising is sparked by Catholic fears of an impending invasion of Ireland by anti-Catholic forces of the English Long Parliament and the Scottish Covenanters.

In turn, the rebels' association with the King of England, Scotland and Ireland, Charles I, helps to trigger the start of the English Civil War.

The Irish rebellion breaks out in October 1641 and is followed by several months of violent chaos in Ireland before the Irish Catholic upper classes and clergy form the Catholic Confederation in the summer of 1642.

The Confederation becomes a de facto government of most of Ireland, free from the control of the English State and loosely aligned with the Royalist side in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.

The subsequent war continues in Ireland until the 1650s, when Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army decisively defeats the Irish Catholics and Royalists and re-conquers the country.