after the irish rebellion of 1641, most of ireland came under the control of the irish catholic confederation. in early 1649, the confederates allied with the english royalists, who had been defeated by the parliamentarians in the english civil war. by may 1652, cromwell's parliamentarian army had defeated the confederate and royalist coalition in ireland and occupied the country, ending the irish confederate wars (or eleven years' war). however, guerrilla warfare continued for a further year. cromwell passed a series of penal laws against roman catholics (the vast majority of the population) and confiscated large amounts of their land.