High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Protestant Ascendancy, usually known in Ireland simply as the Ascendancy, is a phrase used when referring to the political, economic, and social domination of Ireland by a minority of great landowners, Protestant clergy, and professionals, all members of the Established Church (the Church of Ireland and Church of England, both being the State Churches) during the 17th through 19th centuries and, in a portion of the island, into the 20th century. The sense of Ascendancy is seen as excluding primarily Roman Catholics, as they have comprised the majority of the Irish population island-wide, but this can be misleading, as members of the Presbyterians and other Protestant denominations, along with non-Christians, were also excluded politically and socially. Even the majority of 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...