Protestant Ascendancy
The Protestant Ascendancy (Irish: An Chinsealacht Phrotastúnach; also known as the Ascendancy) was the sociopolitical and economic domination of Ireland between the 17th and early 20th centuries by a small Anglo-Irish ruling class, whose members consisted of aristocrats, landowners, barristers, politicians, clergymen, military officers and prominent professions, which were all by practice and law closed to Catholics and Presbyterians. They were either members of the Church of Ireland or the Church of England and wielded a disproportionate amount of social, cultural and political influence in Ireland.