The territory of the kingdom had formerly been a lordship ruled by the kings of England, founded in 1177 by King Henry II after the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. By the 16th century, the area of English rule had shrunk greatly, and most of Ireland was held by Gaelic Irish chiefdoms. In 1542, King Henry VIII of England was made King of Ireland. The English began establishing control over the island, which sparked the Desmond Rebellions and the Nine Years' War. It was completed in the 17th century. The conquest involved confiscating land from the native Irish and colonising it with settlers from Britain.