 The Irish Confederacy’s taking of Limerick was made far easier than subsequent attempts by the fact that they had the support of most of the city’s population.About 600 English Protestant settlers had fled to the city to escape the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and had fortified themselves in King John's Castle in the centre of Limerick.The city was predominantly Catholic and appealed to the new Confederate Catholic government at Kilkenny to capture this Protestant citadel.