[Ireland] The Defenders were a Roman Catholic agrarian secret society in 18th-century Ireland, founded in County Armagh. Initially, they were formed as local defensive organisations opposed to the Protestant Peep o` Day Boys; however, by 1790 had become a secret oath-bound fraternal society made up of lodges. By 1796, the Defenders had alli... Found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenders_(Ireland)
Irish Catholic secret society that emerged in County Armagh in the mid-1780s in opposition to the Protestant Peep o'Day Boys. In 1795 a large Defender force drawn from several counties was... Found on http://www.encyclo.co.uk/local/20688