In the Middle Ages, the Ards peninsula was inhabited by the Uí Echach Arda, a Gaelic Irish clan, and was part of the kingdom of Ulaid. In the late 12th century it was invaded and conquered by the Anglo-Normans under John de Courcy, becoming a county of the Earldom of Ulster. The Earldom collapsed in the 14th century, but the Hiberno-Norman Savage family controlled the southern portion of the peninsula (the 'Upper Ards' or 'Little Ards') over the following three centuries, while the northern portion (the 'Lower Ards' or 'Great Ards') became part of the Gaelic territory of Clannaboy. There was a failed attempt by the English to colonize the Ards in the 1570s. In the early 17th century, the Lower Ards was acquired by James Hamilton and Hugh Montgomery, who settled Scottish Protestants there as part of the Plantation of Ulster.