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The history of the island of Ireland is both complex and connected to the wider world: it was the first place in the British and Irish archipelago to be settled by Christian monks, and has suffered Viking invasion, Norman colonization, British decimation, mass migration to the New World, civil war and eventually independence for Éire in the early 20th century. Despite its often troubled past, Ireland is today a dynamic island with a blossoming economy and culture. Discover the remains of the country's many Iron Age hill forts, such as the atmospheric stone fort at Grianán Aileach; explore the first Christian colonies in the monastic settlement at Glendalough in County Wicklow; read of the legend of St Patrick, and stood atop a hillside and banished snakes from Ireland - prompting all serpents to slither away into the sea; discover the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript of the Celtic Gospel written in the 9th century; learn about the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century, where English and Scottish settlers established Protestant communities, causing lasting communal strife; understand the Easter Rising and the traumatic war for independence, which led to Ireland's current political shape; and experience modern Ireland, a place of prosperity, with thriving cities like Dublin and Belfast alongside beautiful countryside. Arranged chronologically from ancient times to the 21st century, History of Ireland provides a pictorial exploration of a land that is well-known but often little understood.
Contents
Contents
Introduction While the English and British connection will always remain key to any reading of Irish history, an array of other powers, including Spain, France, the papacy and the United States, have left their mark on the nation.
Pre-history and Ancient Iron Age - During the fifth century that the main over-kingdoms of In Tuisceart, Airgialla, Ulaid, Mide, Laigin, Mumhain, Cóiced Ol nEchmacht began to emerge. Within these kingdoms, a rich culture flourished. The society of these kingdoms was dominated by an upper class consisting of aristocratic warriors, scholars and Druids. The Irish were in the habit of plundering the long western seaboard of Roman Britain in search of booty - and the first Christians in Ireland, therefore, were most likely Britons carried across the sea as slaves.
The Coming of the Gospel The spread of Christianity in fifth-century Ireland is inextricably linked in the public mind with the iconic figure of Saint Patrick: miracle-working missionary, canny politician and snake-banishing national saint. In Ireland a large circular enclosure, a cashel, rath or ring fort, had provided the characteristic form for any settlement from the Bronze Age onwards. The Celtic church simply took over this form for its own use. An important monastery might include several individual churches and crosses. The development of Christianity was fundamental to the evolution of an Irish cultural identity, led to the creation of such glories of early Irish art as the Book of Kells and the Ardagh Chalice, and helped to maintain the flame of learning and education in Europe during the chaotic centuries that followed the fall of Rome.
Medieval Era: Viking Raiders and Norman Colonization The first recorded Viking raids on Ireland took place in 795 AD, when islands off the north and west coasts were plundered. Later, Viking fleets appeared on the major river systems and fortified bases for more extensive raiding are mentioned from about 840 AD. Monasteries were one of the main targets of Viking raiders because they were likely to contain valuable loot and most importantly, people to be sold as slaves. Plantagenets arrive: In the summer of 1167, a small band of Anglo-Norman adventurers sailed from Pembrokeshire and landed on the County Wexford coast. Within two years, the Norse ports of Wexford, Waterford and Dublin had fallen; and the Gaelic Irish were mustering against these potent newcomers on the Irish political scene. It was a seismic moment in Irish history, marking the establishment of the Lordship of Ireland: in effect, the first English colony.
Early Modern Era: Plantation of Ulster In the spring of 1606, a wave of Scots settlers - farmers, craftsmen, artisans - crossed the narrow waters of the North Channel and came ashore at the port of Donaghadee in County Down. This was the beginning of the Plantation of Ulster: a systematic British and Protestant settlement of the northern half of Ireland. With the defeat of a Spanish expeditionary force at Kinsale in County Cork at Christmas 1601 came the definitive victory of English military power in Ireland - a fact emphasised by the 'Flight of the Earls' in 1607, when a large proportion of Ulster's Gaelic aristocracy fled Ireland for the continent. The sack of Drogheda - In August 1649, Oliver Cromwell and his New Model Army landed at Dublin. The Civil War in England had come to an end with the execution of Charles I, and Cromwell was eager now to settle affairs in Ireland, where anarchy reigned and the royalist faction retained significant support. Battle of the Boyne - The battle of the Boyne was fought on 1 July 1690, between forces of the deposed and exiled Catholic king, James VII of Scotland and II of England, and the Dutch Protestant new king, William II of Scotland and III of England (William of Orange). Battle of Aughrim - The Battle of Aughrim was fought on the flat landscapes of County Galway in July 1691. It epitomised the final defeat of Catholic Ireland, and the beginning of an uncontested Protestant ascendancy in Ireland.
Famine and Emigration In September 1845, as the first potatoes were being lifted in fields across Ireland, word began to spread of a disease affecting the new crop. The potatoes were coming out of the ground rotten and putrid. Blight was spreading across the countryside. The famine would continue until 1849 - and its effects upon Irish society were cataclysmic. Of a pre-famine population of some eight million, over a million died of hunger and famine-related diseases. In the century between the Napoleonic Wars and the Irish Civil War, more than seven million Irish men and women left their homeland to begin new lives abroad. While the majority settled in the United States, Irish emigrants dispersed across the globe, many of them finding their way to another 'New World', Australia.
Independence Movements and Civil War Wolfe Tone stands as one of Ireland's most compelling and charismatic national leaders. Born in Dublin in 1763, his political vision was sharpened as he watched revolutionary events unfold first in America and then France. He dreamt of a radical, non-sectarian Irish republic - and his 1791 pamphlet An Argument on Behalf of the Catholics of Ireland was envisaged as a necessary first step, calling as it did for the emancipation of Ireland's disenfranchised Catholic majority. By the 1830s, a new leader had emerged onto the national stage. Daniel O'Connell was as Catholic as Wolfe Tone had been atheist. His vision was of an Ireland in which Catholicism and national identity were folded into one; and he understood the importance of enlisting the mass of the population as a means of achieving his vision of the repeal of the Act of Union. Easter Rising: Organised by a seven-man Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Rising began on Easter Monday, 24 April 1916 and lasted for six days. Civil War (1922-23): The conflict was waged between two opposing groups of Irish nationalists: the forces of the new Free State, who supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty under which the state was established, and the Republican opposition, for whom the Treaty represented a betrayal of the Irish Republic.
Modern Ireland Troubles in Northern Ireland - Bloody Sunday: On 30 January 1972, a civil rights march was winding slowly from the western suburbs of Derry towards the Guildhall Square in the city centre. Such marches were commonplace: since 1968, Northern Ireland had become accustomed to the sight of public demonstrations demanding equal rights for the province's Catholic minority; and an end to Unionist-majority rule. On this day, however, the march ended in tragedy as British soldiers opened fire on the crowd. Soon, 13 men lay dead; a 14th died later of his injuries. Good Friday Agreement - In April 1998, the Belfast or 'Good Friday' Agreement was signed, setting out a framework for future political progress in Northern Ireland. The key to progress had been the internationalization of the discussions - and in particular the close involvement of the Bill Clinton White House in the protracted negotiations. Peace dividend: Ireland's economy became more diverse and sophisticated than ever before; integrating itself into the global economy by joining the European Economic Community (EEC), a precursor to the European Community (EC) and the European Union (EU), at the same time as the United Kingdom.
