The Trip That Keeps Growing

Introduction to Ireland

19 June 2024 Introduction to Ireland Blog

We will soon depart for our next adventure in “The Trip That Never Ends” – a two-week tour of the beautiful, lush green country of Ireland. We will be introduced to many of the historical facts that are contained below in this brief history of Ireland.

Ireland is a small island located on the most western part of Europe. It is distinctly two separate countries. The Republic of Ireland, with its capital of Dublin, lies in the southern 2/3 of the country and is mainly Catholic. It finally left the United Kingdom and became an independent country with the signing of the Republic of Ireland Act in 1948 and effective on Easter Monday 1949. Ireland is now part of the European Union. Northern Ireland and its capital Belfast are part of the United Kingdom and while the Anglican church still remains the dominate religion in the region, the Catholics in Northern Ireland are increasing and may soon out-number the other religions. For the last several centuries, religion has played a key role in the history of Ireland and is the main cause of the division of the land.

I am not going to try to go into all the ramifications of Brexit, because, quite frankly, there are still many issues that are yet to be fully resolved. Suffice it to say, it is still a very complicated and complex issue although the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland now seems to run smoothly.

Notwithstanding the earlier conquests by the Vikings and the Normans, more recent Irish history has been violent and tumultuous, as the Irish and the British fought over control of the country and its religion. In my opinion, religion has played a major role in just about every major conquest or war in the history of this world. While religion brings salvation, peace, hope and harmony to many of its practitioners, it has been the root cause of more destruction, death, and in some cases, the loss of culture and civilization than any other event. Now I’ll get off my soapbox.

The following is a rather brief synopsis of Ireland’s history. (For an even briefer outline, just skip to the end of this blog.) I have skipped over most of the history as it pertains to Northern Ireland, especially after the two parts of Ireland became separate entities. I will go into more of Northern Ireland and Belfast’s history in my Introduction to Northern Ireland and Belfast blog.

The first known civilization to leave its mark on Ireland were the Celts, known as Gaels, who invaded Ireland from Western Europe sometime between 600-150 BCE. Although the 150 little kingdoms established by the Celts in Ireland remained independent of each other, they all shared a common language (Gaelic) and a class of men educated in law who helped to establish a uniform, but archaic, social system among the kingdoms.

In the 5^th century AD, St. Patrick introduced Christianity to the country, but the system modelled after Roman Christianity with its bishops and dioceses, did not take hold in Ireland. In fact, unlike most other European countries who fell under the domination of the Roman Empire, Ireland was somehow isolated from the Romans. During the 6^th and 7^th century, Irish monasteries became the center of learning, and while the rest of Europe was in the Dark Ages, Ireland was enjoying its golden age. It was during this timeframe that the Book of Kells was written.

During the 8^th century, the Vikings from Scandinavia began invading Ireland. While other countries of Europe were able to respond to these invasions through a system of feudalism and the ability to exchange land for military service, the Gaelic civilization did not lend itself to the feudal system. They did finally manage to organize a resistance and in 1014 the Vikings were defeated by the Celts led by King Brian Boru at the Battle of Clontarf. Although the Celts had a king in Boru, he was more of a king in name only. Without the infrastructure of feudalism, he really had no real power, unlike the monarchies that were beginning in Europe. Although the Vikings were defeated, they left their mark by the founding of Ireland’s first cities – Dublin, Limerick, and Waterford.

In the 12^th century, the Irish faced a more daunting challenge, one that set the course of Ireland’s history from then to the present day. This challenge came from the Normans who brought with them a highly effective feudal monarchy. The Normans were founded in England by William I (William the Conqueror) after he invaded England in 1066 from Normandy France. In 1171, Henry II, acting on a letter from the pope that authorized him to become overlord of Ireland, in an attempt to bring the Irish church into more compliance with Roman standards, went to Ireland after a group of Anglo-Norman adventurers and barons had gained a stronghold in the southeast part of the country. When he landed in Ireland, he proclaimed his lordship over part of the country and appointed his son John as Lord of Ireland. However, England at that time had more pressing affairs – like the Hundred Years War (1338-1453) – than Ireland and therefore never really solidified its hold on the country. In effect, there were two parts of the country – Dublin and its surrounding area (referred to as the Pale) where England exercised authority and the land outside of Dublin that was controlled by the lawless natives (the Celts). This was the origin of the saying “Beyond the Pale,” which means outside the bounds of acceptable behavior.

By the 14^th century, the English colony in Ireland had reached its highest potential, while the Gaelic society was enjoying a resurgence. This came about mainly by the intermarriage of Anglo-Normans with the Gaelic people and their subsequent adoption of the Gaelic language and culture. In an attempt to reverse this integration of the two cultures, the English enacted the Statutes of Kilkenny, that among other provisions, forbade the marriage between Anglos and the Gaelic. While the Anglo-Normans did bring reform to the Irish church in keeping with the Roman standards and introduced English legal practices and civil administration, this only applied to the small area of the Pale that was controlled by the Anglo-Normans. One feature that did result from these reforms was the modelling of the Irish Parliament after the English one in the late 13^th century. But because Ireland tended to support the Yorks in England’s Wars of the Roses, England’s King Henry VII forced the Irish Parliament to adopt Poyning’s Law in 1494, which gave the English veto power over any legislation that would be proposed by the Irish Parliament. So, while the Norman Conquest brought a new rule for Ireland, it also brought rebellion and discontent.

In the 16^th century, the English monarchy made a more concerted effort to reconquer Ireland through military expeditions and the sending of English settlers over to establish colonies in Ireland. In the 1530s, Elizabeth I (Queen of Ireland from 1558-1603) severed ties with the church of Rome, thus complicating the reconquest of Ireland. She misjudged the faith of most of the Gaelic Irish and the Anglo-Irish people who refused to accept the transformation of their church into the Protestant Church of Ireland. Towards the end of Elizabeth I’s rule, the Gaelic chieftains of Ulster, under the leadership of Hugh O’Neill, began a resistance against the English rule. In defeating this resistance, the British forces devasted the Ulster countryside. King James of England (Elizabeth’s successor) was willing to allow the leaders to live out their lives on their ancestral lands as nobles, but not petty kings as they had been in Gaelic society. Unable to accept these conditions, the chieftains fled to the European continent in 1607. As a result, the king seized their land and sent British Protestant colonists to settle throughout central and west Ulster. (Note: Ulster today is part of Northern Ireland.)

When Charles I (James’ son) took control, he enacted several proclamations that increased taxes on Catholics, took their land, and denied them their rights as a citizen. This led to increased tension and resentment and in 1641, the Gaelic Irish in Ulster again rebelled against the British settlers in what is called the Irish Rebellion of 1641. (Note: This rebellion was also considered to be part of the Three Kingdoms War that England fought with Scotland and Ireland.) This rebellion was defeated by Oliver Cromwell’s invasion of Ireland in 1649, thus beginning a four-year campaign of re-conquest, retribution, and terror. Many Catholics were killed during this timeframe, and today Oliver Cromwell may well be the most hated man in the Republic of Ireland. As part of the Act of Settlement in 1652, Catholics were barred from membership in the Irish Parliament, the majority also lost all their land, and the Catholic priests were expelled from Ireland. Cromwell used most of the confiscated land to repay his soldiers and investors. As a result, Ireland came under the control of the British. This rebellion did, however, play a role in the downfall of King Charles I. The Puritan Party led by Oliver Cromwell, defeated Charles to end the Three Kingdoms War. Much of the unrest and division that was to become part of Ireland’s modern history can be tied directly to Cromwell’s conquest over Ireland and the English attempt to eradicate the Catholic religion.

In an attempt to get their land back, the Irish Catholics sided with the British Catholic King James II during England’s Glorious Revolution of 1668. When James was defeated by William III in 1690, the Irish Catholics again felt the wrath of England. The Penal Laws were passed that excluded the Catholics from property and power. However, the protestant victory did not give the Protestants the same rights as their counterparts in England, and British trade policies discriminated against Ireland (regardless of whether you were Protestant or Catholic). Therefore, a large number of Scottish Presbyterians emigrated to America. Finally, in 1782, a “Patriot” party backed by Protestant supporters convinced the British government to amend Poyning’s Law to give the Irish Parliament its legislative independence and the right to establish Ireland’s own tariff policy.

However even these 1782 reforms were not democratic enough to satisfy many of the Presbyterian merchants and farmers in the northern part of Ireland. They united with a Catholic group from the southern part of the country, and although a 1798 rebellion was quickly extinguished, it was enough to convince the British government to end Ireland’s separate political institutions. After much bribing, the members of the Irish Parliament voted to pass the Act of Union (1800) which abolished the Irish Parliament and gave control over Ireland to the British Kingdom with a single Parliament, in England, governing the British Isles. Catholics, who had finally won the right to vote in 1793, were led to believe that this united Parliament would give them the right to hold a parliamentary seat. However, that right did not happen until 1829, when Daniel O’Connell (perhaps Ireland’s most important revolutionary) led a revolt for Catholic Emancipation.

The great potato famine came to Ireland in 1845 by way of a potato blight inadvertently brought over from North America to Europe. At the time people thought it was just an isolated event, but the potato cropped failed for the next four years. By the time it ended over 1.5 million Irish were dead and another 1 million had emigrated to North America and Europe. During this time, the potato was perhaps the most important food item for the Irish masses as it was the only food many could afford. And unfortunately for the Irish, the British were unresponsive to their plight. Although England had sufficient resources, such as cattle and grains, rather than give them to Ireland, they sold them on the international market. This betrayal by the English (as many Irish saw it) was perhaps the straw that broke the camel’s back. The period following the famine until 1922 was filled with rebellions and declarations of independence for Ireland.

One good thing that did result from the famine was the close friendship between the Irish and the Native American Choctaw Nation. Despite their own poverty, the Choctaw Nation gave a donation of $170 (in today’s world that would amount to $5,000) to the Irish and began a lasting bond that continues today. 16 years later, the Choctaw Indians were forcibly removed from their lands by President Andrew Jackson and marched to Oklahoma in what is called today “The Trail of Tears.” Over 4,000 Indians died from famine, cold or disease in this event.

The town of Middleton in County Cork has a sculpture, called the Kindred Spirits Monument, to honor this gift. It consists of a series of giant metal feathers arranged in a circle to symbolize the shape of an empty bowl. And in 1990, several Choctaw leaders participated in the first annual Famine Walk in County Mayo. In 1992, a group of Irish men and women walked the 600 miles of the Trail of Tears, raising $170,000 for famine relief in Somalia. The Irish Prime Minister in 2018, while visiting the Choctaw Nation, announced that a scholarship program had been established that will allow Choctaw students to study in Ireland. And in 2020, the Irish people raised more than $1 million dollars to help the Navajo Indians during COVID.

For those old enough to remember the counting song “This Old Man” (complete song below this explanation), this song is believed to have had its roots in the potato famine. When many Irish fled to England during the famine, many became beggars just to exist. They were known as “Paddies” as they would go door to door selling knick-knacks and also playing a rhythm of “nick nack” using spoons, hoping to receive some pennies. As the story goes, the English who answered the door would give these “beggars” a “whack”, but give the dogs who accompanied them a bone, before sending the beggars on their way.

This old man he played one

He played nick nack on my drum

With a nick nack paddy whack

Give a dog a bone