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 5th 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 6th
and 7th 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 8th 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 12th 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 14th 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 13th 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 16th 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
This
old man came rolling home
This
old man he played two
He
played nick nack on my shoe
With a
nick nack paddy whack
Give a
dog a bone
This
old man came rolling home
This
old man he played three
He
played nick nack on my tree
With a
nick nack paddy whack
Give a
dog a bone
This
old man came rolling home
This
old man he played four
He
played nick nack on my door
With a
nick nack paddy whack
Give a
dog a bone
This
old man came rolling home
This
old man he played five
He
played nick nack on my hive
With a
nick nack paddy whack
Give a
dog a bone
This
old man came rolling home
This
old man he played six
He
played nick nack on my stick
With a
nick nack paddy whack
Give a
dog a bone
This
old man came rolling home
This
old man he played seven
He
played nick nack on my deven
With a
nick nack paddy whack
Give a
dog a bone
This
old man came rolling home
This
old man he played eight
He
played nick nack on my gate
With a
nick nack paddy whack
Give a
dog a bone
This
old man came rolling home
This
old man he played nine
He
played nick nack on my vine
With a
nick nack paddy whack
Give a
dog a bone
This
old man came rolling home
This
old man he played ten
He
played nick nack on my hen
With a
nick nack paddy whack
Give a
dog a bone
This
old man came rolling home
After the famine, a movement to gain Home Rule took
hold. This was a backlash to the Acts of
Union 1800 and a desire for self-government for Ireland within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
This became the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from
1879 to the end of WWI. An Irish
nationalist party (read that as Catholics) was established to demand home rule with
a separate Irish parliament within the United Kingdom along with land
reforms. As a result, nearly every
parliamentary seat having a Catholic majority was won by this party, giving its
leader, Charles Stewart Parnell, a powerful leverage in British politics. In 1910-14, the Irish nationalist party won
the enactment of a Home Rule Bill, but it also gave rise to the Ulster
Covenant, which gave the northern Protestants the power to resist the home rule
by force. Quasi military forces were
organized on both sides, but WWI intervened, and the Home Rule issue was
suspended until the end of the war.
During Easter 1916, frustration over the continued
postponement of home rule led to the Easter Rising in Dublin. On 24 April, Patrick Pearce, one of the Irish
Republican (Catholic) leaders, issued a Proclamation of the Republic on the
steps of the Dublin General Post Office. Led by Irish republican leader James Connolly,
this rebellion was subsequently a failure with 15 of its leaders (including
Connolly and Pearce) executed, but it succeeded in bringing in a whole new
generation of leaders and sparking a new drive for Irish independence.
After WWI, the Sinn Fein party (again Catholic) won all but
six of the Catholic seats in Parliament, but instead of going to the English
Parliament, they set up a revolutionary parliament, Dail Eireann, in
Dublin. From 1919-1921, guerrilla
warfare (Anglo-Irish War or the War of Independence) waged between the Catholic
Irish Republican Army (IRA) and British forces.
The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, granted the Irish Free Republic dominion
status within the British Commonwealth (just like Canada at the time), while
giving Northern Ireland the right to opt out – which they did. The King of England still functioned as
the King of Ireland however.
Over the next 22 years, the Irish Free State would undergo
three name changes as it moved closer to attaining its goal of a free
Republic. In 1937, a new constitution by
Éamon de Valera, one of the Easter Uprising leaders who escaped execution, was
adopted, calling the new state Eire, a republic in name only as it was still
part of the British Commonwealth. . The
King of England was still the executive authority in Ireland. During WWII, Ireland remained neutral.
Finally, in 1948, the Free State of Ireland won its complete
independence from the British Commonwealth with the Republic of Ireland
Act. Éamon De Valera. perhaps the most
famous Irish politician of this era, became the third president (1959-1973) of
this new country – the Republic of Ireland.
While the attention of the country has turned toward greater economic
development and self-sufficiency, there still remains the conflict with
Northern Ireland and Ireland’s relationship with Great Britain over the Brexit
issue. While conflict with Northern
Ireland has diminished over the years and the two sides have remained
relatively peaceful, there is still no guarantee. We hope to learn more about these issues when
we visit both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, especially Belfast.
Although Ireland is a small country, it has produced an
amazing number of famous writers and poets – Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, James
Joyce, Sean O’Casey, George Bernard Shaw, C.S. Lewis, Samuel Becket, and Bram
Stoker to name a few. These writers have
been a major influence in the English-language literature. Many were born or lived or studied in Dublin,
which we will learn more about when we visit the city. Who hasn’t seen “My Fair Lady” based on
Shaw’s “Pygmalion” or plowed through the 700+ pages of Ulysses by James Joyce,
or read Stocker’s Dracula. In addition
to literature, Ireland (and mainly Dublin) was where Bono and his rock group U2
got their start.
With all its history and beautiful sites, there is one more
reason to like Ireland – IT HAS NO SNAKES!!
So, it is right up there with New Zealand and Iceland as one of my
favorite places. While legend says it
was St. Patrick who drove all the snakes into the sea when they began attacking
him during a 40-day fast he was doing on the top of a hill in the 5th
century, he actually had nothing to do with the fact that there are no snakes
in Ireland. A review of all the vast
collections of fossils and other records of Irish animals show no indication
that there ever where reptiles in Ireland.
The most scientific answer is it had everything to do with the recent
ice age when the temperatures in Ireland were just too cold for snakes. After the ice age ended, the seas surrounding
Ireland kept any from swimming to the island and setting up home there. As Mark Ryan, director of the Louisiana
Poison Center at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, said: "There are no snakes in Ireland for the
simple reason they couldn't get there because the climate wasn't favorable for
them to be there.”
So how did the legend of St. Patrick ridding all the snakes
in Ireland come to be. Most believe that
it was an allegorical tale created to help St. Patrick as he worked to
Christianize the pagan population of Ireland during the 4-5th
centuries. Snakes have been a symbol of
evil in Christianity – remember it was the snake that caused the downfall of
Adam and Eve. So by ridding the snakes,
St. Patrick was showing the pagans how good Christianity was. Well, whatever the reason, I am glad that I
don’t have to worry about stepping on one during our many hikes in Ireland!
During my research on the sites we will be seeing, I came
across some interesting, but somewhat obscure, facts about Ireland. Did you know that there are over 30,000
Castles and ruins. While we will not
visit them all, we will hopefully see the Blarney Castle (famous for its
Blarney Stone), Dublin Castle, and Donegal Castle. We will
also see ruins of several castles on our journey with many of these ruins
showing up in the TV show Game of Thrones.
 |
Guinness Label with
Gaelic Harp |
While many think that the shamrock is the national symbol of
Ireland, Ireland has the distinction of being the only nation with a musical
instrument as its national icon – the harp.
Today the harp is known as a Celtic harp, a Gaelic harp, or a
“cláirseach,” as harpists enjoyed a privileged status in the Celtic culture as
far back as 1000 years.
You can find the
harp symbol on many items, including Guinness Beer labels, Ryan airplanes, and
Ireland’s passports.
And even our Halloween holiday has some of its roots in
Ireland. It all started with Samhain, an
ancient Celtic pagen festival, where people built bonfires and dressed in
costumes to celebrate the harvest season and to keep from being captured by
ghosts or spirits. Eventually this
festival was combined with the religious All Saints Day and our Halloween was born.
And talk about a shrewd business man. In 1959 Arthur Guiness signed a lease on a
run-down brewery in Dublin. The lease
for brewery was 45 pounds/month for a period of 9,000 years! Now that is a bargain.
Our journey through Ireland will take us from Dublin to
Belfast and then across the Northern coast of Ireland and the Giant Causeway
and finally down the east coast and the Cliffs of Moher before ending in
Shannon. Along the way we will learn
more about Irish/Gaelic culture, its people and their culture, customs and
language, listen to many fascinating legends (I think Ireland was built on
legends) and wonderful Irish music, view their amazing scenery, learn about
their somewhat violent history, dodge lots of raindrops, and enjoy delicious
Irish food and beer (or in my case wine) at many of the local pubs. So, come with us as we don our green, get out
our clogging shoes and raincoats, and begin our journey to the Emerald Isle.
Because Ireland is known not only for its scenery, music and
beer, but also for its collection of sayings and blessings, I will try and
include a different one at the end of each blog. Enjoy and may the luck of the Irish be with
you!
Map of our Tour
Counties of Ireland
Short History of
Ireland
500 BCE Celtic
Invasion of Ireland
795 AD Vikings
Invade and Conquer Celts
1171 English
(Anglo-Normans) conquer the Vikings beginning 7 centuries of English domination
1690 Catholics gain
dominance over the Protestants after the Catholic English King James II was
defeated by William II. Penal Laws
against Catholics enacted
1800 Acts of Union 1800
officially made Ireland a part of the United Kingdom
1845-49 Great Potato Famine –
over 1.5 million died and 1 million emigrated
1914 Home Rule for
Ireland enacted but suspended during WWI
1916 Easter Rising –
sparked a new drive for Irish independence
1919 Irish Republic
declares independence from England and Irish War of Independence begins
1921 Government of
Ireland Act – partitioned Ireland –Irish Free Republic with a “de facto”
government granted status as dominion state under English Rule. Northern Ireland opted out and remained part
of the United Kingdom
1937 A new constitution
written renaming the Irish Free State to Eire, a republic in name only, as it
was still ruled by England
1949 The Republic of
Ireland became a free and independent nation with the enactment of the Republic
of Ireland Act
1969-1999 “The Troubles” – civil
conflict and riots in Northern Ireland.
As a result of the Good Friday Agreement of 1999, the Republic of
Ireland gave up all constitutional rights to Northern Ireland and the United
Kingdom yielded their direct rule of Northern Ireland
1973 The Republic of
Ireland joint the European Union
