Colonial History of IrelandBy: Ben Willis

Carrowmore

Largest cemetery of megalithic tombs in Ireland.

Most tombs were shaped with stones creating a stone circle around the burial site.

Stone circles in this time were an early example of cairn tombs.

The tombs in Carrowmore date as far back as 4600 BC

Early Ages

Celtic migrations in the first millennium BC brought the language and Gaelic aspects to society.

Christianity was introduced in the 5th century and was never really preserved by Irish monks.

In the early 9th century Norseman raided Ireland’s settlements and monasteries and by the 10th century the Norseman had created their own communities.

Early Ages

The Irish political system, including Norse people and Norman invaders after 1169, was based on five provinces.

Meath, Connacht, Munster, Leinster, and Ulster

For the next four centuries the Anglo-Normans would control most of Ireland, establishing Feudalism.

Early Ages

The Anglo-Normans were a very organized group. They ushered a new age in Ireland where society was organized on a grander scale.

This setup Irish government, cities, and religious organizations.

16th Century

The English Crown, Henry VII, and the Tudors sought to reestablish English control of the island.

Henry VII’s goal was disestablish the Catholic Church in Ireland. Thus began the long association between Irish Catholicism and Irish Nationalism.

17th Century

Elizabeth I, accomplished the conquest of Ireland.

Plantations were the confiscation of land by the crown and colonization of this land by settlers from England and the Scotish Lowlands.

Smaller scale emigration had also taken place as far back as the 12th century, which is resulted in the ethnicity of Old English

Policy of Colonzation

The policy the English used to colonize Ireland was to forcefully remove the native Irish from their land.

The English wanted the resources of Ireland so they created platations and had protestant emigrants settle these confiscated lands.

Settlers with British and Protestant identity would from the ruling class of future British administrations in Ireland.

Plantations

Scottish and English Protestants were sent to create these plantations in Ireland.

They were sent to the provinces of Munster, Ulster, and the counties of of Laois and Offaly

The largest was the plantation of Ulster, which had settled up to 80,000 English and Scots in the north of Ireland by 1641.

Protestant Reformation

When English came to colonize Ireland, they wanted to force Catholicism out, since the English had broken away from the Catholic church.

Penal Laws discriminated against all Christian faiths other than the church of Ireland, which was anglican.

Protestant Reformation

Catholics were banned from public office, from serving in the army and were denied the right to vote, from 1607 on.

In 1615 the English parliament was altered so that protestants could have majority in the Irish House of Commons.

The Catholics persisted with majority in the Irish House of Lords until the Patriot Parliament of 1689.

Protestant Reformation

During Cromwell’s reign, he invoked strict rule and confiscated all catholic holdings. After he died, the Irish took back their historic land.

In 1690 when the Irish defeated the English at Londonderry, they signed a treaty in London that gave them a number of rights.

This treaty was denied by the Protestant dominated Irish Parliament.

Protestant Reformation

During the colonization, settlers split the Irish society between English and Irish speaking, which caused the local Irish to be landless or near landless peasants.

King James I closed Catholic schools and children were taught in Protestant institutions.

Catholicism

English had little success in converting the natives or Irish people to the Protestant religion.

Protestant reformation failed in Ireland because of the harsh methods used by the English Crown to pacify the country and to exploit its resources.

Catholicism

The Enlightenment provided ideas of freedom and the revolutionary age emboldened the Irish population.

The English countered the Irish rowdiness with legislation and laws that made life for catholics and speakers of Irish very difficult.

Catholicism

The Irish Catholics carried out a counter reform to retaliate against the Protestants.

Irish colleges had been set up in Catholic countries throughout Europe for he training of Irish Catholic Priests.

The printing press played a substantial role in the counter-reformation. The press allowed the Irish Catholics to spread their word around faster.

Linguistics

Irish (Gaelic)- spoken by most of the population by the 16th century.

The subsequent Tudors and Stuart conquests and plantations, the Cromwellian settlement, the Williamite War, and the enactment of the Penal Laws started a long process of the subversion of the language.

Timeline

1507: Henry VII sent Protestants to colonize

1534-1601: Tudors and Stuart conquests

1541: Henry VII elf proclaimed king of Ireland

1558: Elizabeth I, policy of plantations

1603: Enforcement of English law in Ireland

1641: Catholics owned 59% of Ireland

1649: Cromwell invades Ireland

Timeline

1653: Cromwell strips opponents of land

1654: The Cromwellian settlement

1688: James II, Catholics own 22% of Ireland

1698-91: The Williamite War

1690: William of Orange defeats James II

1695: Initial Penal Laws, Catholics owned 14% of Ireland

Timeline

1704: Penal Laws enacted

1774: Catholics owned 7% of Ireland

1778: Catholics owned 5% of Ireland

Sources

www.qub.ac.uk/imperial/ireland/timeline.htm

www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/ireland/irehist2.htm

genealogypro.com/articles/Irish-history.html

www.heriage-history.com/www/heritage.php?Dir=wars&FileName=wars_ireland.php

www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac70

www.historyofnations.net/europe/ireland.html

www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/ireland.htl

www.via.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/goes/ei.html

Jpellegrino.com/teaching.html