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Ireland History: Difference between revisions
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IRELAND - HISTORY - BIBLIOGRAPHY | IRELAND - HISTORY - BIBLIOGRAPHY | ||
=== Early to Mid-16th Century === | |||
The Celts who colonized Ireland developed a strong Gaelic culture where families were closely linked to territories. Norse and Danish coastal invaders of the 8<sup>th</sup> - 9<sup>th</sup> centuries were defeated in 1014 and absorbed into the native population. In the 11<sup>th</sup> century the Normans largely conquered Ireland and gradually became integrated, but this was the start of the English domination of the island. However at first English law only prevailed within east and southeast Ireland including Dublin and parts of Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and Louth and in the earliest times Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford and Tipperary. The area was known as ''the pale'' (meaning the bounds of civilization) and continued to shrink until the re-conquest by the English King Henry VIII in the mid-16<sup>th</sup> century. | |||
The Tudor policy was to guarantee the Gaelic chieftains lordship of their territories but pursue a vigorous destruction of Gaelic culture including language and dress. The latter was bitterly opposed and English rule was precarious in some areas. The defeat of the O’Neills and O’Donnells in 1603 in Ulster lead to their retreat and the ''plantation'' (colonization) by English, Welsh and Scots Protestant upper classes, although much of the native Catholic population remained as tenants and labourers. | |||
=== The 1600s to 1850 === | |||
A rebellion by Catholics in 1641 based in Kilkenny was finally quashed by Oliver Cromwell in 1649 resulting in confiscation of lands by the English and expulsion of Catholics to the western province of Connaught and to the West Indies. Protestant settlement in Ireland was encouraged by an Act of 1662 and particularly assisted French Huguenots to immigrate to Ireland bringing with them important trades such as weaving and goldsmithing. | |||
The Irish Catholics had the sympathy of James II of England, but he was deposed in 1688 and lost the Battle of the Boyne to the new Protestant king William of Orange in 1690. This had disastrous consequences for the native Irish; about half a million Catholic soldiers fled to Europe and the ''Treaty of Limerick'' was not honoured by the English causing resentment which continues to this day. Instead a series of severe ''Penal Laws'' were enacted which restricted the Irish from owning or inheriting land, entering certain trades or public office and the right to vote as well as the limiting the activities of the Catholic church. From a family history point of view this meant that the Irish suffered further impoverishment and far fewer records were kept of them during the 18<sup>th</sup> century. | |||
The ''Penal Laws'' also affected to a certain extent the Presbyterians who comprised mainly the Scots who had moved into Ulster from 1609. This was a major cause of the migration of these Scots-Irish to North America in the 18<sup>th</sup> century. The major period of emigration from Ireland commenced about 1780 and peaked during the ''Great Potato Famine'' of 1845-1849. Ryan examines the various causes of this famine. Most of the famine emigrants were poor Irish Catholics, and they went to North America, Australia and Britain. | |||
=== Early 1900s and Destruction of Records === | === Early 1900s and Destruction of Records === | ||