Ireland

by Joseph Coohill

  The second factor is the good fortune that the ‘post-revisionists’ have had in being able to build from the extensive work more accurate translations of ancient texts (as well as the discovery of more such texts), and the ability (and willingness) to draw upon the enormous amount of similar scholarship done on the rest of Europe, to adapt new techniques from those scholars, and to make more ready comparisons with the conclusions they are drawing about Ireland.

  MEDIEVAL IRELAND

  Three monumental, and at times controversial, historians of early medieval Ireland were Goddard Henry Orpen, Eoin MacNeill, and Edmund Curtis. Orpen, in his four-volume Ireland Under the Normans (published between 1911 and 1920) argued that Ireland experienced great progress under the Anglo-Normans, progress which was lost because the Anglo-Normans failed to control the whole country, and that the revival of Gaelic culture and power during the thirteenth- and fourteenth-centuries was a regressive step in Irish historical development. Orpen’s work was not well-received in the nationalist community (particularly since it appeared at the height of the Gaelic Revival – see chapter seven).

  Eoin MacNeill was in the thick of the Gaelic Revival. He was a nationalist revolutionary, a co-founder of the Gaelic League (see chapter seven), and later a politician in the Republic, in addition to being an historian. MacNeill’s Phases of Irish History (1919) and Celtic Ireland (1921) were written partly in reaction against Orpen’s interpretations. MacNeill specialized in Irish law and kingship, as well as translating a great number of Irish texts into English. His political nationalism could be seen in his historical work, and he might well be called an ‘historical nationalist’. His major works (which also included Early Irish Laws and Institutions, 1933), taken as a whole, argued that early medieval Ireland was a highly Celtic and native culture, that Irish Christianity (especially as it related to law) was heavily influenced by early Irish thought, and that traditions of Irish kingship were not greatly changed by the new religion.

  Edmund Curtis dealt mainly with the question of lordship over Ireland from just before the Anglo-Normans until just before the Tudors. His History of Medieval Ireland (1923) argued that Ireland was wrongfully brought under the English crown, and that its legal and social structures showed that it should have been kingdom in its own right, with a native Irish monarch. Curtis’s work clearly had a nationalist tinge to it, but it was not nearly as heavy-handed as MacNeill’s approach. This might be attributed to the fact that, although a nationalist himself as a young man in the early decades of the twentieth-century, he was more of a Redmondite Home Ruler (see chapters six and seven), and not a strict separatist like MacNeill. But in all these cases, each historian’s personal and political background has often been overemphasised, as if their nationalism made them blind to historical nuance and therefore their work is suspect. MacNeill’s translations and discoveries in early Irish law were ground-breaking, and Curtis often spoke out against many of the quickly-produced popular histories of Ireland that appeared after Independence. They were blinkered, he argued, and warned of the ‘solemn sham of “national history”’.

  Later in the twentieth century, Francis John Byrne established himself as one of the most important historians of medieval Ireland, especially of kingship. His Irish Kings and High Kings (1973) detailed the specific nature of Irish kingship, and explained the layered structure of kingship across the island. Petty kings (usually tribal chiefs) were at the most local level. At the provincial level, over-kings held power over petty kings. It was only in the ninth century that the kings of Tara were placed above over-kings (mostly in terms of ceremony, not necessarily in terms of power). These high kings were not monarchs as in the rest of Europe, but more like a board chairman (to use a modern, business analogy).

  Orpen’s themes were continued in the work of Jocelyn Otway-Ruthven, whose History of Medieval Ireland (1968) has been criticised as overly Anglo-centric, although deeply scholarly. Robin Frame’s Colonial Ireland 1169-1369 (1981) and English Lordship in Ireland (1982) also emphasize the English nature of medieval Ireland. Curtis’ work, and arguments that foregrounded Gaelic medieval Ireland, have influenced a different group of historians, including Kenneth Nicholls (Gaelic and Gaelicised Ireland in the Middle Ages, 1972), James Lydon (Lordship of Ireland in the Middle Ages, 1972; and Ireland in the Later Middle Ages, 1973), and Katharine Simms (From Kings to Warlords, 1987). But, again, none of these historians have been blind apostles of Orpen or Curtis. Their works are highly sophisticated and sensitive in their use of evidence and argumentation. Finally, Seán Duffy’s Ireland in the Middle Ages (1997) provides as balanced a treatment of Ireland as both a Norman colony and a Gaelic stronghold, and is certainly the best one-volume treatment of the period.

  TWO

  An English Conquest? From the Tudors to the Act of Union

  THE TUDORS

  The main impact on Ireland during Tudor times (1534–1603) was its more or less complete conquest by the English crown. There were several reasons why the Tudor monarchs wanted to control Ireland, but the most important was the desire to prevent the country from being used by someone trying to usurp their power. They also needed Ireland for the expansion of English trade overseas, and as a base to challenge the power of the Spanish, who were building a maritime empire. Henry VIII took the first step in this direction by ending the policy of separation between the Anglo-Irish and the Gaelic Irish. He forcefully put down both the independent Anglo-Irish and Gaelic Irish chiefs, and he sought to end the distinction between the Anglo-Irish and the Gaelic Irish groups. What the Tudors wanted was a more homogeneous Irish population, based on English customs, manners and dress. Henry ruthlessly quelled a rebellion by Thomas Fitzgerald, the Anglo-Irish son of the ninth Earl of Kildare, which broke the last remaining Irish claim on self governance in this period. He then installed a governing council in Ireland, led by a viceroy answerable directly to him. This policy was largely successful, though it had to be brought about by a combination of persuasion and force. In 1541, the Irish parliament officially declared Henry King of Ireland. Many of the major Gaelic chiefs swore fealty to the English crown, and much of the old Gaelic world disappeared.

  The other major change that Henry brought to Ireland was religious reformation. Beginning in 1529, Henry forced a split with the Catholic Church in Rome and declared himself supreme head of the Church of England in 1534. English monasteries were dissolved in 1536, and an attempt to anglicize Ireland soon followed, culminating in Henry being declared head of the (Anglican) Church of Ireland in the same year. But Henry died in 1547, with most of Ireland outside the Pale untouched by his religious reforms. His son, Edward VI (1537–53), also failed to anglicize the country. At Edward’s death, Henry’s daughter, Mary I (1516–58, sometimes called ‘Bloody Mary’ for her execution of Protestants), became queen. Mary was a Catholic and officially restored the religion to England and Ireland. She also intrduced the practice of ‘plantation’ into Ireland, whereby recalcitrant Anglo-Irish and Gaelic groups were dispossessed of their land, and English settlers established in their places. Alliances with Catholic Spain and war with France, however, plagued her reign. She died childless and was succeeded by her Protestant sister, Elizabeth I (1533–1603). Elizabeth tried to establish Protestantism throughout her kingdoms, but met a great deal of resistance in Ireland. As during the reign of her father, Henry VIII, the Irish Pale largely conformed, but the rest of the country balked, and the desire to retain Catholicism became a uniting force between the Anglo-Irish and Gaelic Irish. Under Elizabeth, plantation continued wherever English power was strong enough to enforce it. She found the most difficulty in subduing Ulster, especially since Hugh O’Neill, the Earl of Tyrone, had enlisted the help of the Spanish and tried to inflame all of Ireland in a war against the English crown. From 1595 until 1603, he and other chieftains waged a sort of guerrilla war against Elizabeth. A Spanish force landed at Kinsale in County Cork in September of 1601, and O’Neill went to join them. The combined forces were routed
by the English, led by Lord Mountjoy. In January 1602, the Spanish withdrew and O’Neill accepted defeat later at the battle of Mellifont on 30 March 1603.

  STUART IRELAND 1603–60

  A major effect of Stuart rule was that land ownership changed dramatically. At the time of Elizabeth’s death in 1603, most of the land in the country was owned by Catholics (whether they were Irish or Old English). Sixty years later, however, Catholics could only hold land west of the river Shannon. There were new landowners to replace them. These, generally, were the ‘New English’ and Scots settlers who were given land by the government. At this point there needs to be an explanation of a change in terms. Up until now, the two main political groups in Ireland have been called the Anglo-Irish (descendants of the Normans) and the Gaelic Irish (descendants of the ‘native’ Irish). From this point onwards, however, the terms for these groups change to ‘Old English’ (for the Anglo-Irish) and ‘Irish’ (for the Gaelic Irish). English settlers who arrived during the reign of Elizabeth and the Stuart monarchs (that is, from 1558 to 1714) tend to be called ‘New English’. These, however, are scholars’ terms, invented in an attempt to understand and explain the different groups in Ireland during this period. They were not necessarily used by the people at the time. But the different names are important because this was a period of plantation and civil war, and saw the different groups playing different roles in the political events that were so important to future Irish history.

  Hugh O’Neill and his followers had been allowed back to their land after their defeat at the battle of Mellifont (1603), but problems remained. O’Neill was not content with the new situation in Ulster and elsewhere, with a whole new set of elites with whom he had to share status. Seeing that no redress of this situation was forthcoming from the crown, O’Neill and more than ninety other leaders left Ulster in September 1609 and sailed to France, and then to Rome. This has become known as the ‘flight of the earls’, and it left a power vacuum amongst the Irish and Old English in Ulster. It also left Ulster perfectly open to settlement because many of the largest landowners had left. This presented an ideal opportunity for James I of England (1566–1625), the first English monarch from the House of Stuart (who had come to the throne in 1603 at the death of Elizabeth). He saw it as a chance to solve the problem of having a rebellious Ulster so close to Britain.

  ‘Plantation’, granting land to English and Scottish settlers in Ireland, provided a potential solution to many problems in Ulster. The new landowning class would be Protestant, thereby weakening Catholicism in the closest province to Britain. Plantation under the Tudors had been unsystematic, but under the Stuarts it was more organized. From 1609 onwards, Catholics (both Irish and Old English) were moved to areas within strictly defined boundaries. Land was confiscated throughout Ulster and given to New English and Scots in plots ranging from one to two thousand acres. In return, the settlers had to agree to bring in Protestant tenants to work the land. The settlers were mainly from the lowlands of Scotland, but some came from England. They preferred a more settled type of agriculture, based on arable (or tillage) farming, and disposed of pastoral native farming where they found it. They brought in a more settled way of life, with planned towns containing markets, churches and schools. More than their religion, this is what set them apart from the Irish and Old English. Native Irish remained in Ulster, however, as tenants and labourers, because there were not enough settlers to provide for the economy. This embittered many of the native Irish, and some of them remained in contact with the enemies of England in France and Spain.

  After James I died in 1625, his son Charles came to the throne. One of the major problems that Charles I (1600–49) had in Ireland during this period was the position of the Old English. Although loyal to the English crown, they had remained Catholic. They saw themselves as having rights as Englishmen living in Ireland, and thought of the Irish parliament as the guarantor of those rights. Viscount Wentworth (1593–1641), the King’s Lord Deputy in Ireland, however, changed the structure and practice of the Irish parliament so that opposition to government plans was effectively ruled out. This meant that, although there was a parliament in Ireland, local concerns and local opinion were not a priority. The crown and the crown’s needs, through its administration in Ireland, came first. But this did not satisfy any of the groups in Ireland. Wentworth was called back to England as clouds of civil war between the crown and parliament started to gather there. The Ulster plantation settlers, the Old English and other Protestants soon brought down the system Wentworth had created, and joined forces with the English parliament to have him executed in 1641. The Old English were eventually given promises by Charles that he would not try to control domestic Irish affairs to the degree he had under Wentworth, but they were only hastily agreed to because of the pressure Charles was under from the English parliament.

  As it became clearer, however, that the English parliament was getting stronger (and might usurp power from Charles), many in Ireland worried that it might suppress Catholics even further and open up more areas for plantation. A rising amongst native Irish was planned for October 1641, but the plans for an attack on Dublin were found out and the rebellion fizzled out in Leinster. Local risings in Ulster took place as planned, however, and were quite successful. The native Irish established control of Ulster fairly quickly, and began to march south towards Dublin. They laid siege to Drogheda in November and joined forces with local Old English to form a ‘Catholic Army’ to defend themselves against the English parliament. In early 1642, the rebellion began to spread to the rest of the country, but stronger forces from England arrived and pushed the Catholic Army back into Ulster. Although many of the rebels sued for peace, the English forces saw this as their chance to subdue Ireland completely. It looked as if it was going to be a total war that could only end in the elimination of the Catholic Army. But then the English civil wars (1642–49) intervened, and a seven year period of confused squabbling and fighting amongst the various groups in Ireland began. At the end of the civil wars, with the parliamentary forces under Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) victorious and King Charles executed in 1649, Ireland stood open to complete control from the English parliament, a situation which very few in Ireland wanted. When Cromwell landed in Ireland in 1649, he and his army exacted revenge on what they saw as a Catholic religious rebellion, not one over political control of the country. There were massacres at Drogheda (which had been loyal to Charles), Wexford and other places. But many of the rebels were allowed to leave the country unharmed, and over thirty thousand emigrated to the continent. The majority of the Irish poor felt none of Cromwell’s wrath, and he issued a general pardon to those rebels who remained alive and in Ireland. Still, the image of Cromwell as a butcher of Catholics was set into Irish folk memory.

  Ultimately, Cromwell was interested in Irish land and the potential for wealth that it contained. And it was in the ‘Cromwellian Settlement’ that he had his most lasting impact on the country. Catholic landowners who had taken part in the rebellion were stripped of their existing land and of the right to own land. Those Catholic landowners who had not taken part in the rebellion were given a proportion of the amount of land they had held before. Their new land, however, was not to be where they had held it before. Ireland was divided in two. Those Catholics who had not rebelled were given their land parcels in Connacht and in County Clare (amongst the least arable places in Ireland). This policy went into legend as giving Catholic landowners the choice of going ‘to hell or Connacht’. The rest of the country was either confiscated to pay the government’s debts, or given to soldiers and officers in Cromwell’s army. The Cromwellian Settlement was different from the settlements and plantations under the early Stuarts, however. Most of the soldiers who were given land sold it to existing Protestant landowners and returned to England. There was no plan for building towns or planting Protestant communities where they had not previously existed. What had changed, significantly, was land ownership, and with it, the nature o
f the upper classes in Ireland.

  IRELAND DURING THE RESTORATION AND THE JACOBITE WAR (1660–91)

  The end of Cromwell’s Commonwealth and the restoration of Charles II (1630–85, the son of Charles I) to the English throne seemed to indicate that the Cromwellian Settlement in Ireland might be overthrown. But Charles II had difficulties satisfying those Catholics who had been loyal to him in Ireland, as well as the demands of the Protestant English parliament and the Cromwellian settlers. An uneasy compromise was reached whereby the Catholics who had been loyal to Charles but had not taken part in the rebellion were to be given back a portion of their land. The Cromwellians were to be compensated for any land they had to return. In practice, this proved very difficult. Many Catholics did not recover any land, and some Cromwellians resisted giving back any land. Some displaced Catholics ‘turned tory’ (became outlaws) and camped in the woods and hills, from where they raided the settlements. Before the civil war, Catholics had owned roughly sixty percent of the land in Ireland. After the dust had settled over Charles II’s restoration and the land agreements (called the Acts of Settlement), Catholics were left about twenty percent of the land in the country. This naturally caused deep bitterness and resentment amongst those Catholics who felt they were being ultimately dispossessed of their full landholdings when they had been loyal to the English crown during the civil war.