Religion in Irish history is an equally diverse theme. Reading the Irish past as a struggle between Catholics and Protestants is not only too simplistic, it ignores the work of a great many Irish historians of recent decades. Chapter two has shown that alignments between different groups often did not follow religious identity. The Catholic Old English and Native Irish were opposed to the settlement of the Protestant New English and Scots in the period of the Stuart plantations (1603–60). Yet at the end of that century, the battle between the Protestant William of Orange and the Catholic James II found members of both religions on either side. The interpretations section of chapter one has further shown that the age of the Penal Laws (1691–1778) was much more complex than previously thought. Rather than being a universal system of ‘apartheid’ against Catholics, the Penal Laws were unevenly applied (and, indeed, ignored in some cases).
At the end of the eighteenth century, nationalists such as Tone appealed to Protestants and Catholics to consider their rights as Irish people paramount, and that the only way to secure those rights was to break the connection with Britain. His United Irishmen were drawn from both religions. Chapter three showed that even though O’Connell’s Catholic Association used the clergy of the Catholic Church in extremely effective ways, he was ultimately fighting for a political right – to sit in parliament. The fact that his agitation helped link Irish nationalism with Catholicism may not have been what he wished. The growth in power of the Catholic Church in the pre-Famine and post-Famine years also shows the diversity of religious life in the early nineteenth century. The increase in devotional practices and in hierarchical control over local clergy during this period shows that previous years had seen less devotion and less power radiating from bishops. In north-eastern Ulster, the influence of evangelical preachers coming over from England greatly added to the religious diversity of that area. Although Methodism and other denominations never gained the strength that Presbyterianism and Anglicanism had reached, their presence from the late eighteenth century to the present day indicates that northern Ireland was not impervious to new religious influence. Evangelical influence was minimal in relation to the number of Catholics and Church of Ireland members in the south. Nevertheless, it made a contribution to the religious diversity of the country. The twentieth century saw an equally complex religious picture. Although the influence of the Catholic Church in the Free State and Republic is undoubted, it was not without its critics.W.B. Yeats protested against those parts of the constitution of Éire that he thought were objectionable to Protestants. The reaction against the Church’s role in the defeat of the Mother and Child Scheme showed that Irish people were not uncritical of church involvement in state affairs. The divorce and contraception referendums of the 1980s and 1990s also showed that it is impossible to characterize the Republic as a Catholic state. In the same way, it is inaccurate to argue that Northern Ireland was in the grip of extreme Protestantism in the second half of the twentieth century. Chapters eight and nine show that there was a great deal of sectarianism and discrimination, but there were also significant instances of religious understanding, such as when the flag over Belfast City Hall was lowered to half-mast on the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958 and Pope John XXIII in 1963.
‘The land’ has been a consistently strong theme in Irish history. Not only did it become a specific political and social issue in the nineteenth century; land questions from previous periods have been mythologized and romanticized almost from the beginning of Irish history. In one important sense, the land has been tied to Irish identity. Centuries of invasion, settlement and plantation have given rise to the popular idea that land has consistently been taken away, or stolen from, the native Irish, and that this was an injustice that has never been rectified. Much of nationalist ideology, for instance, blames the troubles in Northern Ireland on the importation of foreign settlers and the granting of Irish land to them. While there are undoubtedly true elements to this (as in the case of the Stuart and Cromwellian plantations), the historical picture is much more complicated. Chapter one has shown how many different groups (including native Irish) held land during these centuries, but also that plantation was a mixed success. Chapters four–six have also shown the complexities in trying to solve the ‘land issue’ in the nineteenth century. The various land reforms of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries accomplished something that perhaps no other country in Europe was able to do, however; that is, the large-scale transfer of land from landlords to farmers through government incentive and pressure. But even here it is inaccurate to say that Irish land was ‘given back to the people’ through these reforms. As successful as the land reforms were in making Ireland a country of ‘owner-occupiers’, they were less successful in creating a nation of ‘peasant proprietors’, as one historian has written. Agricultural labourers found it difficult to gain land, and prosperous farmers were able to expand their holdings and become significant landlords in their own right as the early twentieth century progressed. Land and agricultural issues continue to claim a great deal of attention in the contemporary Republic, as well. The ministry of agriculture is one of the most important government departments, and agricultural matters often dominate the news.
One of the strongest themes of this book has been the nature and diversity of Irish identity, and its centrality in Irish history cannot be doubted. Conceptions of Irishness have changed a great deal over the centuries. Regional differences were paramount in ancient and medieval Ireland, and although there was a great deal of cultural and linguistic unity, there were very few instances where this transferred to political unity. Early modern Ireland was also manifold in identity, with all the different groups discussed in chapter one competing for economic and political dominance. The modern period saw no less of a difference in ideas of Irishness. Some nationalists such as Tone argued for political separation from Britain as the greatest expression of Irish identity, while O’Connell and Isaac Butt would have been satisfied with remaining loyal to the British crown, and did not see any major inconsistency with being Irish under an English monarch, as long as there was an acceptable degree of home rule in Ireland. This mirrored the thinking of many Protestant nationalists such as Grattan in the late eighteenth century. The idea of a ‘loyalist nationalist’ was not unusual then, no matter how incompatible it would have sounded to twentieth century Irish people on both sides of the border. Young Ireland and the Fenians had stronger ideas of Irish identity, but even they disagreed amongst themselves at times. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw fervent assertions of types of Irishness through the literary revival, the Gaelic League, the Gaelic Athletic Association and Sinn Féin. These groups, however, chose different avenues for their expression of national identity. As chapters eight through ten have shown, questions of identity not only became highly prominent in the Free State/Republic and in Northern Ireland, but they often erupted into violent confrontation. Most historians agree that the twentieth century (particularly from the 1960s through to the 1980s) has witnessed the least willingness to accept different ideas of Irishness, particularly in Northern Ireland. Whether the hope of more understanding in Northern Ireland at the start of the twenty-first century is fulfilled remains to be seen.
The theme of history itself has been highly visible in this book, as well as in Irish history. As stated in the introduction, perhaps in no other country has history and the work of professional historians been so important to cultural and political life. Different (sometimes wildly divergent) ideas of Irish history have been used as justification for political organization and action, for violence, and in attempts to create specific types of cultures on both sides of the border. This is particularly true of the teaching of history in schools in the Free State/Republic and Northern Ireland from the 1920s until the 1980s. Deliberate renderings of history have been used to craft cultural belief. As shown throughout this book, there are traditional nationalist readings of Irish history, traditional unionist readings, and
revisionist and post-revisionist readings. Part of the importance of history within Ireland’s past is shown in questions of ‘memory.’ Nearly every major event in Irish history has been clung to and commemorated as if it happened only a few years ago. Cromwell’s treatment of Irish people still raises ire. The victory of William of Orange over James II provides the stated basis for much of unionist ideology. Theobald Wolfe Tone’s failed rebellion of 1798 was recently observed and commemorated during its bicentennial in 1998. The Famine and the Land War are strongly represented in nationalist memory, as is the Easter Rising. And unionists often use their memory of participation in World War I to show their loyalty to Britain. All peoples in all countries have such memories, but in very few places have they become so important and relevant to contemporary events and generations.
Finally, historians of other countries are almost always amazed at the amount of popular historical discussion in Ireland. When the ‘revisionist controversy’ broke out during the 1980s, it was not only debated in academic circles, but in the popular media of radio, television, and newspapers. Readers of this book will now know, however, that this sort of sensitivity to history is not a new thing in Ireland. As each of the interpretations sections of this book has tried to show, various ideas about Irish history have long (and sometimes distinguished) pedigrees. All the major schools of thought discussed here, although perhaps partly based on myths and misunderstandings, were not arrived at casually. They were wrought with a purpose (whether political, cultural, or professional), and argued strongly. History is a serious business in Ireland and, except for the extreme uses to which it has been put, Irish society is to be admired for that attention and sophistication.
Bibliography and Further Reading
As mentioned in the Preface, Irish history has become a very well-researched field since the middle of the twentieth century. In addition to general studies, there is a wealth of specialized work on the various topics introduced in this book. One of the purposes of this book was to give readers a basic grasp of the narrative and interpretations of Irish history. After reading it, they should find the more sophisticated general works listed below (especially those by Foster, Hoppen and Jackson) more accessible. This Bibliography and Further Reading section, therefore, is divided into General Works, Thematic Works, Specialist Works (organized by chapter headings from this book), and Periodicals and Journals. Most of the general works should still be in print, but the more specialized works may be available only in libraries.
GENERAL WORKS
Beckett, J.C. The Making of Modern Ireland, 1603–1921. London, 1966, reprinted 1987
——A Short History of Ireland. London, reprinted 1981
Bort, Eberhard (ed.). Commemorating Ireland: History, Politics, Culture. Dublin, 2004
Boyce, David George, O’Day, Alan. Defenders of the Union: a survey of British and Irish unionism since 1801. London, 2001
Boyce, D. George. The Irish Question and English Politics, 1868–1986. Dublin, 1991
——Nineteenth Century Ireland: the Search for Stability. Dublin, 1991
Boyce, D. George, O’Day, Alan (eds). The Making of Modern Irish History: Revisionism and the Revisionist Controversy. London, 1996
Boyce, D. George, Swift, Roger (eds). Problems and Perspectives in Irish History since 1800. Dublin, 2004
Brady, Ciaran (ed.). Interpreting Irish History: the Debate on Historical Revisionism. Dublin, 1994
Brown, Michael, Geoghegan, Patrick M. The Irish Act of Union, 1800: bicentennial essays. Dublin, 2003
Buckland, P. A History of Northern Ireland. Dublin, 1981
Carroll, Clare, King, Patricia (eds). Ireland and Postcolonial Theory. Cork, 2003
Clarkson, Leslie A., Crawford, E. Margaret. Feast and famine: food and nutrition in Ireland, 1500–1920. Oxford, 2001
Comerford, R.V. Ireland. London, 2003
Connolly, Claire. Theorizing Ireland. Basingstoke, 2003
Connolly, Claire, Theorizing Ireland. London, 2003
Connolly, S.J. (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Irish History. Oxford, 1998
Connolly, S.J. The Oxford companion to Irish history. Oxford, 2002
Coogan, Tim Pat. Wherever green is worn: the story of the Irish Diaspora. New York, 2001
Crowley, Tony. Wars of Words: the politics of language in Ireland 1537–2004. Oxford, 2005
Cullen, L.M. The Emergence of Modern Ireland 1600–1980. London, 1983
De Nie, Michael Willem. The Eternal Paddy: Irish identity and the British press, 1798–1882. Madison, WI, 2004
De Paor, L. The Peoples of Ireland from Prehistory to Modern Times. London, 1986
Donnelly, James S. Encyclopedia of Irish history and culture. Farmington Hills, MI, 2004
Ferris, Ina. The Romantic National Tale and the Question of Ireland. Cambridge, 2002
Fleming, N.C., O’Day, Alan. The Longman handbook of modern Irish history since 1800. Harlow, 2005
Foster, R.F. Modern Ireland 1600–1972. London, 1989
Foster, R.F. The Irish story: telling tales and making it up in Ireland. Oxford, 2002
Geary, Laurence. Rebellion and Remembrance in Modern Ireland. Dublin, 2001
Goodby, John. Irish Studies: The Essential Glossary. London, 2003
Graham, Colin. Deconstructing Ireland: Identity, Theory, Culture. Edinburgh, 2001
Gray, Peter. Victoria’s Ireland?: Irishness and Britishness, 1837–1901. Dublin, 2004
Hayes, Alan, Urquhart, Diane. The Irish women’s history reader. London, 2001
Hollis, Daniel Webster. The history of Ireland. Westport, CT, 2001
Hoppen, K. Theodore. Elections, Politics, and Society in Ireland, 1832–1885. Oxford, 1984
——Ireland Since 1800: Conflict and Conformity. London, second edition 1999
Howe, Stephen. Ireland and empire: colonial legacies in Irish history and culture. Oxford, 2000
Jackson, Alvin. Ireland 1798–1998: Politics and War. Oxford, 1999
Kee, Robert. Ireland: A History. London, 2003
Kenny, Kevin. Ireland and the British Empire. Oxford, 2004
Keogh, Dáire, Whelan, Kevin. Acts of Union: the causes, contexts, and consequences of the Act of Union. Dublin, 2001
Kilfeather, Siobhán. Dublin: a cultural history. Oxford, 2005
Lloyd, David. Ireland After History. Cork, 2000
Lyndon, James. The Making of Modern Ireland: from Ancient Times to the Present. London, 1999
Lyons, F.S.L. Ireland Since the Famine. London, 1971, reprinted 1985
McBride, Ian. History and memory in modern Ireland. Cambridge, 2001
McBride, Lawrence (ed.). Reading Irish Histories: Texts, Contexts and Memory in Modern Ireland. Dublin, 2003
McCarthy, John P. Ireland: a reference guide from the Renaissance to the present. New York, 2006
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