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HISTORY AND FACTS ABOUT IRELAND |
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                  FLIGHTS FERRY ACCOMMODATION CAR HIRE TOURIST INFORMATION
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Irish History has been pretty
eventful but The first human settlements in Ireland, an island lying
on the western fringe of Europe, were made relatively late in
European prehistory- about 8000 BC.
The ice age started around
30000 years ago and remained until about 14000 years ago. Because of
the low sea levels at the time Ireland was attached to mainland
Britain and Europe. As the ice melted Ireland was separated from the
main land and the Ice had left behind the rugged landscape which is
still changing today.
It wasn't until around 8000BC
that the first humans set foot in Ireland travelling from Scotland
to the area known as county Antrim. These settlers occupied mostly
the coastal regions leaving the inland areas pretty well un touched.
This was known as the
Mesolithic stone age where these
hunter gatherer moved around taking there make shift shelters with
them. Flint was used for their hunting weapons.
New settlers came to Ireland
around 4000BC bringing with them new technology farming was invented
and
porcellanite was used which was more affective than flint. These
farms were built more in land and were more permanent settlements
leading to more substantial buildings being produced. During this
time known as the Neolithic stone age these new settlers brought
with them live stock and the knowledge to grow grain. They also
worked with clay, producing simple. There are still traces of these
settlers visible today in the form megaliths which they produced
mainly as tombs.
Around 2000BC saw the start of
the Bronze age, the technique finding its way over from Europe. The
copper came locally in Ireland where as the Tin initially had to be
brought in from Britain. With this new material not only were they
able to produce more affective weapons they also produced cooking
pots and other utensils. The Bronze age continued until around
500BC.
The Iron age was next around
500BC. The Celts arrived in large numbers setting up many small
kingdoms, each of which was ruled by its own king. This massive
change resulted in a new language and culture which was to be the
basis of the modern Irish language. With iron even better weapons
and utensils were produced. The Celts culture and land of kings only
survived in Scotland and Ireland after the might of the Romans swept
across Europe around 43AD. After the fall of the Roman empire in the
400sAD The Celts took back some of Britain forming settlements in
Wales and Scotland but with the exception of Scotland were defeated
by the Brits. Some of the ruins left by the Celts can still be seen
in Ireland today.
Christianity arrived in
Ireland in around 400AD the first missionary arriving in 431. St
Patrick a former slave in Ireland came back soon after this as
a Christian Priest and a network of thousands of churches was built
up across Ireland. Monasteries soon followed, initially these were
few and far between and quite isolated but as they attracted the
wealthy and the powerful they eventually became on a par with the
mini Kingdoms. The Book of Kells which can be seen at Trinity
college in Dublin was one of the famous manuscripts produced by
these Monasteries. St Colum Cille then took Christianity to Scotland
and Northern England by 627 and St Columbanus stretched the faith to
other parts of Europe. The Irish Celts were no mostly Christian and
the many small kingdoms had been taken over by the stronger kings.
These kings each controlled an area known as a province and by 650
there were 6 provinces in Ireland. Each king then had lords under
them, who ruled over what were the individual kingdoms.
England was now in the hands
of the Anglo Saxons who arrived from Denmark, and the fairly stable
Ireland was about to be changed.The first raid came in 795 to the
North of Ireland, The Vikings were here. The Vikings were warriors
from Scandinavia and cam in the search of slaves and whatever else
they could get there hands on, attacking France, Britain and
Ireland. The started over the next 40 years by targeting the
monasteries in Ireland, but by 840 they started to settle in Ireland
creating their own towns such as Waterford, Dublin and Cork. Over
the next few decades the Irish managed to drive out the Vikings, but
this was short lived and the Vikings returned in 914 eventually
defeating the most powerful King in Ireland Niall Glúndub of the Uí
Néill dynasty. The Vikings settled down in their coastal towns and
became traders. The Uí Néill remained the strongest of the dynasties
and although Viking raids became less frequent round towers were
built by the monasteries as hiding places from the Vikings.
While the Uí Néill were
dominated the North of Ireland in 980 Brian Boru became King of
Munster and defeated the Vikings in several locations. It was
because of this the King of the Uí Néill met with Brian Boru, the
idea being to split Ireland between them. But Brian Boru was not
content with this and after a display of might The King of the Uí
Néill gave in leaving Brian Boru high king of the whole Island.
However there were various upheavals and the Vikings brought in more
warriors from Scotland and the Isle of Man leading to the Battle of
Clontarf, many thousands of people died Brian Boru's army were
triumphant he himself was killed. As their new leader was not such a
warrior this allowed the Uí Néill dynasty to re take control. The
Vikings were allowed to stay and build up their are which became the
Capital of Ireland, Dublin. The next several decades 1014 to 1150
saw war between the dynasties. King Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn of
the Uí Néill and King Dairmait Mac Murchada of Leinster formed
an alliance which was not strong enough to take control of the whole
island but strong enough to stop anybody else doing so. However King
Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn of the Uí Néill was then assassinated by
his own people giving King O'Connor of Connacht the opportunity to
drive out Dairmait Mac Murchada of Leinster or fled to England
hoping for military support from its King.
In England the Vikings were in
control of most of the central region and it was Alfred the great
who united the different Kingdoms to stop the Viking expansion. In
England was now under the rule of the Danish and in 1066 descendents
of the Vikings invaded, the Normans were here and took the throne
from William the conqueror the kings of England expanded into Wales
and France and now with the help of Dairmait Mac Murchada had the
chance to take control of Ireland.
Dairmait Mac Murchada returned
to Ireland with Strongbow the Earl of Pembroke and his Anglo French
army in 1169 Leinster was re taken and Dublin was defeated with the
Viking king being exiled in 1171. When Dairmait Mac Murchada died
Strongbow became King of Leinster repelling an attack by King Rory
O'Connor. The King of England then came to Ireland and Strongbow
relinquished his command in return of being made Lord of Leinster.
with the exception of O'Connor of Connacht and O'Neill in the north,
Henry got the loyalty of the Irish kings without a fight. Strongbow
died in 1176 and over the next few decades the Anglo French started
to take control. By 1261 most of Ireland was ruled by the Anglo
French, only the north, the midlands and several areas of the west
coast were not under their control.
The Norman kings in England started to lose interest in Ireland and no longer would support their colonists in Ireland, this led to the decline of the Normans in Ireland. The anti Normans in Ireland realised they had a chance to take back Ireland with help from Scotland. They began to attack property belonging to the Normans and by 1300 the Irish Lords once again owned large areas of Ireland. Meantime the Normans back in England decided they wanted a piece of Scotland. King Edward the First invaded Scotland and took the Stone of Scone belonging to the Scottish royal Family. They only kept this rule for 10 years when Robert Bruce along with some Scottish Lords took back control of Scotland and after defeating the English in 1314 Robert Bruce became King of Scotland. The Irish Lords O'Neill and O'Donnell were impressed with what Robert the Bruce had done and came to an agreement if he helped them get rid of the Normans his brother Edward Bruce could be King of Ireland. In 1316 Edward was crowned High King of England after defeating the Normans in Meath at which point he was joined by his brother Bruce to Take Limerick, Tipperary and Kilkenny. After Bruce returned to Scotland Edward was defeated and killed by the Normans on the 14th October 1318. The Normans however were now week and the on set of the Black death in 1348 didn't help matters. It wasn't until 1360 that King Edward the 3rd realised he was close to losing the last few areas of Norman Ireland. In 1361 he arrived in Dublin with an Army and set to with several failing attacks it was then in 1366 he came up with the "Parliament of Kilkenny". which basically was an attempt to separate Norman and Irish culture by banning Normans from marrying Irish and having anything to do with Irish culture, even down to a ban on listening to Irish music. As most Normans ignored these new laws, Lionel died in 1367 without having achieved much. In 1377 the English tried again Richard the 2nd was now King and landed in Waterford with a large army. He now had an ace up his sleeve, he brought with him artillery. Many Irish Lords gave in to Richard but were allowed to keep their land, that was except for the lords of leinster who were evicted. However as soon as Richard left in 1399 war broke out again and the Lords of Leinster returned. Soon after Richard was killed by his cousin and Henry the 4th took the throne. The Norman decline continued in Ireland and by 1450 control in Ireland was reduced to a strip around Ireland 20 miles wide. This strip was known as the pale and is where the saying "beyond the Pale" comes from. The English Lords within the Pale remained undefeated and became very powerful as they formed alliances with their Irish Neighbours. Normans outside the Pale became more Irish and came to hate the English.
If you would like more details on Irish History then visit the link below
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