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A Brief History of Ireland – From the Origins to the end of the Eighteenth century

Roberta Grandi

Università della Valle d’Aosta

Lesson plan

Class:

  • 4-5th year students
  • Upper-intermediate level

Lecture organisation:

  • 2 x 50 mins

Teaching strategies and tools:

  • The students may need a handout with a copy of Swift’s text
  • Use of visual materials and PowerPoint, videos from youtube

Objectives:

  • Students will learn about the history of Ireland.

Main Sources: Mike Cronin, Ireland History, John Wiley & Sons, 2006; Paul State, A Brief History of Ireland, Facts On File, 2009.

Slide 2 The first Irish people

  • The first great period of human civilisation in Ireland goes under the name ofthe Mesolithic age, and covers the years from around 8000 BC until 4500 BC.
  • In this mere 3,500 years, the population of Ireland probably never amountedto more than a few thousand people.
  • These first settlers probably came to Ireland,across the sea from Scotland and lived life as hunter-gatherers (killing animalsand collecting berries). But they also started farming. It’s also thought that some people would have beenable to walk to Ireland as fluctuating sea levels allowed for the occasionalappearance of land bridges between Britain and Ireland.
  • Booleying means moving cows from the fertile lowlands,where they spent the winter, to higher areas in the spring when the new grass began to grow.This meant that they could use the lowlands for crops. Booleying was a cutting-edge technique and marks the Stone Age Irish out as agricultural innovators.

Slide 3The first Irish people

  • The greatest legacy of the Stone Age Irish was their megalithic monuments: huge tombs that were built across large parts of the country, many of whichare still standing today.
  • Now a World Heritage site, Newgrange is themost impressive of the Stone Age burial sites inIreland. It’s still a vital stop on any tourist itinerary. The Irish got Newgrange together 600years before the Pyramids, and nearly a thousand years before the English builtStonehenge. It is intricatelydecorated, and at the winter solstice the sunshines directly along the full length of the tomblighting an underground chamber.

Video Tomb of Newgrange 2:50

  • Built about 3200 B.C.E. Newgrange played an important role in early Irish mythology, both asthe supposed burial site of the prehistoric kings of Tara (a mythological figure of almost magic kings of the ancient time, celebrated in myths in the Middle Age)
  • And another medieval legend identifies it as the homeof the Tuatha De Danaan (“the people of the goddess Danu”), pre-Celticinhabitants of Ireland who, in the Irish foundation myth, were a race oftall supernatural beings superbly skilled in building and craftsmanshipand who went underground. The Tuatha De Danaan continued to live and performdeeds beyond the power of mortal human beings, devolving eventuallyinto “the little people,”the fairies and leprechauns [leprekoonz] of later Irish legend.

Slide 4 The Celts

  • A new people arrived in Ireland about 700 BC. These iron weapon-wielding invaders wereknown as the Celts, and they would dominate Irish life for the next few hundred years.
  • There were four different sets of Celtic invaders: the Priteni, the Bolgic, the Lagin, and the Goidels, or Gaels. Each of these groups, once they had established themselves, intermingled with each other and also with the Irish.
  • The final Celtic invading force that emerged in about 100 BC changed Irelandmore profoundly than all their predecessors. These Celts came from Gaul(present-day France).They went under thecollective name of the Goidelic or Gaelic people.
  • The Irish who were settled in Ireland before the Celts arrived spoke a non-Indo-European language.
  • TheCeltic language spoken by the Irish, instead, was brought in by the Gaels. Celtic languages gave usmodern Irish, Scots Gallic, and Welsh. (even if there are 2 kinds of Celtic languages with differences in the use of consonants p and q).
  • The Celts were organized in Clans (groups united by kinshipand descent), subgroups within larger clans (septs), and clusters ofclans (tribes or dynasties) gradually took shape. Efforts by one bandto expand beyond its borders would inevitably ignite conflict.

Slide 5 The Romans

  • The Romans arrived in England in 43CE but,
  • they never invaded Ireland (The question was whether or not Ireland would yield anything useful. If it was just another cold, wet place where the natives were barbaric – like Britain –then there was no real point, either strategic or economic, in invading.)
  • The Romans stayed in Britain for a few centuries and they undoubtedlytraded with the Irish who lived on the eastern seaboard. These exchangesmade the Irish aware of Roman technology and introduced them to newideas such as coinage andmetalwork.
  • Roman influence had an especiallysignificant impact on language. The earliest form of the written Irishlanguage—Ogham—is clearly based on the Latin alphabet.

Slide 6 The Druids

  • The Druids’ system of belief was based on the wonder of nature.
  • The Druids were effectively the priests of their religion.
  • They were well educated, usually literate and had an excellent grasp of matters environmentaland astrological. The Druids used nature to see into the future by readingsigns.As everyone firmly believed that the Druids couldpredict the future, everyone listened very intently to what the Druids had to say.
  • Another important idea in Druid Ireland concerned the dead. The Druids hada well-developed sense of the Otherworld. This was a place where the deadwould go. At the moment of death a person would begin a journey. For the Irishthe first part of the journey was through a nothing zone, such a dark passage,a fog or mist and so on. If they managed this part of the journey they wouldarrive in the Otherworld, a parallel universe where they would spend eternity.

Video Druids: 2:47’’

Slide 7 St. Patrick

  • In the 5th century, Saint Patrick sought to convert the entire island to Christianity. Although Patrick was not successful in his lifetime, by the 6th century Christianity had triumphed. It is known that St. Patrick was born in Britain (in Wales probably) to wealthy parents, in a Christian family, near the end of the fourth century. He is believed to have died on March 17, around 460 A.D.
  • At age sixteen, Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family's estate.
  • They transported him to Ireland where he spent six years in captivity. During this time, he worked as a shepherd, outdoors and away from people. Lonely and afraid, he turned to his religion for solace, becoming a devout Christian.
  • After more than six years as a prisoner, Patrick escaped. According to his writing, a voice—which he believed to be God's—spoke to him in a dream, telling him it was time to leave Ireland. After escaping to Britain, Patrick reported that he experienced a second revelation—an angel in a dream tells him to return to Ireland as a missionary.
  • Soon after, Patrick began religious training in Europe. After his ordination as a priest, he was sent to Ireland with a dual mission—to minister to Christians already living in Ireland and to begin to convert the Irish.

Slide 8 St. Patrick

  • Patrick chose to incorporate traditional ritual into his lessons of Christianity instead of attempting to eradicate native Irish beliefs. For instance, he associated the cult of St Brigid with the one of a Celtic goddess name Birgid, whose feast day was the same (1st February).
  • Also, he superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross to create what is now called a Celtic cross, so that veneration of the symbol would seem more natural to the Irish.
  • After training as a priest and bishop, Patrick arrived in Ireland in 432AD and immediately set about trying to convert the pagan Celts who inhabited the island. Having previously lived and worked there, he was already aware that the number three held special significance in Celtic tradition and he applied this knowledge in a clever way.He used the shamrock, a three-leaved clover which grows all over the island, to explain the Christian concept of the Holy Trinity.

Slide 9 St. Patrick

  • The legend of Saint Patrick driving all the snakes of Ireland into the sea where they drowned.
  • Snakes were sacred to the Druids; their banishment reflects St Patrick's success at removing pagan influence from the island.
  • St. Patrick died on March 17, circa 462. St. Patrick’s Day is the saint’s feast day and has evolved from a religious holiday to a worldwide celebration.

Slide 10 St. Patrick’s Day Parade

  • Since around the ninth or 10th century, people in Ireland have been observing the Roman Catholic feast day of St. Patrick on March 17. Interestingly, however, the first parade held to honor St. Patrick’s Day took place not in Ireland but in the United States. On March 17, 1762, Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City. Along with their music, the parade helped the soldiers reconnect with their Irish roots, as well as with fellow Irishmen serving in the English army.
  • Why?
  • Following the great potato famine in Ireland during the 18th century many Irish immigrated to the United States of America, bringing their traditions with them. Work for these immigrants was often very difficult to find.
  • Factories and shops displayed signs reading “NINA” meaning No Irish Need Apply.
  • The only jobs they could get were the civil service jobs that were dirty, dangerous or both — firefighters and police officers — jobs that no one else wanted. Both of these careers were considered undesirable due to low pay, few benefits, and poor working conditions. The Irish gladly accepted these careers because it was a way to become a part of mainstream America, and it was a way to give back to their new country.

Slide 11 Christianity in Ireland

  • Patrick would likely have established a bishop-baseddiocesan organization that he was familiar with in his nativeBritain and in Gaul. But he also introduced monasticism to Ireland. Anumber of monasteries in northern and central Ireland would claimlinks to the saint.
  • As we’ve already said, the new religion supplanted, but also adapted to, customs longcharacteristic of the country’s pagan culture. Life in Celtic Ireland,filled with myths, peopled with spirits, and suffused with superstition,provided fertile ground for a faith that professed trinitarian mysteriesand acknowledged divine miracles. At the same time, Christianity transformed Ireland. Patrick broughta religion that eradicated human sacrifice, looked disfavourably on slavery,and discouraged warfare.
  • Christianity itself came to Ireland peacefully, the only country inwestern Europe where the work of conversion produced no martyrs.
  • During the sixth century, monasticism made rapid strides andemerged preeminent, Ireland becoming unique in western Europe inhaving its most important churches ruled by a hierarchy of monks. At a time when schooling had all but ceased on the European continent,in Ireland education flourished. During the fifth and sixth centuries,instructors in ecclesiastical schools taught Scriptures and Latingrammar to boys, who learned to read the classical authors with easeand to write the language with skill. At the same time, pre-Christianlearning in Ireland survived. Secular schools of poets and lawyers keptalive centuries-old systems of education, all of which wasorally transmitted and committed to memory.
  • The two schooling systems were completely separate, but in theseventh century they began to borrow from each other. Irish-languagepoets learned to read and write, and the native language was studiedin the church schools.
  • Irish monks, who wrote the lives of the saints in excellent Latinverse, were raised on the old Celtic tales of kings and heroes, and theybegan to commit them to paper. It is thanks to the scribes that a rich treasury ofearly literature exists.
  • The Book of Kells, also known as the Book of Columba, constitutes one of the most splendid examples of illuminated manuscripts housed in Ireland, and the beauty and intricacy of its artwork represents Western calligraphy and illumination at its most magnificent.

Video: book of kells 3 mins

Slide 12 The Vikings

  • In 795, the Viking raiders arrived on the coast of Ireland from Norway.They plundered and burned the local church, and then went home. This briefvisit set a pattern that was to go on for years.
  • The Vikings, although well organised, weren’t an invading force from anothernation. They were mostly working on a freelance basis, and whatever profitsthey took from the Irish excursions were for themselves.
  • This pattern of occasional appearances changed in 837 when the Vikingsstarted arriving in large numbers. In 840 they spent the whole winter on LoughNeagh, and in 841 started establishing permanent fortified bases around thecountry.
  • The great attraction for the Vikings was the wealth of the Irish Church. The Irish Church had become increasingly famous, and stories of its riches had spread far and wide. Although the monks tried to protect themselves by building high walls and towers, these fortifications were no protection against the Vikings._ The men from Scandinavia weren’t conducive to the quiet reflective lifestyle of your average monk. With the Vikings causing havoc in Ireland the amount of manuscript illumination undertaken in the monasteries declined sharply. The Book of Kells and other great illuminated manuscripts that you see in the museums today were made either before or after the Vikings arrived.
  • By the 840srecords talk of Viking buildings and fortifications appearing, and the nameDuiblinn begins appearing too. So yes, it’s the Vikings that started the city, andput its first buildings together.
  • A second wave of invasion arrived a century later and was brought by Vikings from Denmark.
  • The Vikings brought a nautical technology and superior weaponry,which facilitated the ability to do battle across wider territories withmore deadly means.

Slide 13 The Normans

  • In 1166 a high king, Rory O’ Connor, dominated the island but an adversary,
  • the defeated king of Leinster, Dermot Mac Murrogh, wasn’t ready to accept his defeat. Mac Murrough had two options after leaving Ireland: Accept defeat and neverreturn to Ireland, or find someone who was an even bigger bully than Rory OConnor and try and get them to come and fight on his side. As you can imagine, Mac Murrough chose option two.So Mac Murrough sailedoff to France, where he found Henry II, the king of England, and asked him for his help.Henry agreed to the request and gave Mac Murrough a royal seal of approvalfor his mission of retaking his land in Ireland.
  • One of the key figures that agreed to help Mac Murrough was Richard fitzGilbert, the Earl of Pembroke. He was of Norman stock, and would go downin history by his other name: Strongbow. Alongside Strongbow a whole groupof other Normans offered to assist Mac Murrough, and Irish history tooka major turn.
  • In the summer of 1170, the English earl Strongbow made his move. He broughtwith him an army of 1,000 men and 200 knights (they also had armour andarchers – things that the Irish just weren’t up to face). They were themost technologically advanced army of their time.Gaelic Irish could initiallyexpect to meet a shower of deadly arrows loosed from the longbows ofWelsh archers, followed by a charge of mounted knights carrying longlances, and then by a wave of foot soldiers, marching steadily forwardin ranks and wielding long, heavy swords. The Irish, clad in their lighttunics with their short swords and axes and accustomed to charging inno particular order, stood decidedly at a disadvantage.
  • Pope Alexander III(r. 1159–81) proclaimed Henry as “lord of Ireland” in 1172 and wroteto Irish kings enjoining fealty to Henry. Echoing the pope’s move, theIrish bishops made submission to him. So Ireland’s days of running its own affairs were over.
  • After the fallof Dublin to Strongbow in 1170 it would take until 1922 before the city would again rule its own affairs and not take its orders fromEngland.

Slide 14 Irish surnames

  • Hereditary surnames appeared very early in Ireland, and manycame into common use during about the year 1000.
  • Namesstarting with “O” and “Mac” originated as patronyms to distinguish ason from his father or a grandson from his grandfather.
  • “O” derivesfrom “Ua” (pronounced hua), placed before clan names, whichevolved into Irish Ó and which English-language clerks in the 16 thcentury rendered as O’ to mean another word for of. The O signifies“grandson” or “descendant” attached to the grandfather’s name ortrade, and it survives as a linguistic link to the extended patrilinealfamily units of Irish Celtic society. EX: O’Brien, O’Connell,O’Flaherty, O’Flynn.
  • Mac—or Mc—is the Gaelic word for son and wasattached to the father’s name or trade. .”
  • Over time, prefixes attached to some names were dropped. Irish surnameswere often anglicized by Irish immigrants to English-speakingcountries overseas and by English settlers in Ireland. For example,Ó Ceallaigh became O’Kelly; Ó Conchúir, O’Connor; Ó Tuathail,O’Toole; Ó Mealaigh, O’Malley; Mac Cárthaigh, MacCarthy; and MacDómhnaill, MacDonnell.
  • Another common Irish prefix—Fitz—dates from the arrival of the Normans, beginning in the12 th century. It derives from the French word fils, meaning “son”. Ex: Fitzgerald, Fitzwilliam, Fitzpatrick

Slide 15 The Anglo-Irish and the Irish Parliament