The Story of Ireland, Part 3
- Europe caught in religious war
- Protestant armies of Elizabeth fought Irish Catholic for 9 years, until Hugh O'Neill's defeat
- unprecedented change
- upheaval in America and France
- long age of revolution
- in English minds, Ulster is dangerously unstable
- King James planted thousands of Protestant settlers on lands of exiled Gaelic lords
- only one quarter remained in Irish hands
- had come to stay, part of England and Scotland
- plantation sold as a commercial opportunity
- beginning of troubles in Northern Ireland
- major issue - large number of Irish natives on plantation dairy farms
- impossible to keep English and Irish separate
- thousands of settlers rescue plantation, (Presbyterians, Calvanists, strongly against Catholicism)
- not accepted into Irish society
- Irish angry and resentful
- "crafty, false, peeving sect of Calvin"
- rest of Ireland - Catholics controlled 70% of land
- 1640, challenge to Charles in Parliament, rebelled against Charles
- war between 3 kingdoms: England, Scotland, and Ireland
- uprising planned for Oct 23, 1641, poorly planned, descending into anarchy
- spasm of rage in Ulster
- turned on Protestant planters
- "we have been your slaves, now you shall be ours"
- marched, forced to strip and enter the water, almost all died
- gorverment retaliation was savage
- government collected evidence from Protestant survivors
- ideal material for propagandists
- Oliver Cromwell determined to intervene
- English was diverted from Ireland, civil war, king was defeated, executed in 1649
- Oliver Cromwell was dispatched to Ireland, will terrorize those who oppose him, generous terms to those who support him
- Cromwell seiged English/Irish garrison
- 3000 men slaughtered
- any priests found were murdered
- beats brains out with clubs to save bullets
- set church on fire
- Winston Churchill - "cut new gulfs between nations and creeds"
- many garrisons surrendered
- hit and run attacks, Cromwell responds with ferocity
- deliberated targeted civilian population
- uprooting of population was a common tactic
- 1652 Act of Settlement, exiled west of River Shannon
- Irish banished to Connacht
- by end of 1650s, only 15% remained in Catholic lands, only Galway had Catholic lands
- dramatic events in Europe
- Louis XIV terrified neighbors
- shifting alliance against Louis
- Louis's power challenged by Prince William of Orange resisted French power
- William is drawn to Ireland
- King James II
- Protestants asked William to invade England
- Dutch king given English throne
- with Louis' help, James sailed to Ireland, landing in Kinsale
- arrival of James signaled rebirth of hope
- William went to Ireland to confront James
- James flees Dublin, seen as a coward
- William's victory in Ulster saved Protestantism in Ireland
- William offered generous terms to Irish Catholics, but were not carried out by William's successors
- Protestant ascendancy, big public buildings, roads
- some Catholics cleverly converted
- William Connelly one of the most powerful who had converted to Protestantism
- to keep political power, established court outside of Dublin
- Dublin a city of the enlightenment, transformation in 18th century
- 1741 Handel - invited to Ireland - The Messiah is composed
- affirmation of status of ascendancy
- 1739-1741, famine kills 400,000
- society feels disinherited
- restrictions on Catholics strengthened by Penal Laws
- religious persecution made priesthood more powerful
- Catholic church grew in strength, largest seminary in the world in Ireland
- Catholics not allowed to buy land, must be distributed among children if Catholic landowner dies, to dillute Catholic landowner power
- Catholic middle class emerges
- Thomas Moore becomes most popular poet of his day
- Presbyterians also victims of Penal Laws
- immigration - one of the great themes of Ireland
- first Irish immigrants in any number were Ulter Presbyterians
- Great Wagon Road - travelled to frontiers of new America, Virginia, Shenandoa Valley
- sturdy, independent people, good qualities for pioneers
- hillbillies, moved to outside
- 1775, Americans rebelled, Ulster Presbyterians joined revolution
- Battle of Kings Mountain - Ulster Presbyterians played decisive role
- 1783, America had defeated Britain, won independence
- sends powerful message to Ireland, period of reform and fear
- Ireland stands on the verge of cataclym, bloody revolution in France
- inspired idealists in Ireland
- Presbyterians set out to unite all Ireland, protestant intellectuals, catholics, descendants of Ulster planters
- called themselves United Irishmen
- propelled from activism to revolution
- 1795, Irish protestants swear an oath to assert independence
- sectarian conflicts in rural Ireland
- Orange Order formed -- the voice of Protestant fear
- Theobold Wolf Tone was most eloquent seeking Irish indepence
- May 2nd 1796, Tone met French Lazzo Carno, told him Ireland was united behind France
- France agrees to send an invasion force to Ireland
- 15000 French troops arrive in Ireland, but bad weather forces them to turn home
- brutal crackdown by army and government
- United Irish Army leaders arrested, so the army rose throughout Ireland
- sectarian fear deepened
- in Ulster, protestants feared catholics, rallied to the crown
- sectarian massacre
- ideal of united Catholics and Protestants ended with sectarian violence
- Tone brought to trial in Dublin
- mayhem, assassination, bloodshed - not what Tone wanted
- sentenced to death, but slit his own throat
- Tone viewed as a martyr
- prompts Britain to launch most radical attempt to solve Irish question