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An Illustrated History of Early Ireland
St Aidens Homeschool
An Illustrated History of
Early
Ireland
Presented by Donnette E Davis
www.staidenshomeschool.com
An Illustrated History of
Early
Early Ireland
An Illustrated History of Early Ireland
An Illustrated History of
Ireland
Ireland
List of Full-Page Illustrations
•
THE EMIGRANTS' FAREWELL
•
SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT IRISH MANUSCRIPTS
•
ST. PATRICK GOING TO TARA
•
KING BRIAN BOROIMHE KILLED BY THE VIKING
•
MARRIAGE OF EVA AND STRONGBOW
•
INTERVIEW BETWEEN MACMURROUGH AND THE OFFICERS OF RICHARD II.
•
INTERVIEW BETWEEN ESSEX AND O'NEILL
•
MASSACRE AT DROGHEDA
•
IRETON CONDEMNING THE BISHOP OF LIMERICK
•
GRATTAN'S DEMAND FOR IRISH INDEPENDENCE
•
O'CONNELL REFUSING TO TAKE THE OATH
•
IRELAND AND AMERICA
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER XXV.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER XXVI.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER XXIX.
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XXX.
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XXXI.
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XXXII.
CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XXXV.
CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
CHAPTER XIX.
INDEX.
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An Illustrated History of
An Illustrated History of Early Ireland
PREFACE
he history of the different races who form an integral portion
of the British Empire, should be one of the most carefully
cultivated studies of every member of that nation. To be
ignorant of our own history, is a disgrace; to be ignorant of the
history of those whom we govern, is an injustice. We can
neither govern ourselves nor others without a thorough
knowledge of peculiarities of disposition which may require
restraint, and of peculiarities of temperament which may
require development. We must know that water can
extinguish fire, before it occurs to us to put out a fire by the use of water. We must
know that fire, when properly used, is a beneficent element of nature, and one
which can be used to our advantage when properly controlled, before we shall
attempt to avail ourselves of it for a general or a particular benefit. I believe a
time has come when the Irish are more than ever anxious to study their national
history. I believe a time has come when the English nation, or at least a majority of
the English nation, are willing to read that history without prejudice, and to
consider it with impartiality.
When first I proposed to write a History of Ireland, at the earnest request of
persons to whose opinion. I felt bound to defer, I was assured by many that it was
useless; that Irishmen did not support Irish literature; above all, that the Irish clergy
were indifferent to it, and to literature in general. I have since ascertained, by
personal experience, that this charge is utterly unfounded, though I am free to
admit it was made on what appeared to be good authority. It is certainly to be
wished that there was a more general love of reading cultivated amongst the
Catholics of Ireland, but the deficiency is on a fair way to amendment. As a
body, the Irish priesthood may not be devoted to literature; but as a body,
unquestionably they are devotedÐnobly devotedÐto the spread of education
amongst their people.
With regard to Englishmen, I cannot do better than quote the speech of an
English member of Parliament, Alderman Salomons, who has just addressed his
constituents at Greenwich in these words:Ð
"The state of Ireland will, doubtless, be a prominent subject of
discussion next session. Any one who sympathizes with distressed
nationalities in their struggles, must, when he hears of the existence of
a conspiracy in Ireland, similar to those combinations which used to
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An Illustrated History of Early Ireland
be instituted in Poland in opposition to Russian oppression, be deeply
humiliated. Let the grievances of the Irish people be probed, and let
them be remedied when their true nature is discovered. Fenianism is
rife, not only in Ireland, but also in England, and an armed police
required, which is an insult to our liberty. I did not know much of the
Irish land question, but I know that measures have been over and
over again brought into the House of Commons with a view to its
settlement, and over and over again they have been cushioned or
silently withdrawn. If the question can be satisfactorily settled, why let
it be so, and let us conciliate the people of Ireland by wise and
honorable means. The subject of the Irish Church must also be
considered. I hold in my hand an extract from the report of the
commissioner of the Dublin Freeman's Journal, who is now examining
the question. It stated what will be to you almost incredibleÐnamely,
that the population of the united dioceses of Cashel, Emly,
Waterford, and Lismore is 370,978, and that of those only 13,000 are
members of the Established Church, while 340,000 are Roman
Catholics. If you had read of this state of things existing in any other
country, you would call out loudly against it. Such a condition of
things, in which large revenues are devoted, not for the good of the
many, but the few, if it does not justify Fenianism, certainly does justify
a large measure of discontent. I am aware of the difficulties in the
way of settling the question, owing to the fear of a collision between
Protestants and Catholics; but I think Parliament ought to have the
power to make the Irish people contented."
This speech, I believe, affords a fair idea of the opinion of educated and
unprejudiced Englishmen on the Irish question. They do not know much about Irish
history; they have heard a great deal about Irish grievances, and they have a
vague idea that there is something wrong about the landlords, and something
wrong about the ecclesiastical arrangements of the country. I believe a careful
study of Irish history is essential to the comprehension of the Irish question; and it is
obviously the moral duty of every man who has a voice in the government of the
nation, to make himself master of the subject. I believe there are honest and
honorable men in England, who would stand aghast with horror if they thoroughly
understood the injustices to which Ireland has been and still is subject. The English,
as a nation, profess the most ardent veneration for liberty. To be a patriot, to
desire to free one's country, unless, indeed, that country happen to have some
very close connexion with their own, is the surest way to obtain ovations and
applause. It is said that circumstances alter cases; they certainly alter opinions,
but they do not alter facts. An Englishman applauds and assists insurrection in
countries where they profess to have for their object the freedom of the individual
or of the nation; he imprisons and stifles it at home, where the motive is precisely
similar, and the cause, in the eyes of the insurgents at least, incomparably more
valid. But I do not wish to raise a vexed question, or to enter on political
discussions; my object in this Preface is simply to bring before the minds of
Englishmen that they have a duty to perform towards IrelandÐa duty which they
cannot cast aside on othersÐa duty which it may be for their interest, as well as
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An Illustrated History of Early Ireland
for their honour, to fulfil. I wish to draw the attention of Englishmen to those Irish
grievances which are generally admitted to exist, and which can only be fully
understood by a careful and unprejudiced perusal of Irish history, past and
present. Until grievances are thoroughly understood, they are not likely to be
thoroughly remedied. While they continue to exist, there can be no real peace in
Ireland, and English prosperity must suffer in a degree from Irish disaffection.
It is generally admitted by all, except those who are specially interested in the
denial, that the Land question and the Church question are the two great
subjects which lie at the bottom of the Irish difficulty. The difficulties of the Land
question commenced in the reign of Henry II.; the difficulties of the Church
question commenced in the reign of Henry VIII. I shall request your attention
briefly to the standpoints in Irish history from which we may take a clear view of
these subjects. I shall commence with the Land question, because I believe it to
be the more important of the two, and because I hope to show that the Church
question is intimately connected with it.
In the reign of Henry II., certain Anglo-Norman nobles came to Ireland, and, partly
by force and partly by intermarriages, obtained estates in that country. Their
tenure was the tenure of the sword. By the sword they expelled persons whose
families had possessed those lands for centuries; and by the sword they
compelled these persons, through poverty, consequent on loss of property, to
take the position of inferiors where they had been masters. You will observe that
this first English settlement in Ireland was simply a colonization on a very small
scale. Under such circumstances, if the native population are averse to the
colonization, and if the new and the old races do not amalgamate, a settled
feeling of aversion, more or less strong, is established on both sides. The natives
hate the colonist, because he has done them a grievous injury by taking
possession of their lands; the colonist hates the natives, because they are in his
way; and, if he be possessed of "land hunger," they are an impediment to the
gratification of his desires. It should be observed that there is a wide difference
between colonization and conquest. The Saxons conquered what we may
presume to have been the aboriginal inhabitants of England; the Normans
conquered the Saxon: the conquest in both cases was sufficiently complete to
amalgamate the racesÐthe interest of the different nationalities became one.
The Norman lord scorned the Saxon churl quite as contemptuously as he scorned
the Irish Celt; but there was this very important differenceÐthe interests of the
noble and the churl soon became one; they worked for the prosperity of their
common country. In Ireland, on the contrary, the interests were opposite. The
Norman noble hated the Celt as a people whom he could not subdue, but
desired most ardently to dispossess; the Celt hated the invader as a man most
naturally will hate the individual who is just strong enough to keep a wound open
by his struggles, and not strong enough to end the suffering by killing the victim.
The land question commenced when Strongbow set his foot on Irish soil; the land
question will remain a disgrace to England, and a source of misery to Ireland, until
the whole system inaugurated by Strongbow has been reversed. "At the
commencement of the connexion between England and Ireland," says Mr.
Goldwin Smith, "the foundation was inevitably laid for the fatal system of
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