As you may remember from our post on early Irish history, we left our island with a Viking defeat, the Battle of Clontarf, in 1014. Remaining Vikings mostly assimilated, and Irish chieftains mostly went back to their usual business. There was no centralised leadership, which left the Irish vulnerable to further assaults, including from Anglo-Norman armies to the east.
Those began in earnest in 1169. But the date many Irish people think of is today, 23 August, 1170, when the Anglo-Norman Strongbow arrived. You might know him as Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke. Among other things, he divided the chieftains (not hard, in the event: one of them had invited him in). He also captured Dublin.
Henry II, the king of England, brought troops to Waterford in October of 1171. And, after four years of fighting, the Treaty of Windsor began roughly 800 years of English rule of the island. The northeast six counties remain part of the United Kingdom [and, our Facebook page reminds us, Northern Ireland does have representation in that parliament, so it’s not precisely ‘English ruled’ – thanks for keeping us honest!]. This resulted in a lot of castles, and a lot of skirmishes. In fact, the phrase ‘beyond the pale’ dates to this time and place. The unfenced area in the south and west was out of English control.
By the 14th century, the Anglo-Norman people controlled most of Ireland. The native Irish kept to themselves, though, speaking their own language and preserving their customs. And also, their religion, which was Christianity.
The centuries in between saw lots of rebellions. Then, in the late 1530’s, King Henry the VIII of England wanted a divorce. And he couldn’t get one. You know the rest of the story: the creation of the Church of England (and Ireland and Scotland and Wales), Thomas Cromwell, the dissolution of the monasteries, etc. The Irish version of the story is a bit different: dissolution was only ever partial, and many wealthy landowners continued to support monks.
The vast majority of Ireland remained Catholic (still is!). Wealthy landowners tended to become Protestant, mostly for political and economic reasons. Things were unsettled for a good long while, and there were many battles (including the battle of Kinsale). Wealthy Irish Catholics left for other Catholic countries in Europe, the English crown sent English and Scottish in to take over their plantations. The upshot was that a very small number of Protestants owned the vast majority of the property. Those Catholics who remained were mostly poor. You don’t have to know a lot of history to know that usually isn’t a good scene. The Catholic backing of Bonnie Prince Charlie didn’t help Ireland either; Oliver (a distant relation of Thomas) Cromwell’s time in Ireland was brief and infamous.
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It wasn’t until 1828 and 1829, with the repeal of the Test Act and the passing of the Relief Act, which allowed Catholics to hold office and vote, that anti-Catholic prejudice formally ended. But it took a lot longer than that to end in real life, and many speculate that British inaction during the potato famine was in part because of religious differences. (More on all that soon!)
