#english_history 

## Society
Unlike [[The Celtic kingdoms of Wales|Wales]] and England, Ireland was never invaded by either the Romans or the Anglo-Saxons. It was a land of monasteries and Celtic culture. As in Wales, people were known by the family grouping they belonged to. The kings in this tribal society were chosen by election, in which the strongest would win.

## Kingdoms
Five kingdoms grew up in Ireland, with Tara being the seat of the **high kings** of Ireland:
![[Pasted image 20220621143347.png]]

## Christianity
Christianity came to Ireland in about **430 CE** and was spread by a British slave, [[Saint Patrick|Patrick]], who became the patron saint of Ireland.
From around that point, the written history of Ireland begins thanks to the spread of literacy. This addition weakened the position of the [[The Celts in Britain#^71f566|Druids]], who depended on memory.
This period is collectively known as the "golden age" of Ireland, and it lasted until the arrival of the [[Vikings and the Saxons|Vikings]].

## Raids
Viking raids brought new fresh economic and political acction into Irish life, such as forcing the Irish to unite and choose its first high king in **859**, although this wasn't effective due to the political competition that took place in such elections. As an effective method of rule it lasted only 12 years (1002 to 1014), during the reign of **Brian Boru**, possibly Ireland's greatest leader, as he encouraged the growth of organisation and tried to unify Ireland.
Viking trade led to the first towns and ports, which revolutionised Celtic life. **Dublin**, Ireland's future capital, was founded by the VIkings.
Over a century later after Boru's death, a king of Leinster invited the Normans of England to help him against his high king, which gave the Normans the excuse they wanted to enlarge their kingdom.

## English conquest
Ireland had been conquered by Norman lords in 1169. 
[[Kingship as a family business in the early Middle ages|Henry II]], in order to maintain his authority, took promise from the Irish chiefs and Norman lords to accept his lordship with the authority of the pope, who hoped to bring the [[Christianity after the Saxon invasion|Irish Church]] under his own control.
Henry II proclaimed Dublin the capital of his new colony. Much of western Ireland remained under control of Irish chiefs, while Norman lords governed most of the east, the English Crown only controlled Dublin anda a small area around it, known as **The Pale**. Henry began actively usupring its resources.
The Anglo-Irish lords soon became almost independent from the English Crown.

## The Tudors
Henry VIII wanted to bring Ireland under his authority, as he had with Wales. He destroyed the power of Anglo-Irish noble families and persuaded the Irish parliament to recognise him as king of Ireland.

However, Henry VIII also tried to make the Irish accept his English Church Reformation. In Ireland the monasteries and the Church were still an important part of economic and social life, so they nobility and gentry refused his ideas, causing a rebellion. Henry VIII failed to get what he wanted in Ireland, in fact making things worse by bringing [[Irish nationalism]] and Catholicism together against English rule.

It is possible that without the danger of a foreign invasion, the Tudors might have given up trying to control the Irish, but they were Catholic.

In 1580 many Irish rebelled, encouraged by the arrival of a few Spanish and French soldiers. Elizabeth I's soldiers saw the rebels as primitives and treated them with great cruelty. ^612a0a

In the end, the Tudors destroyed the old Gaelic way of life and introduced English government. The effect of English rule was greatest in the north, in Ulstrer, where the Irish tribes had fought longest. Here lands were taken and sold to English and Scottish merchants. The county of Derry was renamed Londonderry, after its new merchant owners. This colonisation did not make England richer, but it destroyed much of Ireland's society and economy and sowed the reasons for future conflicts in the area.

## Stuarts & Glorious Revolution
The Irish did not accept the English removal of James II peacefully, as his Catholicism had raised the hopes of those who had lost their lands to the Protestant settlers. When James lost throne in England, he landed in Ireland in **1689** with French support.

In Dublin a Catholic parliament immediately passed an Act taking away all the property of Protestants in Ireland. But the Protestants defending the city of Londonderry refused to Surrender in 1690. After a 15-week siege, English ships arrived bringing fresh supplies and the struggle for Londonderry was over. The battlecry of the Protestants of Londonderry "No Surrender!" has remained to this day the cry of Ulster Protestantism.

King William III of Orange landed in Ireland in 1690 and defeated James's army at the River Boyne. The Protestant victory was complete.

## Stuarts &  Hanoverians
After James II's defeat by William of Orange, the Protestant parliament in Dublin passed laws to prevent the Catholics from taking any part in national life, even though they were still a majority.

But by the 1770s life had become easier and some of the worst laws against Catholics were removed. But not everyone wanted to give the Catholics more freedom. In Ulster, Protestants formed the first **"Orange Lodges"**, societites which were against any freedom for the Catholics.

In **1801** Ireland was united with Britain, and the Dublin parliament closed. Politicians had promised Irish leaders that when Ireland became part of Britain the Catholics would get equal voting opportunities etc, but George III & Co. refused to let this happen.