Ireland - Assets - Cambridge University...

Ireland

Ireland has rarely been out of the news during the past thirty years. Whether as awar zone in which Catholic nationalists and Protestant Unionists struggled forsupremacy, a case study in conflict resolution or an economy that for a timepromised to make the Irish among the wealthiest people on the planet, the twoIrelands have truly captured the world’s imagination. Yet single-volume histories ofIreland are rare. Here, Thomas Bartlett, one of the country’s leading historians, setsout a fascinating new history that ranges from prehistory to the present. Integratingpolitics, society and culture, he offers an authoritative historical road map thatshows exactly how – and why – Ireland, north and south, arrived at where it istoday. This is an indispensable guide both to the legacies of the past for Ireland’spresent and to the problems confronting north and south in the contemporaryworld.

thomas bartlett is Professor of Irish History at the School of Divinity, Historyand Philosophy, University of Aberdeen. His previous publications include The Falland Rise of the Irish Nation: the Catholic Question, 1690–1830 (1992), A MilitaryHistory of Ireland (1996, with Keith Jeffery) and Revolutionary Dublin: the Lettersof Francis Higgins to Dublin Castle, 1795–1801 (2004).

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100 km

50 miles

Land over 300m OD

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Ireland

DONEGAL

DerryDERRY ANTRIM

Belfast

DOWNARMAGH

TYRONE

SLIGO

MAYO

GALWAYGalway

CLARE

Limerick

LIMERICK

KERRY

Cork

C O R K

WATERFORDWaterford

TIPPERARY

OFFALY

LAOIS

KILKENNY

CARLOW

WEXFORD

WICKLOW

DublinDUBLIN

KILDARE

LOUTH

MEATH

WESTMEATH

CAVAN

ROSCOMMON

LEITRIM

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FERMANAGH

Northern Ireland

U L S T E R

LIEN S T E R

C O N N A C H T

M U N S T E R

Map 1 Map of Ireland, showing major towns and political divisions






IRELANDA History

THOMAS BARTLETTProfessor of Irish History,University of Aberdeen






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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521197205

c© Thomas Bartlett 2010

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First published 2010

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Bartlett, Thomas.

Ireland : a history / Thomas Bartlett.

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Includes bibliographical references and index.

isbn 978-0-521-19720-5 (hbk.)

1. Ireland – History. I. Title.

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9






CONTENTS

List of maps viList of illustrations viiPreface xv

1 Early Ireland, ad 431–1169 1

2 From lordship to kingdom: Ireland, 1169–1541 34

3 The making of Protestant Ireland, 1541–1691 79

4 Ireland’s long eighteenth century, 1691–1830 143

I: Ascendancy, 1690–1790 143

II: Descendancy, 1790–1830 206

5 From Union to disunion: Ireland, 1830–1914 267

I: Testing the Union, 1830–70 268

II: Ending and defending the Union: Ireland 1870–1914 314

6 The making of the two Irelands, 1914–45 377

7 Hubris and nemesis: the two Irelands, 1945–2010 468

Notes 580

Index 587






MAPS

1 Map of Ireland, showing major towns and politicaldivisions ii

2 Early Christian Ireland 14

3 Irish missionaries abroad 22

4 Vikings 29

5 Medieval settlement 49

6 The Pale 66

7 Tudor and Stuart plantations 102

8 Repeal meetings 1843 276

9 Famine severity 283

10 Irish speakers as percentage of population in 1911 347

11 Ryanair destinations in 2007 548






ILLUSTRATIONS

1.1 Tara brooch. National Museum of Ireland. 9

1.2 Shrine of St Patrick’s hand, county Down; gilt silver; fourteenth–fifteenth century. Ulster Museum. 12

1.3 The Ardagh chalice. National Museum of Ireland. 16

1.4 Detail of writing tablet found on Springmount bog, county Antrim.National Museum of Ireland. 17

1.5 Stowe Missal. Dating from the late eighth or early ninth century. RoyalIrish Academy. 19

1.6 Stowe Missal. The decorated opening page. Royal Irish Academy. 20

1.7 The Cathach or psalter of St Colum Cille (Columba). Royal IrishAcademy. 21

1.8 Late nineteenth-century representations of Ireland’s patron saints.National Library of Ireland. 23

1.9 Viking sword found in Ballinderry crannog, county Westmeath.National Museum of Ireland. 30

1.10 Viking coins struck in Dublin c. 995–c. 1140s. National Museum ofIreland. 32

2.1 Iron helmet with bronze mounts from Lough Henney, county Down.Fourteenth–fifteenth century. Ulster Museum. 63






viii / List of illustrations

2.2 Iron carpenter’s axehead on original woodhaft. Clonteevy, countyTyrone; twelfth–fourteenth century. Ulster Museum. 64

2.3 Page from the Book of the O’Lees. Royal Irish Academy. 67

2.4 Opening page from a sixteenth-century introductory tract on bardicteaching. Royal Irish Academy. 68

2.5 Book of Uı Mhaine (detail). Royal Irish Academy. 69

3.1 Heroic image of Owen Roe O’Neill wearing Spanish armour andleading his troops to victory at Benburb, county Tyrone in 1646.National Library of Ireland. 113

3.2 News reports in London of the Irish rebellion. © British LibraryBoard. All Rights Reserved (E. 181[13], E. 114[26], E. 180[15],E. 179[9]). 116

3.3 Lurid images of rebel atrocities in Ireland. Cambridge UniversityLibrary. 119

3.4 A coin struck by James II in Ireland. National Museum of Ireland. 136

3.5 A highly stylised and non-contemporary representation of the battleof the Boyne, 12 July (new style) 1690. National Library ofIreland. 137

3.6 Early nineteenth-century image of Patrick Sarsfield’s successful attackon King William’s artillery train at Ballyneety, county Limerick.National Library of Ireland. 138

4.1 Remember Fontenoy: a largely fictional representation of the battle ofFontenoy, 1745. National Library of Ireland. 171

4.2 The Shamrock, December 1890: Imaginative representation of ameeting in 1795 on Cave Hill, Belfast, at which Theobald Wolfe Tone,Thomas Russell and Samuel Neilson took an oath together to set up anIrish Republic. National Library of Ireland. 214

4.3 Theobald Wolfe Tone seeking to interest Napoleon Bonaparte in aninvasion of Ireland in 1797. National Library of Ireland. 217






ix / List of illustrations

4.4 Centennial image of Henry Joy McCracken leading the attack onAntrim Town during the 1798 rebellion. National Library ofIreland. 223

4.5 Triumph in defeat. Robert Emmet’s speech from the dock following hisdeath sentence in 1803. National Library of Ireland. 245

5.1 Kilkenny Cats. Old Ireland confronting Young Ireland. NationalLibrary of Ireland. 279

5.2 Two examples of Daniel O’Connell’s colourful style of electioneering.National Library of Ireland. 280

5.3 Illustrations of the misery of Ireland during the Great Famine. NationalLibrary of Ireland. 286

5.4 United Ireland, 19 September 1885. Joseph Chamberlain busilyengaged in flogging Hibernia. National Library of Ireland. 290

5.5 Michael Doheny’s call to arms in Ireland, inspired by the 1848

revolution in France. National Library of Ireland. 299

5.6 The execution of the ‘Manchester Martyrs’. National Library ofIreland. 303

5.7 Portrait of Isaac Butt, leader of the Home Government Association andpioneer Home Ruler. National Library of Ireland. 305

5.8 Captain Boycott out walking under the watchful eye of soldiers.National Library of Ireland. 321

5.9 The Land War. National Library of Ireland. 321

(a) A French journal depicts the difficult position of Captain Boycottand his family.

(b) A highly fanciful depiction of an engagement between LandLeague activists and soldiers. National Library of Ireland.

5.10 Boycotting: picture from the Illustrated London News, 1 January 1881.National Library of Ireland. 322






x / List of illustrations

5.11 Hibernia bound to the stake by Gladstone is assaulted by the Orangeand Royal factions. Weekly Freeman, 24 December 1881. NationalLibrary of Ireland. 324

5.12 Sketches of the Invincibles during their trial for the assassination ofCavendish and Burke. National Library of Ireland. 326

5.13 Land War poster. National Library of Ireland. 327

5.14 Evictions. Irish Photographic Archive. 328

(a) A battering ram brings down roof and walls of a cottage.(b) The aftermath of an eviction.

5.15 Another Ireland: scenes from the Aran Islands off the west coast ofIreland, c. 1900. Irish Photographic Archive. 348

(a) Women washing clothes.(b) Young boy watching a girl carrying seaweed.(c) Women carrying turf.

5.16 Humorous propaganda against the Home Rule plot. National Museumof Ireland. 364

5.17 Incident during the Dublin lock-out of 1913. National Museum ofIreland. 370

5.18 John Redmond addressing a pro-war rally in Dublin, c. 1914. IrishPhotographic Archive. 375

6.1 Recruitment posters to encourage Irish enlistment, 1914–15. NationalLibrary of Ireland. 380

6.2 Irish soldiers at the front during the Great War. National Museum ofIreland. 382

6.3 Easter Proclamation, 1916. National Museum of Ireland. 389

6.4 Eamon de Valera under arrest, 1916. National Museum ofIreland. 390






xi / List of illustrations

6.5 Aftermath: the area around the General Post Office after the EasterRising. Royal Irish Academy. 392

6.6 Constance Markievicz in military uniform, 1915. National Library ofIreland. 397

6.7 Large crowd in College Green, Dublin, celebrating the return of the16th Irish Division from the war, 1919. Irish PhotographicArchive. 400

6.8 British soldiers searching a car in Dublin, 1921. National Museum ofIreland. 402

6.9 ‘Black and Tans’ check out premises in Dublin. National Museum ofIreland. 403

6.10 Auxiliaries on patrol, 1921. National Library of Ireland. 404

6.11 Members of Cumann na mBan recite the rosary outside Mountjoyprison as Thomas Traynor is being executed, 25 April 1921. IrishPhotographic Archive. 405

6.12 Anti-Treaty rally in Dublin. Irish Photographic Archive. 409

6.13 Group of newly enlisted members of the National Army during theIrish civil war, 1922. Irish Photographic Archive. 411

6.14 Michael Collins addressing a pro-Treaty rally in Cork (c. 1921). IrishPhotographic Archive. 411

6.15 Attack on the anti-Treaty forces occupying the Four Courts: theopening shots in the Irish civil war. Irish Photographic Archive. 412

6.16 The Four Courts blazing. Irish Photographic Archive. 413

6.17 Mixed group of National Army soldiers (c. 1922–3). Irish PhotographicArchive. 413






xii / List of illustrations

6.18 National Army soldiers receive a blessing from a Catholic priest. IrishPhotographic Archive. 414

6.19 National Army soldiers, fresh from their triumph at the Four Courts, onboard ship bound for county Kerry. Irish Photographic Archive. 414

6.20 National Army soldiers in action at O’Connell Street, Dublin duringthe civil war. Irish Photographic Archive. 415

6.21 Another shot of the same incident. Irish Photographic Archive. 415

6.22 Shattered dream. General Michael Collins at Portobello Barracks,Dublin, c. 1922. Irish Photographic Archive. 416

6.23 Funeral of Michael Collins. Irish Photographic Archive. 416

6.24 Memorial card for Liam Lynch. Fitzgerald Papers, University CollegeDublin Archives. 417

6.25 Cartoon by Constance Markievicz attacking the activities of the FreeState government during the Irish civil war. Irish PhotographicArchive. 418

6.26 The revolutionaries: members of the Cosgrave government at afunction, early 1920s. Irish Photographic Archive. 421

6.27 The revolutionary: Sir James Craig at the opening of the NorthernIreland Parliament in Belfast City Hall, June 1921. Irish PhotographicArchive. 422

6.28 Mass being celebrated on O’Connell Bridge during the EucharisticCongress, 1932. Irish Photographic Archive. 427

6.29 Attempted revolution in Dublin. Cartoon from Dublin Opinionsatirising the obsession with matters of private morality in the new IrishFree State. Irish Photographic Archive. 429

6.30 Mrs Pearse, mother of Patrick and William, along with Mrs HannahSheehy-Skeffington, at Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin, 1920s. IrishPhotographic Archive. 449






xiii / List of illustrations

6.31 Eamon de Valera with Frank Aiken on their way to inspect SpikeIsland. De Valera papers, University College Dublin Archives. 455

7.1 Election poster from 1948. Fianna Fail papers, University CollegeDublin Archives. 476

7.2 A shop in Dublin in the 1950s. Irish Photographic Archive. 479

7.3 Eamon de Valera pays his respects to the Papal Legate, 1951. De Valerapapers, University College Dublin Archives. 480

7.4 A bus bound for Dublin airport overtakes a jaunting cart, probably inthe 1950s. Irish Photographic Archive. 484

7.5 Children playing in the flats complexes built in the 1960s. IrishPhotographic Archive. 485

7.6 Nuns escort a group of young girls preparing for their first HolyCommunion, under the eyes of mini-skirted girls. Mid-1960s. IrishPhotographic Archive. 486

7.7 1966: aftermath of the blowing up of Nelson’s Pillar in Dublin. IrishPhotographic Archive. 495

7.8 This illustration encapsulates Unionist fears that the disturbances inNorthern Ireland were nothing more than a re-run of the 1916

Rebellion. National Library of Ireland. 504

7.9 Members of the short-lived power-sharing executive that was broughtdown by the Ulster workers’ strike in 1974. Irish PhotographicArchive. 515

7.10 Brendan Smyth, convicted child abuser, glowers at the camera. IrishPhotographic Archive. 534

7.11 Mary Robinson of the Labour Party celebrating her victory in thepresidential election of 1990. Irish Photographic Archive. 543

7.12 Seamus Heaney, Nobel Laureate in literature. Irish PhotographicArchive. 544






xiv / List of illustrations

7.13 Happy Days! The Republic of Ireland soccer team celebrating itsadvance to the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 1990. IrishPhotographic Archive. 545

7.14 Not for turning? Democratic Unionist Peter Robinson protests at theAnglo-Irish Agreement of 1985. Irish Photographic Archive. 558

7.15 The peacemakers? Martin McGuinness, Ian Paisley, Tony Blair andBertie Aherne, at the setting up of the power-sharing executive inNorthern Ireland in 2007. Harrison photography. 578






PREFACE

This book has been long in the writing and I have incurred many debts andobligations along the way. Technically I began work on it in 2002 when I wasParnell Fellow in Irish Studies at Magdalene College, Cambridge. I continuedwith it when back in University College Dublin, brought it with me to theUniversity of Aberdeen and put the finishing touches to it at Boston Collegewhere I am Burns Library Fellow in Irish Studies, 2009–10. However, the bookhas been in gestation for much longer than these years and while it would berash to claim that I have been thinking about writing a history of Ireland for myentire academic career, it would not be entirely fanciful.

I began the serious study of Irish history when I was at school in Belfast – StMary’s Christian Brothers’ School on the Falls Road – in the early 1960s, whereI was fortunate to be taught by Frank Thompson, who encouraged me to readwidely. His encouragement would have been pointless without the existencenearby of a great Belfast institution – the Central Library, with its specialistIrish collections. I was indulged by a number of reference librarians who saw noproblem in allowing a schoolboy to borrow some books for a few days. Later atQueen’s University I was taught by a remarkably talented group of historians –Michael Roberts, J. C. Beckett and Peter Jupp were particularly influential andindeed Jupp was to supervise my doctoral thesis. After Queen’s I spent a yearat the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where I was entrusted to the leadingAmerican colonial historian John W. Shy, who not only taught me colonial his-tory but also impressed me with the need to pay attention to style in communicat-ing ideas. I also benefited from a period spent school-teaching at the Royal BelfastAcademical Institution in the mid-1970s, where I learned – the hard way – howto teach. At University College Galway, where I achieved my first university posi-tion, then at University College Dublin and latterly at the University of Aberdeen,I have been lucky enough to encounter gifted historians who were happy to shareideas and discuss issues (and to gossip). At Galway I have to mention particu-larly Nicholas Canny (who read and commented on sections of this book),






xvi / Preface

Daibhı O Croinın (likewise), Gearoid O Tuathaigh, Caitriona Clear, Steven Ellisand Niall O Ciosain. At University College Dublin I learned much from mycolleagues in Irish history – notably Tadhg O hAnnrachain, Michael Laffanand Tim O’Neill – and from colleagues outside the Irish history department –Ronan Fanning, Michael Staunton, Tom Garvin and Cormac O Grada. A specialdebt is due to Michael Laffan for his good humour in reading and commentingon successive chapters of this book. At the University of Aberdeen my colleaguesAlistair MacDonald and Andrew MacKillop reminded me of the importance ofthe Scottish dimension in Irish history.

It will be seen that my formation as a historian has taken place in a variety ofinstitutions, in a number of countries and during what has been a remarkable,even tumultuous forty years in Irish history. This book bears the marks of thisscholarly journey, and those mentioned above helped shape it in ways that theymight not recognise or possibly approve. For all that, the book remains my soleresponsibility; in so far as it has merit, then that should go to those scholarswhose work I have relied on and to those who have lent me scholarly supportover the decades.

I owe a special debt of gratitude to a number of individuals and institutions.At Cambridge, Eamon Duffy encouraged me to take on the book; at TrinityCollege Dublin, Jane Ohlmeyer and Mıcheal O Siochru discussed with me the1641 rebellion, and Frank Barry guided me through the literature on the CelticTiger. The University of Aberdeen helped defray the cost of the illustrations, andDaire Keogh, St Patrick’s College, and Kevin Whelan, Notre Dame University,advised on them. Matthew Stout drew the maps. Christopher J. Woods read andcommented on the nineteenth-century sections as did Professor Alvin Jackson ofthe University of Edinburgh. For their assistance with illustrations, my thanks tothe staff of the Irish Photographic Archive, to Siobhan Fitzpatrick, Royal IrishAcademy, to Trevor Parkhill and Michelle Ashmore, Ulster Museum, to LarJoye, Michael Kenny and Finbarr Connolly, National Museum of Ireland and toMary Broderick at the National Library of Ireland. My publishers at CambridgeUniversity Press – Michael Watson and Helen Waterhouse – have shown greatpatience with me, for which many thanks.

My thanks to my family, and especially to Rebecca, for putting up withme while this book was written. This book is for my grandson, Roc BartlettMcDonnell (b. 2008), in the hope that his Ireland will be both peaceful andprosperous.






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