SKETCH OF IRISH HISTORY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4363, 9 January 1922, Page 3

SKETCH OF IRISH HISTORY

FROM 500 B.C. TO 1921.

According to lr ! ?n legei.ds Ireland was settled by a Milesian race who came from Scythia by way of Spain and established the Kingdom of Tara abut 500 8.C.. The supremacy of the Ardri (High King) of Tara was ac-> knowledged by eight lesser kingdoms (Munster, Leinster, Connaught, Reilech, Orad, Ulidia, Meath, and Osspry). Christianity appears to have been known to many of the people of Ireland before the fourth century A.D., although it did not become general until the advent of St. Patrick, who, born in Britain about 389, was consecrated Bishop of Auxerra in 432, and landed in Wicklow to establish Christianity throughout the island. Little is kn.own of Irish history until the invasions of Northmen (Norwegians and Danes) towards the close of the Bth century,. A.D. The out-, ■standing events in the encounter with the Northmen were the Battle of Tara, (980), in which the Scandinavians were defeated, and the Battle of Clontari (1014), by which their power was completely broken. In 1152 DermPd, the disposed King of Leinster, sought assistance in his struggle with Ruadvi O’Connor, High King of Ireland, and visited Henry 11, the Norman King of England, who authorised him to obtain armed support in England. Dermod enlisted the services of Richard de Clare (Strongbow), Norman Eart of Pembroke, who landed at Waterford on August 23, 1170, with 200 knights and 1000 other troops for the reconquest of Leinster, which he eventually settled. On October t 18. 1172, Henry II himself landed in Ire land and obtained homage from the Irish kings, but Anglo-Norman rule underwent many fluctuations, being confined in the early 15th century within the English "IPale"' of 500 square miles. In the reign of Henry VII English rule was greatly extend--ed, and the administration of Irish affairs- was Anglicanised by Robert Poyning, Lord Deputy of; Ireland, who summoned the Parliament of Drogheda (December, 1494), at which were enacted the Status of Drogheda, making the'legislature of Ireland subordinate to and depend,ant on that ot England. A later, parliament conferred on Henry VIII the title of King of Ireland, and in Elizabeth’s reign the conquest of Ireland was completed.

In the reign of James I many of the leading families of the north-eastern counties fled the . country after an abortive rebellion, and their lands were distributed amongst the English and Scottish colonists.. Cromwell’s campaign in Ireland (1649-1650) was carried on with ruthless cruelty and universal military success, terminating in the -subjugation of the kingdom and the legislative Union with England, but further estrangement was caused between the Roman Catholics and the Protestant colonists. At the revolution of 1688 the Protestants adhered to the cause of William apd Mary, and William 111 defeated, the adherents of James II at the Battle of the Boyne (July 1, 1690), and the Battle of Aughrim July 12, 1691). Various insurrections took place in the 18th century, culminating in the rebellion of 1798, after the suppression of which the Act of Union- (January 1, 1801) comprised the Irish and British legislatures. Catholic emanci-j pation was enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1829, and extensive relief works were carried out tp mitigate the severities of famine from 1831-1847. Jn 1845 the population of Ireland reached its highest point, 8,295,051—1 t is now about 4'480,000.