SKETCH OF IRISH HISTORY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2371, 22 December 1921, Page 4

SKETCH OF IRISH HISTORY.

FROM 500 B.C. TO 1921.

According to Irish legends Ireland was settled by a Milesian race, who came from Scythia by way of Spain, and established the Kingdom of Tara about 500 B.C. The supremacy of the Ardri (High King) of Tara was acknowledged by eight lesser kingdoms (Munster, Leinster, Connaught, Reilech, Orad, Ulidia, Meath and Ossory). Christmas appears to have been known to many of the people of Ireland before the fourth century A.D., although it didnot become general until the advent of St. Patrick, who, born in Britain about 38D, was consecrated Bishop of Auxerra in 432, and lauded in Wicklow to establish Christianity throughout the Island. Little is known of Irish history until the invasions of Northmen (Norwegians and Danes) towards the close of the Bth century, A.D. The outstanding events in the encounter with the Northmen were the Battle of Tara (080), in which the Scandinavians were defeated, and the Battle of Clontarf (1014) by which their power was completely , broken. In 1152 Dermod, the deposed 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 Early of Pembroke, who landed at Waterford, August 23rd, 1170, with 200 knights and 1,000 other troops for the reconquest of Leinster, where he eventually settled. On October 18, 1172, Henry 11. himself landed in Ireland, and obtained homage from the Irish Kings, but Anglo-Norman rule-un-derwent many fluctuations, being confined in the ’early 15th century within the English “Pale” of 000 square miles. In the reign of Henry VII. English rule was greatly extended, and the administration of Irish affairs was Anglicised 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 dependant on that of 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 northeastern counties fled the country after an abortive rebellion, and their lands were distributed amongst the English and Scottish colonists. Cromwell’s campaign in Ireland (1049-1050) 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 1088. the Protestants adhered to the cause of William and Mary, and William 111. defeated the adherents of James 11. at the Battle of the Boyne (July Ist, 1090), and the Battle of Aughrim (July 12th, 1091). Various insurrections in the 18th century, culminating in the rebillion of 1798, after the suppression of which the Act of Union (January Ist, 1801) comprised the Irish and British legislatures. Catholic emancipation was enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1829, and extensive relief works were, carried out to mitigate the severities of famine from 1831-1847. In 1845 the population of Ireland reached its highest point, 8,295,051 —it is now a bout 4,480,000.