The History of Éire

     We don’t know too much about what was going on in Ireland until the arrival of Christianity due to the lack of written sources of information. However, from this period, we still preserve a large amount of megalithic remains all over the island (like dolmens, menhirs and cromlechs) along with remains of mine production.

Poulnabrone dolmen, the Burren, County Clare.

     Coming from Central and Eastern Europe, the Celts will arrive at the island in the 4th century BC. This new people, who are very similar to the Gauls in Gallia or the Britons in England in terms of culture and lifestyle, will replace the original settlers of Ireland.

     Despite the Celts will be scarcely organized, living in small little kingdoms (and even fighting each other) the Romans won’t be interested in conquering Ireland (as they did with Britannia) what made possible the survival of the Celtic culture for much longer. However, they will be interested in doing business with the Celts and this will lead to the cultural rapprochement between them. The arrival of Christianity is the best example of Roman influence in this society. In the 5^th century, the whole island will have assimilated the new religion and many monasteries will be built.

Round tower at Kildare Abbey, County Kildare. Kildare monastery was one of those that were built by the Christians during the 5^th century in Ireland. The only portion of the original building that remains today is the Round tower. 

     It is very interesting to notice the name that the Romans used for Ireland: Hibernia. It comes actually from Greek and means “land of the winter”. They also referred to Ireland as Scotia (“land of the Scoti”) since the Scots originally came from Ireland.

     Attracted by the wealth of Irish monasteries, in the 8th century the first Viking invasions took place in the island. This nation founded Dublin and occupied the territories around this city and for two centuries they will spread terror around the island plundering and destroying everything in their path. This situation will last until 1014, when they will be defeated in battle by Irish king Brian Boru.

     In the 12^th century a new invasion took place in Ireland. The Normans, leaded by Henry II of England, conquered the Island and soon after, Ireland became part of the British Crown and many new castles and fortress were built.

     The British dominion of Ireland will last over seven centuries. During this period there will be many rebellions which will be harshly crushed, and this situation will become even harder when Henry VIII broke with the Church of Rome and imposed the doctrine of the new Anglican Church.

     Finally, in 1912, a law which allowed the administrative autonomy of Ireland was passed by the English Parliament. However, the outbreak of the First World War paralyzed the process and the law wasn’t applied which lead independence movements to get angry and declare the independence in 1916.

     The British army crushed the uprising in 1919. However, the struggle for the independence persisted until 1921, when the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed. This treaty meant the much-anticipated independence of Ireland, although the North of the island still remained as part of the British Kingdom. Nevertheless, many people weren’t in agreement with the division and this eventually leads to the outbreak of a civil war that devastated Ireland from 1922 until 1923.

     In 1949, Ireland severed its last constitutional ties to Great Britain and an Irish Republic was finally proclaimed.