Irish History
And
The Fighting Irish
And
The Fighting Irish
After
a fearfully perilous voyage they landed in France. They visited different courts, in time
settling in Rome where the Pope gave them a handsome pension. O' Donnell died within a year; O' Neill in 1616. English spies surrounded him till his death. Their reports mention that in the evenings, after dining, O' Neill had but one topic; " His face would glow, he would strike the table, he would say that they would yet have a good day in Ireland. " On his death every honour paid to royalty was paid to him. He was buried in the Franciscan Church of San Pietro di Montorio, on the Janiculum hill. One of his sons had died before him; and another Brian, page to the Archdukes in Brussels, was murdered by agents of the English Government.
The Nine Years' War was the last stand that Ireland as a nation under her own laws made against England and English laws. After the battle of Kinsale, the new rule rushed in. Not everything native went down at first; the schools for a time continued. Wherever breathing space was found they arose and flourished. They kept the learning and traditions of the past. Thet produced a generation of scholars who saved from utter destruction the records of Irish civilisation and Irish history. " During the first half of the 17th century, the Irish, heavily handicapped as they were, and deprived of the power of printing, nevertheless made tremendous efforts to keep abreast of the rest of Europe in science and literature.
It was indeed an age of national scholarship which had never since been equalled. It was this century that produced in rapid succession Geoffrey Keating, the Four Masters, and Duald MacFirbis, men of whom any age or country might be proud, men who amid the war, the rapine, and conflagration that rolled through the country with the English soldiers, still strove to save from the general wreck those records of their country which to-day make the name of Ireland honourable for her antiquities, traditions, and history, in the eyes of the scholars of Europe.
Not till the end of the 17th century were these schools finally crushed. The hedge schools were their shadowy children. While the Irish language was the language of the mass of the people the history and traditions of the country were familiar to them. To the 18th century belong the majority of those manuscripts written in beautiful script, on coarse paper stained brown by turf-smoke, bound in untanned sheep-skin covers, which re-tell the Heroic Tales and folklore of Ireland. And so vivid and strong was oral tradition enshrined in the language that a poor blind wandering poet in the early years of the 19th century can relate in verse after verse the history of his country from the mythic invasions to the Tithe war of his own day.
At the end of the Elizabethan wars, the conquest of Ireland appeared completed. The beginning of the 17th century saw the overthrow of the clan and communal system, the destruction of the Great Gaelic Houses, and the establishment of centralisation by a despotic power. The centralisation, carried out rigorously, placed the government, patronage, power, and ownership of the land in the hands of the English colonists.
The standing fact, however, is that the conquest was not completed. It was surface deep, no more.
The Nine Years' War was the last stand that Ireland as a nation under her own laws made against England and English laws. After the battle of Kinsale, the new rule rushed in. Not everything native went down at first; the schools for a time continued. Wherever breathing space was found they arose and flourished. They kept the learning and traditions of the past. Thet produced a generation of scholars who saved from utter destruction the records of Irish civilisation and Irish history. " During the first half of the 17th century, the Irish, heavily handicapped as they were, and deprived of the power of printing, nevertheless made tremendous efforts to keep abreast of the rest of Europe in science and literature.
It was indeed an age of national scholarship which had never since been equalled. It was this century that produced in rapid succession Geoffrey Keating, the Four Masters, and Duald MacFirbis, men of whom any age or country might be proud, men who amid the war, the rapine, and conflagration that rolled through the country with the English soldiers, still strove to save from the general wreck those records of their country which to-day make the name of Ireland honourable for her antiquities, traditions, and history, in the eyes of the scholars of Europe.
Not till the end of the 17th century were these schools finally crushed. The hedge schools were their shadowy children. While the Irish language was the language of the mass of the people the history and traditions of the country were familiar to them. To the 18th century belong the majority of those manuscripts written in beautiful script, on coarse paper stained brown by turf-smoke, bound in untanned sheep-skin covers, which re-tell the Heroic Tales and folklore of Ireland. And so vivid and strong was oral tradition enshrined in the language that a poor blind wandering poet in the early years of the 19th century can relate in verse after verse the history of his country from the mythic invasions to the Tithe war of his own day.
At the end of the Elizabethan wars, the conquest of Ireland appeared completed. The beginning of the 17th century saw the overthrow of the clan and communal system, the destruction of the Great Gaelic Houses, and the establishment of centralisation by a despotic power. The centralisation, carried out rigorously, placed the government, patronage, power, and ownership of the land in the hands of the English colonists.
The standing fact, however, is that the conquest was not completed. It was surface deep, no more.
On that surface the English Law ran, and her armed forces moved. But the soul of Ireland was unconquered.
For two centuries after the conclusion of the Elizabethan wars the great bulwark of Irish nationaliy was the Irish language. England recognised this; she made every effort to destroy it. The memory of the Brehon Laws survived to the 19th century, and showed itself in the Land League and the people's claims.
Ireland's body was in chains, but her soul and mind were free.
For two centuries after the conclusion of the Elizabethan wars the great bulwark of Irish nationaliy was the Irish language. England recognised this; she made every effort to destroy it. The memory of the Brehon Laws survived to the 19th century, and showed itself in the Land League and the people's claims.
Ireland's body was in chains, but her soul and mind were free.
Source used: The Story of the Irish Race: By Semus MacManus
Published by Devin=Adair
