Introduction
1.1 Historical background information about Ireland
Prehistoric Ireland spans over the first ever known period of settlement at around 8000 B.C until the proto-historic Gaelic Ireland to the beginning of the Viking Age and in the 5th century the time of Christianization. Notably, the period includes the Hiberno-Scottish mission of the Christianized Ireland to the pagan Europe and Great Britain (Campbell, 2014). At the start of this period, Ireland had just emerged from a very mysterious decline that archaeological evidence suggests to have had hit the standards of living and population levels from 100 B.C to about 300 B.C. The population was entirely rural and dispersed characterized by small ring forts of human populations (Keating-Miller, 2009). The main activity was hunting and gathering although archaeological evidence shows that livestock and cereal farming was an important economic activity from 200 AD onwards. Cattle were greatly valued, and cattle raiding constituted a great part of warfare. Recorded history of the Irish people begins with the introduction of Latin literacy and Christianity, beginning in the 5th century. One of the most reliable historical events is the ordination of Palladius by Pope Calestine 1 as the first Irish bishop to the Christians there in 431. By the 6th century, the church had already developed separate diocese although the country was still predominantly pagan (Campbell, 2014).
Maps of the ancient Ireland (Campbell, 2014):
The 12th century invasion by the Norman marked the beginning of direct English involvement. On May 1, 1169, an army of about 600 men attacked Bannow Strand coinciding with the period of the renewed Norman expansion at the invitation of Dermot Mac Murro...
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... a lot of concern the declining use of the Irish and is implementing policies geared towards preserving the language from extinction.
Works Cited
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Campbell, K. L. (2014). Ireland's History : Prehistory to the Present. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
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Keating-Miller, J. (2009). Language, Identity and Liberation in Contemporary Irish Literature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
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“Ireland must be governed in the English interest” as Document 1 states. The Irish and English relationship is one of ethnic superiority over the other and geographical divide. The English feel like it is their duty to make the Irish people like themselves and they believe that their religion is the crux of what makes them inferior and the Irish just want to be left alone. The geographical divide between the nations is the mainly protestant, Ulster, and the Catholic rest of the island as Document 9 suggests. This has caused many disputes because of the fact that Irish Nationalists want the whole island unified.
Meagher, Timothy. “The Columbia Guide to Irish American History.” Columbia University Press- New York, 2005
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There is a temptation to see all Irish work since the revival in terms of decolonization. Cahalan, in The Irish Novel, traces the tendency of Irish writers such as Swift, Edgeworth and Maturin to employ fantastic elements and non-realism in direct opposition to English colonial models and in affirmation of certain Irish traditions. Mercier, in The Irish Comic Tradition, points also to the presence of exaggeration, absurdity and scatological detail in Gaelic heroic cycles and poetry.
Ireland From Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and or Making Them Beneficial to the Public." The Norton Anthology. Eighth Edition. Ed. Greenblatt, Stephen. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006. 1114-1119.
The time in which this all took place and the author’s background play an important role in understanding this proposal. During the 18th century, the English and Irish were in the midst of a political, economic, and religious struggle. One of the biggest obstacles was the Catholi...
O’Brien, Conor and Cruise. A Concise History of Ireland. Thames and Hudson; New York, 1985.
Ireland in The Coming Times- Essays to Celebrate T.K. Whitaker’s 80 Years edited by F. O’ Muircheartaigh, IPA, Dublin, 1997.
Gerald of Wales’ was most likely never in Ireland, and his writing is not an accurate portrayal of the Irish, but a chance to discuss hybridity and turn his readers against it while also the Irish.
Johansen, Ib. ‘Shadows in a Black Mirror: Reflections on the Irish Fantastic from Sheridan Le Fanu to John Banville’. Nordic Irish Studies , Vol. 1, (2002).
Before the period of the middle ages, the British Isles mostly lay dormant in local disputes and settlements of small tribes. Up until the late 900’s, the Anglos and the Saxons laid their claim to the land of Britain. However, this all soon changed. An ambitions individual with hero-like characteristics set foot and conquered the Anglo-Saxons and started Britain on its journey to modernism. Thus, the tide was set in motion for a new government and a civilized race. A monarchy was established, and the Middle ages began in roughly 975 AD (Vinogradoff, p 18).
Ronsley, Joseph, ed., Myth and Reality in Irish Literature, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Canada, 1977
“Background on the Irish Language.” Irish & the Gaeltacht. Udaras na Gaelachta. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. http://www.udara.ie/en/an-ghaeilige-an-ghaeltacht/stair-na-gaeilge/.
To undertake a full thematic investigation of this period would be very much beyond the scope of this paper. Thus, the essay will embark on a high level chronological interpretation of some of the defining events and protagonists, which influenced the early modernization of Ireland during the period 1534-1750. The main focus of the paper will concentrating on the impact and supervision of the Tudor dynasty. Firstly, the essay will endeavour to gain an understanding as to what contemporary historians accept as being the concept of modernization during this time period. The paper will then continue by examine the incumbent societal and political structure of Ireland prior to the Tudor conquests. This will have the impact of highlight the modernising effects produced by the subsequent attempts by the Tudors to consolidate and centralise power in the hands of the State. Once more, due to the vast nature of the time period, not every modernizing effect can be examined. Therefore, the paper will concentrate on the modernization of the political landscape, land ownership and the impact this had on the geographic construct of the island.
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