Ireland: A History

Thomas Bartlett

• One of the main things I’m interested in answering on this years reading is:
  • What are the gradient’s of oppression to different irish groups through time?
  • How does this oppression affect the way Ireland view itself (as a ‘nation’) at these points? Or, what are the trends of patriotism in response to the oppression.

Setting the scene for the 18th century

• At the beginning of the 18th century Ireland had just come out of a pretty tumultuous century ending with the defeat of Catholic forces in the Jacobite wars.
• Catholic rights were heavily quashed with the penal laws. A large amount of large landholders were protestants and the land they owned worked on by catholic or Presbyterian tenants.
• Ireland’s economy moves away from exporting livestock to England because of the Cattle act’s and starts to shift towards butter and salted fish. Ireland could never really set up a notion of manufacturing (due to it’s ‘political’ instability) but the arrival of skilled linen makers in the French Hugenots in the 1690’s changed the quality of the linen made in Ireland.
• Bartlett end’s this chapter before the 18th century with an interesting note and ‘Irishness’

• Perhaps the central question is whether the brutal reality of conquest and colonisation broke through the pervasive localism or provincialism of Gaelic political culture to forge an encompassing Irishness… It was, however, among the Irish exiles training in the seminaries of Catholic Europe, or serving in the armies of the Hapsburg’s in the Netherlands, that the experience of exile and dispossession produced a new all-embracing Irishness.

Landowning in the 17th century

• Need to do more research on the big shift in landowning that seems to happen on the arrival of Cromwell

Moving on the the 18th century

• In the 18th century around the 1730’s the irish parliament becomes functional again.
• The catholic question starts to become prominent in the middle of this century as a political consciousness develops dues to wealth that catholics got from trade (as opposed to land).
• The British also start to court the catholics for recruits in their wars around the world. This leads to catholic relief bills.
• Then, the American revolution affects trade for Ireland and causes a public opinion to develop about why they must be subservient to Britain. Restrictions are placed on already existing restrictions to colonial trade. The linen industry enters a recession which is seen as caused by trade restrictions.
• As Britain becomes more threatened by the French and Americans it tries to get Catholics on board with relief acts. Volunteer forces spring out of this too as a form of self-defence for Ireland.
• All this raises ‘public opinion’ leading to legislative independence in 1782

• It would be an exaggeration to claim that the union was embedded in the legislative independence of 1782, but realistically, the only options available should the Irish Parliament remain unreformed were union or separation.

27/12/22 19:48:08

• So, in theory, I spent the month of November reading Irish history to answer the above questions. The problem for me is retention. I can’t create this tree in my mind of the kind of status of people or groups at a particular time. Maybe I’m just not cut out for history, also, I need to put in more time or maybe look at Anki.
• Despite this, do I have anything revealing or novel to say about what I read. Nope, not really off the top of my head. I will say, it’s been interesting to interact with history in a more serious sense. To really have to question what I’m getting out of it, why i want to know. For me, the questions with Ireland revolve around what level of oppression existed and essentially who can we correctly blame, who is or was right. The truth is (obviously) more complicated.
• What did I enjoy about engaging with the history? It’s interesting because it’s complicated. There is a sense of it not being to easy to digest which has this element of reality to it. In fact, its surprising how complicated it is.
• I don’t know what Ireland is today. It’s mattered so much in recent times to maintain that aspect of being Irish. Particularly with emigration. There’s a shadow of nationalism over it I feel, a shadow of culture. There’s what happened on this island we call Ireland and then there’s how we would like to think things happened.
• These are really basic ideas I know, really just spelling out what history is.
• Fundamentally it comes down to trying to answer the questions above as best I can. Once again, I’m not sure I’ve been ruthless enough in this aspect. Really trying to hunt the answer down.