Chronology of events in ireland

Chronology of Events in Ireland

c. 7000 BC Arrival of the first men in Ireland across a land-bridge from Scotland.

c. 3000 BC Arrival of new Stone Age men who built Newgrange

c 300 BC Celts bring iron to Ireland. They impose their language and customs on
earlier inhabitants. They bring with their own distinctive culture known as
La Tène. Celticsociety and laws preserve a number of archaic features of
Indo-European culture.

A.D. 432 St. Patrick arrives to help convert pagan Gaelic Kings to Christianity.

5th- 8th c. Ireland’s Golden Age. Rapid expansion of monasteries. Book of Kells,
Book of Durrow, Ardagh Chalice. After the fall of the
Roman Empire Irishmonks travelled throughout Europe and played a
considerable role in the preservation of classical culture within the confines
of the former empire.

795 Arrival of the Vikings (sometimes called The Danes) in Ireland. Their
settlements along the coast would later grow into the cities of Dublin,
Limerick and Waterford.Vikings sacked the monasteries.

1014 The Battle of Clontarf: The Kigh King Brian Boru finally defeated the
Vikings but he himself was killed.

1169 Arrival of the Normans at Banginbun, County Wexford. They came at the
Request of Dermot McMurrough who wanted help to regain Leinster from
O’Rourke. McMurrough had fled toWales to ask Henry II of England for
help to regain his kingdom. Henry II offered him help from ‘Strongbow’ an
Anglo-Norman knight, the Earl of Pembroke, Richard de Cler.

1172 Henry II made himself Lord High Sheriff of Ireland.

1366 Statutes of Kilkenny to try and prevent the Normans and later settlers frombecoming “more Irish than the Irish themselves”. By the end of the 15th
century only a small area around Dublin known as the Pale was under
effective English control.

1507 Accession to the English throne of Henry VIII.

1534 Thomas, Lord Offaly popularly known as ‘Silken Thomas’ and member of
the powerful Geraldines ofKildare repudiates allegiance to Henry VIII.

1541 Henry VIII is proclaimed King of Ireland. Split with Pope and
establishment of the Church of England.

1558 Accession of Elizabeth I

1569. First plantations take place in Ireland. Confiscated land of native Irish
landowners given to English and Scottish settlers in return for defence ofthe crown. Ulster plantations prove to be the most successful.

1562-- Elizabethan wars in Ireland

1595 Rebellion of Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone.

1598 O’Neill’s great victory at Yellow Ford in Ulster.

1601 The Battle of Kinsale. Defeat of O’Neill and O’Donnell and Spaniards by
Mountjoy

1607 The Flight of theEarls or Wild Geese. Many of the noble families of
Ireland leave and go to France, Belgium, Spain or Italy. In Spain they are
given noble titles and a special regiment for the Irish is set up in the
Spanish army.

1610. Plantation of confiscated Catholic lands in Ulster by mainly Scottish
settlers.

1641Great Catholic Gaelic rebellion for the return of their lands, later joined by
Old English Catholics in Ireland. 59% of land of Ireland is held by
Catholics.

1649 Oliver Cromwell ruthlessly captures Drogheda, Wexford etc.

1650 Catholic landowners are exiled to Connaught

1660 Accession of Charles II

1685...