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Title: Modern Ireland 1600-1972 Author: R.F. Foster Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 0-14-013250-3 Title: Ireland Since the Famine Author: F.S.L. Lyons Publisher: Fontana ISBN 0-00-686005-2 Title: Ireland 1912-1985: Politics and Society Author: J.J. Lee Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 0-521-37741-2 Title: Oxford History of Ireland Author: R.F. Foster (Ed.) Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0-19-822970-4 (hardback) Title: The Making of Modern Ireland 1603-1923 Author: J.C. Beckett Publisher: Faber & Faber ISBN: 0-571-18036-1 (0-571-18035-3) Title: A History of Ulster Author: Jonathan Bardon Publisher: Blackstaff Press ISBN: 0-85460-476-4 ( 0-85640-466-7 hardback ) Title: Early Medieval Ireland: 400 - 1200 Author: Dáibhí O'Cróinín Publisher: Longman ISBN: 0-582-015650 ( 0-582-015669 cloth ) Title: The Story of the Irish Race Author: Seumas MacManus Publisher: The Devin-Adair Company ISBN: 0-517-06408-1 One book that people mention a lot in connection with early Ireland is Title: How the Irish Saved Civilization Author: Thomas Cahill Publisher: Doubleday Books ISBN: 0-385-41849-3 (hardback or paperback?)[ The publishing information given is for the paperback editions unless otherwise specified. ]
One online resource worth mentioning is the CELT Irish Electronic Text archive at UCC, which has a variety of texts available for reading on the web or download. See http://www.ucc.ie/celt/
c.3000BC Megalithic tombs first constructed. c.700BC Celts arrive from parts of Gaul and Britain. Ireland divided into provinces. (This according to a contributor is reconstructed folk history and not based on the archaeology.) c.AD350 Christianity reaches Ireland. 400-800 Kingdom of Dalriada extends from Northeastern Ireland to Scotland. Christianity brought to Scotland by St. Columcille and others. 432 Trad. date for the arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland. 700-800 Irish monasticism reaches its zenith. 795 Full-scale Viking invasion. 1014 Brian Ború defeats Vikings at Clontarf but is murdered. 1169 Dermot MacMurrough, exiled king of Leinster, invites help from 'Strongbow'. 1172 Pope decrees that Henry II of England is feudal lord of Ireland. 1200's Division of Ireland into counties. Irish parliament established. 1366 The Statute of Kilkenny forbids Normans to speak Irish, intermarry with Irish families, use Irish customs or practice any kind of Irish culture. 1477 Thomas Fitzgerald, 7th Earl of Kildare, created lord deputy of Ireland and established as de facto ruler of Norman Ireland. 1494 Garret Mór Fitzgerald removed as lord deputy after supporting the pretender Perkin Warbeck's claim to the English throne. He is replaced by an Englishman, Sir Edward Poynings. Poyning's Law severely limits the independence of the Irish parliament and gives the English parliament the power to make laws for Ireland. 1496 Earl of Kildare restored as lord deputy after Poynings's administration proves too expensive. 1513 Garret Óg Fitzgerald becomes Earl of Kildare and lord deputy on the death of his father. 1534 Garret Óg summoned to England by Henry VIII and an English viceroy appointed in Ireland. 1534-37 Rumours of execution of Garret Óg provoke rebellion by his son, Silken Thomas. Rebellion crushed and Thomas and his uncles executed (1537). 1536-7. Irish parliament recognises Henry VIII as head of the Church. 1541 Henry VIII proclaimed King of Ireland. Previously his title had been Lord of Ireland. 1559 Shane O'Neill rebellion. 1560 Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity passed by the Irish parliament, establishing the Church of Ireland. 1568-83 Desmond rebellion. 1594-1603 Nine years war, a failed uprising led by Hugh O'Neill. 1607 Flight of the Earls; leading Ulster families go into exile. 1610 Policy of plantation by colonisation begins in Ulster. 1641 Charles I's policies cause insurrection in Ulster and Civil War in England. 1642 Confederation of Kilkenny formed. 1646 Duke of Ormonde surrenders Dublin to parliamentary forces. 1649 Cromwell invades Ireland. Irish resistance crushed by 1652. 1653 England, Scotland and Ireland unified as a single Commonwealth. Under the Act of Settlement Cromwell's opponents stripped of land. Irish lands granted to soldiers and creditors of the Commonwealth. 1660 Restoration of the monarchy and dissolution of the Commonwealth. 1662 Act of Settlement allows Protestants loyal to the monarchy to recover lands lost under the Commonwealth. 1665 Act of Explanation forces Cromwellian settlers to surrender one-third of their grants to partially compensate Catholics for losses under the Commonwealth. 1689-90 Deposed James II flees to Ireland; defeated at the Battle of the Boyne by William of Orange and flees to France. 1691 Defeat of Jacobite army at Aughrim and surrender at Limerick. 1704 Penal Laws enacted; Catholics barred from voting, education and the military. Test Act effectively limits civic offices to members of the Church of Ireland. 1720 Declaratory Act affirms right of British parliament to legislate for Ireland and makes British House of Lords supreme court for Irish law cases. 1776 American War of Independence foments Irish unrest. 1782 Declaratory Act repealed and Poyning's Law amended to allow Irish parliament to initiate legislation. 1793 Catholics given electoral franchise and admission to most civil offices. They are also admitted to Trinity College, Dublin but cannot be awarded degrees without taking the Oath of Supremacy. 1795 Foundation of the Orange Order. Catholic seminary founded at Maynooth. 1798 Uprisings in Ulster and Wexford crushed. 1801 Ireland becomes part of United Kingdom under the Act of Union. The Irish Parliament is abolished. 1803 Robert Emmet's rebellion crushed. 1828 Daniel O'Connell elected MP for Clare. 1829 Catholic Emancipation Act passed and Test Act (1704) repealed. 1831 National school system established. 1840's Daniel O'Connell begins campaign for repeal of the Act of Union. 1845-49 The Great Famine. 1848 Fenian rebellion. First use of the tricolour as the Irish flag. 1867 Fenian rebellion. 1869 Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland. 1870 Home Goverment Association (later Home Rule Association) founded. First Irish Land Act increases security of tenure for tenant farmers and extends Ulster custom (compensation for improvements to property) to the whole island. 1879-82 The Land War; Parnell encourages boycott of repressive landlords. 1881 Second Land Act grants fixity of tenure, fair rents and free sale of the tenant's interest. 1886 First Home Rule Bill defeated in the House of Commons. 1893 Second Home Rule Bill passed by the House of Commons but rejected by the House of Lords. 1898 Local Government (Ireland) Act establishes local government system of county councils, urban district councils and rural district councils (the latter were abolished in 1925). The first local elections are held in 1899. 1903 Wyndham Land Purchase Act provides grants to tenant farmers to buy their holdings. 1912 Third Home Rule Bill introduced. 1914 Implementation of Home Rule deferred because of outbreak of World War I. 1916 Easter Rising. After the leaders are executed public opinion backs independence. 1918 Sinn Fein wins 73 out of 108 Irish seats in the general election. Nationalist MPs convene Dáil Éireann in Dublin. War of Independence begins. 1920 Government of Ireland Act provides for establishment of devolved administrations in northern and southern Ireland. 1921 Northern Ireland Parliament opened by King George V. Anglo-Irish Treaty creates the Irish Free State. 1922-3 Civil war breaks out. The Anti-Treaty forces led by Eamonn De Valera eventually concede defeat. 1932 First Fianna Fail government led by Eamonn De Valera elected. Oath of Allegiance abolished. 1937 New constitution enacted in the Irish Free State. The British monarch is replaced as head of state by an elected president. The name of the state is changed to Éire (Ireland). 1938 End of British occupation of three naval bases that had been left in British hands by the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. 1939-45 "The Emergency"; Ireland remains neutral. 1949 Ireland leaves the Commonwealth. Britain declares that Northern Ireland will not be ceded to the Republic without the consent of the Northern Ireland parliament. 1958 "Programme for economic expansion" published; establishes a five year plan of public investment with a target of 2% economic growth per annum. 1973 UK and Republic of Ireland join European Economic Community. 1983 The first abortion referendum. An amendment to the Constitution (article 40) says that the State "acknowledges the right to life of the unborn". See The X Case. 1986 The first divorce referendum. An attempt to amend the Constitution to allow the dissolution of marriages fails to get majority support. See Divorce. 1988 The Single European Act is approved by referendum (effected by a change to article 29 of the Constitution). 1992 The Treaty on European Union (also known as the Maastricht Treaty) passes the referendum hurdle (voters approved another change to article 29 of the Constitution). The "X" abortion case and referendum. See The X Case. 1995 Second divorce referendum. Provisions allowing for civil divorce are added to article 41 of the Constitution.