Roots in History - the Road to Northern Ireland

Roots in History - The Road to Northern Ireland

For understanding the Northern Ireland conflict, it might be helpful to be informed about the history of the island.

The roots for the conflict were already set in the 12th century, when Henry II. , king of Great Britain, claimed and tried to attach Ireland to his kingdom. By his attempts to conquest the island, he managed to establish his political power in a small area around Dublin known as the Pale. Until the 16th century, this area was "the beach head" for the Irish kingdom, launching English administrative practices and the English language. Moreover, London had the function of a protector and leader. By 1175, the English King reached the nominal control of most parts of the island, thereby was "the centre of English power [...] a colony in Dublin and control was slowly exerted over Irish territory" , but, as time has shown, the colonists were never really able to gain the entire power over Ireland. Henry's motives for attempting and willing to gain political power in Ireland were probably twofold: First, he tried to deflect the people's attention from the recent murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury and, secondly, he had a divine providence: Hadrian IV., who has been the single English pope and consequently he has been a protestant pope, has called Henry "lord of Ireland" with the purpose that the king should overtake the control in Ireland and thus force the catholic Ireland to convert to a Protestant. Nevertheless, as already mentioned, the English were never able to have the sole reign in Ireland and as a consequence most party of the island had reverted to the Irish through conquests by the middle of the 14th century again. So, the English colony in Dublin was "in dire straits" . The following attempts to extend England's political power over the rest of the island did not help the English to expand their reign until the 16th century, when the first English king began to reign in Ireland. For the Irish, England became the "major external threat to their sovereignty and customs"

Plantations were introduced during the reign of Henry VIII who was declared king of Ireland in 1541 by the Irish parliament. From now on, native Irish were expelled and confiscated lands were given to English settlers who should settle the thinly-settled island. When Henry VIII died in 1547, Maria I was declared Queen of England and Ireland and after her death it was Queen Elizabeth who reigned over England and Ireland now (1558 - 1603). During her period of government, military conquests had strengthened the English dominion over most parts of Ireland apart from the northern province of Ulster. The reason for the military failing in Ulster was the alliance that was built up by the "Ulster Clans" under Hugh O'Neill. But even this alliance was finally defeated by the Queen's armies in the Nine Years War and so was Hugh O'Neill, who has been the "last of the Irish chieftains" . O'Neills surrender caused him and other nobles to flee the country - this was the so called "Flight of Earls" in 1607. With the Irish leaders and nobles fleeing the country Ireland was leaderless now and it was easy for the army to bring Ulster finally under English control. As a result of being leaderless, the Irish could not prevent the plantation of Ulster and so, Irish land was confiscated and given to British settlers, mostly Scottish. Among the plantations happening in the past, the plantation of Ulster was unique. Native Irish were not expelled but excluded from the villages and cities the colonists built up. In brief, a new community speaking a different language and having a different way of life was planted into the province of Ulster. Furthermore, the settlers did have an alien religion - they were Protestant by religion while the Irish population was Catholic by religion. So, the outlines of the conflict in Northern Ireland were drawn up within five decades: two hostile groups living in one country having different views of the country they live in: the catholic English population believed it is their land they live in, the protestant population felt threatened of rebellion. As a consequence these two groups divided Ulster by living in separate quarters.

After two centuries that strengthened