NOLAN FAMILY REPORT

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A sample comprehensive report (some names have been changed to protect identity.)

4. Irish History Timeline

c. 4000 BC The first farmers arrive and develop settlements and communities.

c. 3000 BC The Neolithic or New Stone Age people- the Builders of the great prehistoric tombs of the Boyne Valley like that at Newgrange arrive in Ireland.

c 400 BC The Celts started arriving in Ireland, from central Europe. They soon began to dominate Ireland.

c.100 BC Arrival of the Gaels - the last Celtic invaders from Europe. The various tribes were bound together by common language, customs, and religion, rather than by any well-defined central government.

400 AD Christianity arrives in Ireland with the arrival of St Patrick in 432 AD.

c. 560-600 AD St. Colmcille founds his monastery in Iona and some of the earliest Irish illuminated manuscripts are created.

c. 500 -800 AD The Golden Age of Irish Metalwork and Manuscript illumination which saw the creation of such priceless treasures as the Tara Brooch (8th century), the Ardagh Chalice (8th century), and the Book of Kells (9th century).

795 -1014 AD The Vikings from Scandinavia first appeared of the Irish coast in 795AD. They plundered the island for many years, carrying off priceless treasures from the rich monastic settlements.

841 AD The Vikings begin to establishment permanent settlements in Ireland with the foundation of a port at Dubh-Linn (Dublin). Other coastal sites are soon established at Cork, Waterford, Wexford and Limerick.

1014 AD Battle of Clontarf. High King Brian Boru faced an army of Norsemen from Dublin and Leistermen who challenged his leadership, at Clontarf on Good Friday 1014 AD. His army is victorious but a retreating Norseman kills Brian.

1169 AD The Norman's arrived in Ireland in 1169 at the invitation of Dermot MacMurrough, deposed king of Leinster. They quickly established themselves as overlords in Ireland.

1366 AD The Statutes of Kilkenny - these laws tried to present the Anglo-Norman's from becoming 'more Irish than the Irish themselves'. Among other things the Anglo-Norman's were forbidden from speaking Irish.

1541 AD Henry VIII of England declared 'King of Ireland' by the Irish Parliament

1594-1601 AD The wars of the Earls of Ulster, Hugh O'Neill and Hugh O'Donnell and the other Irish chiefs begin an attempt to regain their lost lands and powers.

1601 AD Battle of Kinsale, Co. Cork-Defeat for O'Neill and O'Donnell.

1607 AD Flight of the Earls - O'Neill and O'Donnell, oppressed by the English victors at home flee to Spain to seek aid from the King of Spain and the Pope.

1649 -1650 AD Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England invades Ireland, in an attempt to introduce the new Protestant religion to the Irish.

1695 AD Start of the Penal laws, when Catholics are excluded from land ownership, most professions, parliament and education.

1798 AD Rebellion of the United Irishmen, an attempt to drive the English out of Ireland and introduce the beliefs of the French Revolution, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.

1801 AD Act of Union passed by the Irish parliament, uniting the islands of Britain and Ireland under one parliament at Westminster, with the holder of throne of England as regent of Ireland.

1829 AD The Catholic Emancipation Act, which repealed the Penal laws, was passed. Laws were very strict for Catholics and any person, from the petty convict caught stealing a loaf of bread to a murderer, faced a sentence of transportation to Australia.

1845-1849 AD The Great Famine, poor farmers and tradesmen (the majority of the population) were completely dependent on the potato for sustenance. When the potato blight stuck in these years and ruined the crops the people had no other means of sustaining themselves. It is estimated that one million people starved to death during these years and one million emigrated, many to Australia.

1867 AD Fenian rising.

1870 AD Home Rule Confederation founded. This was an attempt to get rid of the English by parliamentary means. Home Rule was the process by which and Irish parliament would rule Ireland under the British Crown.

1879 AD Land League founded by Michael Davitt to agitate for the rights of tenant farmers. Most tenant farmers had no security of tenure and could be evicted from the land on the whim of the landlord. These evictions led to mass emigration the USA and Australia.

1914-1918 AD First World War

1916 AD Easter Rising-The Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army take over several strategic points in Dublin City centre. They demand full independence for Ireland. The Rising lasts a week before the rebel's surrender. Sixteen of the leaders, including, Padraig Pearse are subsequently executed.

1919-1921 AD War of Independence.

1921 AD The Anglo-Irish Treaty signed in London.

1921-1922 AD Civil War - many people felt that the whole of the country should be a republic and refused to accept the new Free State. This led to a bitter Civil War.

1923 AD End of the Civil War, the Irish Free State is established.

1937 AD Constitution of Ireland (Bunreacht na hEireann) written and adopted.

1949 AD Irish Republic is established.

1972 AD Ireland joined the European Economic Community (EEC)

1990 AD Mary Robinson is elected the first Woman President of Ireland.

1999 AD Northern Ireland has its own parliament at Stormont ending over 30 years of bitter warfare between the IRA, the British government and the various Loyalist/Unionist military organisations.