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1100
Ireland before the English
By the 12th century, Ireland was divided politically into a small number of over-kingdoms, their rulers contending for the title King of Ireland and for control of the whole island. -
1169
Beginning of the conquest of Ireland by England
Richard fitz Godbert de Roche - so called Strongbow - was the first English, although Norman, to land in Irleland in 1167. He got allied in 1169 with their Welsh and Fleming mercenaries, and Dermot MacMurrough, the Irish king in exile. They landed in Wexford. -
1170
A turning point
Strongbow marries the eldest daughter of MacMurrough, and become the heir of the crown of Ireland -
1171
The King's reaction
Henry II, the King of England, fears a Norman state in Ireland. He landed there with a large fleet, awarded his Irish territories to his youngest son John with the title Dominus Hiberniae ("Lord of Ireland"). When John succeeded his brother as King John, the "Lordship of Ireland" fell directly under the English Crown. -
Period: 1172 to 1535
Politics in Ireland
From the period of the original lordship in the 12th century onwards, Ireland had retained its own bicameral Parliament of Ireland, consisting of a House of Commons and a House of Lords.
However, the real power in Ireland throughout this period lays with the Lord Deputy of Ireland, who was nominated by the King of England to govern Ireland. -
1536
The birth of the kingdom of Ireland
King Henry VIII put down a rebellion and then set about to pacify Ireland and bring it all under English government control. Ireland was changed from a lordship to a full Kingdom. -
Period: 1550 to
Settlement policy
Crown governments carried out a policy of colonisation known as Plantations. Scottish and English Protestants were sent as colonists. The largest of these projects, the Plantation of Ulster, had settled up to 80,000 English and Scots in the north of Ireland by 1641. These settlers, who had a British and Protestant identity, would form the ruling class of future British administrations in Ireland. -
The "United Irishmen"
A small group of Protestant radicals formed the Society of the United Irishmen in Belfast. The group sought to overthrow British rule and found a non-sectarian republic. The United Irishmen spread quickly throughout the country. Republicanism was particularly attractive to the Ulster Presbyterian community, -
The Irish Rebellion
An uprising in Dublin, failed, the rebellion then spread in an apparently random fashion firstly around Dublin, joined by small French forces. The British response was swift and harsh: days after the outbreak of the rebellion local forces publicly executed suspected United Irishmen. Government troops and militia targeted Catholics in general and the rebels on several occasions killed Protestant loyalist civilians. -
End of the Irish autonomy : the Acts of Union
The Acts of Union were parallel acts which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland (previously in personal union) to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. -
The Evolution of the British Flag
