Irish Historical Allusions, Curious Customs and Superstitions, County of Kerry, Corkaguiny. Patrick M. Foley
Earl of Strongbow, on behalf of the King of England, landed in Ireland. In 1171 the King of England in person visited Ireland. He produced the Pope's Bull, showing that he had authority from Rome to establish virtue, settle and possess Ireland. The majority of the Irish chieftains refused to recognize the King of England, no matter from whom he pretended to possess the authority.
These are the circumstances which brought about the first Norman English raids on the peaceful valleys of Ireland. Little by little the English succeeded in establishing a foothold on Irish soil. It took the English over four hundred years to completely conquer the whole island. After some time the English in Ireland became more Irish than the Irish themselves, but they had to get the "fat" of the land; they even appointed their own clergy, although both at the time were Roman Catholics.
The Protestant Reformation.—The most of the districts in Ireland were governed by their own independent native chieftains, although they were supposed to be under English rule. When the Protestant reformation burst forth, King Henry VIII of England hunted Luther and other Protestant reformers out of England. The Pope conferred upon him the title of "King Defender of the Faith."
This King Henry married his deceased brother's wife before the marriage of the latter was fully consummated. It is a settled doctrine of the Catholic Church that when both parties to a marriage enter into it of their own free will and accord, and that no moral objection is standing in the way of the ceremony, upon the consummation of marriage no priest nor power on earth can divorce and religiously remarry any of the parties while they both live.[1] Henry VIII knew this. After being for twenty years married, he pretended to feel frightfully uneasy because "it was wrong for him to marry his brother's wife" after the brother's death. He applied for a divorce to the Pope, and the Pope refused to grant him a divorce. He at once established his own ecclesiastical courts, declared himself head of the Church, and his courts at once granted him a divorce from his lawful wife. Immediately he married one Anne Boleyn, whom he divorced and killed for another wife. In all he had six wives, one of whom he caused to be ripped open on child's birth. He seized and confiscated the churches, chapels and all religious houses in England and converted them to his own use. Of course these acts were resisted with bloodshed.
The foundation on which the Protestant Reformation was founded in England, was born in lust, murder and plunder. The British sovereign declared himself supreme head of the Church on earth, and substituted the parson for the priest. Henry VIII attempted to introduce his new-made religion into Ireland. This religion was not Catholic nor was it Protestant. Ireland rejected it and Henry VIII was not able to enforce his orders there.
In the year 1553, Edward VI died, and Queen Mary, daughter of Henry and of Catherine of Aragon, became Queen of England. This Queen was a staunch Roman Catholic. Maddened at the ill-treatment of her mother at the hands of Henry VIII, his ministers, the ecclesiastical courts and reformers, she restored the Catholic religion, recovered Catholic churches, monasteries and like property, and tortured and burned Protestant leaders, especially those who refused to deliver up the property. By Protestant historians she is styled "Bloody Mary." As Ireland was always Catholic, her reign there did not cause much disturbance.
Queen Elizabeth.—After her came Queen Elizabeth, called the "Virgin Queen" by Protestants, because she never married. However, she was the reverse of a virgin. She declared herself a Catholic, but when the Pope was notified that she ascended the throne by hereditary rights and the will of the people, it appears he made use of some language to the effect that he did not see how she could claim the Crown of England by hereditary rights, as she was the daughter of Henry VIII with Anne Boleyn while his first wife was alive. Queen Elizabeth, fearing the influence of Rome might deprive her of the crown, at once declared herself a Protestant.
During her long reign, Catholic Ireland became her greatest slaughter field. Although in the Protestant Bible she is said to be the "bright occidental star," "of most happy memory," the truth is that she did not care much for any religion, but used Protestantism as the most favorable one to gain her ends. Bad as "Bloody Mary" was, her reign was a mild one when compared with "virgin" Elizabeth. England became worse in those days than Mexico of today. The instruments of torture in the Tower of London bear silent evidence of many dark crimes.
Charles I Beheaded.—After this hateful Queen dying, James I, son of Mary, Queen of the Scots, came upon the throne. He was followed by King Charles I, whom over a question of a little tax, Cromwell beheaded and established the Commonwealth. Cromwell did not confine his butchery to England; he landed in Ireland, took Drogheda, killed women and children and put the priests to the sword; he caused both the real and personal estate of the people to be seized and had the lands parcelled up amongst his officers or "gamesters." These, together with some of Queen Elizabeth's followers, became Irish landlords and tyrants of the worst kind. The people who reclaimed, tilled, improved and erected buildings on those lands, could not understand how a foreigner who never tilled or improved one inch of land could claim ownership of everything which the farmer raised. For two hundred and fifty years, war has gone on between the landlords and the tillers of the soil. Today the descendants of ancient occupiers of the holdings are repossessing same and Cromwell landlords are disappearing.
Cromwell.—When Cromwell died, England did not become a Republic, and again a king in the person of Charles II ascended the throne.
King James II and the Battle of the Boyne.—The next most important event in Irish history is the Battle of the Boyne—the disgraceful boast of some Englishmen—fought in Ireland between King James II of England, a Catholic, of the Stuart family, and his son-in-law, William of Orange from Holland. In America this war is called a religious war, fought between Catholics and Protestants. It is true that because this king declared himself openly a Roman Catholic, Protestants in wrongful occupation of Catholic property became intensely alarmed for their future, and invited William, Prince of Orange, to invade England.
King James was one of the greatest cowards that ever lived. With his English troops he lost almost every engagement in England. He then fell back on Ireland. William, Prince of Orange, on landing in Carrick-a-fergus, Ireland, on the 14th day of June, 1690, found himself at the head of about 40,000 men. The Irish had no love for any British king. However, priests and Catholic leaders influenced the Irish to come to aid King James, on the pretense that his own daughter and her Protestant husband, a foreigner, were depriving this old man of his kingdom because he was a Catholic. The Irish, blinded with sympathy, entered the fight. On the 1st of July, 1690, the Battle of the Boyne was fought. William in person led his own army while King James stood at a distance, ready to mount his horse and ride away if the battle should be favorable to the Prince of Orange. The Irish fought bravely for over half the day, but as they began to retreat in good order, the English King mounted his horse and rode away into Dublin, leaving the Irish fighting behind him. He was designated "Dirty James" by the Irish.
The Irish, although deserted by the King and others, continued the fight for over one year from the River Boyne to the walls of Limerick and Athlone. On the 3rd of October, 1691, the generals of both armies signed the famous treaty of Limerick. According to the articles signed, full religious liberties were granted to the Roman Catholics, but no sooner did the Irish soldiers sail away to France, than England wilfully and wickedly broke the treaty. England has never yet kept a treaty with the Irish, if it stood in the way of plunder or gain.
Treaty of Limerick Broken.—In 1692, contrary to the articles of the treaty of Limerick, the Catholics were excluded from the Irish Parliament. Education of a Catholic child, shortly afterwards, was declared to be a serious crime. Catholics were required to take an oath declaring the mass damnable. No Catholic could learn a trade.
In 1701, contrary to the treaty of Limerick, Catholic solicitors were disqualified. Priests found in Ireland were branded with redhot irons on the cheeks. The law made it death to shelter, and penal servitude to know where a priest was concealed and not to inform the government. Priests were dragged from the altars, branded, disemboweled, quartered, hanged and transported. A Catholic could not have a horse worth more than five pounds (twenty-five dollars). Any Protestant tendering a Roman Catholic five pounds for his horse, the horse would have to go.
Flight