Endurance of the Irish

The Irish have endured a great deal. The Vikings invaded in the end of the eighth century and destroyed many monasteries and massacred countless number of people in their repeated raids. The Vikings were vanquished in the early eleventh century, but by this time Ireland had been marginalized from European civilization. In the twelfth century, the Normans (English) invaded. In the sixteenth century the colonizing Elizabethans (read: England/Protestant) cut down the Irish forests and killed many. In the seventeenth century, the Cromwellians (read: England/Protestant) came close to enacting genocide. In the eighteenth century the Penal Laws (from England) denied Catholics the rights of citizens, causing many to flee Ireland. In the nineteenth century, nearly one million Irish people died of hunger and its consequences between 1845 and 1851...while the English government sat on its hands. Another million and a half emigrated during this time to North America or Australia, many dying during the difficult journey.

No wonder there is much tension between Ireland and Britain. The conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland that we hear about in the US is deeply historical, political and cultural one, not merely theological.

For those of you unaware, the Easter Rising occurred in 1916, when the Irish Republic was proclaimed. The Irish War of Independence was from 1919-1921. Finally, in 1922, Britain and Ireland signed a treaty establishing the Irish Free State, but excluding the six counties of Northern Ireland still under British rule.