A Short Irish History - From Prehistory to the Peace Process

The Middle Ages - From Strongbow to the Statutes of Kilkenny

Trim Castle (County Meath)

© 2006 Bernd Biege licensed to About.com, Inc.

• Mac Murchada leads his Anglo-Norman allies to Ireland, they conquer vast parts of the island and the adventurer "Strongbow" establishes himself as King of Leinster. Henry II of England accepts the submission of most Irish kings and bishops, thus starting the English rule.

• Rory O'Connor holds the title of "High King of Ireland" and is allowed to rule the unoccupied parts as a vassal of Henry II.

• Prince John, younger brother of Richard the Lionhearted, is made Lord of Ireland.

• "Classical Irish Period" in literature.

• King John confiscates all Ulster and other lands during his (second) visit, also accepts the submission of numerous Irish kings.

• Meeting of the first Irish parliament in Dublin.

• Edward Bruce invades Ireland from Scotland and is proclaimed King of Ireland by his local allies, his adventure ends in disaster and his own death at the battle of Fochard.

• After internal unrest English control over Connacht and Ulster is lost.

• The "Black Death" kills around one third of the total population of Ireland.

• Sensing that the established Anglo-Normans are becoming "more Irish than the Irish themselves", the Statutes of Kilkenny ban the use of the Irish language by settlers and interracial marriages.

• From Prehistory to the Early Christian Period
• The Middle Ages - From the Synod of Whitby to Dermot McMurrough
• The Middle Ages - From Strongbow to the Statutes of Kilkenny
• The Final Establishment of English Rule and the Plantations
• Restoration, the Jacobite Rebellion and the United Irishmen
• The 1798 Rebellion, the Famine and the Rise of the Fenians
• From the Home Government Association to the Easter Rising
• From the First Dáil Éireann to Full Independence
• From the Ireland Act to the 1981 Hunger Strike
• From the "Troubles" to the Decommissioning of Arms