• 6,000 B.C. the first inhabitants came from Scandinavia and Scotland • They were stone age hunters, fishers, ect. • The hunter gatherer society was

replaced by a more settled farming society

• Ireland was divided into many clans and tribes, all of them violent towards the others

• Brian Boru was closest to uniting the tribes of Ireland right before the Norman invasion. But he was successful in defeating the Vikings.

The English Come to Ireland • 1100- The English (Normans) arrived in Ireland

under the rule of Henry II • The result of the initial invasion was English

colonies placed along the East Coast. • 1316- The English crushed the O’Conner clan

and Ireland fell to the rule of English governors

The Scottish Come to Ireland

• Edward Bruce landed in Ireland with the intent of making himself king

• He won over many Irish tribes • Years of battling occurred between the Scottish

and the English, with Irish tribes divided, fighting on each side

• Scottish forces were defeated on October 15, 1318 at the Battle of Dundalk. The Scottish invasion ended. Edward Bruce and his son both died in this battle.

Trouble at Home

• Events like war with other countries and The Black Plague caused English influence in Ireland to slow down for many years

• But when Henry VIII came into power England's interest in Ireland was revived.

• King Henry VIII was set on imposing England's language, religion, and culture on the Irish.

• Henrys problem lay in that he had broken from the catholic church and upon arriving in Ireland with his new religion faced opposition by the ruling Norman Anglo Irish.

If Bribery Doesn't Work War Will

• Henry VII original plan was to win over Celtic Irish tribes through bribes and showering the chiefs in gifts.

• This would have gone better had the tribes not been at constant war with each other and had not had inconsistent leaders

• The bribe he gave to the leader of a tribe meant nothing to the next leader who may have replaced the last in as little time as a week

• This led to more battles and bloodshed

Things Get Worse

• The potato famine took millions of lives of the Irish and prompted Irish immigration to America

A Country Divided

• England fears that they are loosing control of Ireland

• They react to this by creating laws banning Englishmen from speaking anything but English, playing Irish games, or interracial marriage.

• Ireland was split and is still split today into two regions.

• Northern Ireland and The Republic of Ireland

• Famous Symbols – Mistletoe: kissing under the mistletoe was borrowed from

the ancient Celts who would use the plan in fertility ceremonies

– Shamrock: The Irish wore the shamrock on St. Patrick’s Day. Then at the end of the feast to put the shamrock on the edge of your last drink. After the drink and a toast the shamrock gets thrown over the left shoulder

– Shillelagh (Walking Stick): Although this device was not originally from Ireland, the Irish adopted the shillelagh as a symbol of a boys passage into manhood. A boy would begin using the shillelagh when he entered his coming of age.

• Storytelling and folklore is a huge part of Irish culture.

• Storytelling in music was used as a way to communicate as well as a way to express feelings on political and social events.

• Many old Irish stories were designed to glorify the church and spread religion