Ancient history

A couple of days ago, I happened to turn over the pages of reference 2 again, reminding me of three 500 year phases of Irish history. A book first noticed at reference 1.

So the first phase, the first 500 years of the first millennium, saw the arrival of the Gaels (from Gaul) and their conquest of Ireland. The ascendency class of that era. But not an ascendency which resulted in a united kingdom.

The second phase, saw the arrival of Christians. It also saw the arrival of the Vikings. As in England, these last did not manage a conquest, which meant in Ireland settling down in strongholds at the mouths of big rivers, strongholds from which to row, to raid and to trade. Clockwise from the east coast: Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork and Limerick. By the end of this phase an uneasy compromise had been established. But still no united kingdom.

Internal squabbles in which saw in the third phase of interference from England across the water. Rather as internal squabbles gave us Englanders an entry to places in Africa, India and places further east. Englanders in this case being a rather inaccurate gloss on a motley collection of Normans, Norman-Welsh crosses and Flemish mercenaries. All rather heavily armed and armoured by the standards of the Ireland of the day.

The bit that caught my eye yesterday, was the fact that the newly converted Christians of Dublin elected to cast their lot in with the primate of all England, that is to say the Archbishop of Canterbury, rather than the primate of all Ireland, that is to say the Archbishop of Armagh. See page 15 of reference 2.

PS: the map above, turned up by Bing, shows the state of affairs at the end of the third phase.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/06/folly.html.

Reference 2: A short history of Ireland - J. C. Beckett - 1951/1966.