Misplaced Pages

#74925

149-721: Owen Roe O'Neill ( Irish : Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill; c.  1585 – 6 November 1649) was a Gaelic Irish soldier and one of the most famous of the O'Neill dynasty of Ulster . O'Neill left Ireland at a young age and spent most of his life as a mercenary in the Spanish Army serving against the Dutch in Flanders during the Eighty Years' War . After the Irish Rebellion of 1641 , O'Neill returned and took command of

298-699: A successful defence of Clonmel by O'Neill's nephew Hugh Duff O'Neill and was destroyed at the Battle of Scarrifholis in Donegal in 1650. Its remnants continued guerrilla warfare until 1653 when they surrendered at Cloughoughter Castle in County Cavan . Most of the survivors were transported to serve in the Spanish Army. In the 19th century, O'Neill was celebrated by the Irish nationalist revolutionaries,

447-547: A unique dialect of Irish developed before falling out of use in the early 20th century. With a writing system , Ogham , dating back to at least the 4th century AD, which was gradually replaced by Latin script since the 5th century AD, Irish has one of the oldest vernacular literatures in Western Europe . On the island, the language has three major dialects: Connacht , Munster and Ulster Irish . All three have distinctions in their speech and orthography . There

596-662: A French army of 35,000. Throughout his career O'Neill was known to be an expert in defensive warfare. Like many Irish officers in Spanish service, O'Neill was deeply opposed to English rule in Ireland . In 1627, he was involved in petitioning the Spanish monarchy to invade Ireland using the Irish Spanish regiments. O'Neill proposed that Ireland be made a republic under Spanish protection to avoid in-fighting between Irish Catholic landed families over which of them would provide

745-717: A bargaining chip during government formation in Northern Ireland, prompting protests from organisations and groups such as An Dream Dearg . Irish became an official language of the EU on 1 January 2007, meaning that MEPs with Irish fluency can now speak the language in the European Parliament and at committees, although in the case of the latter they have to give prior notice to a simultaneous interpreter in order to ensure that what they say can be interpreted into other languages. While an official language of

894-575: A better future for Ireland and all her citizens." The Strategy was produced on 21 December 2010 and will stay in action until 2030; it aims to target language vitality and revitalization of the Irish language. The 30-page document published by the Government of Ireland details the objectives it plans to work towards in an attempt to preserve and promote both the Irish language and the Gaeltacht. It

1043-666: A civil war, the Fronde . Philip initially hoped simply to improve the terms on offer from France, but the Fronde allowed him to make substantial gains in the Netherlands, including retaking Ypres . Elsewhere, neither side was able to win a significant advantage. In 1650, Spanish success in crushing the Neapolitan Revolt was offset by the loss of Barcelona to French-backed Catalan rebels. Mazarin forced Condé into exile in

1192-478: A cultural and social force. Irish speakers often insisted on using the language in law courts (even when they knew English), and Irish was also common in commercial transactions. The language was heavily implicated in the "devotional revolution" which marked the standardisation of Catholic religious practice and was also widely used in a political context. Down to the time of the Great Famine and even afterwards,

1341-553: A degree course in the NUI federal system to pass the subject of Irish in the Leaving Certificate or GCE / GCSE examinations. Exemptions are made from this requirement for students who were born or completed primary education outside of Ireland, and students diagnosed with dyslexia . NUI Galway is required to appoint people who are competent in the Irish language, as long as they are also competent in all other aspects of

1490-570: A direct threat both to Imperial Protestant states and external powers that held Imperial territories. They included the Dutch Prince of Orange , hereditary ruler of Nassau-Dillenburg , and Christian IV of Denmark , who was also Duke of Holstein-Gottorp . That presented Richelieu with additional opportunities to weaken his Habsburg opponents in Spain and the Empire but avoid direct conflict. As

1639-674: A failed attempt to seize Dublin Castle, the rebels enjoyed success across Ulster and the uprising spread to other parts of the country. However, the rebels then suffered several defeats to the Royal Irish Army and the Scottish Covenanter Army in Ireland and by the time Eoghan Rua arrived the rising was increasingly in trouble. The subsequent war, known as the Irish Confederate Wars , was part of

SECTION 10

#1732787971075

1788-460: A fully recognised EU language for the first time in the state's history. Before Irish became an official language it was afforded the status of treaty language and only the highest-level documents of the EU were made available in Irish. The Irish language was carried abroad in the modern period by a vast diaspora , chiefly to Great Britain and North America, but also to Australia , New Zealand and Argentina . The first large movements began in

1937-400: A large number of experienced officers who had travelled with him from Flanders. The Irish Ulster Army, including regiments under Rory Maguire , was poorly trained and undisciplined, so O'Neill set out to transform the army into a respectable force. Following a defeat at the Battle of Clones , O'Neill had to abandon central Ulster and was followed by thousands of refugees, fleeing the revenge of

2086-432: A letter from an English parliamentarian general by the name of Leslie, telling O'Neill that he was sad O'Neill, as an experienced officer, was committing himself to such a cause and that he should return to Spain. O'Neill responded that his cause in Ireland was far more honourable than an English general fighting against his own King. But distrust between the kinsmen was complicated by differences between Owen Roe O'Neill and

2235-578: A majority of the Irish Catholic military leaders and the Catholic clergy including the Nuncio, Rinuccini. O'Neill led his Ulster army, along with Thomas Preston 's Leinster army, in a failed attempt to take Dublin from Ormond. The Irish Confederates suffered heavy military defeats the following year at the hands of Parliamentarian forces in Ireland at Dungans Hill and Knocknanauss , leading to

2384-704: A member of the royal family and the effective ruler of large parts of eastern France, leverage in his struggle with Anne and Cardinal Mazarin . Despite some successes in northern France and the Spanish Netherlands, including victory at Lens in August 1648, France was unable to knock Spain out of the war. In the Holy Roman Empire, Imperial victories at Tuttlingen and Mergentheim were offset by French success at Nördlingen and Zusmarshausen . In Italy, French-backed Savoyard offensives against

2533-767: A moderation of their demands and a new peace deal with the Royalists. This time O'Neill was alone among the Irish generals in rejecting the peace deal and found himself isolated by the departure of the Papal Nuncio from Ireland on 23 February 1649. So alienated was O'Neill by the terms of the peace the Confederates had made with Ormond that he refused to join the Catholic/Royalist coalition and in 1648 his Ulster army fought against other Irish Catholic armies. He made overtures for alliance to Monck , who

2682-587: A month or so they could not agree on a plan of action and in this time the city was handed over to the Parliamentarians under the command of Michael Jones . The Royalist commander of Dublin, Ormond, said he "preferred English rebels to Irish ones". Afterwards, both generals retreated. O'Neill then went on the campaign throughout northern Connacht , particularly against English strongholds in County Sligo . This campaign had mixed success, but O'Neill

2831-585: A paper suggested that within a generation, non-Gaeltacht habitual users of Irish might typically be members of an urban, middle class, and highly educated minority. Parliamentary legislation is supposed to be available in both Irish and English but is frequently only available in English. This is notwithstanding that Article 25.4 of the Constitution of Ireland requires that an "official translation" of any law in one official language be provided immediately in

2980-575: A pass in Leaving Certificate Irish or English, and receive lessons in Irish during their two years of training. Official documents of the Irish government must be published in both Irish and English or Irish alone (in accordance with the Official Languages Act 2003, enforced by An Coimisinéir Teanga , the Irish language ombudsman). The National University of Ireland requires all students wishing to embark on

3129-465: A peak of 211,000 in 1639. These are based on official muster rolls and should be treated with caution, since officers were paid for numbers reported, rather than those actually present; in addition, during this period on average another 10% was absent due to sickness, although most generally recovered. Parrott estimates variances between "Reported" and "Actual" averaged up to 35% for the French and 50% for

SECTION 20

#1732787971075

3278-585: A prince or king of Ireland. This plan came to nothing. However, in 1642, O'Neill planned to return to Ireland with 300 veterans to aid the Irish Rebellion of 1641, apparently at the invitation of one of the organizers of the rebellion Rory O'Moore . He was given money by the Pope, with which he bought a frigate, the St. Francis, and also purchased weapons and cannons to arm the ships. The ship, often described as

3427-574: A proposed Austro-Spanish offensive in the Netherlands and led Louis XIII of France and Richelieu to decide on direct intervention. In early 1635, they signed an agreement with Bernard of Saxe-Weimar to provide 16,000 troops for a campaign in Alsace and the Rhineland, formed an anti-Spanish alliance with the Dutch and signed the Treaty of Compiègne with Sweden. In May, a French army of 27,000 invaded

3576-625: A religious context. An Irish translation of the Old Testament by Leinsterman Muircheartach Ó Cíonga , commissioned by Bishop Bedell , was published after 1685 along with a translation of the New Testament. Otherwise, Anglicisation was seen as synonymous with 'civilising' the native Irish. Currently, modern day Irish speakers in the church are pushing for language revival. It has been estimated that there were around 800,000 monoglot Irish speakers in 1800, which dropped to 320,000 by

3725-492: A result of linguistic imperialism . Today, Irish is still commonly spoken as a first language in Ireland's Gaeltacht regions, in which 2% of Ireland's population lived in 2022. The total number of people (aged 3 and over) in Ireland who declared they could speak Irish in April 2022 was 1,873,997, representing 40% of respondents, but of these, 472,887 said they never spoke it and a further 551,993 said they only spoke it within

3874-660: A result, Catholic France supported the Protestant Dutch Republic in its war against Spain and funded first Danish and then Swedish intervention in the Empire. In 1630, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden invaded Pomerania partly to support his Protestant coreligionists, but he also sought control of the Baltic trade , which provided much of Sweden's income. The Swedish intervention continued after his death at Lützen in 1632 but caused tensions with Saxony and Brandenburg-Prussia , whose lands were devastated by

4023-579: A series of skirmishes but, despite being relatively unsuccessful, provided an important experience to the troops of the Ulster Army. O'Neill was deeply irritated that Castlehaven had been put in charge of the army instead of him, especially when the campaign failed. O'Neill later accused Castlehaven of cowardice, a dispute that was brought before the Supreme Council. At one point, O'Neill even considered leaving and returning to Spanish service, but

4172-575: A serious threat to Cromwell's invasion, and that would be reason enough to assassinate O'Neill. However, there is no evidence to support this, and it is generally accepted now that he died of gout. Under cover of night he was said to have been brought to the Franciscan abbey in Cavan town for burial. Local tradition is that he was buried at Trinity Abbey, on an island in Lough Oughter . His death

4321-650: A shortage of arquebuses. With the outbreak of war, this situation quickly improved so that by 1636 only 25% of militiamen in Castile were armed with hand weapons alone, with 25% carrying pikes and the remaining 50% arquebuses and muskets. By the end of the conflict, however, the situation had deteriorated once again, with more than 87 percent of the 465,000 militiamen listed in Castilian registers classed as "unarmed". In October 1647, discontent led to revolts in both Sicily and Naples ; although quickly suppressed, it exposed

4470-913: A song, " The Battle of Benburb ", which commemorates O'Neill's 1646 victory over the Scottish Covenanters. O'Neill is commemorated in the names of several Gaelic Athletic Association clubs in Northern Ireland , including (in Armagh ) Eoghan Ruadh Middletown ; (in Derry ) CLG Eoghan Rua , Coleraine; (in Dublin ) St Oliver Plunketts/Eoghan Ruadh GAA , and (in Tyrone ) Brackaville Owen Roes GFC ; Owen Roe O'Neill's GAC , Leckpatrick; Eoghan Ruadh, Dungannon GAA , in Down , Kilcoo Owen Roes GAC and

4619-716: A stalemate existed in Ulster, which O'Neill used to train and discipline his Ulster Army. This poorly supplied force nevertheless gained a bad reputation for plundering and robbing friendly civilians around its quarters in northern Leinster and southern Ulster. With a stalemate in Ulster following the Battle of Clones, the Confederate Supreme council ordered O'Neill and the Ulster Army to join Thomas Preston's Leinster Army in campaigns against Royalist strongholds in

Owen Roe O'Neill - Misplaced Pages Continue

4768-767: A successful rearguard action and annihilated the Parliamentarian advanced guard pursuing Preston. However, with the Leinster army now severely damaged, Leinster was in a precarious position. Afterwards, O'Neill returned to southern Ulster. In March 1646 a treaty was signed between Ormond and the Catholics, which would have committed the Catholics to sending troops to aid the Royalist cause in the English Civil War . The peace terms, however, were rejected by

4917-541: A tactic the French used throughout the war by supporting the Catalan, Neapolitan and Portuguese rebels along with allies in Northern Italy and the Rhineland. Loss of Dutch naval support after 1648 severely impacted their ability to challenge the Spanish at sea, until replaced with the English alliance in 1657. At its peak in 1632, the Spanish army contained around 300,000 regulars, exclusive of local militia and

5066-813: A treaty of alliance between the Confederates and the Irish Royalists , but faced with the Cromwellian invasion he changed his mind. Shortly after agreeing to an alliance with the 1st Marquess of Ormond , the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland , in which he was promised an Earldom , O'Neill died on Tuesday, 6 November 1649. O'Neill was the illegitimate son of Art MacBaron O'Neill , a son of Matthew O'Neill, 1st Baron Dungannon and younger half-brother of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone , who held lands in County Armagh . His alleged great-grandfather

5215-529: A truce with the Spanish commander, Caracena . On 8 May 1659, France and Spain began negotiating terms; the death of Oliver Cromwell in September 1658 weakened England, which was allowed to observe but excluded from the talks. Although the Anglo-Spanish War was suspended after the 1660 restoration of Charles II , it did not formally end until the Treaty of Madrid (1667) . Under the Treaty of

5364-574: A war of horror . O'Neill died on 6 November 1649 at the O'Reilly stronghold of Cloughoughter Castle on an island in Lough Oughter in County Cavan . One belief was that he was poisoned by a priest who was working for the English, another that he died from an illness resulting from an old wound. However, it is now widely believed that he died from complications to do with gout , which he had complained about several days before his death. Given O'Neill's well-known excellent defensive abilities, and immense experience in siege warfare, he could have been

5513-545: A wider meaning, including the Gaelic of Scotland and the Isle of Man , as well as of Ireland. When required by the context, these are distinguished as Gaeilge na hAlban , Gaeilge Mhanann and Gaeilge na hÉireann respectively. In English (including Hiberno-English ), the language is usually referred to as Irish , as well as Gaelic and Irish Gaelic . The term Irish Gaelic may be seen when English speakers discuss

5662-603: Is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family . It is a member of the Goidelic language group of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous to the island of Ireland . It was the majority of the population's first language until the 19th century, when English gradually became dominant, particularly in the last decades of the century, in what is sometimes characterised as

5811-452: Is also An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , a standardised written form devised by a parliamentary commission in the 1950s. The traditional Irish alphabet , a variant of the Latin alphabet with 18 letters , has been succeeded by the standard Latin alphabet (albeit with 7–8 letters used primarily in loanwords ). Irish has constitutional status as the national and first official language of

5960-511: Is divided into four separate phases with the intention of improving 9 main areas of action including: The general goal for this strategy was to increase the number of daily speakers from 83,000 to 250,000 by the end of its run. By 2022, the number of such speakers had fallen to 71,968. Before the partition of Ireland in 1921, Irish was recognised as a school subject and as "Celtic" in some third level institutions. Between 1921 and 1972, Northern Ireland had devolved government. During those years

6109-587: Is only in Gaeltacht areas that Irish continues to be spoken as a community vernacular to some extent. According to data compiled by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht , Sport and Media , only 1/4 of households in Gaeltacht areas are fluent in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ó hÉallaithe of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology , described

Owen Roe O'Neill - Misplaced Pages Continue

6258-412: Is still spoken daily to some extent as a first language . These regions are known individually and collectively as the Gaeltacht (plural Gaeltachtaí ). While the fluent Irish speakers of these areas, whose numbers have been estimated at 20–30,000, are a minority of the total number of fluent Irish speakers, they represent a higher concentration of Irish speakers than other parts of the country and it

6407-413: Is unknown but was likely to have been around 1585. It is also not known exactly where he was born, but it was probably near Loughgall in County Armagh where his father's estates were and where O'Neill spent much of his youth. His mother was the daughter of Hugh Connolly O'Reilly, lord of Breifne O'Reilly in County Cavan. O'Neill was educated by Franciscan monks who not only taught him Latin but also

6556-604: The Fíor-Ghaeltacht (true Gaeltacht ), a term originally officially applied to areas where over 50% of the population spoke Irish. There are Gaeltacht regions in the following counties: Gweedore ( Gaoth Dobhair ), County Donegal, is the largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland. Irish language summer colleges in the Gaeltacht are attended by tens of thousands of teenagers annually. Students live with Gaeltacht families, attend classes, participate in sports, go to céilithe and are obliged to speak Irish. All aspects of Irish culture and tradition are encouraged. The Act

6705-425: The Army of Flanders . In 1631 to 1636 alone, Naples provided 3.5 million scudi, significant naval resources and 53,500 recruits for the Spanish army, more than Castile from a population half the size. In addition to supporting its own army and navy, from 1630 to 1643 Naples supplied an average of 10,000 soldiers a year to the Spanish army, provided an annual subsidy of one million ducats to support other areas of

6854-430: The Catalan Courts recognised Louis XIII of France as Count of Barcelona and the ruler of the Principality of Catalonia . However, they soon found the new administration differed little from the old, which turned the war into a three sided contest between the Franco-Catalan elite, the rural peasantry and the Spanish. Louis XIII died on 14 May 1643, and was succeeded by his five-year-old son, Louis XIV , whose mother,

7003-407: The Catholic Confederation which met at Kilkenny in October 1642. Phelim professed to be acting in the interest of Charles I ; O'Neill's aim was complete independence of Ireland as a Catholic country, while the Old English Catholics represented by the council desired to secure religious liberty and an Irish constitution under English rule. O'Neill wanted the Plantation of Ulster overturned and

7152-403: The Comte de Montal , but his political power was broken, and he did not hold military command again until 1667. An integral part of the peace negotiations was the marriage contract between Louis and Maria Theresa , which he used to justify the 1666 to 1667 War of Devolution , and formed the basis of French claims over the next 50 years. The marriage was more significant than intended, since it

7301-405: The Duchy of Cleves . The French retreated across the border, and the Dutch, under Frederick Henry , marched urgently on the strategic position of Schenkenschans . Captured by the Spanish on 28 July, it was recovered only after a long and costly siege. After that failure, the States General of the Netherlands opposed further large-scale land operations in favour of attacks on Spanish trade. In

7450-463: The Holy Roman Empire and entered the conflict as an ally of the Dutch Republic and of Sweden . After Westphalia in 1648, the war continued between Spain and France, with neither side able to achieve decisive victory. France made some gains in Flanders and along the north-eastern end of the Pyrenees , but by 1658 both sides were financially exhausted, which led them to make peace in November 1659. French territorial gains were minor but strengthened

7599-445: The Holy Roman Empire . Until the mid 20th century, the Thirty Years' War was primarily seen as a German religious conflict. In 1938, British historian Veronica Wedgwood argued that it actually formed part of a wider ongoing European struggle, with the Habsburg-Bourbon conflict at its centre. Some historians suggest the Franco-Spanish War was simply part of a much wider contest with many different locations and participants. During

SECTION 50

#1732787971075

7748-441: The Irish Confederate Ulster Army. He is known for his victory at the Battle of Benburb in 1646. O'Neill's later years were marked by infighting amongst the Confederates, and in 1647 he led his army to seize power in the capital of Kilkenny . His troops clashed with rival forces of the Confederacy, leading to O'Neill forming a temporary alliance with Charles Coote 's English Parliamentary forces in Ulster. He initially rejected

7897-466: The Nine Years' War . After the defeat in the conflict, he had fled Ireland during the Flight of the Earls in an attempt to gain support from Catholic powers in Continental Europe, where he died in Rome in 1616. In November O'Neill and Preston attempted to besiege Dublin. On 2 November they sent an ultimatum to Ormond to admit a Catholic garrison into the town. When Ormond refused, the two generals marched to Lucan west of Dublin where they were joined by

8046-409: The Papal Nuncio , Giovanni Battista Rinuccini , attacked the combined Protestant Laggan Army militia and Scottish Covenanter army under Major-General Robert Monro , who had landed in Ireland in April 1642. On 5 June 1646, despite being outnumbered and outgunned, O'Neill utterly routed Monro at the Battle of Benburb , on the Blackwater killing or capturing 3,000 Scots . However, he was summoned to

8195-512: The Republic of Ireland , and is also an official language of Northern Ireland and among the official languages of the European Union . The public body Foras na Gaeilge is responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island. Irish has no regulatory body but An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , the standard written form, is guided by a parliamentary service and new vocabulary by a voluntary committee with university input. In An Caighdeán Oifigiúil ("The Official [Written] Standard ")

8344-432: The Spanish Empire , then the strongest military power in Europe, required French forces of unprecedented size and an associated expansion of the taxation and supply base needed to support them. To meet these needs, official estimates for the army expanded from 39,000 in 1630 to around 150,000 shortly before the declaration of war in May 1635. However, at this stage the French state was unable to support such large numbers; of

8493-464: The Spanish Netherlands and the German Rhineland . In addition, France supported revolts against Spanish rule in Portugal (1640–1668), Catalonia (1640–1653) and Naples (1647), and from 1647 to 1653, Spain backed French rebels in the civil war known as the Fronde . Both also backed opposing sides in the 1639 to 1642 Piedmontese Civil War . France avoided direct participation in the Thirty Years' War until May 1635, when it declared war on Spain and

8642-617: The Twelve Years' Truce . The Spanish strongly objected to its commercial provisions, and when Philip IV became king in 1621, he resumed the war. The cost proved extremely high and increased after 1628 by a proxy war with France over the Mantuan succession . The Spanish Empire reached its maximum nominal extent under Philip's rule, but its size and complexity made it increasingly difficult to govern, or enact essential reforms. However, its depth of resources consistently allowed it to recover from defeats that would have shattered other powers, and new regulations passed in 1631 and 1632 were key to

8791-480: The Venetian Republic , Transylvania and Sweden . After 1635, France intervened directly through anti-Habsburg alliances with the Dutch and the Swedish, and supported insurgencies with money and troops in Catalonia , Portugal , and Naples For their part, the Habsburgs backed the Huguenots and numerous conspiracies led by the feudal lords who resented their loss of power under Cardinal Richelieu and his successor, Cardinal Mazarin . The most significant ones were

8940-472: The Wars of the Three Kingdoms —civil wars throughout Britain and Ireland. Because of his military experience, O'Neill was recognised on his return to Ireland, at Doe Castle in County Donegal on 8 July 1642, as the leading representative of the O'Neills and head of the Ulster Irish. Sir Phelim O'Neill resigned the northern command of the Irish rebellion in Eoghan Rua's favour and escorted him from Lough Swilly to Charlemont. Upon arrival in Ireland, he received

9089-679: The Young Irelanders , as a patriot. Thomas Davis wrote a song about O'Neill, " The Lament for Owen Roe ", first published in the Young Ireland newspaper The Nation . Drawing on an older melody composed by the harp player Turlough Carolan , it portrays his death as an assassination and the main cause of the subsequent defeat to Cromwell's English Republican forces. Its first verse is: “Did they dare, did they dare, to slay Owen Roe O’Neill?” “Yes, they slew with poison him they feared to meet with steel.” “May God wither up their hearts! May their blood cease to flow, May they walk in living death, who poisoned Owen Roe.” Tommy Makem composed

SECTION 60

#1732787971075

9238-420: The midlands . Despite the animosity between O'Neill and Preston (which often led to difficulties when they campaigned together), the campaign was successful, with several royalist strongholds in the Midlands, especially in the Counties of Meath and Westmeath being captured or destroyed. They also raided much of the area for supplies. In one famous battle, O'Neill's army was confronted by a British force under

9387-406: The 1620s, France was threatened internally by a series of Huguenot rebellions and externally by Habsburg possessions on its borders in the Spanish Netherlands , Lorraine , Alsace , Franche-Comté and Roussillon . Prior to 1635, France sought to weaken both branches of the Habsburgs by financing their opponents, including the Dutch , clients in Northern Italy and the Grisons , the Ottomans ,

9536-488: The 1632 Montmorency plot , the 1641 Princes des Paix rising , and Cinq-Mars in 1642. Spain also helped finance the 1648–1653 French civil war known as the Fronde . Wider co-operation between the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs was limited since their objectives did not always align. Spain was a global maritime power, and Austria was primarily a European land power and focused on the Holy Roman Empire, which contained over 1,800 states, most of them extremely small. Although

9685-400: The 17th century, largely as a result of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland , which saw many Irish sent to the West Indies . Irish emigration to the United States was well established by the 18th century, and was reinforced in the 1840s by thousands fleeing from the Famine . This flight also affected Britain. Up until that time most emigrants spoke Irish as their first language, though English

9834-604: The 1998 Good Friday Agreement , the language gradually received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, and then, in 2003, by the British government's ratification in respect of the language of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . In the 2006 St Andrews Agreement the British government promised to enact legislation to promote the language and in 2022 it approved legislation to recognise Irish as an official language alongside English. The bill received royal assent on 6 December 2022. The Irish language has often been used as

9983-489: The 27,000 men who took part in the invasion of the Spanish Netherlands in May of the same year, fewer than 15,000 remained a month later. Throughout the war, both sides struggled to support offensives outside their own boundaries; the Spanish invasion of northern France in 1636 collapsed due to lack of supplies and was not repeated. Including those supplied by Bernard of Saxe-Weimar and paid by France, between 1635 and 1642 official troop levels averaged 150,000 to 160,000, with

10132-403: The 6th century, used the Latin alphabet and is attested primarily in marginalia to Latin manuscripts. During this time, the Irish language absorbed some Latin words, some via Old Welsh , including ecclesiastical terms : examples are easpag (bishop) from episcopus , and Domhnach (Sunday, from dominica ). By the 10th century, Old Irish had evolved into Middle Irish , which

10281-466: The Act all detailing different aspects of the use of Irish in official documentation and communication. Included in these sections are subjects such as Irish language use in official courts, official publications, and placenames. The Act was recently amended in December 2019 in order to strengthen the already preexisting legislation. All changes made took into account data collected from online surveys and written submissions. The Official Languages Scheme

10430-419: The Cardinal-Infante, and the attack was not repeated as the Cardinal-Infante himself would fall ill not long after in the coming years. As agreed at Compiègne in 1635, the French replaced Swedish garrisons in Alsace. Prior to his death in 1639, Bernard of Saxe-Weimar won a series of victories over the Imperials in the Rhineland, notably the capture of Breisach in December 1638. Severing the Spanish Road meant

10579-464: The Dutch used the opportunity to attack their possessions in the Americas, Africa and Asia, especially those belonging to the Portuguese Empire , which was also ruled by Philip IV. Spanish inability to protect those interests caused increasing unrest in Portugal . Damage to the economy and tax increases imposed to pay for the war led to protests throughout Spanish territories, which in 1640 erupted into open revolts in Portugal and Catalonia . In 1641,

10728-535: The European Union , only co-decision regulations were available until 2022, due to a five-year derogation, requested by the Irish Government when negotiating the language's new official status. The Irish government had committed itself to train the necessary number of translators and interpreters and to bear the related costs. This derogation ultimately came to an end on 1 January 2022, making Irish

10877-878: The Flight of the Earls). He grew up in the Spanish Netherlands and served for 40 years in the Irish regiment of the Spanish army. Most of his combat was in the Eighty Years' War against the Dutch Republic in Flanders and against the French in the Franco-Spanish War . He distinguished himself notably at the Siege of Arras in 1640, where he commanded the Spanish garrison and held out for 48 days with 2,000 men (many of whom were fellow Irishmen), against

11026-540: The Habsburgs had been Holy Roman Emperors since 1440, their control over the empire was weakened by the 1555 Peace of Augsburg , which continued in the period leading up to 1620. Reversing the trend was a major Habsburg objective during the Thirty Years' War, but failure was acknowledged by the 1648 Peace of Westphalia . France faced the same issue of diverging objectives with its allies. The war coincided with

11175-549: The Irish language policy followed by Irish governments as a "complete and absolute disaster". The Irish Times , referring to his analysis published in the Irish language newspaper Foinse , quoted him as follows: "It is an absolute indictment of successive Irish Governments that at the foundation of the Irish State there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi Irish-speaking areas, but

11324-471: The Irish war effort would land in Ireland later, reviving the rebellion, and adding considerable knowledge and experience to the Catholic ranks, which would prove extremely valuable. The rebellion had broken out in autumn 1641, with the rebel leaders issuing the Proclamation of Dungannon declaring their aim of enhancing Catholic rights while declaring their continued loyalty to King Charles I . Despite

11473-603: The Nuncio. With winter approaching and hearing that Parliamentarian troops had landed in Dublin, O'Neill abandoned the siege. By 1647, the Confederate council was becoming increasingly concerned that the Royalist garrison in Dublin was planning to hand the city over to the Parliamentarians rather than let it fall into the hands of the Irish. For this reason, O'Neill and Preston were ordered to join forces to capture

11622-614: The October 1648 Treaty of Münster, France gained strategic locations in Alsace and Lorraine , as well as Pinerolo , which controlled access to Alpine passes in Northern Italy. However, the peace excluded Italy, Imperial territories in the Low Countries and French-occupied Lorraine. Although Emperor Ferdinand was now at peace with France, the fighting between France and Spain continued. After Philip IV of Spain had declared bankruptcy in 1647, he reduced expenditure by prioritising

11771-548: The Pyrenees , signed on 5 November 1659, France gained Artois and Hainaut along its border with the Spanish Netherlands, as well as Roussillon . These were more significant than often assumed; in combination with the 1648 Treaty of Münster, France strengthened its borders in the east and south-west, while in 1662, Charles II sold Dunkirk to France . Acquisition of Roussillon established the Franco-Spanish border along

11920-626: The Pyrenees, but divided the historic Principality of Catalonia , an event still commemorated each year by French Catalan-speakers in Perpignan . In addition to these territorial loses, Spain was forced to recognize and confirm all of the French territorial gains at the Peace of Westphalia. France withdrew support from Afonso VI of Portugal , while Louis XIV renounced his claim to be Count of Barcelona, and king of Catalonia. Condé regained his possessions and titles, as did many of his followers, such as

12069-620: The Republic of Ireland ), new appointees to the Civil Service of the Republic of Ireland , including postal workers , tax collectors , agricultural inspectors, Garda Síochána (police), etc., were required to have some proficiency in Irish. By law, a Garda who was addressed in Irish had to respond in Irish as well. In 1974, in part through the actions of protest organisations like the Language Freedom Movement ,

12218-500: The Scottish soldiers who inflicted terrible attacks on Irish civilians, persuaded by Protestant propaganda alleging atrocities against Anglo-Scottish settlers in the rebellion of 1641. To O'Neill the devastation of Ulster made it look, "not only like a desert, but like hell, if hell could exist on earth". O'Neill stopped the killings of Protestant civilians, for which he received the gratitude of many Protestant settlers. From 1642 to 1646

12367-884: The Spanish Army of Flanders . As a result, much of the fighting focused on the Spanish Road , a land supply route connecting Spanish possessions in Italy with Flanders but also passing through areas considered vital to French security, like Alsace . The independent Duchy of Savoy and Spanish-held Duchy of Milan were strategically important to the Road but also provided access to the vulnerable southern borders of France and Habsburg territories in Austria . Richelieu aimed to end Spanish dominance in those areas, an objective that had been largely achieved at his death in 1642. Until

12516-482: The Spanish Empire, and paid a third of Milan's government expenditures. As a result, its public debt quintupled and by 1648 interest payments constituted 57% of the kingdom's revenue. In both Naples and Sicily, taxes tripled between 1618 and 1688; Philip sought to mitigate the impact by providing tax exemption for the elderly and poor and increasing consumption taxes on the wealthy, but this and other measures had

12665-473: The Spanish Netherlands and defeated a smaller Spanish force at Les Avins and besieged Leuven on 24 June, where they were joined by Dutch reinforcements. Disease and lack of supplies quickly reduced the besieging army, which withdrew in the face of a relief force under Ottavio Piccolomini on 4 July. Led by Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria , the Spanish took the initiative and captured Limbourg , Gennep , Diest and Goch and besieged Dutch garrisons in

12814-484: The Spanish Netherlands in 1651, where his immense prestige in territories adjacent to the Spanish possession of Franche-Comté made him a valuable ally for Philip. Over the course of 1652, Spain recaptured both Dunkirk and Barcelona , and although limited combat continued in Roussillon , the front by 1653 had stabilised along the modern Pyrenees border. However, doing so forced Philip into bankruptcy again, while

12963-575: The Spanish armies in Flanders had to be resupplied by sea, which made them vulnerable to attack by the Dutch States Navy , which destroyed a large Spanish fleet at the Battle of the Downs in 1639. Although most convoys managed to get through, that illustrated the difficulties Spain faced in sustaining its war effort in the Low Countries. With Spanish resources stretched to the limit in Europe,

13112-533: The Spanish king viewed this as a personal obligation to Condé, the war continued. France had previously relied on the Dutch to provide naval support against Spain, which ended after Westphalia. In 1657, Mazarin replaced the loss by negotiating an anti-Spanish alliance with the Commonwealth of England . That expanded the scope of the Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660) , and France withdrew support for

13261-532: The Spanish-ruled Duchy of Milan achieved little because of lack of resources and the disruption caused by the 1639 to 1642 Piedmontese Civil War . Victory at Orbetello in June 1646, and the recapture of Naples in 1647 left Spain firmly in control of the region. The 1648 Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War, recognised Dutch independence and ended the drain on Spanish resources. Under

13410-432: The Spanish. Historian John A. Lynn suggests an average of 60% "Reported" versus "Actual" "provides the most reasonable guide", a figure based on André Corvisier's 1964 work L'armée française de la fin du XVIIe siècle au ministère de Choiseul . Throughout the war, logistics remained the major constraint on the number of troops, while strategy was often subordinated to the need to find adequate provisions, especially given

13559-399: The advent of railways in the 19th century, water was the primary means of bulk transportation, and campaigns focused on control of rivers and ports. Armies relied on foraging , while the feeding of the draught animals essential for transport and cavalry restricted campaigning in the winter. By the 1630s, the countryside had been devastated by years of constant warfare, which limited the size of

13708-621: The armies and their ability to conduct operations. Sickness killed far more soldiers than combat. The French army that invaded Flanders in May 1635 had been reduced by desertion and disease from 27,000 to under 17,000 by early July. The Thirty Years' War began in 1618 when the Protestant -dominated Bohemian Estates offered the Crown of Bohemia to Frederick V of the Palatinate , in place of

13857-490: The art of war. He later fought against the English in the Nine Years' War , with the Irish war effort led by his great-uncle Hugh O'Neill. He would have been only a teen at the time and it is unknown what his role would have been, but it may have fueled his deep hatred for the English later in his life. Several of his elder brothers also took part in the rebellion, some of whom died fighting. Another, Brian MacArt O'Neill ,

14006-641: The beginning of the following academic year. For a number of years there has been vigorous debate in political, academic and other circles about the failure of most students in English-medium schools to achieve competence in Irish, even after fourteen years of teaching as one of the three main subjects. The concomitant decline in the number of traditional native speakers has also been a cause of great concern. In 2007, filmmaker Manchán Magan found few Irish speakers in Dublin , and faced incredulity when trying to get by speaking only Irish in Dublin. He

14155-591: The campaign of 1636, Philip switched his focus to recovering territories in the Low Countries , while a Franco-Savoyard offensive in Lombardy was defeated at Tornavento in June. A Spanish incursion led by Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand into northern France captured the key fortified town of Corbie in August, but despite causing panic in Paris , the campaign did not continue past Corbie due to high risks deemed by

14304-410: The city before any Parliamentarian forces could arrive. This was the largest army ever put together by the Confederates. O'Neill and Preston set up camp between Lucan and Celbridge . Neither man was the overall commander, with both holding equal levels of command. However neither man trusted the other, and their personal dislike of each other led to constant argument and bickering between the two. For

14453-520: The command of Lord Moore. According to legend, O'Neill simply went over to a cannon, took aim, and blew off Lord Moore's head. After losing their commander, the British force retreated without a fight. After the midlands campaign, O'Neill was ordered to return to Ulster with Lord Castlehaven to conduct offensive operations against the territory held by the Covenanters. These attacks descended into

14602-560: The conservative Catholic Emperor Ferdinand II . Most of the Holy Roman Empire remained neutral and viewed it as an inheritance dispute, and the revolt was quickly suppressed. However, when Frederick refused to admit defeat, Imperial forces invaded the Palatinate and forced him into exile. The removal of a hereditary prince changed the nature and extent of the war. Combined with a renewed Counter-Reformation , it presented

14751-635: The defunct Benburb Eoghan Ruadh GAC The Irish Army opened a new barracks in 1990, to replace the old military post in Cavan Town since 1707?, and named it "Dún Uí Néill" (O'Neill's Fort or Fort of O'Neill). A & Sp companies of the 29th Infantry Battalion conducted border patrols and Aid To Civil Power operations from here. It was subsequently closed in 2012 during Irish Defence Forces restructuring. Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ),

14900-718: The education system. Linguistic analyses of Irish speakers are therefore based primarily on the number of daily users in Ireland outside the education system, which in 2022 was 20,261 in the Gaeltacht and 51,707 outside it, totalling 71,968. In response to the 2021 census of Northern Ireland , 43,557 individuals stated they spoke Irish on a daily basis, 26,286 spoke it on a weekly basis, 47,153 spoke it less often than weekly, and 9,758 said they could speak Irish, but never spoke it. From 2006 to 2008, over 22,000 Irish Americans reported speaking Irish as their first language at home, with several times that number claiming "some knowledge" of

15049-453: The empire increasingly relied on its Italian territories for recruits and money. Historian Davide Maffi calculates the Duchy of Milan provided an annual 6 million scudi for the war, as well as an average of 4,000 recruits per year. The Grand Duchy of Tuscany , a de facto Spanish protectorate was required to supply 17,000 scudi a month, as well as provide ships for the fleet and soldiers for

15198-621: The end of the Fronde allowed Mazarin to resume attacks on Milan, possession of which would allow France to threaten Habsburg Austria . The attempt failed despite support from Savoy, Modena and Portugal. By now, the two antagonists were exhausted, with neither able to establish dominance. From 1654 to 1656, major French victories at Arras , Landrecies and Saint-Ghislain were offset by Spanish victories at Pavia and Valenciennes . Under pressure from Pope Alexander VII , Mazarin offered peace terms but refused to accept Philip's insistence for Condé to be restored to his French titles and lands. Since

15347-474: The end of the famine, and under 17,000 by 1911. Irish is recognised by the Constitution of Ireland as the national and first official language of Republic of Ireland (English being the other official language). Despite this, almost all government business and legislative debate is conducted in English. In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde , was inaugurated as

15496-636: The exiled Charles II of England , whose supporters joined the Spanish as a result. After the Anglo-French capture of Dunkirk in June 1658, Philip requested a truce, which Mazarin refused, but once again success proved illusory. On 15 August, Spain won an important victory at Camprodon in Catalonia, Oliver Cromwell 's death in September led to political chaos in England, and fighting in northern Italy ended when French allies Savoy and Modena agreed to

15645-560: The first President of Ireland . The record of his delivering his inaugural Declaration of Office in Roscommon Irish is one of only a few recordings of that dialect. In the 2016 census, 10.5% of respondents stated that they spoke Irish, either daily or weekly, while over 70,000 people (4.2%) speak it as a habitual daily means of communication. From the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (see History of

15794-552: The flagship of the Confederate naval forces during the war, was the first to fly the Confederate flag. He was joined by several of his countrymen and his sons. They managed to evade several Royal Navy vessels which were specially deployed to intercept O'Neill. Upon landing in Ulster he was met by Sir Felim O'Neill who escorted him to the Irish-held fort of Charlemont . Twelve more ships from continental Europe carrying experienced Irish officers along with weapons and supplies for

15943-530: The former Spanish princess, Anne of Austria , took control of the Regency Council that ruled in his name. Five days later, Louis II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé , then known as the duc d'Enghien, defeated the Spanish Army of Flanders at Rocroi . Less decisive than often thought, the battle led to the loss of the veteran army and ended Spanish dominance of the European battlefield. It also gave Condé,

16092-413: The improved Spanish military performance in the first part of the war. In 1628, the Dutch captured the Spanish treasure fleet , which they used to finance the capture of 's-Hertogenbosch the following year. The powerful Amsterdam mercantile lobby saw that as an opportunity to end the war. Negotiations ended without result in 1633 but strengthened the peace party. The Peace of Prague led to rumours of

16241-546: The indirect effect of crushing the southern Italian economy. Despite its power, the Spanish army was subject to constant supply shortages throughout the twenty five year conflict. By the end of it, both states were exhausted. When the commander of the Army of Extremadura requested 3,000 quintales (138 tons) of gunpowder for the 1659 campaign in Portugal, the central Junta of War for Spain revealed that total supplies for defense in

16390-540: The kingdom's borders. Louis XIV married Maria Theresa of Spain , the eldest daughter of Philip IV . Spain remained as a great power and retained a vast global empire , but the treaty marked the end of its position as the predominant European power during the rest of the 17th century. Europe in the 17th century was dominated by the struggle between the Bourbon kings of France , and their Habsburg rivals in Spain and

16539-716: The language family, is derived from the Old Irish term. Endonyms of the language in the various modern Irish dialects include: Gaeilge [ˈɡeːlʲɟə] in Galway, Gaeilg / Gaeilic / Gaeilig [ˈɡeːlʲəc] in Mayo and Ulster , Gaelainn / Gaoluinn [ˈɡeːl̪ˠən̠ʲ] in West/Cork, Kerry Munster , as well as Gaedhealaing in mid and East Kerry/Cork and Waterford Munster to reflect local pronunciation. Gaeilge also has

16688-410: The language was in use by all classes, Irish being an urban as well as a rural language. This linguistic dynamism was reflected in the efforts of certain public intellectuals to counter the decline of the language. At the end of the 19th century, they launched the Gaelic revival in an attempt to encourage the learning and use of Irish, although few adult learners mastered the language. The vehicle of

16837-425: The language. For most of recorded Irish history , Irish was the dominant language of the Irish people , who took it with them to other regions , such as Scotland and the Isle of Man , where Middle Irish gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx . It was also, for a period, spoken widely across Canada , with an estimated 200,000–250,000 daily Canadian speakers of Irish in 1890. On the island of Newfoundland ,

16986-526: The mid-18th century, English was becoming a language of the Catholic middle class, the Catholic Church and public intellectuals, especially in the east of the country. Increasingly, as the value of English became apparent, parents sanctioned the prohibition of Irish in schools. Increasing interest in emigrating to the United States and Canada was also a driver, as fluency in English allowed

17135-804: The name of the language is Gaeilge , from the South Connacht form, spelled Gaedhilge prior the spelling reform of 1948, which was originally the genitive of Gaedhealg , the form used in Classical Gaelic . The modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent ⟨dh⟩ in Gaedhilge . Older spellings include Gaoidhealg [ˈɡeːʝəlˠəɡ] in Classical Gaelic and Goídelc [ˈɡoiðʲelɡ] in Old Irish . Goidelic , used to refer to

17284-469: The new immigrants to get jobs in areas other than farming. An estimated one quarter to one third of US immigrants during the Great Famine were Irish speakers. Irish was not marginal to Ireland's modernisation in the 19th century, as is often assumed. In the first half of the century there were still around three million people for whom Irish was the primary language, and their numbers alone made them

17433-655: The number now is between 20,000 and 30,000." In the 1920s, when the Irish Free State was founded, Irish was still a vernacular in some western coastal areas. In the 1930s, areas where more than 25% of the population spoke Irish were classified as Gaeltacht . Today, the strongest Gaeltacht areas, numerically and socially, are those of South Connemara , the west of the Dingle Peninsula , and northwest Donegal, where many residents still use Irish as their primary language. These areas are often referred to as

17582-503: The other official language, if not already passed in both official languages. In November 2016, RTÉ reported that over 2.3 million people worldwide were learning Irish through the Duolingo app. Irish president Michael D. Higgins officially honoured several volunteer translators for developing the Irish edition, and said the push for Irish language rights remains an "unfinished project". There are rural areas of Ireland where Irish

17731-482: The peninsula (including the navy, coastal garrisons, and militia in addition to the three major war fronts in Catalonia, Extremadura and Galicia) were only 1427 quintales (66 tons) due to so much powder having been spent in the fight against France. Shortages were particularly prominent among the militia and reserve forces. In 1632, 70% of the 44,000 men in Castile's militias were "unarmed" (as in, armed only with swords or similar weapons rather than firearms or pikes) due to

17880-589: The period of economic supremacy known as the Dutch Golden Age , and by 1640, many Dutch statesmen viewed French ambitions in the Spanish Netherlands as a threat. Unlike France, Swedish war aims were restricted to Germany, and in 1641, the Swedes considered a separate peace with Emperor Ferdinand III . From the late 16th century, Italy, especially the Kingdom of Naples , was the primary source of money for

18029-432: The plague and famine that accompanied the war. A significant Imperial-Spanish victory at Nördlingen in September 1634 forced the Swedes to abandon southern Germany, and most of their German allies used the opportunity to make peace with Ferdinand II at Prague in April 1635. The other major European conflict of the period was the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648) between Spain and the Dutch Republic, suspended in 1609 by

18178-557: The political party holding power in the Stormont Parliament , the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), was hostile to the language. The context of this hostility was the use of the language by nationalists. In broadcasting, there was an exclusion on the reporting of minority cultural issues, and Irish was excluded from radio and television for almost the first fifty years of the previous devolved government. After

18327-521: The predominant European power. More recent assessments argue this relies on hindsight, and that while France made crucial strategic gains around its borders, the outcome was far more balanced. One view is that the two parties effectively settled for a draw, and that had France not moderated its demands in 1659, Spain would have continued fighting. "The (1659 treaty) was a peace of equals. Spanish losses were not great, and France returned some territory and strongholds. With hindsight, historians have regarded

18476-524: The primitive infrastructure then available. It was not until the 1660s that Louvois created the support systems that allowed France to sustain an army of nearly 200,000 men for extended periods, and crucially ensure co-ordinated strategy between different fronts. The more experienced Spanish were better equipped in this respect while their resources made it easier to replace losses of men and material. These advantages could be offset by engaging them on multiple fronts while attacking their lines of communication,

18625-529: The recovery of the O'Neill dynasty's lands. The majority of Confederate military resources were directed to Thomas Preston 's Leinster Army. Preston, an Old English Catholic, was also a Spanish veteran but he and O'Neill had an intense personal dislike of each other. Mainly because Preston had been given the available military resources, O'Neill was outnumbered by the Scottish Covenanter army that had landed in Ulster in 1642. He did, however, have

18774-492: The relationship between the three Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx). Gaelic is a collective term for the Goidelic languages, and when the context is clear it may be used without qualification to refer to each language individually. When the context is specific but unclear, the term may be qualified, as Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic or Manx Gaelic. Historically the name "Erse" ( / ɜːr s / URS )

18923-432: The requirement for entrance to the public service was changed to proficiency in just one official language. Nevertheless, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools in the Republic of Ireland that receive public money (see Education in the Republic of Ireland ). Teachers in primary schools must also pass a compulsory examination called Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge . As of 2005, Garda Síochána recruits need

19072-455: The retaking of Catalonia and remaining on the defensive elsewhere. In addition, many of his best troops had been lost at Rocroi and parts of Flanders overrun, including the key port of Dunkirk , a centre for Spanish privateer attacks on Dutch and French shipping. However, his position improved after the Peace of Westphalia ended the Dutch war, and political and economic turmoil in France led to

19221-647: The revival was the Gaelic League ( Conradh na Gaeilge ), and particular emphasis was placed on the folk tradition, which in Irish is particularly rich. Efforts were also made to develop journalism and a modern literature. Although it has been noted that the Catholic Church played a role in the decline of the Irish language before the Gaelic Revival, the Protestant Church of Ireland also made only minor efforts to encourage use of Irish in

19370-512: The south by Rinuccini, and so was unable to take advantage of the victory, and allowed Monro to remain unmolested at Carrickfergus . Upon receiving the news of the Confederate victory, the Pope, delighted at the news of a Catholic triumph over the Protestants, sent O'Neill the sword belonging to his great uncle, the Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone , who had led the rebellion against the English in

19519-402: The treaty as a symbol of the 'decline of Spain' and the 'ascendancy of France'; at that time, however, (it) appeared a far from decisive verdict on the international hierarchy". "Spain maintained her supremacy in Europe until 1659, and was the greatest imperial power for years after that. Although (its) economic and military power suffered an abrupt decline in the half century after (1659), (it)

19668-675: The vacancy to which they are appointed. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3). In 2016, the university faced controversy when it announced the planned appointment of a president who did not speak Irish. Misneach staged protests against this decision. The following year the university announced that Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh , a fluent Irish speaker, would be its 13th president. He assumed office in January 2018; in June 2024, he announced he would be stepping down as president at

19817-594: The work of such writers as Geoffrey Keating , is said to date from the 17th century, and was the medium of popular literature from that time on. From the 18th century on, the language lost ground in the east of the country. The reasons behind this shift were complex but came down to a number of factors: The change was characterised by diglossia (two languages being used by the same community in different social and economic situations) and transitional bilingualism (monoglot Irish-speaking grandparents with bilingual children and monoglot English-speaking grandchildren). By

19966-438: Was Conn O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone , the most powerful figure in Ulster and the first O'Neill to take a title from the Crown as part of the surrender and regrant policy of the Tudor era . Through Conn, he was descended from Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Kildare , the leading Anglo-Irish noble of the era, member of the Earls of Kildare , who more or less ruled Ireland in the 15th and early 16th centuries. His year of birth

20115-415: Was a major blow to the Irish of Ulster and was kept secret for some time. After his death, the command of the Ulster army fell to his son Henry Roe until a replacement was found. Catholic nobles and gentry met in Ulster in March to appoint a commander to succeed O'Neill. Their choice was Heber MacMahon , Bishop of Clogher . The Ulster army was unable to prevent the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland , despite

20264-517: Was a major participant in the European coalitions against Louis XIV, and the peace congresses at Nijmegen in 1678, and Ryswick in 1697". David Parrott, Professor of Early Modern History at New College, Oxford claims the Peaces of Westphalia and the Pyrenees both reflected mutual exhaustion and stalemate, not a "military diktat imposed by victorious powers". Elsewhere, he labels the Franco-Spanish War as "25 years of indecisive, over-ambitious and, on occasions, truly disastrous conflict". Taking on

20413-422: Was agreed shortly after Philip's second wife, Mariana of Austria , gave birth to a second son, both of whom died young. Philip died in 1665, leaving his four-year-old son Charles as king, once described as "always on the verge of death, but repeatedly baffling Christendom by continuing to live." Traditional scholarship viewed the war as a French victory that marked the start of France's rise, replacing Spain as

20562-431: Was also sometimes used in Scots and then in English to refer to Irish; as well as Scottish Gaelic. Written Irish is first attested in Ogham inscriptions from the 4th century AD, a stage of the language known as Primitive Irish . These writings have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish underwent a change into Old Irish through the 5th century. Old Irish, dating from

20711-425: Was enacted 1 July 2019 and is an 18-page document that adheres to the guidelines of the Official Languages Act 2003 . The purpose of the Scheme is to provide services through the mediums of Irish and/or English. According to the Department of the Taoiseach, it is meant to "develop a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland's interests abroad, to implement the Government's Programme and to build

20860-479: Was establishing itself as the primary language. Irish speakers had first arrived in Australia in the late 18th century as convicts and soldiers, and many Irish-speaking settlers followed, particularly in the 1860s. New Zealand also received some of this influx. Argentina was the only non-English-speaking country to receive large numbers of Irish emigrants, and there were few Irish speakers among them. Franco-Spanish War (1635%E2%80%931659) The Franco-Spanish War

21009-429: Was fought from 1635 to 1659 between France and Spain , each supported by various allies at different points. The first phase, beginning in May 1635 and ending with the 1648 Peace of Westphalia , is considered a related conflict of the Thirty Years' War . The second phase continued until 1659, when France and Spain agreed to peace terms in the Treaty of the Pyrenees . Major areas of conflict included northern Italy ,

21158-404: Was hanged for manslaughter in 1607. One of his nephews was Daniel O'Neill , a Protestant who became a noted cavalier in England during the 1640s. Another of his nephews, Hugh Dubh O'Neill fought in the Confederate Wars and famously inflicted heavy casualties on Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army during the Siege of Clonmel in 1650. As a young man O'Neill left Ireland (likely in 1607 during

21307-515: Was in command of the Parliamentarians in the north, to obtain supplies for his forces, and at one stage even tried to make a separate treaty with the English Parliament against the Royalists in Ireland. With O'Neill aligned with the Papal Nuncio, Rinuccini had the power to excommunicate those who supported the treaty with the Royalists, at which point more than 2,000 men deserted from Preston's Leinster Army and joined O'Neill's forces. O'Neill later relieved Parliamentarian commander Charles Coote , who

21456-403: Was passed 14 July 2003 with the main purpose of improving the number and quality of public services delivered in Irish by the government and other public bodies. Compliance with the Act is monitored by the An Coimisinéir Teanga (Irish Language Commissioner) which was established in 2004 and any complaints or concerns pertaining to the Act are brought to them. There are 35 sections included in

21605-438: Was recalled to Leinster after Preston was defeated by the Parliamentarians near Trim , County Meath . O'Neill drove Jones and his army back to Dublin while the Leinster army regrouped. O'Neill, who was still in northern Leinster, was again called to Preston's aid when the Leinster army was almost destroyed by Jones at the Battle of Dungans Hill . As the remainder of Preston's army retreated, O'Neill arrived just in time to mount

21754-527: Was spoken throughout Ireland, Isle of Man and parts of Scotland . It is the language of a large corpus of literature, including the Ulster Cycle . From the 12th century, Middle Irish began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, into Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and into the Manx language in the Isle of Man . Early Modern Irish , dating from the 13th century, was the basis of the literary language of both Ireland and Gaelic-speaking Scotland. Modern Irish, sometimes called Late Modern Irish, as attested in

21903-476: Was ultimately compelled not to with the arrival of weapons and reinforcements sent by the Papacy. O'Neill returned to Ulster, where the Ulster Army set up winter headquarters at the town of Belturbet in County Cavan. The army, now better trained and experienced than ever before, emerged a transformed force in the spring of 1646, and prepared to destroy the Covenanters. In 1646 O'Neill, with substantial Gallowglass numbers and additionally furnished with supplies by

22052-442: Was unable to accomplish some everyday tasks, as portrayed in his documentary No Béarla . There is, however, a growing body of Irish speakers in urban areas, particularly in Dublin. Many have been educated in schools in which Irish is the language of instruction. Such schools are known as Gaelscoileanna at primary level. These Irish-medium schools report some better outcomes for students than English-medium schools. In 2009,

22201-432: Was under siege in Derry by the Covenanters, in return for a herd of 2,000 cattle. However, upon hearing of Oliver Cromwell's landing in Ireland and the subsequent Sack of Drogheda , and failing to obtain any better terms from the Parliamentarian forces, he turned once more to Ormond and the Catholic confederates, with whom he prepared to co-operate more earnestly when Cromwell 's arrival in Ireland in August 1649 brought

#74925