125-482: Upperthird or Upper Third ( Irish : Uachtar Tíre ) is a barony in County Waterford , Ireland . Upperthird was originally called Uachtar Tíre , "upper country", referring to its high altitude (by Irish standards). Tír became "third" presumably by analogy with Middle Third ; "third" is commonly used to indicate Irish divisions of land, without any region being actually divided in three. Upperthird
250-547: 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
375-573: A Gaelic resurgence reestablished Gaelic cultural preeminence over most of the country, apart from the walled towns and the area around Dublin known as The Pale . Reduced to the control of small pockets, the English Crown did not make another attempt to conquer the island until after the end of the Wars of the Roses (1488). This released resources and manpower for overseas expansion, beginning in
500-717: 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
625-575: 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
750-478: 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,
875-553: 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
1000-617: A fortified area around Dublin ( the Pale ), whose rulers had little real authority outside (beyond the Pale). By the end of the 15th century, central English authority in Ireland had all but disappeared. England's attentions were diverted by the Wars of the Roses . The Lordship of Ireland lay in the hands of the powerful Fitzgerald Earl of Kildare , who dominated the country by means of military force and alliances with Irish lords and clans. Around
1125-460: 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
1250-470: A market town. Over the next century, a great period of economic growth would spread across the pastoral country. The Vikings brought Ireland into their wide-ranging system of international trade, as well as popularizing a silver-based economy with local trade and the first minting of coins in 997. In 902 Máel Finnia mac Flannacain of Brega and Cerball mac Muirecáin of Leinster joined forces against Dublin, and "The heathens were driven from Ireland, i.e. from
1375-638: A number of castles and tower houses in the barony, including Castle Gurteen de la Poer (in Gurteen townland ), Glen Lodge (Glen Upper townland) and Clonea Power Castle (Clonea townland). Upperthird was traditionally productive farmland. The region is famous as the home of Kilmeadan cheddar cheese . Towns and villages in Upperthird barony include: Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ),
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#17327875707171500-585: 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
1625-575: 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
1750-484: A period of modernization and elevation on the European stage. Under his rule, the first castles in Ireland were built bringing improved defence and brought a new aspect to Irish warfare. He also built a naval base and castle at Dún Gaillimhe . A settlement grew around this castle which would grow to be the city of Galway today. He was a superb military commander and this allowed him to keep control of Ireland, with
1875-614: A prehistoric emphasis on tribal affiliation had been replaced by the 8th century by patrilineal dynasties ruling the island's kingdoms. Many formerly powerful kingdoms and peoples disappeared. Irish pirates struck all over the coast of western Britain in the same way that the Vikings would later attack Ireland. Some of these founded entirely new kingdoms in Pictland and, to a lesser degree, in parts of Cornwall , Wales , and Cumbria . The Attacotti of south Leinster may even have served in
2000-625: 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
2125-609: A remarkable account of his experiences on the run in Ireland. The re-conquest was completed during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I , after several brutal conflicts. (See the Desmond Rebellions , 1569–73 and 1579–83, and the Nine Years War , 1594–1603, for details.) After this point, the English authorities in Dublin established real control over Ireland for the first time, bringing a centralised government to
2250-492: 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
2375-511: A rich culture flourished. The society of these kingdoms was dominated by an upper class consisting of aristocratic warriors and learned people, which possibly included Druids . Linguists realised from the 17th century onwards that the language spoken by these people, the Goidelic languages , was a branch of the Celtic languages . This is usually explained as a result of invasions by Celts from
2500-545: 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
2625-548: 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
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#17327875707172750-452: 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
2875-511: 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
3000-887: Is located in the Waterford uplands to the south of the River Suir and north of the River Nier , containing most of the Comeragh Mountains and the Clodiagh River valley. It also contains two large lakes, Coumshingaun Lough and Crotty's Lake. It was known as a source of quartz . This part of the Suir valley was the traditional territory of the O'Flanagan of Upperthird ( Ó Flannagáin Uachtar Tíre ). It contains Mothel Abbey , an ecclesiastical centre from
3125-587: 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
3250-830: Is said that the Romans invaded Anglesey in Wales causing concerns across the Irish Sea, but there is a small controversy on if they even set foot into Ireland. The closest Rome got to conquering Ireland was in 80 CE, when, according to Turtle Bunbury from the Irish Times , “Túathal Techtmar, the son of a deposed high king, who is said to have invaded Ireland from afar in order to regain his kingdom at about this time”. The Romans referred to Ireland as Hibernia around CE 100. Ptolemy , in CE 100, recorded Ireland's geography and tribes. Ireland
3375-412: 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
3500-506: Is traditionally credited with preserving and codifying Irish laws and changing only those that conflicted with Christian practices. He is credited with introducing the Roman alphabet , which enabled Irish monks to preserve parts of the extensive oral literature. The historicity of these claims remains the subject of debate and there is no direct evidence linking Patrick with any of these accomplishments. The myth of Patrick, as scholars refer to it,
3625-666: 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
3750-758: The Early Middle Ages . The period of Insular art , mainly in the fields of illuminated manuscripts , metalworking, and sculpture flourished and produced such treasures as the Book of Kells , the Ardagh Chalice , and the many carved stone crosses that dot the island. Insular style was to be a crucial ingredient in the formation of the Romanesque and Gothic styles throughout Western Europe. Sites dating to this period include clochans , ringforts and promontory forts . Francis John Byrne describes
3875-592: The Irish Confederate Wars in 1641-52 and the Williamite war in 1689–91. Political power thereafter rested almost exclusively in the hands of a minority Protestant Ascendancy, while Catholics and members of dissenting Protestant denominations suffered severe political and economic privations under the Penal Laws . On 1 January 1801, in the wake of the republican United Irishmen Rebellion ,
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4000-647: The Irish Parliament was abolished and Ireland became part of a new United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland formed by the Acts of Union 1800 . Catholics were not granted full rights until Catholic Emancipation in 1829, achieved by Daniel O’Connell . The Great Famine struck Ireland in 1845 resulting in over a million deaths from starvation and disease and a million refugees fleeing the country, mainly to America. Irish attempts to break away continued with Parnell's Irish Parliamentary Party which strove from
4125-775: The Irish War of Independence , most of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom to become the independent Irish Free State , but under the Anglo-Irish Treaty the six northeastern counties, known as Northern Ireland , remained within the United Kingdom, creating the partition of Ireland. The treaty was opposed by many; their opposition led to the outbreak of the Irish Civil War , in which Irish Free State , or "pro-treaty", forces proved victorious. The history of Northern Ireland has since been dominated by
4250-461: The Norman invasion of Ireland . By the 12th century, Ireland was divided politically into shifting petty kingdoms and over-kingdoms. Power was exercised by the heads of a few regional dynasties vying against each other for supremacy over the whole island. One of these men, King Diarmait Mac Murchada of Leinster was forcibly exiled by the new High King, Ruaidri mac Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair of
4375-631: 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 ")
4500-634: 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
4625-642: The 1880s to attain Home Rule through the parliamentary constitutional movement, eventually winning the Home Rule Act 1914 , although this Act was suspended at the outbreak of World War I . In 1916, the Easter Rising succeeded in turning public opinion against the British establishment after the execution of the leaders by British authorities. It also eclipsed the home rule movement. In 1922, after
4750-670: 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
4875-403: 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
5000-682: The 6th to 16th centuries AD. Abraham Ortelius 's map of 1602 shows the land belonging to the Aylward family (an Anglo-Norman surname, in Irish Aighleart ). The barony was seized in the post-Cromwellian confiscations (1652) and formed part of the Down Survey (1655–56). It was granted to the La Poer family , later known as "Power". The region (together with parts of Middle Third) was known as "Powers' Country". The Power family built
5125-571: 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
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5250-471: 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
5375-653: The Hiberno-Norman lordships and the Gaelic territories into the Kingdom of Ireland provided the impetus for ongoing warfare, notable examples being the 1st Desmond Rebellion , the 2nd Desmond Rebellion and the Nine Years War . This period was marked by the Crown policies of, at first, surrender and regrant , and later, plantation , involving the arrival of thousands of English and Scottish Protestant settlers, and
5500-526: The Irish Catholic landowning class was engineered, and recusants were subordinated under the Penal Laws . During the 17th century, Ireland was convulsed by eleven years of warfare , beginning with the Rebellion of 1641 , when Irish Catholics rebelled against the domination of English and Protestant settlers. The Catholic gentry briefly ruled the country as Confederate Ireland (1642–1649) against
5625-613: The Irish greater access to the Kingdom of the Isles . Diarmuit was able to become High King of Ireland , and after his death, the O'Brien dynasty , who ruled Ireland since the days of Brian Boru, reclaimed the High Kingship and Irish influence in the Irish Sea area would increase dramatically over the next few decades, notably under High King Muircherteach Ua Briain , who was noted for his interest in foreign affairs. Perhaps it
5750-549: 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
5875-620: 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 ,
6000-402: The Roman military in the mid-to-late 300s. Perhaps it was some of the latter returning home as rich mercenaries, merchants, or slaves stolen from Britain or Gaul, that first brought the Christian faith to Ireland. Some early sources claim that there were missionaries active in southern Ireland long before St. Patrick . Whatever the route, and there were probably many, this new faith was to have
6125-491: The Vikings continued to grow and thrive as centres of Irish trade and finance. They remain so to this day. Despite the breaking of Norse power in Ireland, the Norse still maintained control of the Kingdom of Dublin . Although the King of Leinster levied tribute from the Norse, they rarely directly intervened in the affairs of the city-state, as it brought trade to the area. This changed, however, when Diarmuit mac Maél na mBó , King of Leinster, captured Dublin in 1052. This gave
6250-406: The Vikings were moving further inland to attack (often using rivers) and then retreating to their coastal headquarters. In 852, the Vikings landed in Dublin Bay and established a fortress. Dublin became the centre for the trade of many goods, especially slaves. Bringing back new ideas and motivations, they began settling more permanently. In the tenth century, an earthen bank was constructed around
6375-460: The Western kingdom of Connacht. Fleeing to Aquitaine , Diarmait obtained permission from Henry II to recruit Norman knights to regain his kingdom. The first Norman knights landed in Ireland in 1167, followed by the main forces of Normans, Welsh and Flemings . Several counties were restored to the control of Diarmait, who named his son-in-law, the Norman Richard de Clare , known as Strongbow, heir to his kingdom. This troubled King Henry, who feared
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#17327875707176500-433: The arrival of the Iron Age of the Celtic Hallstatt culture , beginning about 600 BCE. The subsequent La Tène culture brought new styles and practices by 300 BCE. Greek and Roman writers give some information about Ireland during the Classical period (see " protohistoric " period), by which time the island may be termed " Gaelic Ireland ". By the late 4th century CE Christianity had begun to gradually subsume or replace
6625-407: The beginning of Ireland's history as fully part of the English and later British Empire . During the 17th century, this division between a Protestant landholding minority and a dispossessed Catholic majority was intensified and conflict between them was to become a recurrent theme in Irish history. Domination of Ireland by the Protestant Ascendancy was reinforced after two periods of religious war,
6750-577: 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
6875-422: The city with a second larger bank built outside that in the eleventh century. On the interior of the town, an extensive series of defences have been excavated at Fishamble Street, Dublin. The site featured nine waterfronts, including two possible flood banks and two positive defensive embankments during the Viking Age. The early embankments were non-defensive, being only one metre high, and it is uncertain how much of
7000-431: The conquest and held them after the war was over. The Black Death arrived in Ireland in 1348. Because most of the English and Norman inhabitants of Ireland lived in towns and villages, the plague hit them far harder than it did the native Irish, who lived in more dispersed rural settlements. After it had passed, Gaelic Irish language and customs came to dominate the country again. The English-controlled territory shrank to
7125-490: The continent. However, other research has postulated that the culture developed gradually and continuously and that the introduction of Celtic language and elements of Celtic culture may have been a result of cultural exchange with Celtic groups in southwest continental Europe from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. The hypothesis that the native Late Bronze Age inhabitants gradually absorbed Celtic influences has since been supported by some recent genetic research. In 60 CE, it
7250-471: The continental Celtic La Tene style being found in at least the northern part of the island by about 300 BCE. The result of a gradual blending of Celtic and indigenous cultures would result in the emergence of Gaelic culture by the fifth century. It is also during the fifth century that the main over-kingdoms of In Tuisceart, Airgialla, Ulaid, Mide, Laigin, Mumhain, Cóiced Ol nEchmacht began to emerge (see Kingdoms of ancient Ireland ). Within these kingdoms,
7375-571: The contrary, this has tempted many scholars of medieval western Ireland to agree with the twelfth-century historian Giraldus Cambrensis who argued that the Gaelic kings did not build castles. By 1261 the weakening of the Normans had become manifest when Fineen MacCarthy defeated a Norman army at the Battle of Callann . The war continued between the different lords and earls for about 100 years, causing much destruction, especially around Dublin. In this chaotic situation, local Irish lords won back large amounts of land that their families had lost since
7500-483: The country under English control, heightened resentment of English rule. From the mid-16th to the early 17th century, crown governments had carried out a policy of land confiscation and colonisation known as Plantations . Scottish and English Protestant colonists were sent to the provinces of Munster , Ulster and the counties of Laois and Offaly . These Protestant settlers replaced the Irish Catholic landowners who were removed from their lands. These settlers formed
7625-509: The country, local Gaelic and Gaelicised lords expanded their powers at the expense of the English government in Dublin but the power of the Dublin government was in any case seriously curtailed by the introduction of Poynings' Law in 1494. According to this act, the Irish Parliament was essentially put under the control of the Westminster Parliament . From 1536, Henry VIII of England decided to reconquer Ireland and bring it under crown control. The Fitzgerald dynasty of Kildare , who had become
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#17327875707177750-418: The displacement of both the Hiberno-Normans (or Old English as they were known by then) and the native Catholic landholders. With English colonies going back to the 1550s, Ireland was arguably the first English and then British territory colonised by a group known as the West Country Men . Gaelic Ireland was finally defeated at the battle of Kinsale in 1601 which marked the collapse of the Gaelic system and
7875-509: The division of society along sectarian faultlines and conflict between (mainly Catholic) Irish nationalists and (mainly Protestant) British unionists . These divisions erupted into the Troubles in the late 1960s, after civil rights marches were met with opposition by authorities. The violence escalated after the deployment of the British Army to maintain authority led to clashes with nationalist communities. The violence continued for twenty-eight years until an uneasy, but largely successful peace
8000-595: The earlier Celtic polytheism . By the end of the 6th century it had introduced writing along with a predominantly monastic Celtic Christian church, profoundly altering Irish society. Scandinavian seafaring people who took jobs pirating, pillaging, and raiding lands (later referred to as Vikings ), settled from the late 8th century CE which resulted in extensive cultural interchange, as well as innovation in military and transport technology. Many of Ireland's towns were founded at this time as Scandinavian trading posts and coinage made its first appearance. Scandinavian penetration
8125-424: The earliest human settlement of Ireland to 10,500 BCE. The bone shows clear signs of cut marks with stone tools and has been radiocarbon dated to 12,500 years ago. It is possible that humans crossed a land bridge during the warm period, referred to as the Bølling–Allerød warming , that lasted between 14,700 and 12,700 years ago (i.e. between 12,700 BCE and 10,700 BCE) towards the end of the last ice age, and allowed
8250-429: The early 16th century. However, the nature of Ireland's decentralised political organisation into small territories (known as túatha ), martial traditions, difficult terrain and climate and lack of urban infrastructure, meant that attempts to assert Crown authority were slow and expensive. Attempts to impose the new Protestant faith were also successfully resisted by both the Gaelic and Norman-Irish. The new policy fomented
8375-448: The early 840s, had begun to establish settlements along the Irish coasts and to spend the winter months there. The longships were technologically advanced, allowing them to travel faster through the narrow rivers. Vikings founded settlements in several places; most famously in Dublin . Most of the settlements were near the water, allowing the Vikings to trade using their longships. Written accounts from this time (early to mid 840s) show that
8500-664: 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
8625-469: The effect of the epidemics which occurred during this era: The plagues of the 660s and the 680s had a traumatic effect on Irish society. The golden age of the saints was over, together with the generation of kings who could fire a saga -writer's imagination. The literary tradition looks back to the reign of the sons of Aed Slaine (Diarmait and Blathmac, who died in 665) as to the end of an era. Antiquaries, brehons , genealogists and hagiographers , felt
8750-421: The effective rulers of Ireland in the 15th century, had become unreliable allies of the Tudor monarchs. They had invited Burgundian troops into Dublin to crown the Yorkist pretender, Lambert Simnel as King of England in 1487. Again in 1536, Silken Thomas , Fitzgerald went into open rebellion against the crown. Having put down this rebellion, Henry resolved to bring Ireland under English government control so
8875-414: 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
9000-665: The entire island, and successfully disarmed the native lordships. In 1614 the Catholic majority in the Irish Parliament was overthrown through the creation of numerous new boroughs which were dominated by the new settlers. However, the English were not successful in converting the Catholic Irish to the Protestant religion and the brutal methods used by crown authority (including resorting to martial law ) to bring
9125-781: The establishment of a Neolithic culture, characterised by the appearance of pottery, polished stone tools, rectangular wooden houses, megalithic tombs, and domesticated sheep and cattle. Some of these tombs, as at Knowth and Dowth , are huge stone monuments and many of them, such as the Passage Tombs of Newgrange , are astronomically aligned. Four main types of Irish Megalithic Tombs have been identified: dolmens , court cairns , passage tombs and wedge-shaped gallery graves . In Leinster and Munster, individual adult males were buried in small stone structures, called cists , under earthen mounds and were accompanied by distinctive decorated pottery. This culture apparently prospered, and
9250-541: The establishment of a rival Norman state in Ireland. Accordingly, he resolved to establish his authority. In 1177, Prince John Lackland was made Lord of Ireland by his father Henry II of England at the Council of Oxford . With the authority of the papal bull Laudabiliter from Adrian IV , Henry landed with a large fleet at Waterford in 1171, becoming the first King of England to set foot on Irish soil. Henry awarded his Irish territories to his younger son John with
9375-703: The exact relationship between Rome and the dynasties and peoples of Hibernia remains unclear. Irish confederations (the Scoti ) attacked and some settled in Britain during the Great Conspiracy of 367. In particular, the Dál Riata settled in western Scotland and the Western Isles . The middle centuries of the first millennium CE marked great changes in Ireland. Politically, what appears to have been
9500-560: 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
9625-541: The first Earl of Ulster. The Hiberno-Norman community suffered from a series of invasions that ceased the spread of their settlement and power. Politics and events in Gaelic Ireland served to draw the settlers deeper into the orbit of the Irish. Furthermore, unlike the Anglo-Normans, the Gaelic kings did not keep detailed estate inventories and accounts. Coupled with the absence of archaeological evidence to
9750-579: The fortress of Áth Cliath [Dublin]". They were allowed by the Saxons to settle in Wirral , England, but would however later return to retake Dublin. The Vikings never achieved total domination of Ireland, often fighting for and against various Irish kings. The great High King of Ireland , Brian Boru , defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 which began the decline of Viking power in Ireland but
9875-479: The help of the castles he built and his fleet based at Dún Gaillimhe . He also had commercial and political links with the rulers of France , Spain and England , increasing Ireland's international presence which brought more trade to the island. His reign lasted more than 50 years. One of Tairrdelbach's sons, Ruadhrí , would later go on to be High King himself. He was arguably the first High King without opposition, however, he would later abdicate following
10000-480: The island became more densely populated. Near the end of the Neolithic new types of monuments developed, such as circular embanked enclosures and timber, stone and post and pit circles. The Céide Fields is an archaeological site on the north County Mayo coast in the west of Ireland , about 7 kilometres northwest of Ballycastle , and the site is the most extensive Neolithic site in Ireland and contains
10125-551: The island would not become a base for future rebellions or foreign invasions of England. In 1542, he upgraded Ireland from a lordship to a full kingdom. Henry was proclaimed King of Ireland at a meeting of the Irish Parliament that year. This was the first meeting of the Irish Parliament to be attended by the Gaelic Irish chieftains as well as the Hiberno-Norman aristocracy. With the institutions of government in place,
10250-423: The island. Early Viking raids were generally fast-paced and small in scale. These early raids interrupted the golden age of Christian Irish culture and marked the beginning of two centuries of intermittent warfare, with waves of Viking raiders plundering monasteries and towns throughout Ireland. Most of those early raiders came from western Norway. The Vikings were expert sailors, who travelled in longships , and by
10375-716: 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
10500-410: 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
10625-476: 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 ,
10750-475: The late Bronze Age, there was an increase in stored weapons, which has been taken as evidence for greater warfare. Fleshed bog bodies also appear at this time, continuing into the Iron Age. The Iron Age in Ireland began about 600 BCE. The period between the start of the Iron Age and the historic period (CE 431) saw the gradual infiltration of small groups of Celtic-speaking people into Ireland, with items of
10875-526: 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
11000-529: The most profound effect on the Irish. Tradition maintains that in A.D. 432, St. Patrick arrived on the island and, in the years that followed, worked to convert the Irish to Christianity. St Patrick's Confession , in Latin, written by him is the earliest Irish historical document. It gives some information about the Saint. On the other hand, according to Prosper of Aquitaine , a contemporary chronicler, Palladius
11125-804: 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
11250-414: The need to collect ancient traditions before they were totally forgotten. Many were in fact swallowed by oblivion; when we examine the writing of Tirechan we encounter obscure references to tribes that are quite unknown to the later genealogical tradition. The laws describe a ... society that was obsolescent , and the meaning and use of the word moccu dies out with archaic Old Irish at the beginning of
11375-423: The new century. The first English involvement in Ireland took place in this period. Tullylease, Rath Melsigi and Maigh Eo na Saxain were founded by 670 for English students who wished to study or live in Ireland. In summer 684, an English expeditionary force sent by Northumbrian King Ecgfrith raided Brega. The first recorded Viking raid in Irish history occurred in 795 CE when Vikings from Norway looted
11500-469: 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
11625-558: The next step was to extend the control of the English Kingdom of Ireland over all of its claimed territory. This took nearly a century, with various English administrations either negotiating or fighting with the independent Irish and Old English lords. The Spanish Armada in Ireland suffered heavy losses during an extraordinary season of storms in the autumn of 1588. Among the survivors was Captain Francisco de Cuellar , who gave
11750-655: 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
11875-464: The oldest known field systems in the world. Using various dating methods, it was discovered that the creation and development of the Céide Fields goes back some five and a half thousand years (~3500 BCE). The short-lived Irish Copper Age and subsequent Bronze Age , which came to Ireland around 2000 BCE, saw the production of elaborate gold and bronze ornaments, weapons and tools. There
12000-503: 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
12125-557: 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
12250-826: The presence of homo sapiens to around 10,500 to 7,000 BCE. The receding of the ice after the Younger Dryas cold phase of the Quaternary , around 9700 BCE, heralds the beginning of Prehistoric Ireland , which includes the archaeological periods known as the Mesolithic , the Neolithic from about 4000 BCE, and the Copper Age beginning around 2500 BCE with the arrival of the Beaker Culture . The Irish Bronze Age proper begins around 2000 BCE and ends with
12375-578: The rebellion of the Hiberno-Norman Earl of Kildare Silken Thomas in 1534, keen to defend his traditional autonomy and Catholicism, and marked the beginning of the prolonged Tudor conquest of Ireland lasting from 1536 to 1603. Henry VIII proclaimed himself King of Ireland in 1541 to facilitate the project. Ireland became a potential battleground in the wars between Catholic Counter-Reformation and Protestant Reformation Europe. England's attempts either to conquer or to assimilate both
12500-535: The reinhabitation of northern Europe. A sudden return to freezing conditions known as the Younger Dryas cold phase, which lasted from 10,900 BCE to 9700 BCE, may have depopulated Ireland. During the Younger Dryas, sea levels continued to rise and no ice-free land bridge between Great Britain and Ireland ever returned. The earliest confirmed inhabitants of Ireland were Mesolithic hunter-gatherers , who arrived sometime around 7900 BCE. While some authors take
12625-492: 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 )
12750-432: 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
12875-647: 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
13000-409: The ruling class of future British appointed administrations in Ireland. Several Penal Laws , aimed at Catholics, Baptists and Presbyterians, were introduced to encourage conversion to the established ( Anglican ) Church of Ireland . The 17th century was perhaps the bloodiest in Ireland's history. Two periods of war (1641–53 and 1689–91) caused a huge loss of life. The ultimate dispossession of most of
13125-590: The site they encircled. After several generations a group of mixed Irish and Norse ethnic background arose, the Gall-Gaels , '( Gall being the Old Irish word for foreign). The second wave of Vikings made stations at winter bases called longphorts to serve as control centres to exert a more localized force on the island through raiding. The third wave in 917 established towns as not only control centres, but also as centres of trade to enter into Irish economy and greater Western Europe. Returning to Dublin, they set up
13250-476: The title Dominus Hiberniae ("Lord of Ireland"). When John unexpectedly succeeded his brother as King John of England , the " Lordship of Ireland " fell directly under the English Crown. The Normans initially controlled the entire east coast, from Waterford to eastern Ulster , and penetrated a considerable distance inland as well. The counties were ruled by many smaller kings. The first Lord of Ireland
13375-598: The towns which Vikings had founded continued to flourish, and trade became an important part of the Irish economy. Brian Boru , though he did not succeed in unifying Ireland, changed the High Kingship in the way that the High King would now have more power and control over the country and could manage the country's affairs. This led to prosperity for Ireland over the next few years. The Irish economy grew as international trade became more common. The towns founded by
13500-726: 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
13625-413: The view that a land bridge connecting Ireland to Great Britain still existed at that time, more recent studies indicate that Ireland was separated from Britain by c. 14,000 BCE when the climate was still cold and local ice caps persisted in parts of the country. The people remained hunter-gatherers until about 4000 BCE. It is argued this is when the first signs of agriculture started to show, leading to
13750-594: 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
13875-656: Was King John, who visited Ireland in 1185 and 1210 and helped consolidate the Norman-controlled areas while ensuring that the many Irish kings swore fealty to him. Throughout the thirteenth century, the policy of the English Kings was to weaken the power of the Norman Lords in Ireland. For example, King John encouraged Hugh de Lacy to destabilise and then overthrow the Lord of Ulster, before naming him as
14000-584: Was Muircherteach's increasing power in the Isles that led Magnus Barefoot , King of Norway , to lead campaigns against the Irish in 1098 and again in 1102 to bring Norse areas back under Norwegian control, while also raiding the various British kingdoms. Although direct conflict with the Kingdom of Norway seemed imminent, the two Kings formed an alliance by the marriage of Muircherteach's daughter to Magnus' son. The two would campaign together in Ulster , until Magnus
14125-491: Was a movement away from the construction of communal megalithic tombs to the burial of the dead in small stone cists or simple pits, which could be situated in cemeteries or in circular earth or stone-built burial mounds known respectively as barrows and cairns . As the period progressed, inhumation burial gave way to cremation and by the Middle Bronze Age, remains were often placed beneath large burial urns. During
14250-531: 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
14375-442: Was developed in the centuries after his death. Irish scholars excelled in the study of Latin learning and Christian theology in the monasteries that flourished shortly thereafter. Missionaries from Ireland to England and Continental Europe spread the news of the flowering of learning, and scholars from other nations came to Irish monasteries. The excellence and isolation of these monasteries helped preserve Latin learning during
14500-668: 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
14625-659: 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. History of Ireland The first evidence of human presence in Ireland dates to around 34,000 years ago, with further findings dating
14750-540: Was finally achieved with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. What is known of pre-Christian Ireland comes from references in Roman writings, Irish poetry , myth, and archaeology. While some possible Paleolithic tools have been found, none of the finds is convincing of Paleolithic settlement in Ireland. However a bear bone found in Alice and Gwendoline Cave , County Clare, in 1903 may push back dates for
14875-643: Was killed in an ambush by the Ulaid in August 1103, under mysterious circumstances (it is possible Muircherteach ordered his killing). Muircherteach was also politically involved in the Kingdoms of Scotland and England , as well as Wales . One of the most prosperous reigns of any High King was the reign of Toirdelbach Ua Conchobhair , who had overthrown Muircherteach and partitioned Munster in 1118. As King of Connacht and then King of Ireland , Ireland underwent
15000-411: Was limited and concentrated along coasts and rivers, and ceased to be a major threat to Gaelic culture after the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. The Norman invasion in 1169 resulted again in a partial conquest of the island and marked the beginning of more than 800 years of English political and military involvement in Ireland. Initially successful, Norman gains were rolled back over succeeding centuries as
15125-602: Was never a part of the Roman Empire , but Roman influence was often projected well beyond its borders. Tacitus writes that an exiled Irish prince was with Agricola in Roman Britain and would return to seize power in Ireland. Juvenal tells us that Roman "arms had been taken beyond the shores of Ireland". In recent years, some experts have hypothesized that Roman-sponsored Gaelic forces (or perhaps even Roman regulars) mounted some kind of invasion around CE 100, but
15250-474: 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
15375-660: Was sent to Ireland by the Pope in 431 as "first Bishop to the Irish believing in Christ" , which demonstrates that there were already Christians living in Ireland. Palladius seems to have worked purely as Bishop to Irish Christians in the Leinster and Meath kingdoms, while Patrick – who may have arrived as late as 461 – worked first and foremost as a missionary to the pagan Irish, in the more remote kingdoms in Ulster and Connacht. Patrick
15500-693: 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
15625-442: 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,
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