Geography:
County Wexford is a county
on Irelands south-east coast about 27 wide at it's widest point and
fifty miles long. Wexford is about sixty miles across the sea from
Wales.
Megalithic structures left by
Irish thousands of years before include sixteen
tombs, ten portal tombs known as Dolmens, five passage tombs and one
court tomb.
Some
4,500 years ago the first metal using people settled in this part of
Ireland. They brought the stone, box like structures tapering to one
end, known as wedge tombs. They also had cist burials in stone lined
pits, tumulaus burials and barrows.
About
1500 years ago the warriors known as Celts settled here, building
strongly defended settlements in the hills and on promontories over
looking the sea.
Waterford
has identified two hill forts and over twenty promontory forts. More
common are the iron age enforced farmsteads known as raths, fairy forts or
lios. These were normally circular enclosures
about forty feet in diameter and each small fort able to support about
100 people.
History:
Wexford
located in south-east Ireland south of Dublin and about 60 miles across
the sea from Wales. From archeological excavations we know that
prehistoric man arrived at Wexford at the end of
the last ice age about 7000 BC.
These
early peoples are classified as Mesolithic (Old Stone Age before 6500
BC), later
Neolithic (New Stone Age 6500 to 2500 BC). These
ancient peoples survived by hunting, gathering and fishing.
NOTE:
Wexford was in that part of Ireland first free of Ice
Age glaciers.
At
a debatable period of time BC, peoples came as invaders from Gaul to
settle England, Scotland, Wales and then Ireland. These people who
came before BC, though from many tribes in Europe, have been labeled by
history as Celts.
The
Celts came relatively late to Wexford, named Ui Cheannselaig by the
Celts.
Archeological evidence by
carbon dating methods place their coming at 350 BC. The earliest known
map of Wexford was drawn by Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria, Egypt about
2 AD, showed a village where City Wexford stands.
The Celts absorbed the earlier
cultures and today The Irish embrace the Celt
culture
more so than they do any other single invader.
The
Romans came to England in 54 BC and from there managed to conquer the
area now known as England. They tried to conquer Scotland, but the wild
men of Scotland were too hot to handle.
The
Romans, though they lost several legions killed, had better luck
conquering Wales and except for the Ordovicians
and Silurians
managed to do so. Counties of South Wales, Glamorgan, Monmouthshire and
Breconshire were never part of the Roman Empire.
Before
Rome could get a foothold in Ireland, the brethren Welsh with help from
Picts and Irish attacked the Romans from all sides and inflicted
horrific losses on their military infrastructure. Roman soldiers left
England in 410 AD. Roman coins are found many places Those caches were
more probably left by Viking traders rather then being indicative of any
prolonged Roman occupation.
For
four centuries between 400 and 800 AD the Celtic culture in Ireland
thrived and most of the fighting seems to have been between Provincial
Kings of Ulster, Meath, Leinster, Connaught and Munster, home of
Wexford, and between petty kings and princes who just wanted more land,
and with native Fir Bolg tribes.
NOTE:
Fir Bolg people came between the Neolithic and the Celt peoples, some
say the forth group of people to settle Ireland.
NOTE:
Read the Fir Bolg people history at History
of Fir Bolg
VIKINGS
NOTE:
When one thinks on Vikings in Ireland, they may remember strongholds
like Wexford, Waterford and Dublin. Facts are, Vikings built many strong
holds in Ireland. See Viking Bases.
The Vikings
started raiding monasteries in England and Wales in the late 700s.
Debatably the Vikings came to Ireland sometime in the early 9th
century. Shortly they built bases at several
harbors in Ireland, the shallow bay at Wexford
and deep water harbors like Dunmore East, Waterford and Dublin.
History
suggests that in 819 Vikings raided the Wexford area and later built a
trading post. Twenty years later they rowed up River Slaney and attacked
the monastery at Ferns. It is said that Ferns was the most destroyed
town in Wexford.
Unlike the Dane
trading post at Dublin, these Vikings were Norwegians. The name Wexford
comes from the Norse "Waesfjord, or fjord of the flats".
In 1014 High King Boru gathered
the Clans of Munster and the O'Kelly King of Connaught, Mor O'Kelly and
the allies marched on Dublin with the intent to break the Viking
military and stop the raiding. They met on Good Friday at a place called
Clontarf.
The Danish King of Dublin had
his troops and allies the Leinstermen in the field. King Boru and one of
his sons and Chief Mor O'Kelly were both killed in the battle, but they
drove the Vikings into the sea and burned their boats. After the battle
the Vikings stayed in Dublin strictly as traders whose raiding days were
forever over.
These Viking trading towns and
their populations were gradually absorbed into the social and political
system that surrounded them, settling into Irish life as
merchants and seamen.
Read about Boru,
O'Kelly and the Battle
of Clontarf 1014
NORMANS
In 1066 Edward the Confessor
dies and is replaced by Harold
II . Tostig and Harold Hardraada
of Norway invade England: Harold's Anglo-Saxon troops defeats them
at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, killing both.
Three weeks later William
of Normandy lands with his army at Pevensey and at a battle known by
history as Battle of Hastings, defeats the Anglo-Saxons and kills
Harold II of England.
William I, the Conqueror was
the first Norman King of England and he ruled England from 1066 to 1087
AD, a period of 21 years.
Meanwhile in Ireland,
Christianity was grew rapidly and many Pagan Celts converted to
Christianity as many of their High Priests became Christians.
As the Pagan Anglo-Saxons were
being controlled by Normans in England, many fled to Ireland where they
exerted growing influences over politics and executed military actions
to destroy influences of the Celt Kings, Chiefs and to destroy their
social structure.
A hundred years after Normans
conquered England, Dermot MacMurrough, deposed King of Leinster, asked King Henry II of
England for military help to recover his kingdom.
Answering the call for help, Richard FitzGilbert de Clare, Earl of
Pembroke (Wales), loaded his horses on men and barges and crossed the 60
miles from Wales to Ireland, landing at the Bay of Wexford in 1169 AD.
Richard is much better known in Ireland as Strongbow.
MacMurrough promised him the
town of Wexford and two adjacent areas for their help to recover his
kingdom. MacMurrough also willed all of Leinster to Strongbow upon his
death.
Dermot died in May 1171 and Strongbow
became Lord of Leinster.
Politics revolved around
crushing Leinster Irish and Viking Ostmen within two years. The Ostmen
Vikings (Wexford) who had captured Norman Robert FitzStephen were
themselves forced to give hostages to insure peace and to insure loyalty
to Strongbow.
Likewise, several other Irish
Kings were forced by self preservation to sue for peace in like manner.
King Henry II of England, a
Norman and a Christian, with authority from Pope
Alexander III , who fancied himself owner of Ireland, started to
give Irish to nobles, families and supporters of Strongbow. In that
manner large tracts of land in Eastern Ireland ( fifes) fell under
Norman control.
Stone castles were built at
regular defendable positions in what became known by history as The
Pale. Many stories were written about "Beyond The Pale". One
of the more interesting stories was about an Irish Clan who managed to
penetrate a castle and toss the Norman Lord to his death from the
parapet (lookout tower) of his own castle.
In 1536 King Henry VIII wanted
to marry another wife, and the Pope of the church prohibited the
marriage. King Henry responded by breaking with the church and declaring
himself king of the World.
After that the church of
England was formed and systematic repression of Catholics throughout the
realm began. Such repression still exists today.
Between 1200 and 1600 AD the
Norman Chiefs of Ireland were known as Earls. Anglo-Saxon allied with
Irish continued to fight against Norman rule.
In 1607 the Norman Earls, with
their loyal Irish followers, fled to safety in the Catholic country of
France. History has dubbed that exodus as the Flight of the Earls, and
subsequent romantic authors have dubbed it Flight of The Wild
Geese.
These men became soldiers and
leaders in Europe, always planning to invade England and Ireland and
liberate their countrymen.
Repression of the Wexford Irish
and their religion continued with historical events like Tyrant and usurper
Cromwell's Invasion of Ireland.
In 1649 Cromwell's soldiers
murdered 200 citizens of Wexford and hundreds more in the surrounding
countyside.
Like the Celts and Vikings
before them, Normans who did not flee Ireland in 1607 AD, who stayed and
kept low profiles, melted into the Irish Culture.
CONCLUSION
After Cromwell left, Ireland
continued being repressed by English policies, cultural and religious
oppression of the native Irish, with unfair enactments; penal laws
forbidding Catholics to own land, , hold government office, school their
children, speak their Irish language, keep their native surname, or own a horse worth over $5.00.
Such repression eventually led to rebellion by the native Irish
in Wexford in May 1798, a rebellion that eventually led to Irish
independence for 26 of the 32 Ireland counties in 1922. The other six
counties, located in North Ireland remain today as Irish land occupied
by a foreign government.
Suffering a thousand
years of repression by foreign governments, it seems a dream of loyal
Irish people to be free and independent in a united Ireland.
The British Parliament often
speak in terms of withdrawing support for the North Ireland government
and permitting the island of Ireland to be united.
The voting bodies in North
Ireland are gaining percentages of the population who favor unification.
Many City Councils include a majority favoring unity of Ireland.
Contrary opinion, a shrinking
percentage of citizens in North Ireland people passionately believe
England owns North Ireland. When, not IF, Ireland is unified, I believe
a majority of those will be loyal to Ireland. Some will leave by their
own choice, but others will stay and violently resist unification.
Long live a unified
Ireland.
Copyright "Potted
Histories" 1998
all rights reserved
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