1 00:00:10,327 --> 00:00:14,843 FERGAL KEANE: The Irish are a people forged from many migrations- 2 00:00:17,287 --> 00:00:21,803 From earliest times, the sea has carried waves of newcomers to Ireland - 3 00:00:21,847 --> 00:00:27,285 Stone-Age hunter-gatherers, Christian missionaries, Viking warriors. 4 00:00:27,327 --> 00:00:29,921 Each has been successfully absorbed. 5 00:00:31,287 --> 00:00:34,085 But in the middle of the 12th century, 6 00:00:34,127 --> 00:00:37,278 Ireland will face an invasion unlike anything seen before. 7 00:00:38,887 --> 00:00:43,403 It will set in motion one of the longest conflicts in human history--- 8 00:00:45,007 --> 00:00:48,886 ---in which land and faith will divide the nations- 9 00:00:50,487 --> 00:00:57,643 The destinies of Ireland and Britain will be changed by what begins 800 years ago- 10 00:00:57,687 --> 00:01:02,477 Ireland stands on the verge of the age of conquest. 11 00:01:32,287 --> 00:01:35,882 ''Kings fought and the ground trembled-'' 12 00:01:35,927 --> 00:01:38,441 So did the Annals 0f The Four Masters 13 00:01:38,487 --> 00:01:41,923 describe the Ireland of the early 12th century- 14 00:01:42,967 --> 00:01:46,880 It was a land of farmers ruled by clan chieftains 15 00:01:46,927 --> 00:01:50,966 who in turn paid homage to five provincial kings- 16 00:01:58,287 --> 00:02:00,721 There was a High King of Ireland, 17 00:02:00,767 --> 00:02:03,565 but he had only limited power- 18 00:02:03,607 --> 00:02:07,839 But in the hands of a man ruthless and cunning enough 19 00:02:07,887 --> 00:02:09,400 to crush his political enemies, 20 00:02:09,447 --> 00:02:13,645 this High Kingship could mean something unprecedented in Irish history - 21 00:02:13,687 --> 00:02:17,680 a land ruled from the centre by one powerful figure, 22 00:02:17,727 --> 00:02:21,276 the beginnings of a united political entity. 23 00:02:26,327 --> 00:02:30,320 It takes a ruthless man for ruthless times- 24 00:02:30,367 --> 00:02:35,157 Dermot MacMurrough was King of Leinster, an area of fertile land 25 00:02:35,207 --> 00:02:39,962 strategically close to the country's great urban settlement at Dublin- 26 00:02:43,887 --> 00:02:48,677 It was said of Dermot that he preferred to be feared rather than loved, 27 00:02:48,727 --> 00:02:51,002 and he probably would have agreed. 28 00:02:51,047 --> 00:02:54,926 Those who stood in his way were either killed or they were ritually blinded 29 00:02:54,967 --> 00:02:59,438 and castrated so they wouldn't produce any heirs. 30 00:03:04,727 --> 00:03:08,276 Here on the site of a 12th-century abbey, 31 00:03:08,327 --> 00:03:11,239 Dermot displayed his characteristic ruthlessness- 32 00:03:11,287 --> 00:03:15,883 The abbeys were important symbols of kingly power, 33 00:03:15,927 --> 00:03:22,196 so in 1132, when a rival dynasty appointed their woman as Abbess of Kildare, 34 00:03:22,247 --> 00:03:24,238 Dermot was furious- 35 00:03:31,207 --> 00:03:35,120 MAN: He, as King of Leinster, wanted control of this very important office. 36 00:03:35,167 --> 00:03:37,965 So he attacked and plundered Kildare 37 00:03:38,007 --> 00:03:39,998 and, as the Annals say, 38 00:03:40,047 --> 00:03:42,242 he had the Abbess of Kildare, 39 00:03:42,287 --> 00:03:45,597 the most important female in the entire Irish Church, 40 00:03:45,647 --> 00:03:50,437 put into a soldier's bed and raped to disqualify her from the office she held. 41 00:03:50,487 --> 00:03:52,398 Ireland found that shocking. 42 00:03:52,447 --> 00:03:54,324 Certainly, the annalists' report indicate 43 00:03:54,367 --> 00:03:56,756 a certain degree of shock at this kind of thing. 44 00:04:00,047 --> 00:04:01,878 By the middle of the 12th century, 45 00:04:01,927 --> 00:04:06,079 Dermot had managed to make enemies of most of the provincial kings 46 00:04:06,127 --> 00:04:10,120 and when he abducted the wife of one of them, they united against him- 47 00:04:11,927 --> 00:04:14,282 Dermot knew his likely fate- 48 00:04:14,327 --> 00:04:18,286 As a child, he'd seen his father murdered and buried with a dead dog, 49 00:04:18,327 --> 00:04:20,716 a humiliating mark of disrespect- 50 00:04:21,727 --> 00:04:27,518 Dermot lost his throne and his lands, but he fled in time to save his life. 51 00:04:27,567 --> 00:04:32,516 And that fleetness of foot would alter the course of Irish history. 52 00:04:34,687 --> 00:04:40,637 Irish kings had often made alliances with warriors on the west coast of Britain, 53 00:04:40,687 --> 00:04:43,326 but none of these could offer the kind of help 54 00:04:43,367 --> 00:04:45,881 Dermot now sought to reclaim his throne- 55 00:04:47,967 --> 00:04:51,118 The fugitive king sailed boldly further, 56 00:04:51,167 --> 00:04:56,002 to the heart of Western Europe's mightiest empire- 57 00:04:57,887 --> 00:05:00,799 In the traditional telling of the Irish story, 58 00:05:00,847 --> 00:05:05,284 Dermot is seen as the father figure for generations of traitors, 59 00:05:05,327 --> 00:05:09,525 the man who callously sold out his country to the English, 60 00:05:09,567 --> 00:05:13,685 but it simply wasn't like that. In reality, Dermot was doing 61 00:05:13,727 --> 00:05:17,083 what any desperate or ambitious chieftain would have done - 62 00:05:17,127 --> 00:05:19,925 seeking the help of somebody more powerful. 63 00:05:19,967 --> 00:05:22,720 The crucial difference was that the people he went to 64 00:05:22,767 --> 00:05:26,442 were the most organised military power in the medieval West. 65 00:05:29,007 --> 00:05:31,475 These were the lands of the Normans- 66 00:05:36,647 --> 00:05:41,596 By II60, the Norman empire extended from the Mediterranean to Britain- 67 00:05:42,927 --> 00:05:46,442 Here they'd imposed a rigid system - feudalism - 68 00:05:46,487 --> 00:05:50,480 where power flowed from the King to his nobles- 69 00:05:50,527 --> 00:05:53,405 MAN: The Normans are driven by wealth, 70 00:05:53,447 --> 00:05:59,522 honour, reputation, prestige and the acquisition of land. 71 00:05:59,567 --> 00:06:03,401 FERGAL: And military prowess is key to their identity. 72 00:06:03,447 --> 00:06:06,245 It's key to identity and, of course, also to success. 73 00:06:07,287 --> 00:06:12,077 The Normans were superior in that they possessed cavalry 74 00:06:12,127 --> 00:06:17,645 and were capable of large-scale, co-ordinated military operations. 75 00:06:21,407 --> 00:06:27,004 The Norman King Henry II would now be wooed by Dermot MacMurrough- 76 00:06:27,047 --> 00:06:31,643 Henry was the great-grandson of William the Conqueror- 77 00:06:31,687 --> 00:06:37,842 Although he often kept his court at Anjou in France, he was King of England- 78 00:06:41,607 --> 00:06:44,519 Henry had contemplated attacking Ireland 79 00:06:44,567 --> 00:06:48,196 long before Dermot came to his French court in 1166- 80 00:06:53,767 --> 00:06:57,476 Henry II was more than a match in political cunning 81 00:06:57,527 --> 00:07:00,405 for the Irishman who now came seeking his help. 82 00:07:00,447 --> 00:07:04,645 In what history might call the first ever Anglo-Irish summit, 83 00:07:04,687 --> 00:07:10,478 the rough king from the western fringes of Christendom met Henry at his court. 84 00:07:12,087 --> 00:07:16,126 A Norman poem described the explicitly feudal nature 85 00:07:16,167 --> 00:07:18,362 of the contract between the two- 86 00:07:18,407 --> 00:07:20,079 Dermot addresses Henry - 87 00:07:20,127 --> 00:07:22,687 ''Henceforth, all the days of my life 88 00:07:22,727 --> 00:07:27,881 ''On condition that you be my helper So that I do not lose everything 89 00:07:27,927 --> 00:07:32,443 ''You I shall acknowledge as Sire and Lord-'' 90 00:07:35,287 --> 00:07:40,156 What Dermot means is, ''I will give you land, if you give me an army.'' 91 00:07:40,207 --> 00:07:44,120 This suits a king with restless, land-hungry knights 92 00:07:44,167 --> 00:07:47,204 and who cleaves to that great alibi of conquerors - 93 00:07:47,247 --> 00:07:52,640 the belief that he has a civilising mission. This will become 94 00:07:52,687 --> 00:07:55,804 an enduring theme of England's actions in Ireland. 95 00:07:55,847 --> 00:07:59,760 (BELL T0LLS) 96 00:07:59,807 --> 00:08:04,085 A decade earlier, when he'd first thought about invading Ireland, 97 00:08:04,127 --> 00:08:07,642 Henry had sought the support of a higher power- 98 00:08:07,687 --> 00:08:11,521 Ireland is linked to Europe not only by trade, 99 00:08:11,567 --> 00:08:14,639 but by that most central of medieval realities, religion. 100 00:08:14,687 --> 00:08:18,475 The Pope isn't just spiritual master of Christendom. 101 00:08:18,527 --> 00:08:20,882 He's a temporal power broker as well. 102 00:08:20,927 --> 00:08:23,566 If he lends his support to an invasion, 103 00:08:23,607 --> 00:08:26,917 then Irish chiefs are obliged to offer their allegiance 104 00:08:26,967 --> 00:08:29,037 to the man who carries his blessing. 105 00:08:32,207 --> 00:08:35,085 Pope Adrian 1Vhad his own agenda- 106 00:08:35,127 --> 00:08:39,120 The Irish Church had become worryingly independent- 107 00:08:39,167 --> 00:08:43,160 Granting permission for an invasion, the Pope told King Henry 108 00:08:43,207 --> 00:08:45,767 that in order to enlarge the borders of the Church 109 00:08:45,807 --> 00:08:49,516 and set bounds to the progress of wickedness, 110 00:08:49,567 --> 00:08:52,525 he should take possession of that island- 111 00:08:53,527 --> 00:08:57,884 Henry promised to levy an annual tax of a penny per hearth in Ireland- 112 00:08:57,927 --> 00:09:00,487 The money would be sent to Rome- 113 00:09:05,527 --> 00:09:10,476 This is a period of spectacular upheaval across Europe. 114 00:09:10,527 --> 00:09:15,123 Indeed. This is the time of the Crusades, it is the time of the wars against Islam, 115 00:09:15,167 --> 00:09:18,284 but it is also the time of the expansion 116 00:09:18,327 --> 00:09:22,843 of Western Christendom into what we call Eastern Europe, 117 00:09:22,887 --> 00:09:27,563 into other parts of the British Isles, into the Iberian Peninsula. 118 00:09:27,607 --> 00:09:29,279 So the Irish are just one of a number of people 119 00:09:29,647 --> 00:09:32,923 - seen as barbaric and ripe for conquest? - Absolutely. 120 00:09:37,527 --> 00:09:42,442 With Henry's backing, Dermot now recruited an Anglo-Norman baron from Wales 121 00:09:42,487 --> 00:09:45,081 to lead the invasion - 122 00:09:45,127 --> 00:09:49,917 Richard de Clare, known to friends and enemies as Strongbow- 123 00:09:52,487 --> 00:09:56,685 Strongbow was a man of restless energy and ambition. 124 00:09:56,727 --> 00:10:00,925 And in front of this knight, Dermot dangled a tantalising prospect - 125 00:10:00,967 --> 00:10:05,358 lush acres of Irish land and his daughter's hand in marriage. 126 00:10:08,047 --> 00:10:14,646 On 23rd of August 1170, an Anglo-Norman force led by a friend of Strongbow's 127 00:10:14,687 --> 00:10:17,201 arrived here in County Wexford- 128 00:10:18,207 --> 00:10:21,802 They were used to raiders along this coast, 129 00:10:21,847 --> 00:10:25,123 so when the Irish looked out and saw the Norman vessel, 130 00:10:25,167 --> 00:10:29,524 they could have been forgiven for thinking this was just another passing incursion. 131 00:10:29,567 --> 00:10:33,242 But a new history was about to come bearing in from the sea. 132 00:10:38,487 --> 00:10:43,083 The contemporary accounts tell us the Irish ran naked into battle 133 00:10:43,127 --> 00:10:47,120 against the English. They lacked armour. 134 00:10:50,287 --> 00:10:51,959 They were literally 135 00:10:52,007 --> 00:10:55,477 throwing stones at these Anglo-Norman knights. 136 00:11:02,087 --> 00:11:03,884 The battle was a savage encounter- 137 00:11:03,927 --> 00:11:08,318 The invaders hacked and cleaved their way through the Irish- 138 00:11:08,367 --> 00:11:10,835 In one refinement of the art of murder, 139 00:11:10,887 --> 00:11:14,084 they broke people's legs before hurling them into the sea- 140 00:11:14,127 --> 00:11:18,723 They had one notable killer who went by the name of Alice the Vicious- 141 00:11:18,767 --> 00:11:23,716 She's said to have killed 70 men in revenge for the death of her lover- 142 00:11:28,367 --> 00:11:34,158 This was the same Norman ferocity that had routed the Arab defenders of Sicily 143 00:11:34,207 --> 00:11:38,120 and the warriors of Harold's England a century before- 144 00:11:39,127 --> 00:11:43,996 It was ferocity with a message - submit or be annihilated- 145 00:11:46,327 --> 00:11:52,118 When Strongbow stormed the city of Waterford, the defenders were overwhelmed- 146 00:11:55,287 --> 00:11:59,997 And the victor moved to claim the first part of his Irish bargain- 147 00:12:09,287 --> 00:12:13,678 Surrounded by the Irish dead and in the smoking ruins of a church, 148 00:12:13,727 --> 00:12:17,606 the priest in Daniel Maclise's 1 9th-century painting 149 00:12:17,647 --> 00:12:21,959 blesses the union of Strongbow and Dermot's daughter Aoife- 150 00:12:22,007 --> 00:12:24,396 Irish nationalists would cast this 151 00:12:24,447 --> 00:12:27,996 as the beginning of 800 years of English oppression- 152 00:12:28,047 --> 00:12:30,641 This painting is one of those great examples 153 00:12:30,687 --> 00:12:34,202 of how both sides in the Irish story can look at a representation 154 00:12:34,247 --> 00:12:39,037 of an historic event and take from it totally different meanings. 155 00:12:39,087 --> 00:12:43,399 Nationalists see this as a moving evocation of their subjugation - 156 00:12:43,447 --> 00:12:45,597 the forced marriage of Ireland and England. 157 00:12:45,647 --> 00:12:52,359 But the painter was a Cork-born Unionist who represented a complex Irishness- 158 00:12:52,407 --> 00:12:56,002 He felt a deep attachment to an ancient Gaelic past, 159 00:12:56,047 --> 00:12:58,845 but also to the British Empire- 160 00:12:58,887 --> 00:13:01,959 0f course, what really matters is how Strongbow saw things. 161 00:13:02,007 --> 00:13:06,046 And for him and the rest of the Anglo-Irish knights, 162 00:13:06,087 --> 00:13:08,726 this was the beginning of a great land grab. 163 00:13:11,687 --> 00:13:16,477 Dermot died soon after, before he could enjoy the fruits of victory, 164 00:13:16,527 --> 00:13:21,123 and he was succeeded as King of Leinster by Strongbow- 165 00:13:23,767 --> 00:13:26,042 Here begins a great theme of Ireland's story - 166 00:13:26,087 --> 00:13:32,640 the fear of English monarchs that Ireland will be used as a base to attack them- 167 00:13:32,687 --> 00:13:35,838 For King Henry had never trusted Strongbow 168 00:13:35,887 --> 00:13:39,482 and now feared he would set up a stronghold in Ireland- 169 00:13:45,247 --> 00:13:48,319 In 1171, Henry brought a large army to Ireland 170 00:13:48,367 --> 00:13:50,483 and received Strongbow's submission, 171 00:13:50,527 --> 00:13:54,725 but he also confronted the Gaelic chiefs- 172 00:13:54,767 --> 00:13:59,158 When Henry lands with his army, his archers, his horsemen, 173 00:13:59,207 --> 00:14:00,799 it's a pretty formidable sight 174 00:14:00,847 --> 00:14:04,044 for the Irish chiefs and they're faced a dilemma - 175 00:14:04,087 --> 00:14:06,965 do you resist this man or do you make peace? 176 00:14:07,007 --> 00:14:09,237 What is the choice they eventually make? 177 00:14:09,287 --> 00:14:12,802 For about four years, Irish kings were suffering 178 00:14:12,847 --> 00:14:16,317 and their lands were literally being taken from them by Anglo-Norman barons 179 00:14:16,367 --> 00:14:17,959 who they considered to be freebooters. 180 00:14:18,007 --> 00:14:23,161 They looked at Henry's arrival and they considered him to be, perhaps, 181 00:14:23,207 --> 00:14:24,765 a stabilising force. 182 00:14:24,807 --> 00:14:29,483 The Irish kings welcomed Henry II to Ireland. 183 00:14:29,527 --> 00:14:32,246 We didn't hear too much about that when I was learning my history 184 00:14:32,287 --> 00:14:33,766 as a youngster in national school. 185 00:14:33,807 --> 00:14:37,561 No, we didn't. But again, it was considered by them, I think, 186 00:14:37,607 --> 00:14:38,881 as the better of two options. 187 00:14:38,927 --> 00:14:42,715 They accepted the English King as their lord 188 00:14:42,767 --> 00:14:47,557 and feasted with him on a Norman dish they hated - roast crane, 189 00:14:47,607 --> 00:14:51,202 the culinary symbol of Irish submission- 190 00:14:53,167 --> 00:14:56,045 (BELL T0LLS) 191 00:14:56,087 --> 00:14:59,682 Henry left Ireland the following year--- 192 00:15:00,887 --> 00:15:05,358 ---but the legacy of the conquest he launched can be seen here 193 00:15:05,407 --> 00:15:09,400 in this unique 14th-century charter of Waterford- 194 00:15:11,687 --> 00:15:14,724 What does this extraordinary series of documents tell us 195 00:15:14,767 --> 00:15:18,157 about the Irish relationship with the English crown? 196 00:15:18,207 --> 00:15:24,476 SEAN: This great charter roll of Waterford could have come from an English city. 197 00:15:24,527 --> 00:15:28,759 The earliest contemporary portraits of a King of England that still survive 198 00:15:28,807 --> 00:15:33,642 are here in Waterford, a city that is anxious to impress the King 199 00:15:33,687 --> 00:15:36,121 and protest their loyalty to him. 200 00:15:39,887 --> 00:15:43,800 It is, for all intents and purposes, an English city. 201 00:16:00,607 --> 00:16:02,837 Over the next 50 years, 202 00:16:02,887 --> 00:16:06,800 the Anglo-Normans established power bases in the main population centres 203 00:16:06,847 --> 00:16:12,444 and, crucially, they moved to set up great estates on the best land in the country- 204 00:16:12,487 --> 00:16:15,206 Ireland was about to be transformed- 205 00:16:16,207 --> 00:16:19,597 Historically, we've tended to curse the English a great deal, 206 00:16:19,647 --> 00:16:22,241 but the Normans did quite a bit for us, didn't they? 207 00:16:22,287 --> 00:16:24,164 If you look around Ireland today, 208 00:16:24,207 --> 00:16:29,076 the most characteristically Irish traits are English. 209 00:16:35,247 --> 00:16:40,605 0ur parliamentary system was brought to Ireland by the Anglo-Normans. 210 00:16:41,607 --> 00:16:47,239 The system of law that we have is the English common law system. 211 00:16:48,567 --> 00:16:50,683 And, of course, the language that has produced 212 00:16:50,727 --> 00:16:54,276 most of the great writers of Ireland - Joyce and Yeats - 213 00:16:54,327 --> 00:16:55,760 is the English language. 214 00:16:58,807 --> 00:17:01,526 The division of the country into 32 counties, 215 00:17:01,567 --> 00:17:05,162 that process began within about 20 years of the Anglo-Normans. 216 00:17:05,207 --> 00:17:08,677 When we look around the countryside in Ireland, 217 00:17:08,727 --> 00:17:11,446 we think of fields and hedges - 218 00:17:11,487 --> 00:17:15,162 almost non-existent in Ireland before the 12th century. 219 00:17:15,207 --> 00:17:18,995 Your classical image of rural Ireland is actually a product 220 00:17:19,047 --> 00:17:21,766 of the arrival of the English in the 12th century. 221 00:17:24,247 --> 00:17:30,436 The Normans embraced a Roman tradition which saw conquered races as barbarians- 222 00:17:30,487 --> 00:17:36,926 It would become a recurring theme of how the colonists described the Irish- 223 00:17:36,967 --> 00:17:42,758 In the English telling of the Irish story, a stock figure starts to emerge - 224 00:17:42,807 --> 00:17:48,404 wild, violent, a buffoon. A creature not of intellect, but of instinct. 225 00:17:48,447 --> 00:17:53,567 Now, of course, colonised peoples are referred to in this way 226 00:17:53,607 --> 00:17:57,885 in the language of the conqueror across the globe. 227 00:17:57,927 --> 00:18:01,397 But in Ireland, the roots of this stereotype 228 00:18:01,447 --> 00:18:03,722 lie in the writings of a man who came here 229 00:18:03,767 --> 00:18:08,363 not as a soldier, but on a spiritual mission. 230 00:18:12,087 --> 00:18:18,526 The 12th-century priest and chronicler Giraldus Cambrensis, Gerald of Wales, 231 00:18:18,567 --> 00:18:22,321 profiled the Irish in his Topographia Hibernica- 232 00:18:23,567 --> 00:18:28,038 MAN: Seated on the throne, he's the classic boring churchman - canon lawyer, 233 00:18:28,087 --> 00:18:33,798 great advocate of celibacy, lover of the Pope, lover of the rich, well-connected. 234 00:18:33,847 --> 00:18:39,843 What he does is produce this remarkable book with maps, with drawings 235 00:18:39,887 --> 00:18:42,959 and accounts of the Ireland that he found at that time. 236 00:18:43,007 --> 00:18:45,885 TH0MAS: And he says, ''My book is a mixture 237 00:18:45,927 --> 00:18:50,717 ''of reading books and eye witness and therefore has the surety of truth.'' 238 00:18:50,767 --> 00:18:55,602 0f course, just because he says he went to Ireland and saw lots of things 239 00:18:55,647 --> 00:18:57,239 doesn't mean he hadn't an agenda. 240 00:18:58,487 --> 00:19:03,083 FERGAL: 0ne of the drawings in here is of a woman having sex with a goat. 241 00:19:03,127 --> 00:19:06,324 And it's full of attempts to portray the Irish as barbarous, 242 00:19:06,367 --> 00:19:08,437 pernicious, as he puts it himself, 243 00:19:08,487 --> 00:19:10,284 - ''wallowing in vice''. - Yes. 244 00:19:10,327 --> 00:19:13,364 Here you have a group of men taking part in a kingship ritual. 245 00:19:13,407 --> 00:19:16,319 TH0MAS: He doesn't see this as an ancient ritual. 246 00:19:16,367 --> 00:19:20,997 This ritual was first described 400 years before this book was produced. 247 00:19:21,047 --> 00:19:23,720 - Ritual slaughter... - Ritual slaughter of a horse. 248 00:19:23,767 --> 00:19:28,795 But he sees this as an example of how they are lawless, 249 00:19:28,847 --> 00:19:31,725 they are outside the sphere of Roman law. 250 00:19:31,767 --> 00:19:34,679 They have never had the benefits of the Roman Empire, 251 00:19:34,727 --> 00:19:39,243 so they're doing the wildest and most bizarre things you could imagine. 252 00:19:39,287 --> 00:19:42,643 This is a medieval precursor to imperialism 253 00:19:42,687 --> 00:19:45,724 and the justifications which one had for imperialism. 254 00:19:45,767 --> 00:19:51,364 The same rhetoric of looking at the unusual behaviour and the unusual rituals 255 00:19:51,407 --> 00:19:55,400 of anthropologists in India in the 19th century 256 00:19:55,447 --> 00:19:57,642 that same attitude can be found here. 257 00:20:03,407 --> 00:20:08,197 200 years into the conquest and the colony is unfinished- 258 00:20:10,407 --> 00:20:14,958 Beyond the towns, the Anglo-Normans hold no sway- 259 00:20:15,007 --> 00:20:19,205 The Irish raid and retreat into the mountains- 260 00:20:21,207 --> 00:20:27,601 The Gaelic chiefs saw in the buildings of the Normans the mark of permanence- 261 00:20:33,407 --> 00:20:36,638 The colonists had thrown their world - 262 00:20:36,687 --> 00:20:40,566 pastoralist, based on the loyalties of clan - into retreat- 263 00:20:45,087 --> 00:20:49,080 A stone curtain separated English from native- 264 00:20:49,127 --> 00:20:53,325 The old aristocracy seethed with resentment- 265 00:20:57,287 --> 00:21:02,884 The Irish chieftains decide to launch Ireland's first diplomatic mission, 266 00:21:02,927 --> 00:21:08,001 appealing for help to the most powerful figure in Christendom. 267 00:21:09,687 --> 00:21:15,284 As it was a pope who'd first given legal sanction for the invasion of Ireland, 268 00:21:15,327 --> 00:21:18,285 it was to Rome that the Irish chiefs now complained 269 00:21:18,327 --> 00:21:21,524 about their unjust treatment at the hands of the colonists- 270 00:21:21,567 --> 00:21:23,956 Written in 1317, 271 00:21:24,007 --> 00:21:28,398 their document is known as the Remonstrance 0f The Princes- 272 00:21:28,447 --> 00:21:30,642 Tell me what we see in this document. 273 00:21:30,687 --> 00:21:34,441 MAN: This is the worst picture of English rule since the invasion. 274 00:21:34,487 --> 00:21:36,478 FERGAL: Not a document that minces words. 275 00:21:36,527 --> 00:21:37,880 MAN: It certainly isn't. 276 00:21:37,927 --> 00:21:43,923 It talks about how the Irish are savaged by the vicious teeth of the English 277 00:21:43,967 --> 00:21:48,677 and have fallen into an abyss of slavery. It's very, very vivid imagery. 278 00:21:48,727 --> 00:21:53,039 There's one particularly gruesome example where Thomas de Clare 279 00:21:53,087 --> 00:21:55,442 has had a banquet with one of the Gaelic rulers 280 00:21:55,487 --> 00:21:56,886 and at the end of the banquet, 281 00:21:56,927 --> 00:22:01,159 he is taken from the table and his head is amputated. 282 00:22:01,207 --> 00:22:03,482 - FERGAL: ''Amputato quoque capite''. - PETER: Exactly. 283 00:22:03,527 --> 00:22:07,566 And this is being sent to the Pope. ''This is what the English are doing to us.'' 284 00:22:07,607 --> 00:22:08,596 Yeah. 285 00:22:13,887 --> 00:22:18,085 But Irish complaints were of little matter in Rome- 286 00:22:18,127 --> 00:22:23,520 The Pope passed the document to King Edward 11, who did nothing- 287 00:22:25,087 --> 00:22:30,684 The simple truth was that English kings, mired in struggles of their own, 288 00:22:30,727 --> 00:22:33,195 were little bothered with Ireland- 289 00:22:36,687 --> 00:22:39,645 English influence remained strong 290 00:22:39,687 --> 00:22:42,485 in the fertile area around Dublin and North Leinster, 291 00:22:42,527 --> 00:22:47,043 lands they called The Pale, until, as would happen so often, 292 00:22:47,087 --> 00:22:51,160 the stories of other places collided with that of Ireland- 293 00:22:53,167 --> 00:22:57,957 The first was war. A Scottish army fighting the English 294 00:22:58,007 --> 00:23:03,001 opened a new front here in Ireland. But the worst disaster of all 295 00:23:03,047 --> 00:23:07,723 arrived here at the port of Howth in July 1348. 296 00:23:08,767 --> 00:23:11,884 The Black Plague ravaged the towns and ports 297 00:23:11,927 --> 00:23:14,487 where the Anglo-Normans were strongest. 298 00:23:14,527 --> 00:23:16,995 A witness described how the disease 299 00:23:17,047 --> 00:23:20,403 would carry off a man, his wife and their children 300 00:23:20,447 --> 00:23:24,645 all, as he put it, in the common way of death. 301 00:23:27,687 --> 00:23:31,475 Many of the English lords began to abandon their castles and lands 302 00:23:31,527 --> 00:23:33,995 and fled back to England- 303 00:23:35,687 --> 00:23:38,599 Others had their property forcibly taken 304 00:23:38,647 --> 00:23:42,117 as the Gaelic lords exploited English weakness- 305 00:23:43,687 --> 00:23:48,477 What we see in this period is a resurgent Gaelic chiefdom. 306 00:23:48,527 --> 00:23:53,157 People are coming back, taking lands abandoned by the Anglo-Norman overlords, 307 00:23:53,207 --> 00:23:56,199 but it seems like a real cultural renaissance 308 00:23:56,247 --> 00:23:59,205 of a people who feel confident in themselves again. 309 00:23:59,247 --> 00:24:01,761 What we see is a regrouping. 310 00:24:01,807 --> 00:24:06,005 From 1150, we have basically no Irish manuscripts, no Gaelic manuscripts. 311 00:24:06,047 --> 00:24:09,960 But from 1350, we have a large number of very well-decorated, 312 00:24:10,007 --> 00:24:12,646 beautifully put together manuscripts. 313 00:24:12,687 --> 00:24:16,646 It does seem to be a century during which the Gaelic aristocracy 314 00:24:16,687 --> 00:24:19,565 and Gaelic learned classes are trying to find new ways 315 00:24:19,607 --> 00:24:23,361 of asserting their cultural distinctiveness. 316 00:24:26,287 --> 00:24:29,120 (IN GAELIC) 317 00:24:47,007 --> 00:24:51,000 Why in this period does poetry assume such importance? 318 00:24:51,047 --> 00:24:54,119 In the unstable political climate of Ireland at this time, 319 00:24:54,167 --> 00:24:59,116 art or gold work or tapestry might not be such a good investment, 320 00:24:59,167 --> 00:25:03,399 but in terms of securing your status, securing your fame, 321 00:25:03,447 --> 00:25:09,522 a poem can travel across the entire Gaelic world from Kerry to the Hebrides. 322 00:25:09,567 --> 00:25:13,560 When O'Neill comes to London, someone observes with distaste 323 00:25:13,607 --> 00:25:19,398 that his poets are sitting with him at the same table and eating from the same dish. 324 00:25:19,447 --> 00:25:21,836 We get these glimpses, sometimes, of Gaelic custom 325 00:25:21,887 --> 00:25:25,766 and the high status accorded to the poet. 326 00:25:28,567 --> 00:25:32,958 As Gaelic Ireland revives, the English colony retreats- 327 00:25:33,967 --> 00:25:36,686 There are a few military expeditions by the Crown 328 00:25:36,727 --> 00:25:40,959 and an attempt to separate English and Irish by law, 329 00:25:41,007 --> 00:25:45,000 but Ireland simply isn't a strategic priority 330 00:25:45,047 --> 00:25:51,236 until, near the end of the 15th century, the Crown is given a rude awakening- 331 00:25:51,287 --> 00:25:53,960 After years of civil war in England, 332 00:25:54,007 --> 00:25:58,205 two different pretenders to the throne attack from Ireland, 333 00:25:58,247 --> 00:26:00,636 supported by Irish lords- 334 00:26:08,087 --> 00:26:12,683 In their castles, the lords were local emperors. 335 00:26:12,727 --> 00:26:16,003 There was no strong central government to contain them. 336 00:26:16,047 --> 00:26:18,436 London might as well have been the moon 337 00:26:18,487 --> 00:26:21,479 for all the real influence the monarch could bring to bear. 338 00:26:24,967 --> 00:26:29,757 The great Anglo-Norman families had symbolised English power, 339 00:26:29,807 --> 00:26:33,800 but now they could make alliances with Gaelic chiefs- 340 00:26:33,847 --> 00:26:37,044 Over three centuries, they'd become, if not entirely Irish, 341 00:26:37,087 --> 00:26:39,840 certainly no longer truly English- 342 00:26:39,887 --> 00:26:43,596 This is an unsettled land where warlords squabble 343 00:26:43,647 --> 00:26:45,877 and London's writ does not run. 344 00:26:45,927 --> 00:26:49,715 But the ascent to the throne of a new king in 1509 345 00:26:49,767 --> 00:26:54,477 will bring about the most concerted attempt yet to subdue the Irish lords. 346 00:26:55,807 --> 00:26:59,880 Henry VIII will come to see these free-roving lords 347 00:26:59,927 --> 00:27:01,804 as a threat to his power 348 00:27:01,847 --> 00:27:04,156 and men who need to be taught a lesson. 349 00:27:05,887 --> 00:27:10,438 Henry sought to create the state ruled by a single king 350 00:27:10,487 --> 00:27:13,399 that had eluded Brian Boru and Dermot MacMurrough - 351 00:27:13,447 --> 00:27:16,484 the first ever united Ireland, 352 00:27:16,527 --> 00:27:20,725 but under the control of an English king and his officials- 353 00:27:20,767 --> 00:27:23,486 Under the centralising rule of the Tudors, 354 00:27:23,527 --> 00:27:26,644 Ireland will no longer be a wild colonial fringe 355 00:27:26,687 --> 00:27:30,043 where Old English and Gaelic lords rule themselves- 356 00:27:30,087 --> 00:27:34,956 Here is an English administration coming along saying, ''We'll tidy this up for you. 357 00:27:35,007 --> 00:27:39,125 ''We will impose a legal framework in which your position 358 00:27:39,167 --> 00:27:43,843 ''will not be threatened at all. You'll continue to be local, regional boss. 359 00:27:43,887 --> 00:27:47,118 ''You'll continue to have this wealth that you treasure so much, 360 00:27:47,167 --> 00:27:48,919 ''but we'll do this by legal means.'' 361 00:27:53,687 --> 00:27:57,760 But such promises fail to impress the powerful FitzGeralds, 362 00:27:57,807 --> 00:28:00,002 the Old English lords of Kildare- 363 00:28:01,287 --> 00:28:04,723 They'd been the King's representatives in Ireland- 364 00:28:04,767 --> 00:28:07,281 Now they saw their power slipping away- 365 00:28:07,327 --> 00:28:09,887 In 1534, they rebelled- 366 00:28:12,087 --> 00:28:15,875 Just as he had done with the troublesome lords in England, 367 00:28:15,927 --> 00:28:18,077 Henry crushed them ruthlessly- 368 00:28:22,487 --> 00:28:26,526 As the Tower of London beckoned to any troublesome nobles, 369 00:28:26,567 --> 00:28:29,957 Henry declared himself King of Ireland- 370 00:28:30,007 --> 00:28:34,398 But Henry would never settle his Irish problem 371 00:28:34,447 --> 00:28:38,838 for at home, he was moving towards a fateful entanglement- 372 00:28:41,047 --> 00:28:46,201 Henry's enduring legacy to Ireland was forged in the chambers of his court. 373 00:28:46,247 --> 00:28:50,445 There, a domestic imperative propelled him into action 374 00:28:50,487 --> 00:28:55,641 that would profoundly change the way the Irish and the English saw each other. 375 00:28:56,087 --> 00:28:58,442 (BELL T0LLS) 376 00:28:58,487 --> 00:29:04,483 Henry had failed to obtain a male heir from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon- 377 00:29:04,527 --> 00:29:07,599 In 1533, he disobeyed the Pope 378 00:29:07,647 --> 00:29:11,481 by divorcing Catherine and marrying Anne Boleyn- 379 00:29:12,567 --> 00:29:16,276 Henry created the Church of England with himself at its head- 380 00:29:18,487 --> 00:29:23,083 In this manner, England joined the great European Reformation, 381 00:29:23,127 --> 00:29:27,166 the Protestant revolution which was already challenging Church corruption, 382 00:29:27,207 --> 00:29:30,563 doctrine and the power of the papacy- 383 00:29:36,567 --> 00:29:41,277 Henry imposed his new church on a reluctant English clergy 384 00:29:41,327 --> 00:29:45,320 through terror and the seizing of church lands- 385 00:29:48,887 --> 00:29:51,481 But in Ireland he lacked a standing army 386 00:29:51,527 --> 00:29:54,678 that could enforce observance of the new faith- 387 00:29:56,527 --> 00:29:59,121 And so Ireland remained Catholic- 388 00:30:02,247 --> 00:30:06,240 Henry's unfinished business here left a dangerous legacy 389 00:30:06,287 --> 00:30:10,678 in a Europe where religion was becoming a battleground- 390 00:30:14,887 --> 00:30:20,837 MAN: Political loyalty and religious loyalty were increasingly seen as equal, 391 00:30:20,887 --> 00:30:22,161 one to the other. 392 00:30:22,207 --> 00:30:26,086 Where you had communities that were divided on grounds of religion, 393 00:30:26,127 --> 00:30:29,244 you almost invariably had civil conflict. 394 00:30:29,287 --> 00:30:33,405 So, the diversity in religion meant a challenge to the authority of monarchs. 395 00:30:37,207 --> 00:30:41,803 In Europe, the Pope led a powerful movement against the Reformation- 396 00:30:41,847 --> 00:30:46,284 Religious orders like the Jesuits enforced a new militant Catholicism- 397 00:30:48,807 --> 00:30:53,005 In Spain, the inquisitions crushed the Protestant faith 398 00:30:53,047 --> 00:30:56,278 and it was sent into retreat across much of the rest of Europe- 399 00:31:02,967 --> 00:31:05,527 Even in England, the Reformation was overthrown 400 00:31:05,567 --> 00:31:09,560 as Henry's Catholic daughter Mary succeeded to the throne- 401 00:31:12,087 --> 00:31:16,080 In the terror that followed, Mary's Protestant sister Elizabeth 402 00:31:16,127 --> 00:31:18,846 saw hundreds of her co-religionists killed- 403 00:31:20,447 --> 00:31:23,166 Elizabeth and her supporters remembered that terror 404 00:31:23,207 --> 00:31:25,846 when she became queen in 1558- 405 00:31:25,887 --> 00:31:30,005 They saw Catholicism as being the ogre 406 00:31:30,047 --> 00:31:34,916 which was always threatening the liberties of Protestantism. 407 00:31:34,967 --> 00:31:38,243 This was represented by the tyranny of Spain, 408 00:31:38,287 --> 00:31:41,563 which had threatened the invasion of England itself. 409 00:31:42,927 --> 00:31:45,885 FERGAL: At forts like this on the Kent coast, 410 00:31:45,927 --> 00:31:49,920 her soldiers scanned the horizon for the foreign invasion fleets. 411 00:31:49,967 --> 00:31:51,958 But they were not the only threat, 412 00:31:52,007 --> 00:31:54,840 because to the west lay Catholic Ireland. 413 00:31:55,847 --> 00:32:00,318 NICH0LAS: There are an increasing number of young people from Ireland 414 00:32:00,367 --> 00:32:04,360 who have been trained in continental seminaries and returned to Ireland 415 00:32:04,407 --> 00:32:07,797 imbued with the zeal of the Catholic Counter-Reformation, 416 00:32:07,847 --> 00:32:12,477 intent on resisting the advancement of Protestantism within the country. 417 00:32:15,687 --> 00:32:19,965 The Queen does not launch a Protestant crusade in Ireland 418 00:32:20,007 --> 00:32:21,679 for she is no religious zealot- 419 00:32:22,687 --> 00:32:25,918 Above all, Elizabeth demands security 420 00:32:25,967 --> 00:32:29,846 so she despatches a new breed of soldiers and officials, 421 00:32:29,887 --> 00:32:32,845 the Elizabethan adventurers- 422 00:32:34,287 --> 00:32:38,678 The English adventurers who arrive here, how do they view the Irish? 423 00:32:38,727 --> 00:32:43,118 MAN: Well, they leave The Pale and they go out into the Gaelic interior 424 00:32:43,167 --> 00:32:46,000 and in Gaelic Ireland they see people who live 425 00:32:46,047 --> 00:32:50,757 in a fashion which is completely opposite to the way things operate in England. 426 00:32:50,807 --> 00:32:53,799 They don't live a settled lifestyle. 427 00:32:53,847 --> 00:32:57,601 They are a pastoral people who follow the herds. 428 00:33:00,687 --> 00:33:04,123 Ireland is a heavily wooded landscape. 429 00:33:04,167 --> 00:33:08,001 The Irish are seen as being wood people. 430 00:33:08,047 --> 00:33:10,959 They come out of the woods to attack you at night time, 431 00:33:11,007 --> 00:33:14,841 to burn your tent, to steal your livestock, 432 00:33:14,887 --> 00:33:17,276 to steal your women. 433 00:33:17,327 --> 00:33:20,876 They can disappear. They can see you, but you can't see them. 434 00:33:20,927 --> 00:33:23,157 They're seen as a menace. 435 00:33:23,207 --> 00:33:26,005 They're seen as enemies of order. 436 00:33:26,047 --> 00:33:30,438 As the adventurers seized land and curtailed private armies, 437 00:33:30,487 --> 00:33:34,116 the great lords, Gaelic and English, faced a dilemma - 438 00:33:34,167 --> 00:33:36,476 to rebel or work with the English- 439 00:33:36,527 --> 00:33:40,122 Some like the Gaelic Hugh O'Neill went with the Crown, 440 00:33:40,167 --> 00:33:44,160 but in Munster the Anglo-Norman Desmonds rebelled- 441 00:33:45,207 --> 00:33:49,485 Elizabeth I fears the Irish rebel lords and chieftains 442 00:33:49,527 --> 00:33:54,476 linking up with England's foreign enemies. And it isn't a totally unrealistic fear. 443 00:33:55,687 --> 00:34:01,045 The rebels send a petition to Philip II in Spain and to the Pope in Rome. 444 00:34:02,047 --> 00:34:05,960 The rebels are not seriously motivated by religion, 445 00:34:06,007 --> 00:34:08,202 but religion is a bridge to Europe. 446 00:34:08,247 --> 00:34:11,842 It's a bridge to finance, it's a bridge to money and weapons 447 00:34:11,887 --> 00:34:13,878 and an invasion force. 448 00:34:14,887 --> 00:34:19,165 Elizabeth's forces launched a policy of scorched earth- 449 00:34:19,207 --> 00:34:23,564 0ne of the most notorious English commanders was Sir Humphrey Gilbert. 450 00:34:23,607 --> 00:34:27,600 The record says he killed man, woman and child. 451 00:34:27,647 --> 00:34:29,319 He spoiled, wasted and burned... 452 00:34:29,367 --> 00:34:33,724 so that he might leave nothing of the enemy's in safety 453 00:34:33,767 --> 00:34:36,964 which he might possibly waste or consume- 454 00:34:38,367 --> 00:34:42,360 The age of total war had arrived in Ireland- 455 00:34:48,087 --> 00:34:52,478 Gilbert also ordered the decapitation of entire villages 456 00:34:52,527 --> 00:34:56,520 and decorated the path to his tent with heads- 457 00:34:56,567 --> 00:35:00,958 Relatives of his victims would be made to walk along the path- 458 00:35:03,207 --> 00:35:07,200 He boasted later that the sight of the heads of their dead fathers, 459 00:35:07,247 --> 00:35:11,877 brothers, children, kinsfolk and friends brought great terror- 460 00:35:19,007 --> 00:35:21,885 They're also interested, of course, in head money. 461 00:35:21,927 --> 00:35:24,885 How do you collect the reward on a dead rebel? 462 00:35:24,927 --> 00:35:30,160 You chop off their head, right? So, you have bags of heads being sent 463 00:35:30,207 --> 00:35:34,359 from some part of Ireland to Dublin where they are exhibited, 464 00:35:34,407 --> 00:35:38,400 which adds to the horror of the Elizabethan wars. 465 00:35:40,887 --> 00:35:45,403 Bu this wasn't simply a matter of the Irish fighting the invaders- 466 00:35:47,727 --> 00:35:51,845 Some Irish lords helped the Crown to protect their own power- 467 00:35:58,487 --> 00:36:03,197 Here at the National Archives in London is an Elizabethan document 468 00:36:03,247 --> 00:36:07,320 detailing how one Irish lord behaved- 469 00:36:09,567 --> 00:36:11,444 This is an extraordinary document 470 00:36:11,487 --> 00:36:15,560 because it brings, in a very real sense, that age of atrocity to life. 471 00:36:15,607 --> 00:36:18,167 You can look back at Irish history in this period 472 00:36:18,207 --> 00:36:22,200 and thousands of people seem to vanish into anonymous massacres 473 00:36:22,247 --> 00:36:25,125 and battles. What you get here - 474 00:36:25,167 --> 00:36:28,762 list after list of names. 475 00:36:28,807 --> 00:36:33,403 They're Gaelic names - 0vren, Mac Carthaigh. 476 00:36:34,407 --> 00:36:37,001 A total of over 5,000 names. 477 00:36:38,287 --> 00:36:42,997 And they are killed by the army of another Irishman - the Earl of 0rmond. 478 00:36:43,047 --> 00:36:46,198 This butcher's bill he sends to London 479 00:36:46,247 --> 00:36:50,957 to convince an English queen that he is loyal to the Crown. 480 00:36:54,087 --> 00:36:58,842 For Elizabeth, Irish loyalty would become an increasingly urgent question 481 00:36:58,887 --> 00:37:01,401 as the religious crisis in Europe escalated- 482 00:37:04,047 --> 00:37:08,563 In Paris in 1572 came an event that would define for Protestants 483 00:37:08,607 --> 00:37:10,598 the terror of the Counter-Reformation- 484 00:37:13,847 --> 00:37:18,796 Here on the morning of August 24th, the Feast of St Bartholomew, 485 00:37:18,847 --> 00:37:23,238 the bells of this church, Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, rang out. 486 00:37:23,287 --> 00:37:27,360 Not in celebration, but as a signal for killing to begin. 487 00:37:31,447 --> 00:37:35,122 Catholic death squads fanned out across the city targeting Protestants 488 00:37:35,167 --> 00:37:37,920 in the worst religious massacres Europe had ever known. 489 00:37:37,967 --> 00:37:41,004 Thousands were butchered. 490 00:37:42,967 --> 00:37:46,118 (SCREAMING) 491 00:37:46,167 --> 00:37:49,398 Amid such confusion, an eyewitness reported, 492 00:37:49,447 --> 00:37:52,166 everyone was allowed to kill whoever he pleased- 493 00:37:52,207 --> 00:37:54,880 The bodies were hurled into the River Seine, 494 00:37:54,927 --> 00:37:58,556 whose waters ran red with the blood of the murdered- 495 00:38:02,887 --> 00:38:07,483 In Rome, the Pope ordered bonfires lit and the singing of the Te Deum 496 00:38:07,527 --> 00:38:12,396 in celebration for ''this glorious triumph over a perfidious race''- 497 00:38:19,887 --> 00:38:23,482 In Protestant England, there was alarm. 498 00:38:23,527 --> 00:38:28,681 French refugees from the Catholic violence flooded into the East End of London 499 00:38:28,727 --> 00:38:32,561 bringing with them tales of atrocity. 500 00:38:32,607 --> 00:38:35,599 In the minds of the English Protestant Establishment 501 00:38:35,647 --> 00:38:38,207 there loomed the question - would England be next? 502 00:38:41,847 --> 00:38:46,318 English fears were confirmed when the Desmonds rebelled again 503 00:38:46,367 --> 00:38:48,961 and succeeded in getting papal help- 504 00:38:49,967 --> 00:38:55,087 In 1579, a fleet of papal troops landed in County Kerry 505 00:38:55,127 --> 00:38:56,845 to aid the Munster rebels- 506 00:38:57,847 --> 00:39:00,805 Part of the small force would find itself besieged here 507 00:39:00,847 --> 00:39:03,566 at Carrigafoyle Castle in North Kerry- 508 00:39:06,687 --> 00:39:12,478 An Italian captain, 16 Spaniards and 50 Irish defended this castle. 509 00:39:12,527 --> 00:39:16,520 They were attacked by an Elizabethan force with heavy guns 510 00:39:16,567 --> 00:39:19,161 and after three days, the defences were breached. 511 00:39:21,527 --> 00:39:24,200 It was said that in the fighting that followed, 512 00:39:24,247 --> 00:39:27,523 these walls were slippery with blood. 513 00:39:31,887 --> 00:39:36,324 What happens at Carrigafoyle and in other massacres 514 00:39:36,367 --> 00:39:39,803 foreshadows a new kind of European warfare--- 515 00:39:39,847 --> 00:39:42,884 where the tactics of massacre, starvation, 516 00:39:42,927 --> 00:39:46,636 of salutary terror are becoming widespread. 517 00:39:47,647 --> 00:39:49,922 It also helps to convince Elizabeth 518 00:39:49,967 --> 00:39:53,755 of the need for a durable solution to her Irish problem. 519 00:39:58,887 --> 00:40:02,357 Elizabeth's is an age of turbulent energy- 520 00:40:04,367 --> 00:40:06,403 In literature, science--- 521 00:40:07,407 --> 00:40:11,082 ---in exploration and the hunger for new lands- 522 00:40:11,127 --> 00:40:14,961 Great empires are forming - Spanish and English- 523 00:40:16,007 --> 00:40:19,124 Like the very first invader, Henry II, 524 00:40:19,167 --> 00:40:22,523 Elizabeth imagines Ireland being civilised by Englishmen- 525 00:40:23,887 --> 00:40:28,722 A place where ''No dainty flower or herb that grows on ground 526 00:40:28,767 --> 00:40:33,158 ''No arboret with painted blossoms drest 527 00:40:33,207 --> 00:40:37,598 ''And smelling sweet but there it might be found-'' 528 00:40:46,687 --> 00:40:51,556 The landscape of Ireland was about to undergo profound change- 529 00:40:51,607 --> 00:40:55,236 The axes of the Elizabethans echoed through the great forests 530 00:40:55,287 --> 00:41:01,396 as they cleared away the hiding places of rebels and made space for plantation- 531 00:41:03,647 --> 00:41:06,400 (W00D CREAKS) 532 00:41:06,447 --> 00:41:11,077 The idea was to create an English garden in wild Ireland- 533 00:41:11,127 --> 00:41:16,326 Among those given estates were a young adventurer called Sir Walter Raleigh--- 534 00:41:16,367 --> 00:41:19,803 and his friend, the poet Edmund Spenser. 535 00:41:22,887 --> 00:41:27,483 In his most famous poem, The Faerie Queene, Spenser wrote, 536 00:41:27,527 --> 00:41:32,726 ''Who will not mercy unto others show How can he mercy ever hope to have?'' 537 00:41:34,447 --> 00:41:39,123 But mercy was noticeably absent in Spenser's role as apologist 538 00:41:39,167 --> 00:41:41,317 for Elizabethan policy in Ireland- 539 00:41:46,487 --> 00:41:50,799 Spenser had been present at massacres and defended his commander, 540 00:41:50,847 --> 00:41:52,724 the Lord Deputy of Ireland, 541 00:41:52,767 --> 00:41:55,839 against charges that he was a bloody man- 542 00:41:57,007 --> 00:42:01,205 His loyalty was rewarded with a forfeited estate- 543 00:42:02,487 --> 00:42:07,607 Spenser's friend Walter Raleigh was also granted 40,000 acres of land 544 00:42:07,647 --> 00:42:10,161 around the Blackwater Valley- 545 00:42:13,007 --> 00:42:15,919 And from this house in the town of Youghal, 546 00:42:15,967 --> 00:42:19,403 he would set forth on his adventures in the New World- 547 00:42:23,087 --> 00:42:26,762 Raleigh and Spenser epitomised the contradictions 548 00:42:26,807 --> 00:42:29,480 of Elizabeth's adventure in Ireland. 549 00:42:29,527 --> 00:42:33,918 Raleigh was an enthusiastic killer of rebels, yet here in this room 550 00:42:33,967 --> 00:42:38,245 he would sit with Spenser and discuss the finer points of English verse. 551 00:42:38,287 --> 00:42:41,916 Both men were willing to see people subjected to famine 552 00:42:41,967 --> 00:42:43,878 in order to clear the land. 553 00:42:43,927 --> 00:42:46,725 And they rationalised it all with the belief 554 00:42:46,767 --> 00:42:50,555 that they had come to Ireland on a civilising mission. 555 00:42:51,687 --> 00:42:54,599 DAVID EDWARDS: Spenser sees his role as... 556 00:42:55,607 --> 00:43:00,556 ...advocate of hard measures to ensure the victory 557 00:43:00,607 --> 00:43:02,325 of English civilisation in Ireland. 558 00:43:03,327 --> 00:43:07,878 He views the Irish as people who need serious correction. 559 00:43:09,287 --> 00:43:13,485 Some 30,000 Irish lost their lives, many to famine- 560 00:43:37,247 --> 00:43:41,525 By the late 1580s, 25 years after she had come to power, 561 00:43:41,567 --> 00:43:45,958 Elizabeth had subdued the Irish in Munster, Leinster and Connacht. 562 00:43:46,007 --> 00:43:50,159 The leaders were dead or in hiding, the people destitute. 563 00:43:50,207 --> 00:43:54,405 But there was one great obstacle to English domination in Ireland 564 00:43:54,447 --> 00:43:58,645 and it lay far to the north in a province that would become synonymous 565 00:43:58,687 --> 00:44:01,759 with the conflict between the two islands. 566 00:44:08,647 --> 00:44:12,845 This is Tullaghoge, the Hill of the Warriors, 567 00:44:12,887 --> 00:44:15,196 seat of the O'Neills, 568 00:44:15,247 --> 00:44:18,239 lords of the ancient province of Ulster- 569 00:44:24,647 --> 00:44:27,241 Ulster was the most Gaelic of the Irish provinces 570 00:44:27,287 --> 00:44:30,757 and was the stronghold of Hugh O'Neill- 571 00:44:34,527 --> 00:44:36,916 Hugh O'Neill is one of the most fascinating figures 572 00:44:36,967 --> 00:44:38,195 in the story of Ireland. 573 00:44:38,247 --> 00:44:43,560 He embodied the complexities of an age of dramatic change. 574 00:44:43,607 --> 00:44:46,599 O'Neill could be a ruthless killer, a wily charmer 575 00:44:46,647 --> 00:44:49,081 and a master of the art of compromise, 576 00:44:49,127 --> 00:44:51,721 whatever the situation demanded. 577 00:44:51,767 --> 00:44:55,726 The imperative for O'Neill was to protect the power of his family. 578 00:44:55,767 --> 00:45:01,637 Constantly manoeuvring, he rode alongside English adventurers against Irish chiefs 579 00:45:01,687 --> 00:45:04,759 and was rewarded with the Earldom of Tyrone- 580 00:45:07,287 --> 00:45:11,678 He was a man who did his best to fit in with the English system. 581 00:45:11,727 --> 00:45:18,724 For much of his career, the odds were on going with the Elizabethan project 582 00:45:18,767 --> 00:45:23,318 of the extension of English laws, English systems of administration 583 00:45:23,367 --> 00:45:25,756 and English systems of land-holding. 584 00:45:25,807 --> 00:45:30,244 The difficulty is that once you commit to this English deal, 585 00:45:30,287 --> 00:45:31,515 you make enemies. 586 00:45:33,967 --> 00:45:38,961 And those enemies will increasingly come from the ranks of the adventurers, 587 00:45:39,007 --> 00:45:42,124 envious of his position and lands- 588 00:45:42,167 --> 00:45:46,604 O'Neill is caught in a rapidly changing world- 589 00:45:50,447 --> 00:45:53,007 The English, with whom he'd tried to make a deal, 590 00:45:53,047 --> 00:45:54,685 are advancing inexorably- 591 00:45:55,727 --> 00:45:58,366 And so he makes a momentous decision- 592 00:45:59,447 --> 00:46:03,201 No longer will the Earl of Tyrone be an enforcer for the Crown- 593 00:46:03,247 --> 00:46:05,602 He will turn against Elizabeth- 594 00:46:10,007 --> 00:46:15,764 In 1595, O'Neill allied himself with the powerful chieftain Red Hugh O'Donnell 595 00:46:15,807 --> 00:46:17,798 and prepared for war- 596 00:46:26,847 --> 00:46:30,726 Trained in the English ways of warfare and bolstered by Spanish advisers, 597 00:46:30,767 --> 00:46:34,077 O'Neill begins to push back the English forces from Ulster- 598 00:46:35,527 --> 00:46:39,076 At the Battle of the Yellow Ford in August 1598, 599 00:46:39,127 --> 00:46:42,119 viewing the well-armed English, O'Neill told his men 600 00:46:42,167 --> 00:46:46,877 that victory lay ''not in senseless armour, but in courageous souls''- 601 00:46:47,927 --> 00:46:49,076 900 English are killed 602 00:46:49,127 --> 00:46:51,766 and the same number desert- 603 00:47:00,207 --> 00:47:04,086 As the war ground on, a furious Elizabeth rounded on her commander 604 00:47:04,127 --> 00:47:06,482 for his failure to stop O'Neill- 605 00:47:08,967 --> 00:47:13,358 ''It must be the Queen of England's fortune,''she declared, 606 00:47:13,407 --> 00:47:17,798 ''to make a base cur to be accounted so famous a rebel- 607 00:47:19,367 --> 00:47:24,361 ''Little do you know how he hath blazed in foreign parts the defeats of regiments, 608 00:47:24,407 --> 00:47:28,195 ''the death of captains and the loss of men of quality-'' 609 00:47:35,047 --> 00:47:38,244 O'Neill's victory sparked rebellions elsewhere in Ireland- 610 00:47:39,287 --> 00:47:43,883 Far to the south, lands recently planted and tamed rose again- 611 00:47:45,527 --> 00:47:47,802 Here in Munster, rebels descend from the woods. 612 00:47:47,847 --> 00:47:53,638 Farms are burned, the English planters are taken by surprise and many are butchered. 613 00:47:55,887 --> 00:47:59,675 In Munster, the attempt to make the land civil, 614 00:47:59,727 --> 00:48:02,719 according to English ways, is overthrown. 615 00:48:05,687 --> 00:48:10,397 Among the English refugees fleeing Ireland is the poet Edmund Spenser- 616 00:48:12,847 --> 00:48:15,407 As Ireland moved towards a defining confrontation, 617 00:48:15,447 --> 00:48:20,965 O'Neill sought to rally both the Gaelic chiefs and the Old English to his banner- 618 00:48:21,007 --> 00:48:23,362 (BELL T0LLS) 619 00:48:27,567 --> 00:48:29,603 Hugh O'Neill sought a unifying cause, 620 00:48:29,647 --> 00:48:31,603 but how was he going to achieve that 621 00:48:31,647 --> 00:48:35,959 in a country where lords squabbled and provinces were disunited? 622 00:48:36,007 --> 00:48:42,242 He turned to the one unifying symbol in all the existing varieties of Irishness - 623 00:48:42,287 --> 00:48:44,278 the Catholic religion. 624 00:48:44,327 --> 00:48:48,115 From now on, Hugh O'Neill's struggle for power against the English 625 00:48:48,167 --> 00:48:52,445 would be characterised as a battle for faith and fatherland. 626 00:48:57,047 --> 00:49:00,084 ''1 will employ myself to the utmost of my power,''he wrote, 627 00:49:00,127 --> 00:49:02,561 ''for the extirpation of heresy--- 628 00:49:03,647 --> 00:49:06,684 ''---for the delivery of our country from infinite murders, 629 00:49:06,727 --> 00:49:09,605 ''wicked and detestable policies-'' 630 00:49:18,127 --> 00:49:21,676 The English regarded O'Neill's militant piety 631 00:49:21,727 --> 00:49:24,002 as a cynical ploy- 632 00:49:25,047 --> 00:49:28,278 When the Earl of Essex met him during peace negotiations, 633 00:49:28,327 --> 00:49:33,799 he remarked, ''Hang thee up. Thou carest as much for religion as my horse.'' 634 00:49:34,807 --> 00:49:37,401 But O'Neill had made an extraordinary connection, 635 00:49:37,447 --> 00:49:39,597 one that would resonate through Irish history... 636 00:49:42,007 --> 00:49:45,124 ...between religion and Irish identity. 637 00:49:45,167 --> 00:49:47,761 (PAPAL BLESSING) 638 00:49:53,007 --> 00:49:54,679 Pope Clement V111 declared O'Neill 639 00:49:54,727 --> 00:49:57,241 Captain-General of the Catholic Army in Ireland- 640 00:49:59,687 --> 00:50:02,520 Cast as the Irish David fighting an English Goliath, 641 00:50:02,567 --> 00:50:05,684 O'Neill asked King Philip of Spain for help- 642 00:50:13,167 --> 00:50:18,844 The Spanish could see the value in tying down a large English force in Ireland- 643 00:50:22,567 --> 00:50:24,797 But Philip would prove a cautious ally- 644 00:50:26,367 --> 00:50:28,039 He instructed his secretary to 645 00:50:28,087 --> 00:50:30,476 ''see what is the very smallest aid that will be needed- 646 00:50:30,527 --> 00:50:33,997 ''1f it be so small that we can give it, we will help them-'' 647 00:50:34,047 --> 00:50:37,926 0n the morning of September 21 st 1601, 648 00:50:37,967 --> 00:50:43,599 a Spanish fleet of 33 ships. carrying 4,500 soldiers, 649 00:50:43,647 --> 00:50:45,877 appeared here off the coast of Cork, 650 00:50:45,927 --> 00:50:48,919 bearing down on the town of Kinsale. 651 00:50:50,047 --> 00:50:53,244 But from the beginning, the expedition was dogged by bad luck. 652 00:50:53,287 --> 00:50:58,361 The army they'd come to meet was waiting far to the north, in Ulster- 653 00:50:58,407 --> 00:51:02,366 The Spanish had landed in the wrong part of Ireland- 654 00:51:10,287 --> 00:51:14,280 As the forces of the English Lord Mountjoy massed at Kinsale, 655 00:51:14,327 --> 00:51:18,400 O'Neill and O'Donnell made an epic march through the Irish winter- 656 00:51:24,247 --> 00:51:28,240 The English had by now massed around 6,000 troops at Kinsale- 657 00:51:30,167 --> 00:51:33,876 They besieged the Spanish and waited months in horrendous conditions 658 00:51:33,927 --> 00:51:35,645 for the Irish to arrive- 659 00:51:37,407 --> 00:51:40,956 The phrase ''turning point'' is one that swirls promiscuously 660 00:51:41,007 --> 00:51:42,645 through Irish history, 661 00:51:42,687 --> 00:51:46,999 usually summoned up by one side or the other to make a political point. 662 00:51:47,047 --> 00:51:51,040 But Irish and English, Catholic and Protestant, all agree 663 00:51:51,087 --> 00:51:53,317 that what happens here at Kinsale 664 00:51:53,367 --> 00:51:56,916 will alter the balance of power in Ireland for ever. 665 00:51:56,967 --> 00:51:58,605 (BIRDS0NG) 666 00:51:58,647 --> 00:52:00,922 (P0UNDING 0F DRUM) 667 00:52:02,247 --> 00:52:06,604 By dawn on Christmas Eve 1601, the two sides are ready for battle- 668 00:52:09,367 --> 00:52:13,076 The Spanish and Irish have amassed a force of 9,500 men 669 00:52:13,127 --> 00:52:17,962 against an English army weakened by disease to around 6,000- 670 00:52:21,087 --> 00:52:24,796 Hardened by relentless war, the Irish are tough fighters- 671 00:52:28,527 --> 00:52:31,280 When he sees the Irish, the English commander Mountjoy says, 672 00:52:31,327 --> 00:52:32,362 ''The kingdom is lost.'' 673 00:52:32,407 --> 00:52:35,399 The gravity of the situation is very clear to him. 674 00:52:36,967 --> 00:52:42,564 He realises that defeat beckons unless some...almost a miracle can happen. 675 00:52:46,607 --> 00:52:49,519 (P0UNDING 0F DRUM) 676 00:52:49,567 --> 00:52:51,398 (FIFE PLAYS) 677 00:52:51,447 --> 00:52:54,086 But O'Donnell, who had marched separately from O'Neill, 678 00:52:54,127 --> 00:52:57,597 became lost and failed to make his rendezvous- 679 00:52:59,927 --> 00:53:03,806 According to the Spanish, there was a catalogue of tactical blunders- 680 00:53:06,007 --> 00:53:10,000 O'Donnell alerted the English with a loud call to arms- 681 00:53:11,047 --> 00:53:14,642 In the confusion, O'Neill left his hill-top position 682 00:53:14,687 --> 00:53:18,077 and went to open ground where his men were more vulnerable- 683 00:53:20,647 --> 00:53:24,003 On seeing the hill unoccupied, a Spanish witness said, 684 00:53:24,047 --> 00:53:28,040 ''The enemy closed up on to it- He grasped his opportunity-'' 685 00:53:29,207 --> 00:53:31,960 (N0ISE 0F BATTLE) 686 00:53:33,247 --> 00:53:36,842 The English cavalry now charged downhill at O'Neill's men- 687 00:53:39,727 --> 00:53:42,764 DAMIAN: The Irish were fighting in open ground 688 00:53:42,807 --> 00:53:46,243 against English cavalry that had the run of the field. 689 00:53:48,327 --> 00:53:51,285 The Irish had never really been in that situation before. 690 00:53:54,087 --> 00:53:57,124 But what it essentially comes down to, at the end of the day, 691 00:53:57,167 --> 00:53:58,600 is that the English had stirrups. 692 00:53:58,647 --> 00:54:02,401 The fact that the English solders had stirrups 693 00:54:02,447 --> 00:54:04,438 meant they could drive home a charge with a lance 694 00:54:04,487 --> 00:54:06,443 because a stirrup takes the shock, 695 00:54:06,487 --> 00:54:08,603 you don't get knocked off the back of the horse. 696 00:54:08,647 --> 00:54:12,879 Whereas the Irish had shorter horses. They carried their lances over arm. 697 00:54:12,927 --> 00:54:15,680 But although it gave them extra manoeuvrability, 698 00:54:15,727 --> 00:54:19,003 it meant they couldn't charge another body of horse. 699 00:54:19,047 --> 00:54:21,402 - The fate of Ireland hung on a stirrup? - More or less, yes. 700 00:54:23,967 --> 00:54:28,438 According to the Spanish eyewitness, 800 men were killed in the rout- 701 00:54:30,687 --> 00:54:35,556 Most of the Irish survivors made for Ulster while the Spanish sailed home- 702 00:54:39,287 --> 00:54:43,599 DAMIAN: The Irish should have won the Battle of Kinsale. There is no question. 703 00:54:43,647 --> 00:54:46,957 But they don't - circumstances go against them - 704 00:54:47,007 --> 00:54:50,317 and the entire course of Irish history is altered as a result. 705 00:54:52,607 --> 00:54:55,075 FERGAL: For the Spanish, Kinsale was a military fiasco 706 00:54:55,127 --> 00:54:58,437 and they would never intervene in Ireland again. 707 00:55:00,607 --> 00:55:04,361 The English saved their colony, but the war was ruinously expensive. 708 00:55:04,407 --> 00:55:06,477 It almost bankrupted the Crown. 709 00:55:07,527 --> 00:55:11,998 But for the Gaelic lords, Kinsale was the moment that broke their power for ever. 710 00:55:17,647 --> 00:55:21,162 Mountjoy laid waste to O'Neill's lands in Ulster- 711 00:55:24,087 --> 00:55:27,477 Mountjoy understood well the power of symbols in Ireland 712 00:55:27,527 --> 00:55:32,043 and when he arrived here at Tullaghoge, the Hill of the Warriors, 713 00:55:32,087 --> 00:55:36,285 he first ordered his troops to lay waste to the surrounding countryside. 714 00:55:36,327 --> 00:55:39,922 They then came here and shattered the stone 715 00:55:39,967 --> 00:55:43,562 upon which generations of the O'Neills had been crowned. 716 00:55:50,687 --> 00:55:55,477 Hugh O'Neill surrendered and was allowed to keep his title and some of his land- 717 00:55:55,527 --> 00:55:57,597 But he knew as well as his enemies did 718 00:55:57,647 --> 00:56:00,525 that his real power had been destroyed- 719 00:56:06,527 --> 00:56:09,485 On the 14th of December 1607, 720 00:56:09,527 --> 00:56:14,123 O'Neill and O'Donnell and their families left Ulster for Europe- 721 00:56:25,767 --> 00:56:31,000 The peasants over whom they'd ruled were left to make their peace with new masters- 722 00:56:38,447 --> 00:56:41,883 Hugh O'Neill died in exile in Rome nine years later, 723 00:56:41,927 --> 00:56:45,806 still dreaming of leading an invasion of his homeland- 724 00:56:47,327 --> 00:56:50,399 For the English, the rebellion had proved 725 00:56:50,447 --> 00:56:53,564 that a Catholic Ireland would always be a threat- 726 00:56:58,727 --> 00:57:03,562 The flight of the earls is one of the most romanticised images in Irish history, 727 00:57:03,607 --> 00:57:07,282 but now that they were gone, the question was, what would replace them? 728 00:57:07,327 --> 00:57:12,606 If Ireland couldn't be made loyal, an entire order would be transplanted here 729 00:57:12,647 --> 00:57:17,641 that was Protestant, loyal to the British Crown and determined to stay. 730 00:57:30,447 --> 00:57:36,124 The death of the old order would give birth to a new age of conflict 731 00:57:36,167 --> 00:57:38,965 whose consequences we live with still-