1 00:00:04,207 --> 00:00:06,675 FERGAL KEANE: At the dawn of the 17th century, 2 00:00:06,727 --> 00:00:10,879 Europe is caught in the maelstrom of religious war- 3 00:00:10,927 --> 00:00:15,921 Irish chieftains had allied with Catholic Spain against England- 4 00:00:17,687 --> 00:00:22,078 For nine years, the protestant armies of Elizabeth I 5 00:00:22,127 --> 00:00:24,846 fought the Irish and their Spanish allies- 6 00:00:26,407 --> 00:00:28,682 The final Irish defeat came in Ulster, 7 00:00:28,727 --> 00:00:32,436 where the mighty Gaelic earl, Hugh O'Neill, and other nobles 8 00:00:32,487 --> 00:00:35,559 were scattered into exile in Catholic Europe- 9 00:00:37,167 --> 00:00:40,477 But out of sight was not out of mind- 10 00:00:42,047 --> 00:00:46,404 Their presence on the continent stokes English protestant fears. 11 00:00:46,447 --> 00:00:50,963 Would the earls attempt to return and stir the people to rebellion? 12 00:00:52,567 --> 00:00:55,923 England's attempt to solve the Irish problem 13 00:00:55,967 --> 00:00:59,164 would unleash unprecedented change- 14 00:01:01,367 --> 00:01:04,006 The country would witness savage bloodletting 15 00:01:04,047 --> 00:01:07,323 as it became a battleground in Europe's religious wars- 16 00:01:10,647 --> 00:01:14,720 It would feel the full force of dramatic upheavals beyond her shores 17 00:01:14,767 --> 00:01:17,201 in America and in France- 18 00:01:19,127 --> 00:01:24,121 Ireland was about to be launched into a long age of revolution- 19 00:01:51,727 --> 00:01:56,755 The Ulster earls are gone, but the people are still Gaelic, still Catholic- 20 00:01:56,807 --> 00:02:01,642 In English minds, Ulster is dangerously unstable- 21 00:02:01,687 --> 00:02:03,518 And it's here that a new king 22 00:02:03,567 --> 00:02:05,842 will attempt a radical solution - 23 00:02:05,887 --> 00:02:10,005 social engineering on a massive scale. 24 00:02:11,007 --> 00:02:14,716 King James I would plant thousands of protestant settlers 25 00:02:14,767 --> 00:02:17,281 on the lands of the exiled Gaelic lords- 26 00:02:19,287 --> 00:02:23,724 The land was parcelled out in blocks of up to 2,000 acres- 27 00:02:27,247 --> 00:02:29,715 By the time six counties were colonised, 28 00:02:29,767 --> 00:02:33,760 only one-quarter of the land of Ulster remained in Irish hands- 29 00:02:35,407 --> 00:02:40,959 The town the planters called Londonderry was to become a protestant citadel- 30 00:02:43,047 --> 00:02:45,766 These planters lived in an age of expansion- 31 00:02:45,807 --> 00:02:48,765 English ships also carried settlers to America- 32 00:02:52,367 --> 00:02:55,006 And here in Derry, on the banks of the river Foyle, 33 00:02:55,047 --> 00:02:57,083 they would forge a protestant identity 34 00:02:57,127 --> 00:03:01,439 different from anything seen in Ireland before- 35 00:03:01,487 --> 00:03:04,684 These were not land-grabbing aristocrats, 36 00:03:04,727 --> 00:03:09,403 but small traders and farmers, and they had come to stay- 37 00:03:12,887 --> 00:03:15,924 It was about establishing something identifiably British. 38 00:03:15,967 --> 00:03:18,720 It was about setting up bunds - 39 00:03:18,767 --> 00:03:22,043 defended dwellings - 40 00:03:22,087 --> 00:03:25,397 bringing the number of planters in, setting up market towns, 41 00:03:25,447 --> 00:03:29,759 road networks, modernising and making it clearly identifiable 42 00:03:29,807 --> 00:03:33,163 as a place that was part of England and Scotland. 43 00:03:34,927 --> 00:03:36,997 To helppay for the plantation, 44 00:03:37,047 --> 00:03:41,199 James turned to the commercial guilds of the City of London- 45 00:03:41,247 --> 00:03:44,205 These companies already backed settlements in America- 46 00:03:46,167 --> 00:03:49,796 To the tailors, butchers, drapers, goldsmiths being asked 47 00:03:49,847 --> 00:03:54,557 to go to dangerous Ulster, plantation was sold as a commercial opportunity- 48 00:03:57,407 --> 00:04:02,481 This book of maps from 1 6 2 2 shows how the settlements took shape- 49 00:04:05,047 --> 00:04:07,322 This is a piece of cartography 50 00:04:07,367 --> 00:04:09,517 - from long ago. - Yes. 51 00:04:09,567 --> 00:04:10,716 But it's... 52 00:04:10,767 --> 00:04:14,043 you know, as anybody who has lived in Northern Ireland 53 00:04:14,087 --> 00:04:16,203 during the period of the Troubles, 54 00:04:16,247 --> 00:04:19,125 to actually see this, in a sense, the beginning of it all... 55 00:04:19,167 --> 00:04:21,044 - Yes. - ...it's quite awe-inspiring. 56 00:04:21,087 --> 00:04:24,682 It really is. It brings you right back to the heart of it 57 00:04:24,727 --> 00:04:26,763 and so you see really what was 58 00:04:26,807 --> 00:04:30,925 the genesis of an awful lot of the issues in Northern Ireland. 59 00:04:30,967 --> 00:04:34,642 Of course, we can see when we look on the pages here, 60 00:04:34,687 --> 00:04:37,520 where they run through the number of people 61 00:04:37,567 --> 00:04:41,162 who are, for example, freeholders on this territory 1 . 62 00:04:41,207 --> 00:04:47,840 Englishmen on this property - 1 6, natives - 1 86. 63 00:04:47,887 --> 00:04:49,639 That's the mathematics of disaster, isn't it? 64 00:04:49,687 --> 00:04:54,158 In a sense, it is. One of the major issues with the Londonderry plantation 65 00:04:54,207 --> 00:04:56,516 was that there remained a huge number 66 00:04:56,567 --> 00:04:59,525 of native Gaelic Irish tenants on the lands. 67 00:04:59,567 --> 00:05:03,355 You've got normal stone houses which would have housed the early settlers, 68 00:05:03,407 --> 00:05:04,999 and then these cabins. 69 00:05:05,047 --> 00:05:08,926 They're very much what we would envisage to have been native Irish housing. 70 00:05:08,967 --> 00:05:14,041 Some Gaelic Irish worked for the new masters, rented land from them- 71 00:05:14,087 --> 00:05:19,286 Outnumbered, the settlers couldn't create a protestant land for a protestant people- 72 00:05:20,807 --> 00:05:25,642 That sense of insecurity is part of, and continues to be a part of, 73 00:05:25,687 --> 00:05:27,917 the protestant psyche for a very long time. 74 00:05:27,967 --> 00:05:31,437 Originally, part of the idea had been to segregate them - 75 00:05:31,487 --> 00:05:35,275 this'll be the British population and the Irish will be kept apart. 76 00:05:35,327 --> 00:05:38,364 But that, of course, proved actually almost impossible, 77 00:05:38,407 --> 00:05:41,080 because no matter how hard the London companies might try 78 00:05:41,127 --> 00:05:43,925 to attract somebody in London, it wasn't something very attractive. 79 00:05:43,967 --> 00:05:47,198 So the whole problem was getting the numbers of people and settlers 80 00:05:47,247 --> 00:05:50,444 here on the ground in order to actually secure plantation. 81 00:05:54,607 --> 00:05:58,282 But from across the narrow channel between Ireland and Scotland, 82 00:05:58,327 --> 00:06:02,081 came thousands of settlers who would rescue the plantation- 83 00:06:03,327 --> 00:06:07,320 There'd been a long tradition of Scots migration to Ulster, 84 00:06:07,367 --> 00:06:10,803 but these were presbyterians, strict Calvinists, 85 00:06:10,847 --> 00:06:13,725 viscerally opposed to Roman Catholicism- 86 00:06:14,927 --> 00:06:17,361 These were people who have been victims 87 00:06:17,407 --> 00:06:20,638 of religious persecution in 1 7th-century Scotland. 88 00:06:20,687 --> 00:06:25,477 They certainly see themselves as a chosen people, or an elect nation. 89 00:06:25,527 --> 00:06:31,716 Their world consists of trials and tribulations and deliverances. 90 00:06:31,767 --> 00:06:35,123 And that means that they're tested by God. 91 00:06:35,167 --> 00:06:37,840 And in Ireland, of course, they're tested by God 92 00:06:37,887 --> 00:06:41,197 in the form of the threat posed by the Catholic population. 93 00:06:42,807 --> 00:06:47,323 The Reformation had created the most enduring division in Irish history- 94 00:06:47,367 --> 00:06:51,804 These presbyterians would never be assimilated into Gaelic society, 95 00:06:51,847 --> 00:06:54,042 like earlier settlers in Ireland- 96 00:06:58,887 --> 00:07:00,923 The native Irish were bewildered, 97 00:07:00,967 --> 00:07:04,596 ''like a flock without a shepherd, '' wrote a poet at the time- 98 00:07:08,127 --> 00:07:11,642 The native Irish are tremendously angry and resentful 99 00:07:11,687 --> 00:07:14,565 of what they see happening with the Ulster plantation. 100 00:07:14,607 --> 00:07:16,563 Their leaders have been driven into exile, 101 00:07:16,607 --> 00:07:19,167 they've been forced out of their homes in many instances, 102 00:07:19,207 --> 00:07:22,279 and they have this population arriving over, both from England and Scotland, 103 00:07:22,327 --> 00:07:24,966 that have different culture, different language, 104 00:07:25,007 --> 00:07:27,601 different traditions, and of course a different religion. 105 00:07:30,727 --> 00:07:32,797 A Gaelic poet writing in the 1 7th century 106 00:07:32,847 --> 00:07:37,841 described the settlers as, ''the crafty, false, peeving sect of Calvin'', 107 00:07:37,887 --> 00:07:42,358 and he predicted a day when they would be driven from Irish shores. 108 00:07:42,407 --> 00:07:48,039 The writer's bitter tone reflected a traumatised Irish world. 109 00:07:50,687 --> 00:07:55,602 In the rest of Ireland, Catholics still controlled around 70% of the land- 110 00:07:55,647 --> 00:07:59,242 But they faced the constant threat of losing their estates- 111 00:08:01,567 --> 00:08:05,446 After Charles I ascended to the throne in 1 6 25, 112 00:08:05,487 --> 00:08:09,036 his officials in Ireland sought to expand the plantations, 113 00:08:09,087 --> 00:08:12,762 until conflict closer to home ended their ambitions- 114 00:08:16,407 --> 00:08:21,561 By 1 640, in parliament there was a challenge to Charles's kingly powers 115 00:08:21,607 --> 00:08:24,360 and his more moderate brand of protestantism 116 00:08:24,407 --> 00:08:27,319 from religious puritans like Oliver Cromwell- 117 00:08:29,527 --> 00:08:34,203 In Scotland, religious allies of the puritans rebelled against Charles- 118 00:08:35,527 --> 00:08:40,806 parliament refused to finance the King's war against fellow protestants- 119 00:08:42,367 --> 00:08:46,280 Events now moved towards a war of Charles' three kingdoms - 120 00:08:46,327 --> 00:08:49,763 England, Scotland and Ireland- 121 00:08:52,607 --> 00:08:57,522 The Irish Catholic elite was alarmed by this crisis in parliament. 122 00:08:57,567 --> 00:09:01,321 They'd lost land and power, but at least under Charles 123 00:09:01,367 --> 00:09:04,404 there was a degree of religious tolerance. 124 00:09:04,447 --> 00:09:08,918 Now, faced with the prospect of a militant protestant parliament, 125 00:09:08,967 --> 00:09:10,559 they would rebel. 126 00:09:11,807 --> 00:09:16,676 The uprising was planned for 2 3rd October 1 64 1- 127 00:09:16,727 --> 00:09:20,003 The rebels failed to capture Dublin Castle, 128 00:09:20,047 --> 00:09:22,356 centre of English control in Ireland- 129 00:09:24,167 --> 00:09:27,204 poorly planned, betrayed by informers, 130 00:09:27,247 --> 00:09:30,876 the rebellion descended into anarchy- 131 00:09:31,927 --> 00:09:36,239 The attempted coup now became something utterly different- 132 00:09:36,287 --> 00:09:41,042 Across Ireland, it was the people who were dictating the pace of events, 133 00:09:41,087 --> 00:09:46,400 and in Ulster it would unleash a spasm of rage from the dispossessed. 134 00:09:50,207 --> 00:09:54,166 The native Irish now turned on the protestant planters- 135 00:10:02,927 --> 00:10:06,522 As one insurgent told a group of settlers, 136 00:10:06,567 --> 00:10:10,765 ''We have been your slaves all this time, now you shall be ours- '' 137 00:10:19,087 --> 00:10:23,285 Here in portadown, Irish rebels rounded up protestants 138 00:10:23,327 --> 00:10:26,285 from the surrounding farmlands- 139 00:10:27,287 --> 00:10:32,077 1 OO men, women and children were force-marched through the countryside, 140 00:10:32,127 --> 00:10:35,676 and brought to this spot on the banks of the River Bann. 141 00:10:35,727 --> 00:10:37,638 At the point of swords and pikes, 142 00:10:37,687 --> 00:10:41,396 they were forced to strip naked and driven into the cold water. 143 00:10:42,967 --> 00:10:44,878 Nearly all perished. 144 00:10:51,567 --> 00:10:54,035 portadown would become a defining event 145 00:10:54,087 --> 00:10:56,362 in the narrative of Ulster loyalism- 146 00:10:58,727 --> 00:11:02,640 ''That terror dogs us, '' wrote the poet, John Hewitt, 147 00:11:02,687 --> 00:11:04,882 ''at the back of all our thoughts- '' 148 00:11:06,327 --> 00:11:09,842 The Government retaliation was savage- 149 00:11:17,007 --> 00:11:19,840 Almost immediately, we get indiscriminate reprisals 150 00:11:19,887 --> 00:11:24,039 by Government forces against the civilian population of Ireland. 151 00:11:24,087 --> 00:11:27,762 Men, women and children are killed in their hundreds, indeed thousands, 152 00:11:27,807 --> 00:11:30,685 during the early months of the rebellion, by Government forces. 153 00:11:31,927 --> 00:11:36,159 Across 1 7th-century Europe, stories of atrocity abounded 154 00:11:36,207 --> 00:11:37,925 in the wars of religion- 155 00:11:37,967 --> 00:11:42,358 But in Ireland, the Government systematically collected evidence 156 00:11:42,407 --> 00:11:44,238 from protestant survivors- 157 00:11:44,287 --> 00:11:49,759 All 3 3 original volumes are kept here at Trinity College in Dublin- 158 00:11:49,807 --> 00:11:53,720 FERGAL: There's some pretty lurid stuff in here. How much of it can we believe? 159 00:11:53,767 --> 00:11:56,884 MICHEAL O SIOCHRU: You get people whose throats are slit, 160 00:11:56,927 --> 00:12:00,078 who are shot in front of their wives and children, 161 00:12:00,127 --> 00:12:02,118 babies on pikes, people being roasted alive. 162 00:12:02,167 --> 00:12:04,078 Some of these are witness statements, 163 00:12:04,127 --> 00:12:06,960 but often we get second- or third-hand accounts as well. 164 00:12:07,007 --> 00:12:09,567 This is ideal material for a propagandist, 165 00:12:09,607 --> 00:12:14,283 and there's an explosion of print material in London from late 1 641 onwards. 166 00:12:14,327 --> 00:12:17,319 It has a huge impact on Oliver Cromwell. 167 00:12:17,367 --> 00:12:20,882 He was highly outraged by what he saw was going on in Ireland, 168 00:12:20,927 --> 00:12:23,077 and he was determined to intervene at some stage. 169 00:12:25,887 --> 00:12:31,200 By 1 64 2 in Ireland, a Catholic confederacy was in open rebellion- 170 00:12:31,247 --> 00:12:34,557 The pope had even sent a cardinal with money and weapons- 171 00:12:35,767 --> 00:12:38,725 But English attention was diverted from Ireland 172 00:12:38,767 --> 00:12:41,884 as the struggle between King Charles and parliament 173 00:12:41,927 --> 00:12:43,360 erupted into civil war- 174 00:12:47,767 --> 00:12:53,080 After seven years and nearly 200,000 deaths, the King was defeated- 175 00:12:55,447 --> 00:12:59,440 He was executed in January 1 649- 176 00:12:59,487 --> 00:13:01,364 parliament had triumphed, 177 00:13:01,407 --> 00:13:05,241 and Oliver Cromwell emerged as commander of the army- 178 00:13:05,287 --> 00:13:08,836 But the Royalist threat had not vanished- 179 00:13:08,887 --> 00:13:12,004 The King's followers now regrouped in Ireland, 180 00:13:12,047 --> 00:13:14,607 allied with the rebellious Catholics- 181 00:13:17,607 --> 00:13:19,882 In the mind of Oliver Cromwell, 182 00:13:19,927 --> 00:13:22,566 it would be hard to imagine a more toxic alliance, 183 00:13:22,607 --> 00:13:25,121 and he was dispatched to Ireland to destroy it- 184 00:13:29,527 --> 00:13:32,519 He comes to Ireland with an absolutely clear philosophy. 185 00:13:32,567 --> 00:13:35,923 That philosophy is - I will terrorise those who resist me, 186 00:13:35,967 --> 00:13:38,640 and I will give generous terms to those who surrender. 187 00:13:42,047 --> 00:13:43,605 Drogheda, County Louth- 188 00:13:43,647 --> 00:13:49,119 In Irish memory, it is a place forever shackled to the name of Oliver Cromwell- 189 00:13:52,527 --> 00:13:55,325 On September 1 1 th 1 649, 190 00:13:55,367 --> 00:13:59,997 Cromwell and his army of 1 2,000 men began to lay siege to the town- 191 00:14:03,687 --> 00:14:06,645 The English Royalist commander of the garrison, Sir Arthur Aston, 192 00:14:06,687 --> 00:14:10,362 proclaimed that, ''The man who could take Drogheda could take hell- '' 193 00:14:12,647 --> 00:14:15,605 He hadn't met Oliver Cromwell- 194 00:14:18,807 --> 00:14:23,278 Cromwell demanded the surrender of the joint English and Irish garrison- 195 00:14:24,847 --> 00:14:27,964 When this was refused, the bombardment began- 196 00:14:32,327 --> 00:14:34,557 A breach was made in the town walls, 197 00:14:34,607 --> 00:14:38,316 but the first assault was beaten back by the defenders- 198 00:14:38,367 --> 00:14:41,723 Cromwell then sees himself having to take command. 199 00:14:41,767 --> 00:14:44,076 He leads the second charge himself. 200 00:14:44,127 --> 00:14:47,563 He has to get past the bodies of his friends and colleagues. 201 00:14:47,607 --> 00:14:51,316 So he comes in, and we have to imagine him going street by street, 202 00:14:51,367 --> 00:14:55,883 house by house even, clearing the town, killing anyone he encounters, 203 00:14:55,927 --> 00:14:57,963 which will certainly include civilians. 204 00:15:01,727 --> 00:15:06,403 Almost 3,OOO men were slaughtered, virtually the entire garrison, 205 00:15:06,447 --> 00:15:09,007 and many after they had surrendered. 206 00:15:09,047 --> 00:15:11,686 Cromwell said, ''Being in the heat of the action, 207 00:15:11,727 --> 00:15:15,197 ''I forbade them to spare any who were under arms in the town.'' 208 00:15:15,247 --> 00:15:19,240 Any priests found were murdered, and the commander of the garrison, 209 00:15:19,287 --> 00:15:23,644 Sir Arthur Ashton, was beaten to death with his own wooden leg. 210 00:15:23,687 --> 00:15:26,759 Several hundred civilians were killed, 211 00:15:26,807 --> 00:15:30,766 but the English and Irish defenders were the main targets of execution- 212 00:15:30,807 --> 00:15:33,605 That is done, as Cromwell himself makes clear, 213 00:15:33,647 --> 00:15:36,764 by knocking them on the head. That's to say, they're clubbed to death. 214 00:15:36,807 --> 00:15:38,923 - He beats their brains out. - He beats their brains out 215 00:15:38,967 --> 00:15:40,241 because it saves bullets. 216 00:15:40,287 --> 00:15:44,405 You've got a long campaign in front of you, you don't waste bullets. 217 00:15:44,447 --> 00:15:48,838 Here at St peter's Church, Cromwell's men set fire to the building- 218 00:15:53,967 --> 00:15:56,879 They killed soldiers and civilians alike 219 00:15:56,927 --> 00:15:59,157 as they tried to flee the flames- 220 00:16:02,887 --> 00:16:07,324 Drogheda was an act of vengeance against English Royalists and the Irish, 221 00:16:07,367 --> 00:16:10,677 whom Cromwell blamed for the massacre of protestants- 222 00:16:10,727 --> 00:16:15,437 Its military aim was to terrorise other garrisons into abandoning resistance- 223 00:16:15,487 --> 00:16:19,321 But a later English politician who would wrestle with the Irish question 224 00:16:19,367 --> 00:16:23,485 had no doubt about the nature of Cromwell's legacy- 225 00:16:23,527 --> 00:16:28,681 Said Winston Churchill, ''He cut new gulfs between the nations and creeds. 226 00:16:28,727 --> 00:16:32,925 ''Upon us all still lies the curse of Cromwell.'' 227 00:16:37,527 --> 00:16:42,123 At Wexford, his army committed another massacre, but many garrisons surrendered- 228 00:16:43,927 --> 00:16:46,395 Cromwell was back in England by mid 1 650, 229 00:16:46,447 --> 00:16:49,723 leaving the army under the command of his son-in-law- 230 00:16:49,767 --> 00:16:52,998 Guerrilla bands now staged hit-and-run attacks- 231 00:16:53,047 --> 00:16:56,437 Cromwell's army responded with ferocity- 232 00:17:02,887 --> 00:17:05,447 MICHEAL O SIOCHRU: The serious loss of life really takes place 233 00:17:05,487 --> 00:17:07,717 after Cromwell's departure, much of it induced 234 00:17:07,767 --> 00:17:09,598 by the Cromwellian soldiers themselves. 235 00:17:09,647 --> 00:17:13,003 They simply destroy the infrastructure of the country. 236 00:17:13,047 --> 00:17:15,845 They razed crops, they drove people out of their homes, 237 00:17:15,887 --> 00:17:17,525 they burnt down buildings. 238 00:17:17,567 --> 00:17:21,924 They deliberately targeted the civilian population in a very systematic way. 239 00:17:28,687 --> 00:17:31,201 The uprooting of populations was a common feature 240 00:17:31,247 --> 00:17:32,839 of European war in this period- 241 00:17:33,927 --> 00:17:38,842 But what happened next would change Ireland's social order irrevocably- 242 00:17:41,647 --> 00:17:46,084 In 1 65 2, parliament in London passed the Act of Settlement, 243 00:17:46,127 --> 00:17:49,881 a radical bill decreeing that the rebel Catholic nobility 244 00:17:49,927 --> 00:17:52,077 were to lose their estates 245 00:17:52,127 --> 00:17:55,915 and be exiled to the poor regions west of the River Shannon- 246 00:18:00,087 --> 00:18:04,365 One of Cromwell's generals came here to the Burren in the west of Ireland, 247 00:18:04,407 --> 00:18:08,002 inspected the landscape and then remarked approvingly, 248 00:18:08,047 --> 00:18:12,404 ''There is not water enough to drown a man, wood enough to hang one, 249 00:18:12,447 --> 00:18:14,483 ''nor earth enough to bury him.'' 250 00:18:14,527 --> 00:18:17,644 To here, and to the fastnesses of Connaught, 251 00:18:17,687 --> 00:18:20,884 the Irish nobility were to be banished. 252 00:18:22,647 --> 00:18:26,879 In the telling of the Irish story, this is Cromwell's enduring legacy - 253 00:18:26,927 --> 00:18:30,124 ''Go to Hell or Connaught- '' 254 00:18:30,167 --> 00:18:32,681 But his attitudes were more complex- 255 00:18:34,847 --> 00:18:38,965 Does Cromwell deserve his uniquely monstrous reputation here? 256 00:18:39,007 --> 00:18:41,396 No. He's not the most anti-Catholic of Englishmen. 257 00:18:41,447 --> 00:18:43,961 He thinks he knows Ireland and he doesn't think it's necessary 258 00:18:44,007 --> 00:18:47,556 to be so severe and so he spends most of the 1 65Os 259 00:18:47,607 --> 00:18:53,204 trying to make the settlement less severe than his successors. 260 00:18:53,247 --> 00:18:56,398 By blaming it all on him, you let the English more generally off the hook. 261 00:18:59,767 --> 00:19:02,122 A handful of large landowners survived, 262 00:19:02,167 --> 00:19:05,398 but the grand narrative was of dispossession- 263 00:19:05,447 --> 00:19:07,358 By the end of the 1 650s, 264 00:19:07,407 --> 00:19:12,117 only around 1 5% of land remained in Catholic hands- 265 00:19:12,167 --> 00:19:14,806 Galway would become the only remaining county 266 00:19:14,847 --> 00:19:17,042 with a Catholic landowning majority- 267 00:19:19,567 --> 00:19:24,083 Across the country, a new protestant ruling class was being installed- 268 00:19:26,687 --> 00:19:29,281 But English dreams of a settled Ireland 269 00:19:29,327 --> 00:19:32,364 have always been hostage to external events. 270 00:19:32,407 --> 00:19:37,083 The country was never the calm laboratory of colonial experiment. 271 00:19:37,127 --> 00:19:40,802 Now, dramatic events in Europe and in England itself 272 00:19:40,847 --> 00:19:42,565 would reverberate west 273 00:19:42,607 --> 00:19:46,520 and drag Ireland to the forefront of conflict once more. 274 00:19:50,487 --> 00:19:56,119 This crisis would begin in a Europe dominated by a kingly colossus - 275 00:19:56,167 --> 00:19:59,318 Louis XIV, Catholic King of France- 276 00:20:02,727 --> 00:20:06,197 He terrified his neighbours with his territorial desires 277 00:20:06,247 --> 00:20:08,636 and built monuments to his own glory, 278 00:20:08,687 --> 00:20:11,247 like the great palace of Versailles- 279 00:20:12,807 --> 00:20:15,640 His neighbours, both Catholic and protestant, 280 00:20:15,687 --> 00:20:19,396 found themselves drawn together in shifting military alliances 281 00:20:19,447 --> 00:20:21,517 against the expansionism of Louis- 282 00:20:28,807 --> 00:20:31,605 Even by the standards of contemporary monarchy, 283 00:20:31,647 --> 00:20:34,923 Louis had a conspicuous sense of his own greatness. 284 00:20:34,967 --> 00:20:38,198 Once, when angered by some misfortune, he asked, 285 00:20:38,247 --> 00:20:41,922 ''Has God forgotten everything I have done for him?'' 286 00:20:41,967 --> 00:20:44,879 But Louis' power was about to be challenged by a man 287 00:20:44,927 --> 00:20:48,317 who would become a hero to the protestant cause in Europe 288 00:20:48,367 --> 00:20:53,600 and an icon of enduring power to the protestants of Ireland. 289 00:20:56,167 --> 00:21:00,319 prince William of Orange, protestant leader of the Dutch Republic, 290 00:21:00,367 --> 00:21:03,518 resisted French attempts to conquer his country- 291 00:21:07,007 --> 00:21:09,396 William is not a dogmatic man, but he does feel that 292 00:21:09,447 --> 00:21:13,998 there's a sort of free world, which is predominantly protestant, 293 00:21:14,047 --> 00:21:15,560 which has to be defended. 294 00:21:15,607 --> 00:21:17,040 But it's important to realise 295 00:21:17,087 --> 00:21:20,523 that defending protestantism doesn't mean fighting Catholicism. 296 00:21:20,567 --> 00:21:21,886 It means fighting France. 297 00:21:23,247 --> 00:21:25,966 William is drawn to Ireland by an English crisis- 298 00:21:26,007 --> 00:21:29,317 Cromwell is long dead and the monarchy restored- 299 00:21:29,367 --> 00:21:35,317 But King James II is a Catholic, and when his son is born in 1 688 300 00:21:35,367 --> 00:21:40,282 the nightmare of protestant England - a Catholic dynasty - is at hand- 301 00:21:41,407 --> 00:21:44,365 Haunted by the memory of past persecutions, 302 00:21:44,407 --> 00:21:47,365 protestant noblemen ask William to invade England 303 00:21:47,407 --> 00:21:49,716 and re-establish a protestant monarchy- 304 00:21:49,767 --> 00:21:53,806 For William, protestant England would be a valuable ally 305 00:21:53,847 --> 00:21:55,724 in his war with King Louis- 306 00:21:55,767 --> 00:21:59,999 Soon after William landed in Devon, James fled to France- 307 00:22:03,007 --> 00:22:06,477 Early in 1 689, parliament offered the Dutch King William 308 00:22:06,527 --> 00:22:10,486 the English throne, which he duly accepted. 309 00:22:10,527 --> 00:22:14,645 But his exiled enemy King James was busy conspiring with the French king 310 00:22:14,687 --> 00:22:17,565 and preparing to fight back. 311 00:22:18,647 --> 00:22:22,322 Louis XIV understands that if he really wants to hurt William 312 00:22:22,367 --> 00:22:25,404 he needs to destabilise his position on the British Isles, 313 00:22:25,447 --> 00:22:29,122 And supporting James is a good way of doing that. 314 00:22:31,407 --> 00:22:37,084 With Louis'help, James raised an army in France and sailed for Ireland- 315 00:22:37,127 --> 00:22:43,441 On March 1 2th 1 689, he landed here at Kinsale in County Cork- 316 00:22:47,167 --> 00:22:52,116 This Catholic king landed with about 1,200 French troops- 317 00:22:52,167 --> 00:22:55,000 But soon thousands of Irishmen were rallying to his flag. 318 00:22:55,047 --> 00:22:57,641 They were willing to support an English king 319 00:22:57,687 --> 00:23:01,316 because they believed he would grant them religious freedom 320 00:23:01,367 --> 00:23:03,244 and return confiscated lands. 321 00:23:03,287 --> 00:23:08,998 To the dispossessed, the arrival of James signalled the rebirth of hope. 322 00:23:11,687 --> 00:23:14,645 James marched through Cork and on towards Dublin- 323 00:23:16,207 --> 00:23:19,722 By April his army was besieging Londonderry, 324 00:23:19,767 --> 00:23:22,839 one of the last bastions of protestant resistance- 325 00:23:22,887 --> 00:23:27,597 But the defenders closed the city gates, and they remained shut 326 00:23:27,647 --> 00:23:31,925 until the garrison was relieved after 1 05 days of siege- 327 00:23:33,487 --> 00:23:37,036 Their slogan of''No surrender'' would echo through the centuries- 328 00:23:44,167 --> 00:23:48,797 This escalating crisis brought William himself to Ireland with a large army- 329 00:23:51,647 --> 00:23:54,719 He would face King James here on the banks of the River Boyne 330 00:23:54,767 --> 00:23:58,316 on 1 2th July, 1 690- 331 00:23:59,447 --> 00:24:04,362 This was a battle about European, English and Irish power struggles 332 00:24:04,407 --> 00:24:06,045 and both armies were diverse - 333 00:24:06,087 --> 00:24:09,921 Germans, Dutch, Danes, English, French and Irish prepared to fight- 334 00:24:12,927 --> 00:24:14,724 FERGAL: Tell me about the battle. 335 00:24:14,767 --> 00:24:16,758 The Williamite plan was to push 336 00:24:16,807 --> 00:24:21,722 a part of their army in the face of the Jacobite army across the river, 337 00:24:21,767 --> 00:24:24,327 and at the same time swing another part of the army 338 00:24:24,367 --> 00:24:28,485 around behind the Jacobite lines and cut them off from retreat. 339 00:24:28,527 --> 00:24:30,483 In a word, to envelop or destroy them. 340 00:24:32,487 --> 00:24:36,719 The push across the river was relatively successful. 341 00:24:36,767 --> 00:24:39,486 However, the arm of the pincer failed to close 342 00:24:39,527 --> 00:24:41,722 on the retreating Franco-Irish army. 343 00:24:41,767 --> 00:24:46,795 So most of the Franco-Irish army, the Jacobite army, escaped intact. 344 00:24:46,847 --> 00:24:49,202 FERGAL: Describe for me the scene at the end of the day. 345 00:24:49,247 --> 00:24:52,045 What does James do when he sees the battle has turned against him? 346 00:24:52,087 --> 00:24:55,921 James, not to put too fine a point on it... 347 00:24:55,967 --> 00:24:57,400 took horse for Dublin. 348 00:24:57,447 --> 00:25:00,439 And by fleeing, he implicitly admitted 349 00:25:00,487 --> 00:25:04,719 that the Battle of the Boyne was for him the deciding event. 350 00:25:04,767 --> 00:25:08,282 His cowardice is condemned. He's described as Seamus an Chaca, 351 00:25:08,327 --> 00:25:11,046 they called him James the Shite who lost Ireland. 352 00:25:16,527 --> 00:25:20,042 To William, the Boyne and the battles that followed were important, 353 00:25:20,087 --> 00:25:22,885 but only as part of a wider European power struggle- 354 00:25:24,047 --> 00:25:29,679 In Ireland, however, his victory ensured the survival of protestant supremacy- 355 00:25:29,727 --> 00:25:31,957 And among the protestants of Ulster, 356 00:25:32,007 --> 00:25:34,965 this Dutch king with his multinational army 357 00:25:35,007 --> 00:25:37,362 would be acclaimed as a saviour 358 00:25:37,407 --> 00:25:40,638 and his victory at the Boyne commemorated each July- 359 00:25:40,687 --> 00:25:44,965 How do you think William would have viewed Orange marches, Orange triumphalism, 360 00:25:45,007 --> 00:25:48,079 the kind of thing that we've seen historically in Ireland? 361 00:25:48,127 --> 00:25:50,595 I think he would have been uncomfortable with it. 362 00:25:50,647 --> 00:25:53,844 William loathed public festivities. 363 00:25:53,887 --> 00:25:56,082 He didn't like marches in the first place. 364 00:25:56,127 --> 00:26:00,484 The moment he entered London in 1 689, when the English people were cheering him, 365 00:26:00,527 --> 00:26:03,325 they were actually carrying sticks with oranges. 366 00:26:03,367 --> 00:26:05,323 He thought it was nonsensical. 367 00:26:05,367 --> 00:26:08,279 He took a detour, avoided the crowds. 368 00:26:12,887 --> 00:26:15,003 To the vanquished Irish Catholics, 369 00:26:15,047 --> 00:26:19,598 William offered generous terms, but his successors ignored the promises- 370 00:26:19,647 --> 00:26:23,765 By the end of the Williamite wars, the Catholic elite in Ireland 371 00:26:23,807 --> 00:26:28,676 had either been wiped out, driven into exile or abandoned any resistance. 372 00:26:28,727 --> 00:26:31,924 The people who'd led the great rebellions against Elizabeth, 373 00:26:31,967 --> 00:26:35,437 against Cromwell, had been thoroughly defeated 374 00:26:35,487 --> 00:26:38,877 and in their place came a new ruling ascendancy. 375 00:26:42,807 --> 00:26:46,686 The Irish ascendancy means the privileged Irish. 376 00:26:46,727 --> 00:26:50,117 We're talking about, from the late 1 7th through the 1 8th century, 377 00:26:50,167 --> 00:26:55,036 privileges, as in every European ancien regime, 378 00:26:55,087 --> 00:26:59,444 privilege is associated with religious profession. 379 00:26:59,487 --> 00:27:04,356 To be a member of the ascendancy, to be privileged, you're protestant. 380 00:27:06,927 --> 00:27:08,758 But unlike the rest of Europe, 381 00:27:08,807 --> 00:27:12,561 in Ireland, the state religion was that of the minority- 382 00:27:14,207 --> 00:27:16,084 Throughout the 1 8th century, 383 00:27:16,127 --> 00:27:20,723 this protestant ascendancy monopolised power and wealth- 384 00:27:22,207 --> 00:27:25,404 Its grandees emerged from a range of backgrounds, 385 00:27:25,447 --> 00:27:28,325 from nouveau riche and nobility- 386 00:27:32,727 --> 00:27:37,323 There was a surge in construction of grand public and private buildings- 387 00:27:37,367 --> 00:27:40,359 There were new road networks and canals- 388 00:27:40,407 --> 00:27:45,037 Ireland offered opportunity for men of the right faith- 389 00:27:45,087 --> 00:27:47,317 ROY FOSTER: To be a member of the ascendancy 390 00:27:47,367 --> 00:27:50,200 does not mean that you're only, 391 00:27:50,247 --> 00:27:54,001 let's say, the descendants of Cromwellian expropriators. 392 00:27:54,047 --> 00:27:57,198 It can mean that you're from a Catholic family 393 00:27:57,247 --> 00:28:00,876 who has cleverly converted at the right time. 394 00:28:04,407 --> 00:28:08,878 In this country of men on the make, the story of William Conolly offers 395 00:28:08,927 --> 00:28:13,523 a striking parable of the possible in ascendancy Ireland. 396 00:28:13,567 --> 00:28:17,845 This is Castletown House and it was built by Conolly in 1 7 22 397 00:28:17,887 --> 00:28:19,400 at the height of his fame. 398 00:28:19,447 --> 00:28:23,486 He was one of the most powerful political figures of his day. 399 00:28:23,527 --> 00:28:28,157 He was the son of a family that had converted to the protestant faith. 400 00:28:32,327 --> 00:28:35,717 William Conolly was the speaker of the Irish House of Commons 401 00:28:35,767 --> 00:28:40,397 for nearly 1 5 years, and on his death he owned 1 00,000 acres of land, 402 00:28:40,447 --> 00:28:43,678 with an annual income of £ 1 7,000- 403 00:28:44,727 --> 00:28:47,685 He was born an innkeeper's son- 404 00:28:49,047 --> 00:28:52,562 A house like this would have cost an absolute fortune at the time. 405 00:28:52,607 --> 00:28:54,802 Where did Conolly get his money? 406 00:28:54,847 --> 00:28:58,886 He got it in wheeling and dealing and land speculation in the area round Derry, 407 00:28:58,927 --> 00:29:00,997 where he took a lot of the land, 408 00:29:01,047 --> 00:29:05,040 which had been confiscated during the Williamite wars from Catholics. 409 00:29:05,087 --> 00:29:07,282 FERGAL: With something as grand as this, what is Conolly saying 410 00:29:07,327 --> 00:29:09,522 to the rest of ascendancy Ireland? 411 00:29:09,567 --> 00:29:12,161 O'KANE CRIMMINS: To keep political power, he needed a place 412 00:29:12,207 --> 00:29:13,959 where people could come and be received, 413 00:29:14,007 --> 00:29:16,919 so this was set up really as a second court outside Dublin. 414 00:29:16,967 --> 00:29:21,279 So Conolly's preening here, at one level, but he's also very cleverly 415 00:29:21,327 --> 00:29:22,760 looking after his cronies, 416 00:29:22,807 --> 00:29:25,401 making sure that what he wants politically happens. 417 00:29:25,447 --> 00:29:29,360 O'KANE CRIMMINS: He is. But it's not very dissimilar from what might happen today. 418 00:29:29,407 --> 00:29:32,604 You bring all the people you want to influence together in one room. 419 00:29:32,647 --> 00:29:35,559 You give them lots of wine, you give them lots of food 420 00:29:35,607 --> 00:29:38,405 and then you decorate it with examples of your good taste. 421 00:29:38,447 --> 00:29:43,077 Conolly's political associates would have been brought down here to be entertained 422 00:29:43,127 --> 00:29:48,281 and to view this house and to understand just how civilised a person Conolly was. 423 00:29:50,967 --> 00:29:53,879 The masters of the ascendancy would help to make Dublin 424 00:29:53,927 --> 00:29:55,440 a city of the Enlightenment- 425 00:29:57,047 --> 00:30:01,165 The great statesman Edmund Burke learned the art of oratory here- 426 00:30:01,207 --> 00:30:04,995 Jonathan Swift created literary masterpieces- 427 00:30:08,727 --> 00:30:11,161 Tell me about the impulse behind 428 00:30:11,207 --> 00:30:14,404 this remarkable transformation of Dublin in the 1 8th century. 429 00:30:14,447 --> 00:30:16,278 Well, it's the usual forces - 430 00:30:16,327 --> 00:30:21,037 money and power - because the country was beginning 431 00:30:21,087 --> 00:30:22,361 to boom at that point. 432 00:30:22,407 --> 00:30:27,356 We had an independent parliament in College Green and the great families. 433 00:30:27,407 --> 00:30:28,965 Because the parliament was here 434 00:30:29,007 --> 00:30:31,999 and because the commercial capital of Ireland was here, 435 00:30:32,047 --> 00:30:34,561 they would have their houses in streets like this, 436 00:30:34,607 --> 00:30:37,405 even though their estates might be in the countryside. 437 00:30:37,447 --> 00:30:41,645 So they would come up, stay in their townhouses, attend parliament, 438 00:30:41,687 --> 00:30:44,645 have balls in Dublin Castle and design their new houses. 439 00:30:53,287 --> 00:30:56,962 In 1 7 4 1, the composer George Frideric Handel 440 00:30:57,007 --> 00:30:58,599 was invited to Dublin, 441 00:30:58,647 --> 00:31:02,686 after being asked to compose a special work in aid of the city's sick- 442 00:31:03,647 --> 00:31:06,241 The result was one of the most famous pieces 443 00:31:06,287 --> 00:31:11,520 in the entire canon of classical music - the Messiah. 444 00:31:11,567 --> 00:31:15,845 # Hallelujah! Hallelujah! 445 00:31:15,887 --> 00:31:19,357 # Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Halle-lujah! # 446 00:31:20,767 --> 00:31:24,237 This arch is all that remains of Neal's Music Hall, 447 00:31:24,287 --> 00:31:29,236 where Handel's Messiah was first performed on 1 3th April, 1 7 4 2. 448 00:31:29,287 --> 00:31:30,606 So great was the demand 449 00:31:30,647 --> 00:31:34,401 for tickets that gentlemen were told to come without their swords 450 00:31:34,447 --> 00:31:37,837 and ladies without their hoops, so that there might be more room for all. 451 00:31:37,887 --> 00:31:42,722 Handel was delighted with the quality of the Dublin voices in his choir 452 00:31:42,767 --> 00:31:44,120 and with the response of the audience, 453 00:31:44,167 --> 00:31:48,718 drawn, as he put it, ''From persons of distinction of this generous nation.'' 454 00:31:52,487 --> 00:31:56,275 For the ascendancy, it must have seemed an affirmation of status- 455 00:31:59,127 --> 00:32:02,483 After this, how could condescending English visitors 456 00:32:02,527 --> 00:32:04,961 dismiss them as mere provincials? 457 00:32:05,007 --> 00:32:09,000 # Hall-e--- 458 00:32:09,047 --> 00:32:15,680 # Lu-jah! # 459 00:32:20,607 --> 00:32:23,360 But Handel was alert to another music. 460 00:32:23,407 --> 00:32:25,238 As he walked the streets of Dublin, 461 00:32:25,287 --> 00:32:27,881 he heard the tunes of itinerant Irish musicians. 462 00:32:27,927 --> 00:32:30,316 He even transcribed one of them, 463 00:32:30,367 --> 00:32:33,518 a melancholy air called The poor Irish Boy. 464 00:32:33,567 --> 00:32:38,004 It was music far removed from the Georgian salons of Ireland. 465 00:32:38,047 --> 00:32:42,325 It evoked a country where the material prosperity of the ascendancy 466 00:32:42,367 --> 00:32:44,358 simply never reached. 467 00:32:49,207 --> 00:32:53,758 Between 1 7 39 and 1 7 4 1, 468 00:32:53,807 --> 00:32:57,083 famine and disease killed up to 400,000 people- 469 00:32:58,727 --> 00:33:02,481 (pIANO MUSIC) 470 00:33:03,647 --> 00:33:08,004 The Gaelic poets and the musicians, who had once served to the Catholic nobility, 471 00:33:08,047 --> 00:33:10,402 evoked a world in turmoil- 472 00:33:25,967 --> 00:33:31,917 When I listen to the songs of this period and examine the preoccupations, 473 00:33:31,967 --> 00:33:36,324 the political preoccupations of people, what you get again and again 474 00:33:36,367 --> 00:33:39,996 is a sense of a society that feels it's been disinherited. 475 00:33:40,047 --> 00:33:43,596 Well, they were disinherited for a start off, that's the first thing! 476 00:33:43,647 --> 00:33:45,922 And secondly, it would be very unusual, 477 00:33:45,967 --> 00:33:48,356 with such a vast disinheritance, 478 00:33:48,407 --> 00:33:51,797 not to have that, emotionally, actually coming through. 479 00:33:51,847 --> 00:33:56,796 There's also another strange, interesting, very, very special tradition, 480 00:33:56,847 --> 00:34:02,285 which speaks even more, I think, of the psyche of the moment 481 00:34:02,327 --> 00:34:05,717 of the 1 7th and 1 8th centuries, and that's the music of the harpers. 482 00:34:05,767 --> 00:34:09,726 With the collapse of Gaelic society, aristocratic society, 483 00:34:09,767 --> 00:34:12,565 you have these itinerant harpers, these nomadic harpers. 484 00:34:12,607 --> 00:34:15,201 FERGAL: So the world that paid for them, that sustained them, is gone. 485 00:34:15,247 --> 00:34:18,956 So they had to look for patronage and, of course, they logically looked to 486 00:34:19,007 --> 00:34:23,080 the new landowners of the big houses, the Anglo-Irish owners of the big houses. 487 00:34:23,127 --> 00:34:27,120 So the key person in that is Turlough O'Carolan, 488 00:34:27,167 --> 00:34:29,886 who was born in 1 6 7O, died in 1 7 35. 489 00:34:29,927 --> 00:34:33,840 He was right in the middle of that period and he was by far the most famous. 490 00:34:33,887 --> 00:34:36,321 He's in between worlds and that's why he's interesting, 491 00:34:36,367 --> 00:34:41,600 because if you listen in to Carolan, you can hear the Gaelic aristocratic past, 492 00:34:41,647 --> 00:34:44,684 you can hear the hidden Ireland present 493 00:34:44,727 --> 00:34:50,438 and you can also hear the world of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy, all in there. 494 00:35:01,687 --> 00:35:04,804 From the early 1 8th century, restrictions on Catholics 495 00:35:04,847 --> 00:35:07,759 had been strengthened under the so-called penal Laws, 496 00:35:07,807 --> 00:35:12,278 a charter for the defence of protestant power- 497 00:35:18,767 --> 00:35:21,042 The main aim of the penal Laws 498 00:35:21,087 --> 00:35:26,320 was to ensure that Catholics would never get back into a position 499 00:35:26,367 --> 00:35:31,282 where they would have power over the protestants and take revenge, 500 00:35:31,327 --> 00:35:33,318 which had happened in the 1 7th century. 501 00:35:33,367 --> 00:35:37,440 - Good evening, everyone. - CONGREGATION: Good evening, Father. 502 00:35:37,487 --> 00:35:40,559 And, indeed, you're all very welcome to this sacred place, 503 00:35:40,607 --> 00:35:44,316 the mass rock in Tomhaggard, County Wexford. 504 00:35:44,367 --> 00:35:49,077 But religious oppression only served to make the Catholic priesthood 505 00:35:49,127 --> 00:35:51,436 more powerful in rural Ireland- 506 00:35:51,487 --> 00:35:54,240 ...when priests were forbidden to say Mass. 507 00:35:54,287 --> 00:35:58,519 Under the penal Laws, Catholics were banned from parliament and public office- 508 00:35:58,567 --> 00:36:03,766 They were barred from voting and from running schools- 509 00:36:03,807 --> 00:36:08,085 Here at mass rocks, just like this one behind me... 510 00:36:08,127 --> 00:36:11,005 But Catholic worship itself was never banned- 511 00:36:11,047 --> 00:36:15,837 In fact, as the 1 8th century progressed, the Catholic church grew in strength- 512 00:36:15,887 --> 00:36:18,162 A great seminary was built with Government funding 513 00:36:18,207 --> 00:36:20,960 here at Maynooth in County Kildare- 514 00:36:21,007 --> 00:36:25,000 It would become the largest seminary in the world- 515 00:36:29,847 --> 00:36:34,398 The true significance of the penal Laws was not religious, but economic. 516 00:36:34,447 --> 00:36:37,166 Catholics were not allowed to buy land, 517 00:36:37,207 --> 00:36:39,880 and if an existing Catholic landowner died, 518 00:36:39,927 --> 00:36:43,476 his property had to be divided among all his children 519 00:36:43,527 --> 00:36:47,315 and that would ensure that no big landowner would survive. 520 00:36:51,167 --> 00:36:55,046 A handful of the Catholic elite had held on to their estates, 521 00:36:55,087 --> 00:37:00,445 but the majority of rural Catholics became tenants of protestant landlords- 522 00:37:00,487 --> 00:37:04,002 'Among some of these, '' wrote the English traveller Arthur Young, 523 00:37:04,047 --> 00:37:05,719 ''there was a habit of tyranny- '' 524 00:37:10,447 --> 00:37:14,679 It's easy to imagine ascendancy Ireland as a country with one rigid divide - 525 00:37:14,727 --> 00:37:18,276 Catholic poor and protestant overlords - 526 00:37:18,327 --> 00:37:21,285 but within those terms, Catholic and protestant, 527 00:37:21,327 --> 00:37:24,000 there existed many different aspirations. 528 00:37:26,807 --> 00:37:29,082 There was an emerging Catholic middle class- 529 00:37:29,127 --> 00:37:32,164 people like the young lawyer Daniel O'Connell, 530 00:37:32,207 --> 00:37:34,482 whose family had held on to its lands 531 00:37:34,527 --> 00:37:38,281 and who had later become a leading figure in the story of Ireland- 532 00:37:39,287 --> 00:37:42,279 Others were the children of merchants and traders, 533 00:37:42,327 --> 00:37:45,558 like Thomas Moore, the son of a Dublin grocer, 534 00:37:45,607 --> 00:37:48,280 who would become the most popular poet of his day- 535 00:37:48,327 --> 00:37:53,924 Ascendancy Ireland couldn't live in a bubble, sealed apart from this... 536 00:37:53,967 --> 00:37:58,882 large, active, vibrant, Catholic culture all around you. 537 00:37:58,927 --> 00:38:00,963 There were transactions 538 00:38:01,007 --> 00:38:05,922 between protestants and Catholics on all sorts of levels. 539 00:38:05,967 --> 00:38:09,323 There was far more of a coming and going 540 00:38:09,367 --> 00:38:16,523 and far more of a complexity to Irish society in the 1 8th century 541 00:38:16,567 --> 00:38:20,116 than has often been allowed by historians. 542 00:38:22,727 --> 00:38:28,006 protestant Ireland, too, was a varied landscape, not all grandee landlords- 543 00:38:29,927 --> 00:38:33,886 In Ulster, presbyterians were also victims of the penal Laws- 544 00:38:37,647 --> 00:38:41,162 Their Calvinism was condemned by the established Anglican Church- 545 00:38:45,287 --> 00:38:48,802 And like Catholics, they were forced to pay for the upkeep of Anglican ministers- 546 00:38:48,847 --> 00:38:54,285 Discrimination prompted many to look beyond Irish shores- 547 00:38:54,327 --> 00:38:57,956 Ireland was now part of a rapidly expanding British Empire, 548 00:38:58,007 --> 00:39:01,204 and that colonial expansion offered space 549 00:39:01,247 --> 00:39:05,365 for those wanting to escape poverty and persecution. 550 00:39:05,407 --> 00:39:08,479 At Belfast docks and the other Ulster ports 551 00:39:08,527 --> 00:39:14,238 begins one of the great themes of the story of Ireland - emigration. 552 00:39:27,567 --> 00:39:31,162 We're used to the idea of Irish emigration to the United States 553 00:39:31,207 --> 00:39:32,879 being a Catholic phenomenon. 554 00:39:32,927 --> 00:39:36,476 But the first people to come here in any sizable numbers 555 00:39:36,527 --> 00:39:38,279 were Ulster presbyterians. 556 00:39:38,327 --> 00:39:44,004 Between 1 7 1 7 and 1 7 7 6, more than a quarter of a million of them 557 00:39:44,047 --> 00:39:46,641 crossed the Atlantic to the New World. 558 00:39:48,527 --> 00:39:50,324 From the port of philadelphia, 559 00:39:50,367 --> 00:39:53,245 they travelled hundreds of miles west and south, 560 00:39:53,287 --> 00:39:57,724 along an old Indian trail that became known as The Great Wagon Road- 561 00:40:03,367 --> 00:40:08,839 Many came to the frontiers of the new America, Virginia's Shenandoah Valley- 562 00:40:17,727 --> 00:40:21,402 This is the oldest presbyterian church still standing in Virginia- 563 00:40:23,087 --> 00:40:28,923 Founded in 1 7 40, many of the congregation can trace their ancestry 564 00:40:28,967 --> 00:40:31,959 back to the first wave of Ulster Scots who settled in this area- 565 00:40:32,007 --> 00:40:35,920 (CHORAL SINGING) 566 00:40:44,807 --> 00:40:47,480 FERGAL: What kind of character did they bring to this place? 567 00:40:47,527 --> 00:40:51,236 Oh, I think they were a very sturdy, independent people. 568 00:40:51,287 --> 00:40:54,484 They had already made a transition from one country to another 569 00:40:54,527 --> 00:40:56,722 when they moved from Scotland to Ireland, 570 00:40:56,767 --> 00:40:59,998 and so they were perfectly willing to cross an ocean. 571 00:41:00,047 --> 00:41:04,086 It takes a certain amount of endurance, of courage, 572 00:41:04,127 --> 00:41:07,119 of faith, of forward-looking. 573 00:41:07,167 --> 00:41:10,284 They're good qualities for pioneers to have. 574 00:41:10,327 --> 00:41:14,878 Some of these Ulster Scots settlers become what are known as the hillbillies. 575 00:41:14,927 --> 00:41:16,406 They head for the mountains. 576 00:41:16,447 --> 00:41:18,563 Well, the people that came to be known as hillbillies 577 00:41:18,607 --> 00:41:22,759 were the people who lived somewhat on the fringe of the Scotch-Irish community, 578 00:41:22,807 --> 00:41:26,959 who moved up into the hills and the hollers, in more remote areas. 579 00:41:27,007 --> 00:41:31,523 They got a reputation for being kind of a lawless bunch 580 00:41:31,567 --> 00:41:34,684 who were outside the mainstream. 581 00:41:38,487 --> 00:41:42,196 They were often associated with moonshine. 582 00:41:44,167 --> 00:41:48,604 The Ulster presbyterians had arrived in a dynamic environment. 583 00:41:48,647 --> 00:41:52,083 The borders of America were continually expanding. 584 00:41:52,127 --> 00:41:56,484 There was also a growing sense that Americans should govern themselves 585 00:41:56,527 --> 00:41:59,564 and not be beholden to a foreign king. 586 00:42:01,127 --> 00:42:06,201 In 1 7 75, Americans rebelled against the rule of King George III- 587 00:42:07,767 --> 00:42:11,919 The Ulster presbyterians joined the American War of Independence- 588 00:42:14,887 --> 00:42:18,436 To what extent was freedom of religious expression a crucial part 589 00:42:18,487 --> 00:42:20,682 of their decision to join the Revolution? 590 00:42:20,727 --> 00:42:23,195 I think it was an important contributing factor. 591 00:42:23,247 --> 00:42:27,798 The whole opportunity that the Constitution offered 592 00:42:27,847 --> 00:42:29,565 with the Bill of Rights 593 00:42:29,607 --> 00:42:33,725 to have freedom of religion was something they wholeheartedly supported. 594 00:42:36,607 --> 00:42:41,556 In 1 780, Ulster-Scots militiamen played an important role 595 00:42:41,607 --> 00:42:43,802 on the American side in a famous victory- 596 00:42:45,967 --> 00:42:47,719 At the Battle of King's Mountain, 597 00:42:47,767 --> 00:42:50,759 they helped to defeat a larger force loyal to the Crown- 598 00:42:54,607 --> 00:42:58,725 An eyewitness account of the battle was published in the Belfast Newsletter. 599 00:43:00,727 --> 00:43:04,766 It also printed personal letters from relatives in America- 600 00:43:06,967 --> 00:43:09,765 In one such letter, a young woman writes--- 601 00:43:11,727 --> 00:43:14,639 ''--- You will undoubtedly laugh at me when I assure you 602 00:43:14,687 --> 00:43:16,086 ''I often wish to be a man- 603 00:43:16,127 --> 00:43:19,881 ''With what pleasure would I take up arms with my brave countrymen 604 00:43:19,927 --> 00:43:23,761 ''and, like them, glory in fighting for my liberty- '' 605 00:43:25,727 --> 00:43:30,482 By 1 783, the American revolutionaries had finally defeated the British 606 00:43:30,527 --> 00:43:32,324 and won independence- 607 00:43:34,927 --> 00:43:38,840 The American colonists have proved that Britain is not invincible, 608 00:43:38,887 --> 00:43:42,323 and that message will have a powerful impact in Ireland, 609 00:43:42,367 --> 00:43:44,801 inspiring a cross section of opinion - 610 00:43:44,847 --> 00:43:47,645 Catholic and protestant, radical and moderate - 611 00:43:47,687 --> 00:43:53,398 all of them questioning ever more loudly how Britain governs their country. 612 00:43:56,807 --> 00:44:00,766 In Ireland, it will be a period of reform and fear- 613 00:44:04,207 --> 00:44:07,597 protestant volunteer groups are formed, loyal to the Crown, 614 00:44:07,647 --> 00:44:10,480 but demanding more power for the ascendancy parliament 615 00:44:10,527 --> 00:44:13,724 and a greater Irish share of imperial trade- 616 00:44:16,847 --> 00:44:21,125 A committee of influential Catholics supported by reformist protestants 617 00:44:21,167 --> 00:44:23,078 succeeds in gaining voting rights- 618 00:44:25,607 --> 00:44:29,236 But British Government concessions to Catholics unsettle ascendancy grandees, 619 00:44:29,287 --> 00:44:32,040 who fear the loss of their power- 620 00:44:32,087 --> 00:44:36,444 And in rural Ireland, change creates uncertainty- 621 00:44:36,487 --> 00:44:39,797 Catholics and protestants join sectarian secret societies- 622 00:44:41,687 --> 00:44:47,557 The Ireland of the late 1 8th century swirls with contrary ambitions and ideas. 623 00:44:47,607 --> 00:44:50,804 Nothing is settled or inevitable. 624 00:44:50,847 --> 00:44:55,318 But the deep fissures in society are about to be exposed. 625 00:44:55,367 --> 00:44:58,916 Ireland stands on the verge of cataclysm. 626 00:44:58,967 --> 00:45:03,119 Once again, it is events abroad which will provide the spark. 627 00:45:08,887 --> 00:45:12,197 In 1 789, bloody revolution convulsed France- 628 00:45:15,087 --> 00:45:18,124 The King and thousands of his nobles were dispatched to the guillotine 629 00:45:18,167 --> 00:45:20,635 in the name of a secular republic- 630 00:45:23,647 --> 00:45:28,243 Monarchies and the privileged classes throughout Europe looked on with horror- 631 00:45:31,847 --> 00:45:36,284 But the French Revolutionary cry of''liberty, equality and fraternity'' 632 00:45:36,327 --> 00:45:38,716 inspired a group of idealists in Ireland- 633 00:45:41,167 --> 00:45:44,125 What was happening here, the destruction of an imperium, 634 00:45:44,167 --> 00:45:47,284 was watched avidly by educated young men in Ireland. 635 00:45:47,327 --> 00:45:50,444 Suddenly, the unimaginable became possible - 636 00:45:50,487 --> 00:45:55,402 a world of inherited privilege transformed into a society of the free, 637 00:45:55,447 --> 00:45:59,201 where reason would overwhelm prejudice. 638 00:46:00,767 --> 00:46:02,644 To the revolutionaries of France, 639 00:46:02,687 --> 00:46:05,326 it wasn't just the monarchy or the aristocracy, 640 00:46:05,367 --> 00:46:07,323 but also the established church, 641 00:46:07,367 --> 00:46:11,201 that was part of a structure of tyranny that had to be destroyed- 642 00:46:18,247 --> 00:46:21,876 In Belfast, these developments were watched with excitement 643 00:46:21,927 --> 00:46:23,724 by a group of radicals- 644 00:46:23,767 --> 00:46:25,359 They were presbyterians, 645 00:46:25,407 --> 00:46:29,161 who now set out to unite all Irishmen in the cause of liberty- 646 00:46:30,207 --> 00:46:32,846 They were shaped by Revolutionary ideals 647 00:46:32,887 --> 00:46:36,800 and the intellectual ferment of the Age of Enlightenment- 648 00:46:36,847 --> 00:46:40,920 They produced an alliance that would have seemed unthinkable, 649 00:46:40,967 --> 00:46:44,403 protestant intellectuals from the south, Catholic middle class 650 00:46:44,447 --> 00:46:47,245 and the descendants of Ulster planters. 651 00:46:47,287 --> 00:46:51,644 It is these presbyterians who, here in Belfast in 1 7 91 , 652 00:46:51,687 --> 00:46:56,397 found the first organisation dedicated to breaking the link with Britain. 653 00:47:01,327 --> 00:47:04,160 They called themselves the United Irishmen 654 00:47:04,207 --> 00:47:06,801 and they sought a secular Irish republic- 655 00:47:06,847 --> 00:47:11,602 They allied themselves with the Catholic Committee, in peaceful agitation- 656 00:47:13,487 --> 00:47:18,003 But events in Europe propelled them from activism to revolution- 657 00:47:20,647 --> 00:47:24,242 In 1 7 93, England and France went to war- 658 00:47:24,287 --> 00:47:27,518 The pro-French United Irishmen were outlawed- 659 00:47:30,847 --> 00:47:35,398 Here at Cavehill, overlooking Belfast, in June 1 7 95, 660 00:47:35,447 --> 00:47:39,326 a group of Irish protestants gathered to swear an oath - 661 00:47:39,367 --> 00:47:41,642 ''Never to desist in our efforts 662 00:47:41,687 --> 00:47:44,406 ''until we subvert the authority of England 663 00:47:44,447 --> 00:47:47,405 ''over our country and assert our independence.'' 664 00:47:48,967 --> 00:47:51,481 But there is a fundamental crisis- 665 00:47:51,527 --> 00:47:53,518 They do not speak for all protestants- 666 00:47:53,567 --> 00:47:57,196 And in rural areas, sectarian clashes 667 00:47:57,247 --> 00:48:01,798 between what are called Catholic Defenders and protestants were escalating- 668 00:48:04,247 --> 00:48:08,320 The Defenders were drawn from the impoverished Catholic peasantry- 669 00:48:10,567 --> 00:48:14,446 ROY FOSTER: Rural Ireland is very poor. 670 00:48:14,487 --> 00:48:18,400 In the later 1 8th century, you have secret societies, 671 00:48:18,447 --> 00:48:21,962 you have rural gangs of agrarian agitators. 672 00:48:22,007 --> 00:48:27,923 You have an underworld, in a sense, of dissent, 673 00:48:27,967 --> 00:48:31,198 making its feelings felt through violence. 674 00:48:33,767 --> 00:48:38,477 Disparate protestant groups now come together to form an organisation 675 00:48:38,527 --> 00:48:40,757 that will be crucial in Ireland's history - 676 00:48:40,807 --> 00:48:44,402 the Orange Order - the voice of protestant fear- 677 00:48:49,047 --> 00:48:52,483 But an idealistic young protestant lawyer from Dublin hoped 678 00:48:52,527 --> 00:48:57,043 that even the Orangemen might eventually be won over to the United Irish cause- 679 00:48:57,087 --> 00:48:59,282 Theobald Wolfe Tone would become 680 00:48:59,327 --> 00:49:03,161 the most articulate proponent of Irish independence- 681 00:49:03,207 --> 00:49:10,477 He was very vivacious, very clever. Quite quickly he moves on from the law 682 00:49:10,527 --> 00:49:12,563 to become a political pamphleteer. 683 00:49:12,607 --> 00:49:15,246 He begins to analyse the wrongs of Ireland 684 00:49:15,287 --> 00:49:18,563 and one of the main wrongs was that the vast bulk of the populace 685 00:49:18,607 --> 00:49:21,963 was excluded from all political rights - in other words, the Catholics. 686 00:49:23,207 --> 00:49:26,040 As one of the most high-profile United Irishmen, 687 00:49:26,087 --> 00:49:30,444 Tone was forced to flee Ireland in the fateful year of 1 7 95- 688 00:49:36,687 --> 00:49:39,759 Government plans to give Catholics full political rights 689 00:49:39,807 --> 00:49:43,038 had been abandoned under pressure from the protestant ascendancy- 690 00:49:49,447 --> 00:49:52,359 Tone made his way to Revolutionary France 691 00:49:52,407 --> 00:49:56,241 to seek military help for an Irish revolution- 692 00:49:59,327 --> 00:50:04,640 On May 2nd, 1 7 96, Tone was called to meet the leaders of the French Directory- 693 00:50:04,687 --> 00:50:08,965 It's easy to imagine Tone's excitement. This is his moment. 694 00:50:09,007 --> 00:50:11,567 From backstreet meetings in Belfast and Dublin, 695 00:50:11,607 --> 00:50:14,405 he's come to the centre of international revolution. 696 00:50:14,447 --> 00:50:17,359 Walking into the splendour of the palais de Luxembourg, 697 00:50:17,407 --> 00:50:19,796 he said he felt as if it were all a dream. 698 00:50:23,447 --> 00:50:26,086 Waiting to greet him was the great military tactician 699 00:50:26,127 --> 00:50:29,642 and founder of the Revolutionary Army, Lazare Carnot- 700 00:50:33,607 --> 00:50:36,838 Tone deliberately ignored the sectarian reality in Ireland 701 00:50:36,887 --> 00:50:38,366 when he spoke to Carnot- 702 00:50:38,407 --> 00:50:42,082 He told him that all the people were unanimous in favour of France 703 00:50:42,127 --> 00:50:44,436 and eager to throw off the yoke of England- 704 00:50:44,487 --> 00:50:47,877 ''He asked me then, '' wrote Tone, ''what I wanted- 705 00:50:47,927 --> 00:50:49,758 'An armed force, 706 00:50:49,807 --> 00:50:51,559 ''arms and some money- '' 707 00:50:53,887 --> 00:50:58,278 Tone comes out into the Jardin de Luxembourg, outside the palais. 708 00:50:58,327 --> 00:51:01,364 He's walking around, it's a beautiful summer's evening, 709 00:51:01,407 --> 00:51:02,999 listening to music coming out, 710 00:51:03,047 --> 00:51:06,323 and don't forget he's been in really high-level discussions, 711 00:51:06,367 --> 00:51:09,245 so he's a bit overwhelmed by them. 712 00:51:09,287 --> 00:51:12,563 And then the head of the military bureau comes out and says, 713 00:51:12,607 --> 00:51:18,159 ''It's done. It's agreed. We're sending an invasion force to Ireland.'' 714 00:51:18,207 --> 00:51:23,759 He's a top French general. And Tone just had this moment, 715 00:51:23,807 --> 00:51:26,765 ''I've succeeded, this is what I wanted.'' 716 00:51:31,447 --> 00:51:35,486 Tone's meeting precipitates one of the most dangerous threats to England 717 00:51:35,527 --> 00:51:36,926 by Revolutionary France- 718 00:51:36,967 --> 00:51:40,164 1 5,000 French troops in 4 3 ships 719 00:51:40,207 --> 00:51:44,758 arrived off the west coast of Cork in December, 1 7 96- 720 00:51:45,807 --> 00:51:48,719 With only 1 1,000 British troops in the area, 721 00:51:48,767 --> 00:51:51,156 a French victory looked imminent- 722 00:51:51,207 --> 00:51:57,043 Tone came tantalisingly near to his dream of landing a French army in Ireland. 723 00:51:57,087 --> 00:52:01,000 ''We were close enough to toss a biscuit ashore,'' he said. 724 00:52:01,047 --> 00:52:05,916 But bad weather and the indecisiveness of commanders scuppered his hopes. 725 00:52:05,967 --> 00:52:07,844 The French turned for home. 726 00:52:07,887 --> 00:52:13,120 ''England,'' he wrote, ''has had its luckiest escape since the Armada.'' 727 00:52:17,807 --> 00:52:21,720 In Dublin Castle, this aborted invasion sparked panic 728 00:52:21,767 --> 00:52:23,997 and a brutal crackdown was ordered- 729 00:52:25,607 --> 00:52:29,236 A campaign of terror was carried out by the army and Government militias- 730 00:52:33,287 --> 00:52:39,203 The crackdown that had happened in Ireland had been rather indiscriminate, 731 00:52:39,247 --> 00:52:46,323 in that the forces responsible had treated civilians, 732 00:52:46,367 --> 00:52:49,518 ordinary people, as if they were rebels. 733 00:52:49,567 --> 00:52:53,560 But by doing that, you had a big influx 734 00:52:53,607 --> 00:52:57,361 of Catholics into the United Irishmen, 735 00:52:57,407 --> 00:52:59,523 who were a very different kind of person 736 00:52:59,567 --> 00:53:01,956 than had joined the United Irishmen before. 737 00:53:02,007 --> 00:53:06,797 The United Irish Army numbered around 1 00,000 men, 738 00:53:06,847 --> 00:53:10,157 inspired both by idealism and desperation- 739 00:53:10,207 --> 00:53:14,962 Ireland's revolution was planned for the early summer of 1 7 98, 740 00:53:15,007 --> 00:53:18,636 but in May many of the United Irish leaders were arrested, 741 00:53:18,687 --> 00:53:21,679 destroying hopes of a coordinated rebellion- 742 00:53:23,967 --> 00:53:27,084 Localised fighting erupted- 743 00:53:28,727 --> 00:53:33,642 United Irishmen rose in Kildare, Carlow, Longford, Wicklow, Meath, 744 00:53:33,687 --> 00:53:38,442 to the west in Mayo and to the north in Antrim and Down- 745 00:53:38,487 --> 00:53:43,322 The first significant rebel victory was at Oulart in County Wexford, 746 00:53:43,367 --> 00:53:45,927 where over 1 00 Government soldiers were killed- 747 00:53:52,967 --> 00:53:57,757 Oulart was quickly followed by the rebel capture of Wexford town and Enniscorthy- 748 00:53:58,807 --> 00:54:02,117 But sectarian fear was deepening- 749 00:54:02,167 --> 00:54:05,443 The United Irish include large numbers of Catholic Defenders- 750 00:54:05,487 --> 00:54:09,082 The Orange Order supports the Government- 751 00:54:09,127 --> 00:54:12,597 ROY FOSTER: Where the violence breaks out, the question is, 752 00:54:12,647 --> 00:54:17,243 whose sense of rebellion will predominate? 753 00:54:17,287 --> 00:54:24,079 Will it be that of the secular-minded United Irish intelligentsia, 754 00:54:24,127 --> 00:54:29,155 with their French ideas, or will it be that of the, if you like, 755 00:54:29,207 --> 00:54:31,960 more deeply rooted, more ancient antipathies 756 00:54:32,007 --> 00:54:36,000 that the Defenders have kept in their world view? 757 00:54:39,447 --> 00:54:42,484 FERGAL: The sectarian divisions, which had been papered over 758 00:54:42,527 --> 00:54:45,644 by the United Irishmen's talk of universal brotherhood, 759 00:54:45,687 --> 00:54:48,645 now exploded into the open. 760 00:54:48,687 --> 00:54:53,886 In Ulster, working class and rural protestants woke to their old fear 761 00:54:53,927 --> 00:54:57,124 of overthrow by the Catholics and they rallied to the crown. 762 00:55:01,007 --> 00:55:05,797 Militia attacks on civilians helped to heighten sectarianism- 763 00:55:05,847 --> 00:55:08,486 In the ranks of the United Irishmen, 764 00:55:08,527 --> 00:55:13,442 the ideal of fraternity across the religious divide was fraying- 765 00:55:26,007 --> 00:55:30,444 MAN: Most of the rebels were tenant farmers and they had inherited 766 00:55:30,487 --> 00:55:35,481 a long tradition of grievance about protestant newcomers 767 00:55:35,527 --> 00:55:40,123 taking over land, about sectarian conflict, about the new Orange Order. 768 00:55:40,167 --> 00:55:42,442 There are people fighting for themselves. 769 00:55:42,487 --> 00:55:46,400 Armed with pikes and some inferior muskets, 770 00:55:46,447 --> 00:55:50,360 the rebels at New Ross faced Government troops equipped with cannon- 771 00:55:50,407 --> 00:55:53,365 TOM DUNNE: The rebels pour down these little streets, 772 00:55:53,407 --> 00:55:56,319 take over the middle of the town very quickly, 773 00:55:56,367 --> 00:55:58,756 but then they come up against gun emplacements. 774 00:55:58,807 --> 00:56:04,404 They were simply mown down by grapeshot and chain shot. 775 00:56:04,447 --> 00:56:07,519 Maybe only 3,OOO rebels attacked the town, maybe less, 776 00:56:07,567 --> 00:56:12,322 and 1 ,5OO people almost certainly died in 1 2 hours, which is astonishing. 777 00:56:13,847 --> 00:56:18,557 The United Irish army was inspired both by Revolutionary idealism 778 00:56:18,607 --> 00:56:20,359 and more local animosities- 779 00:56:22,007 --> 00:56:24,726 And as the reality of defeat dawned, 780 00:56:24,767 --> 00:56:28,396 hatred would lead some to sectarian massacre- 781 00:56:28,447 --> 00:56:32,486 Over 1 00 protestant men, women and children were rounded up 782 00:56:32,527 --> 00:56:35,485 and locked in a barn at Scullabogue- 783 00:56:35,527 --> 00:56:39,759 TOM DUNNE: Once it became clear the battle was going against the rebels, 784 00:56:39,807 --> 00:56:42,321 an order came that the barn should be set on fire. 785 00:56:42,367 --> 00:56:45,882 There was still maybe up to 1 OO people in it, 786 00:56:45,927 --> 00:56:49,522 crowded into it, and they'd been there for days in sweltering heat. 787 00:56:49,567 --> 00:56:52,684 They were told to let nobody escape. 788 00:56:52,727 --> 00:56:56,845 Essentially, this group kept the people inside, 789 00:56:56,887 --> 00:57:01,597 including women and children, in the barn, while they were consumed by flame. 790 00:57:05,887 --> 00:57:09,323 One of the United Irish leaders, Myles Byrne, 791 00:57:09,367 --> 00:57:11,483 called what happened here at Scullabogue, 792 00:57:11,527 --> 00:57:15,202 ''A lamentable disgrace, carried out by cowardly ruffians.'' 793 00:57:15,247 --> 00:57:20,480 A rising which started with the ideal of uniting Catholic and protestant 794 00:57:20,527 --> 00:57:23,280 had ended here in sectarian butchery. 795 00:57:23,327 --> 00:57:26,524 The rebellion was now entering its final phase. 796 00:57:26,567 --> 00:57:30,196 By the end of the summer, 3O,OOO people were dead. 797 00:57:34,287 --> 00:57:39,122 As for Wolfe Tone, he was captured on a French boat off the coast of Ireland- 798 00:57:42,647 --> 00:57:44,285 Brought to trial in Dublin, 799 00:57:44,327 --> 00:57:47,922 Tone began to realise what had been unleashed that summer- 800 00:57:47,967 --> 00:57:52,040 It's so poignant and so sad. He says, 801 00:57:52,087 --> 00:57:57,207 ''For a fair and open war, I was prepared. 802 00:57:57,247 --> 00:58:02,685 ''That it has disintegrated into mayhem and assassination 803 00:58:02,727 --> 00:58:06,481 ''and bloodshed, I am sincerely sorry. 804 00:58:06,527 --> 00:58:09,087 ''This is not what I had wanted.'' 805 00:58:13,007 --> 00:58:14,998 He was sentenced to death, 806 00:58:15,047 --> 00:58:19,325 but cheated the executioner by cutting his own throat- 807 00:58:19,367 --> 00:58:22,518 Tone the martyr would become an icon 808 00:58:22,567 --> 00:58:25,320 for future generations of Irish nationalists- 809 00:58:27,647 --> 00:58:32,402 But the revolution had ended all hope of uniting Catholic and protestant- 810 00:58:34,607 --> 00:58:38,964 And it would prompt Britain to launch its most radical attempt 811 00:58:39,007 --> 00:58:40,998 to solve the Irish question- 812 00:58:44,207 --> 00:58:49,156 In next week's programme, the age of Union and the rise of Catholic power-