User:Titsyuh

Ireland: Catholic or Protestant land? Ireland was originally settled around 8000 BC by herdsmen and gathers migrating from continental Europe. Later people migrating from the Iberian Peninsula came to Ireland. They lived on shellfish, birds, hogs, and nuts. Deer were probably in the Neolithic period 4000 BC brought to Ireland. The religion of the time was known as Celtic paganism. The Iron Age of Ireland lasted from 500 BC until the Christian era. The Celtic language Gaelic was spoken in Ireland and a different Celtic language was spoken in Britain Brythonic. During this time the Romans rules Britain. The largest Celtic tribes of Ireland were the Brigantes and the other Megantii. Changes in the culture of the people of Ireland were then occurred from the Roman Britain raids and trades in the third and fourth centuries. Christian missionaries eventually arrived and began converting the pagan people to Christianity. A famous missionary was St. Patrick. St. Patrick’s Day March 17 is the same day as his death March 17 sometime in the second half of the fifth century. He was originally from Wales and at age 16 was brought to Ireland as an Irish slave. He escaped and returned home. His father was a deacon in the Catholic Church. His grandfather was a priest. He became a missionary and ordained a bishop in Northern Ireland. He baptized thousands of Irish and ordained many priests and nuns. He did not accept payments for baptism and refused gifts from kings and nobleman. The Viking invasions of Ireland around 800 AD were then important affecting the Christian groups and the tribal groups. By the twelfth century, the British began to slowly take over and rule over Ireland. In 1197 King Henry VII at the Council of Oxford named a Lord of Ireland. The English crown confiscated the Catholic land and formed colonies. Slowly over time English and Scottish Protestants displaced the existing Catholic landholders by a policy of plantation. Crown authority then gave the lands to colonists or planters. This was the beginning of the fight between Catholics and Protestants. Another major impact later occurred around early 1600 giving the churches and land previously owned by the Roman Catholic church to the Protestant Church of Ireland. King James VI of Scotland became the King of England and united the two crowns and gained control at the same time the Kingdom of Ireland. The present day partition of Ireland into Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is due to the creation of Plantations in the early 17th century. The ruling Catholic class was changed to a ruling Protestant religious group. This is one of the basic reasons for the fighting and hatred between the Catholics and Protestants. Eventually fighting and stealing of resources and taxation increased the hatred up to the modern time.