History: Irish History in 10 documents

We will start with a short discussion of the nature of the documents that we will look at from Medieval Ireland and what issues arise.

We will pore over a range of documents from the medieval period including Gerlad of Wales account of the invasion of Ireland by Anglo-Norman forces in the 12th century and ask what they reveal about the period and also consider the problems with the evidence base that they suggest.

We will look at a range of sources from the early modern period dealing with plantation, conquest and suppression of catholic rights. Again, we will interrogate the sources asking questions about provenance and reliability. We will then move through the 18th and 19th centuries examining sources dealing with Wolfe Tone, Daniel O’Connell and the land question, home rule and the re-emergence of Irish Nationalism. In the 20th Century we will look at documents relating to the 1916 rising, the Irish War of Independence, the Irish Civil War, partition, the Troubles and the Good Friday agreement.

Finally, we will attempt to pull together what we have seen and consider what it reveals in terms of change and continuity, cause and consequence and parallels for our own times.