The History of Ireland: Rebellion, Empire, and Independence — Fexingo History

In 1691, the final Jacobite stronghold in Ireland fell not to assault but to negotiation. After a summer-long siege marked by bombardment, disease, and a daring breakout by Patrick Sarsfield, the Treaty of Limerick was signed on October 3. This episode traces the siege from Sarsfield's raid on the Williamite artillery train at Ballyneety to the terms that allowed Catholic Irish soldiers to leave f...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the historical Patrick—not the mythic figure driving out snakes, but the 5th-century Romano-British missionary who wrote two surviving letters. They discuss Patrick's capture by Irish raiders, his six years of slavery, the vision that led him to return to Ireland, his confrontation with the druids at Tara, and the controversy over where he actually died. The...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Irish Rebellion of 1798, a pivotal uprising that aimed to create a non-sectarian Irish Republic. They focus on the United Irishmen, founded by Wolfe Tone and Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and examine key battles like Vinegar Hill and the Battle of New Ross. The discussion covers the brutal repression by British forces, including the Scullabogue Barn massacre a...

Before the great Tudor conquests and the Flight of the Earls, Gaelic Ireland saw its own brutal civil wars. This episode dives into the 1385 Battle of Tochar Cruacha (also called the Battle of the Curlew Mountains), where the O'Connor clan of Connacht, led by the aging king Ruaidri mac Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair, clashed with the Anglo-Norman Burkes, led by Sir William de Burgh. We explore the shi...

In this episode of The History of Ireland: Rebellion, Empire, and Independence, we explore the Battle of the Boyne, fought on July 12, 1690, between the deposed Catholic King James II and his Protestant son-in-law William III. We discuss the strategic decisions of both commanders, the key role of the River Boyne, and the controversial death of the Duke of Schomberg. We also examine the political a...

In the spring of 1689, a small Protestant garrison and thousands of civilians barricaded themselves inside the walled city of Derry as Jacobite forces massed outside. The siege that followed lasted 105 days, reduced the defenders to eating rats and tallow, and gave the Protestant cause in Ireland its enduring battle cry: No Surrender. This episode walks through the key events: how thirteen apprent...

In 1598, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, achieved the most spectacular Irish victory over an English army in the sixteenth century at the Battle of the Yellow Ford. This episode unpacks the battle's strategic buildup, the innovative Irish use of pike and shot mixed with Gaelic kerne, the fatal English decision to march from Armagh through boggy terrain, and the death of Sir Henry Bagenal. We explore...

Just months after the Anglo-Irish Treaty created the Irish Free State, the country descended into a bitter civil war. This episode unpacks the split between Michael Collins and Éamon de Valera, the bloody Battle of Dublin in June 1922, the death of Collins at Béal na mBláth, and the brutal legacy of the conflict. We explore key figures like Arthur Griffith, Liam Lynch, and Cathal Brugha, and discu...

In April 1918, as World War I raged and the British Army faced a manpower crisis, Prime Minister David Lloyd George extended conscription to Ireland — a decision that would backfire catastrophically. This episode explores the Conscription Crisis of 1918, a pivotal moment when Irish nationalism, Catholic Church authority, and labour unrest fused into a united front against Westminster. We follow th...

Lucas and Luna revisit the explosive 1534 rebellion of Thomas FitzGerald, the young Earl of Kildare known as 'Silken Thomas,' who dared to defy Henry VIII. They explore how Thomas's impulsive uprising, sparked by a false rumor of his father's execution, unraveled the mighty House of Kildare and accelerated the Tudor conquest of Ireland. From the dramatic scene at St. Mary's Abbey in Dublin, where...

In 1601, the fate of Gaelic Ireland hinged on a small port town in County Cork. This episode dives into the Battle of Kinsale, the dramatic climax of the Nine Years' War, where Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and his Spanish allies faced the forces of Queen Elizabeth I. We explore the strategic miscalculations, the grueling march from Ulster to Munster, the naval blockade, and the devastating defeat...

In 1014, Ireland saw one of its most famous battles: Clontarf. But behind the legend of Brian Boru's victory over the Vikings lies a more complex story of power struggles, betrayal, and a kingdom that nearly united an island. This episode unpacks Brian's rise from the Dál gCais to High King, the political alliances that brought together Norse and Irish forces on both sides, and the battle's afterm...

In the early 1600s, following the Flight of the Earls, the English crown embarked on a radical project: the Plantation of Ulster. Thousands of English and Scottish settlers were granted land confiscated from native Irish chieftains, creating a new Protestant majority in the north that would shape Irish history for centuries. Lucas and Luna explore how King James I's scheme turned Gaelic stronghold...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Siege of Limerick in 1691, the final major confrontation of the Williamite War in Ireland. They discuss the leadership of Patrick Sarsfield, the heroic defense of the city, the negotiations that led to the Treaty of Limerick, and the controversial aftermath that saw the treaty's articles broken. The episode covers the breaking of the bridge on the Shanno...

In September 1607, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell, boarded a ship at Rathmullan on Lough Swilly and sailed into exile, never to return. Their departure — known as the Flight of the Earls — marked the final collapse of the Gaelic order in Ulster and opened the door for the Plantation of Ulster. This episode traces the events leading up to that decision: the aft...

This episode dives into the 1534-35 rebellion of Thomas FitzGerald, the 10th Earl of Kildare, also known as Silken Thomas. We explore how the Tudor reconquest of Ireland began with the execution of his father, Gearóid Mór, and the subsequent revolt against Henry VIII. The episode covers the burning of Dublin, the Siege of Maynooth, and the brutal reprisals that followed, including the massacre at...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into the Irish Land War, a pivotal struggle that remade rural Ireland. They explore the founding of the Land League in 1879 by Michael Davitt and Charles Stewart Parnell, the grassroots activism of tenant farmers against landlord evictions, and the famous 'Three Fs' demand — fair rent, free sale, and fixity of tenure. The conversation covers the mass meetings,...

In this episode of The History of Ireland, Lucas and Luna explore the largely overlooked 1848 Young Irelander Rebellion, led by William Smith O'Brien. Set against the backdrop of the Great Famine and a Europe in revolutionary upheaval, the rebellion was a desperate, doomed attempt to seize independence. Lucas walks us through the key figures — Thomas Francis Meagher, John Mitchel, John Blake Dillo...

In this episode of The History of Ireland, Lucas and Luna explore the deep entanglement between the Catholic Church and Irish nationalism from the 1820s to partition. We follow the rise of Catholic Emancipation under Daniel O'Connell and the Church's uneasy alliance with the Repeal movement. Then we examine the Church's condemnation of the Young Irelanders and the Fenians, its support for the Land...

Lucas and Luna revisit the famous 1690 clash that cemented Protestant rule in Ireland. But the Battle of the Boyne was far more than a sectarian triumph: it was the climax of a European war, fought by Dutch, Danish, French, and Irish regiments on both sides. Lucas explains how William of Orange's 36,000-strong army faced James II's coalition of Jacobites and French allies at Oldbridge, how the riv...

Before the Easter Rising, before the IRA, there was the Irish Republican Brotherhood — a secret revolutionary society founded in 1858 with the single goal of winning Irish independence by force. In this episode, Lucas and Luna trace the IRB's shadowy origins in Dublin and New York, its role in the failed Fenian Rising of 1867, the daring Catalpa rescue of Fenian prisoners from Australia, and the b...

In the 1760s, as the Penal Laws weighed heavily on Ireland's Catholic majority, a secret society known as the Whiteboys rose in the countryside of Munster. Dressed in white shirts and operating by night, they tore down enclosures, maimed cattle, and threatened landlords and middlemen who squeezed them dry. This episode digs into the world of the Whiteboys — their masked protests, their leaders lik...

In this episode of The History of Ireland: Rebellion, Empire, and Independence, Lucas and Luna explore the Great Famine (An Gorta Mór) of 1845–1852, a catastrophe that reshaped Ireland and its diaspora. They focus on the potato blight (Phytophthora infestans), the British government's laissez-faire response under Prime Minister Lord John Russell and Chief Secretary Charles Trevelyan, and the contr...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the origins and aftermath of the 1798 Rebellion. They focus on Theobald Wolfe Tone, the founder of the Society of United Irishmen, and the unlikely alliance of Presbyterians and Catholics that briefly shook British rule. The conversation covers the influence of the French and American Revolutions, the failed French invasion at Bantry Bay, the rising in Wexfo...

In the century after the Williamite War, Ireland's Protestant Ascendancy enacted a brutal code of laws designed to dismantle Catholic power. This episode examines the Penal Laws — not just the famous restrictions on land and worship, but the lesser-known clauses that shattered family inheritance, outlawed education, and forced priests into hiding. Lucas and Luna trace how these laws created a Cath...