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

In 1916, a small band of Irish republicans seized key buildings in Dublin and proclaimed an Irish Republic from the General Post Office. This episode traces the Easter Rising from its planning by the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Irish Volunteers through the execution of leaders like Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, and examines how British military repression transformed public opinion....

In 1688, as a Catholic king sat on the English throne and Protestant Ireland braced for upheaval, thirteen apprentice boys shut the gates of Derry against a Jacobite army. What followed was one of the longest and most harrowing sieges in British and Irish history — 105 days of starvation, disease, and relentless bombardment. Lucas and Luna explore the political tinderbox that led to the siege, the...

In March 1895, a young woman named Bridget Cleary was burned to death by her own husband and family in County Tipperary. This episode examines the chilling intersection of folk belief, fairy lore, and domestic violence in rural Ireland at the end of the 19th century. Lucas and Luna explore how the case captivated the Victorian press, the role of the 'fairy doctor', and the trial that exposed a com...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the 1798 Rebellion, led by the United Irishmen under Theobald Wolfe Tone. They discuss the influence of the American and French Revolutions, the formation of the Society of United Irishmen, the harrowing events of the rebellion itself—including the battles of Vinegar Hill and Ballynahinch, the massacres at Scullabogue and Wexford Bridge—and the tragic fate o...

In the 1840s, Daniel O'Connell mobilized millions of Irish people in peaceful mass meetings demanding repeal of the Act of Union. This episode explores the tactics, drama, and eventual suppression of the monster meetings, from the Hill of Tara to the fateful ban at Clontarf. We examine O'Connell's constitutional nationalism, the role of the Repeal Association, the impact of Young Ireland and Thoma...

Long before Elizabeth I, there was Gráinne O'Malley — a chieftain, trader, and pirate who ruled the Atlantic coast of Ireland in the 16th century. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore her remarkable life: her rise as a fleet commander, her defiance of English power, her famous meeting with Elizabeth I at Greenwich Palace, and her legacy as a symbol of Irish resistance. Along the way, they sift...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Táin Bó Cúailnge, the centerpiece of the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. They discuss its origins in early medieval manuscripts like the Book of Leinster and the Lebor na hUidre, the legendary conflict between Queen Medb of Connacht and Cú Chulainn, the boy hero of Ulster. Lucas explains the social and political context of cattle raiding in Iron Age Ire...

In 1366, the Parliament of Ireland met in Kilkenny and passed a remarkable set of laws. The Statutes of Kilkenny were an attempt to halt the assimilation of English settlers into Gaelic Irish culture — banning intermarriage, Irish language, Irish dress, Irish laws, and even the use of Irish names. But who were these 'degenerate English' and why were they becoming 'more Irish than the Irish themsel...

In October 1601, a Spanish fleet landed at Kinsale in County Cork, promising to break English power in Ireland. Over the next three months, Hugh O'Neill and Red Hugh O'Donnell marched their armies south through winter rain to link up with the invaders. But the English commander, Lord Mountjoy, besieged the Spanish in the town, forcing the Irish into a desperate relief attack. What happened on the...

In 1014, the High King of Ireland, Brian Boru, faced an alliance of Viking raiders and Irish rivals at Clontarf, near Dublin. This episode of The History of Ireland plunges into the battle that shattered Scandinavian power in Ireland and cemented Brian's legend. We trace Brian's rise from a king of the small Dál gCais tribe to the ruler who taxed the Viking towns and united much of the island. On...

In August 1913, Dublin became the front line of a class war. 20,000 workers walked off the job after James Larkin's Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) challenged the industrial empire of William Martin Murphy, owner of the Dublin United Tramway Company and the Irish Independent newspaper. For five brutal months, Dubliners endured starvation, police baton charges on O'Connell Street...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into one of the most consequential episodes in Irish history: the Plantation of Ulster under King James I. They explore how, after the Flight of the Earls in 1607, the English crown seized the lands of the Gaelic lords in the northern province and parcelled them out to Scottish and English settlers. The conversation follows the key figures involved—from Lord De...

In the aftermath of the Treaty of Limerick in 1691, thousands of Irish soldiers—Jacobites who had fought for King James II—chose exile over submission to Williamite rule. This episode tells the story of the Wild Geese, the Irish regiments who scattered across Europe and fought in the armies of France, Spain, and Austria for over a century. Lucas and Luna explore the departure from Irish shores, th...

Perched on a limestone outcrop that juts from the Golden Vale, the Rock of Cashel has been a symbol of Irish power for over a thousand years. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how a pagan fortress became the seat of the Kings of Munster, then the spiritual heart of Irish Christianity after Saint Patrick supposedly baptized King Aengus there. They walk through the legend of the Devil's Bit, t...

In the aftermath of Cromwell's brutal conquest of Ireland, a young English physician named William Petty undertook something unprecedented: a comprehensive land survey of the entire country. Known as the Down Survey, it mapped over 13 million acres, confiscated Catholic-owned land, and redistributed it to Protestant adventurers and soldiers. This episode dives into the survey's methods — how Petty...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, a pivotal clash that cemented Protestant ascendancy in Ireland. They discuss the rival kings James II and William III, the strategies of the generals, including the Duke of Schomberg and Patrick Sarsfield, and the battle's enduring legacy in Irish memory, from Orange Order marches to its role in shaping sectarian divisions. T...

In September 1607, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell, boarded a ship at Rathmullan, County Donegal, and sailed into exile, never to return. Their departure — known as the Flight of the Earls — transformed Irish history, clearing the way for the Ulster Plantation and the collapse of the old Gaelic order. This episode traces the events leading to that fateful voyag...

In October 1816, a farmhouse in County Louth called Wildgoose Lodge was set ablaze, killing eight people including an infant. This episode unpacks the sectarian feud between the Ribbonmen and the Orangemen that led to the massacre, the legal aftermath, and how the event exposed the raw wounds of the Penal Laws era. We follow the trial that condemned eighteen men to execution, the role of informer...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Irish Land War of the 1870s and 1880s, a mass movement that challenged landlord power and reshaped rural Ireland. They focus on Michael Davitt, the son of evicted tenants who founded the Land League and championed the 'Three Fs' — fair rent, fixity of tenure, and free sale. The conversation covers the 1879 famine, the rise of the Land League, the tactics...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into the shadowy world of Michael Collins and his elite assassination unit, 'the Squad' or 'the Twelve Apostles,' during the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921). They explore how Collins rebuilt the shattered Irish Republican Brotherhood into a lethal intelligence network, recruiting men like Joe O'Reilly, Mick McDonnell, and Vinny Byrne to execute British age...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Great Famine (An Gorta Mór) that devastated Ireland from 1845 to 1852. They discuss the potato blight (Phytophthora infestans), British government relief efforts under Sir Charles Trevelyan and Lord John Russell, the policy of laissez-faire, the role of absentee landlords, evictions, coffin ships, and the mass emigration to America and Canada. They also...

In 1172, one year after the murder of Thomas Becket, Henry II of England landed in Ireland with a massive army. But instead of fighting, he summoned Ireland's bishops and chieftains to the Synod of Cashel, where they effectively submitted to English ecclesiastical authority. This episode unpacks the political and religious maneuvering behind Henry's intervention—his desire to control the Norman ad...

In 1691, the fate of Ireland hung on the walls of Limerick. After the Battle of the Boyne, the Jacobite forces regrouped under Patrick Sarsfield, holding the city through a brutal summer siege. This episode follows the negotiations that produced the Treaty of Limerick—a document that promised Catholic toleration but was swiftly broken by the Protestant Ascendancy. We explore Sarsfield's daring rai...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the story of Robert Emmet's 1803 rebellion — a doomed uprising that followed the failed 1798 Rebellion. They discuss Emmet's background as a Protestant nationalist, his meticulous planning in Dublin, the secret depot in Thomas Street, the premature explosion that derailed everything, and the tragic street battle that ended in minutes. They also examine Emmet...

In the 1840s, Ireland saw a mass political movement unlike anything before. Daniel O'Connell, the Liberator, organised a series of 'Monster Meetings' — peaceful gatherings of hundreds of thousands of people demanding the repeal of the Act of Union. This episode follows the rise of the Repeal Association, the soaring rhetoric at the Hill of Tara and Clontarf, and the moment it all came crashing dow...