Ireland in Schools

Images of Ireland

Propaganda & observation in medieval and early modern times

1. John Derrick, Image of Ireland
English values and perceptions For most of the medieval and early modern periods, descriptions of Irish life reflect English values. * This was especially true during the Elizabethan period, when there was a prolonged Elizabethan campaign to subdue Ireland by a policy of zero tolerance . Various publications at the time tried to present the Irish in a bad light, partly to explain and justify the forward policy in Ireland. This propagandist spin was re-inforced by rising standards of living in England. The contemporary improvement in Tudor living standards pointed up the difference between the Civil Irish who lived in towns, dressed in buttoned-up Tudor fashion, and were obedient to the Crown, and the unkempt and still-barefoot Wild Irish . The Gaelic Irish did undoubtedly live in a more primitive style, geared to outdoor activities. However, it is also true that observers conveniently forgot what a difference a few years can make. Even as the English traveller noted with distaste that most of the Irish had no mattresses, old fashioned moralists in his own country were lamenting the fact that the yeoman s log had been replaced by a new-fangled and doubtless decadent pillow.

A civil woman from the Pale and a Gaelic Irishman, illustrated by Lucas de Heere, c.1575, and intended to represent the essential cleavage that was thought to exist in Irish society between the Old English and the Gaelic populations.

Moreover, these adverse perceptions were further re-inforced by the timing of English visits to Ireland. During the winter months a leading Irish chieftain might live in a stone fortress but in the summer would leave his permanent residence and with his clan live in a temporary summer residence called a booley for the purpose of grazing their cattle herds in the upland. Since English travellers tended to visit the Gaelic parts of the country during the summer months, these booleys were well observed but misunderstood, becoming almost a symbol of the difference between the English and the Wild Irish . Image of Ireland - a reliable source of evidence? One of the most influential works was John Derrick s, Image of Ireland, a book of stolid verse accompanied by twelve vivid woodcuts. Derrick s woodcuts have become familiar illustrations in Irish history books. However their message is often ignored, sublimated, or misunderstood. Derrick was an Englishman and an engraver and published his book in 1581 during a sustained campaign against Ireland. His patron was Philip Sidney, the son of Sir Henry Sidney who was Elizabeth I s Lord Deputy of Ireland, 1565-71 and 1575-78. During Henry s first spell as Lord Deputy (1565-1571) martial law became widespread. One of the main subjects of Image of Ireland was the glorious exploits of Sidney for one of the book s objects was to inflate Henry Sidney s reputation. As one caption put it: O Sydney worthy of tryple renowne,/For plagying the traytours that troubled the crowne . Certain drawings, such as the governor s departure from Dublin Castle, can be checked for accuracy against contemporary maps, but others are figments of the author s imagination. The other main subject was the depredations of the wild Irish kern. While revealing the extent to which Irish chieftains had adopted some Elizabethan domestic principles along with Elizabethan dress, they also took pains to stress how in other respects they fell crudely below Elizabethan standards. While excluding from its strictures the civil subjects of the Pale, Image of Ireland is heavily laden with antiIrish, anti-Catholic views. Most notably, the friars are shown exhorting and absolving the rebellions of the Gaelic lords. The woodcut of the MacSweyne s alfresco feast emphasises the barbarity of the proceedings the lack of a proper table, the proximity of the slaughtering and cooking, and the less than delicate manners of all concerned.
* Edmund Spenser s famous A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande was one of a series of treatises composed in the 1590s to explain how Ireland would forever remain beyond reform without the spectre of terror.

English army on the march, 1581 This engraving shows English troops on the march; the clearly drawn details give a good idea of the soldiers used by Queen Elizabeth I. However, far from the smart appearance suggested here, the army in Ireland was in reality poorly equipped and subject to endless marching and attacks.
Already the infantry mostly consists of bodies of pikemen and shot , that is, men armed with a matchlock firearm, in this case the caliver. This replaced the harquebus, which did not use standard sized ammunition, though the caliver was itself criticised for using too small a ball to penetrate armour. Each of the calivermen carries a triangular-shaped powder flask at his right hip, as well as sword and dagger. The pikemen wear half-armour, extending down to the upper thighs, while the calivermen have only a helmet. Behind the infantry trot squadrons of demilances, medium cavalrymen who have open-faced helmets, called burgonets, and carry lances. The officer prefers sleeves of interlinked mail rings.

English troops leave Dublin, 1581 In this scene Sir Henry Sidney is shown leading English forces out of Dublin in his campaigns to crush the Munster rebellion.
The picture is designed to celebrate the achievements of Sir Henry Sidney, but it is still a valuable source for historians. More of Elizabeth I s forces during her reign were tied up in Ireland than anywhere else. The English forces were generally smaller in number but better equipped and better organised than the Irish. This seems to be confirmed by the orderly march of well equipped troops from Dublin Castle. In this image Sidney s forces are marching to deal with a rebellion against English rule in the Irish province of Munster, led by the powerful Desmond family.

Thefe trunckles heddes to plainly fhow, each rebeles fatall end, And what a haynous crime it is, the Queene for to offend.

Sir Henry Sidney, the Lord Deputy, setting out from Dublin Castle, 1576 The inscription reads: O Sydney worthy of tryple renowne, For plagying the traytours that troubled the crowne.

English army attacking the retreating Irish

A barbarous country must first be broken by war before it will be capable of good government.

Submission of Gaelic chieftains to Elizabeth I s English Deputy, Sidney

The end of one sort of Gaelic Ireland.

Irish chieftain In this scene Derrick shows an Irish chieftain, MacSweeney, feasting out of doors - a typical booley setting.
There was a cultural gulf between Tudor gentry in England and some of the Irish chieftains. The Irish were pastoral farmers, whereas in England more scientific methods of farming were just beginning to be used. More seriously, the Irish chieftains spoke Gaelic and were Roman Catholics. We see the chieftain on a hunting expedition eating out of doors with no knives or forks. The scene is rather chaotic, with entertainments, cooking and butchering going on at the same time. Two individuals are also warming their backsides against the cold! However, this gulf could be greatly exaggerated. The great noble families of Ireland were just as wealthy and cultured as in England. Indeed, many nobles sent their sons to be brought up and educated at the English court. John Derrick, in his book, suggested that there were great differences within the Irish.

A Gaelic chieftain and woodkerne The lord wears an Irish cloak and his hat is a sign of power .
Kerns were foot soldiers, lightly armed with swords and wooden throwing-darts. They were always bearded and had glibs (fringes) across their foreheads. They were not suited to pitched battles, but were chiefly used in harrying civilian populations, burning houses and plundering cattle.

Irish attack on settlers In this scene Derrick shows Irish kerns attacking settlers in the Pale and taking their household goods and cattle, while the occupants lament their ill-fortune.
Irish clans, such as the O Mores and the O Connors, carried out frequent raids on the Pale and newly-planted areas, whose inhabitants lived in fear of raids by Gaelic clans. Much of Celtic warfare had been ritualised, a matter of raiding for cattle and slaves rather than conquest and massacre. However, the unrestrained cruelty of the Norsemen seems to have affected the Irish . Barefoot and lightly armed, they were no match for the armies of the centralised Tudor state with the latest in military technology - artillery, muskets and massed pikes deployed in close military formation. Not until the late sixteenth century did Hugh O Neill create a modern army capable of inflicting defeat on the over-confident English.

This can be read like a cartoon, starting from the part marked A . The Gaelic assemble, attack the Palespeople and steal their cattle.

A cattle raid

Tasks set on Derrick engravings in history textbooks (the numbers in the first column refer to the engravings above) 2
Elizabeth s Lord Deputy riding out of Dublin Castle. 1. Can you read what is written above the picture? 2. What do you see in the picture to explain it?

Thefe trunckles heddes to plainly fhow, each rebeles fatall end, And what a haynous crime it is, the Queene for to offend.

1. How do you know that the meat being cooked is fresh? 2. Describe how you think the meat was cooked? 3. What kind of tableware was used? 4. Do you think cutlery was used? 5. The poet usually stood behind the chief and directed the entertainment. How many entertainers can be seen in this picture? What are they doing? 6. From what was the table made? 7. Are the people at the table sitting on the grass? 8. To whom do you think the sword and headgear belong? 9. What evidence can you find in the picture that the mantle was still a popular garment when this picture was drawn in 1581? An Englishman named John Derrick came to Ireland with the Lord Deputy in the 1560s. He wrote a book called The Image of Ireland. His work gives us the best information we have about Ireland at the time. The picture and the poem describe an attack by the Irish on a farmer in the Pale. Study the picture and verse. Then say whose side you think Derrick was on. Give reasons for your answer. How does it affect the way you feel about the picture and the poem?

Irish chieftain dining out of doors

Raid on settlers

They spoil and burn and bear away as fit occasion serve, And think the greater ill they do, the greater praise deserve. They pass not the poor man s cry nor yet respect his tears, But rather joy to see the fire to flash about his ears ... And thus bereaving him of house, of cattle and of store, They do return to the wood from whence they came before.

1. Where are the woodkernes coming from? 2. Why are they being led by a piper? 3. Describe the weapons carried by the woodkernes? 4. The two people marked 1 and 2 appear upset. What is happening to them? 5. Describe what is happening in Part C of the picture?

Raid on settlers

8a

1. 2. 3. 4.

Who is leading the raiding party? What instrument is he playing? Why do you think he is playing music? Do you think the musician will take part in the fighting? 5. What arms does each kern carry?

Raid on settlers Raiding party on the march.

8b

1. Why do you think the house is being burned down? 2. Why has the roof caught fire so easily? 3. Draw a picture to show how the woman is dressed? 4. Pretend you are this woman. Write about what has happened.

Raid on settlers The house is set on fire.

8c

1. What animals are being driven away? 2. How are the cattle in the picture different from cattle in Ireland today? 3. Do you think that the barefoot person at the front is a kern? Why do you say so? 4. Who do you think is riding the horse? 5. Describe how he is dressed.

Raid on settlers The raiders drive the animals away.

Propaganda & observation in medieval and early modern times

2. Irish and Catholic responses
Irish values and perceptions While for most of the medieval and early modern periods, descriptions of Irish life mainly reflect English values, a different point of view expressed by a bardic tirade against those who cut their hair short but in other respects follow English ways . Writing in the sixteenth century Laoiseach Mac an Bhaird contrasted such effete Irishmen with one Eoghan the Fair-Haired, the darling of noble women and a man who never loved English customs - two characteristics that appear to have been closely related in the poet s mind. Eoghan would give his breech away for a trifle, and he has no use for a cloak or doublet and hose, let alone a high-necked ruff. He would prefer to sleep on rushes rather than in a feather bed, and to live in a wattle house rather than a castle (hardly true of most Gaelic lords). Above all he relishes taking part in a fight, especially against the foreigner. Eoghan, says the poet approvingly, has chosen the wild life . Even if Laoiseach s exaltation of the wild, free life is in part an imaginative fantasy, its ideals are strikingly at odds with the Tudor vision of order. Long after the bardic tradition faded away, something of Laoiseach s admiration for wild ways survived in the Irish psyche, for example re-emerging in J. M. Synge s famous drama The Playboy of the Western World, in which the young fugitive Christy Mahon turns up at a Mayo village and, claiming to have killed his father with a single blow, finds himself greatly admired - most of all by the women and girls. Nevertheless the future did not lie with free-living Eoghan, or with those who exalted him. The seventeenth century ruined the bards by destroying the social order which had sustained them. The Gaelic heartland of Ulster ceased to be wild when colonized early in the century by Protestant settlers from England and Scotland. Then the wars of Cromwell and William of Orange effectively destroyed the Catholic landowning class in most of Ireland, creating a social hierarchy that was based on religion but expressed itself most directly in terms of class. Engravings One of the main thrusts of Irish and Catholic engravings was the promotion of the Counter-Reformation and the discrediting of the Tudor attempts to impose Protestantism on Ireland. Catholic instructional literature was concerned both to retain the allegiance of the Irish population to Catholicism and to explain the Catholic doctrine as it had been newly defined at the Council of Trent.

Illustration explaining how the sacrament of Extreme Unction should be administered

Catholic propaganda print, showing how the Tudor ruler used martial law against Catholic dissidents, as well as political enemies Note the serene expressions on the faces of the martyrs.
(R. Verstegan, Theatrum Crudelitatum Haereticorum)