List of Primary Documents
List of Primary Documents
Primary documents furnish the basic materials with which scholars work in describing and analyzing the history and culture of any country. The editors of this encyclopedia have selected and, especially in the case of more modern texts, edited a large number of original sources relating to the history and culture of Ireland; we present them below with the aim of deepening the knowledge of interested readers on subjects of major importance.
The editors wish to acknowledge the special usefulness of the pioneering collection—Irish Historical Documents, 1172–1922—edited by the late Edmund Curtis and R. B. McDowell and published in London in 1943 by Methuen and Co. Many of the documents reproduced in this encyclopedia can be found in the Curtis and McDowell collection. In most cases it has been the practice of the encyclopedia editors to cite the original source of the documents appearing here.
Confessio (Declaration) (c. 450), by St. Patrick 777
"Columbanus to His Monks" (c. 600), by St. Columbanus 778
From Muirchú's Life of St. Patrick (c. 680) 778
"To Mary and Her Son" (c. 750), by Blathmac, Son of Cú Brettan 780
"The Vikings" (Early Ninth Century) 781
"Writing out of Doors" (Early Ninth Century) 781
The Bull Laudabiliter, Pope Adrian IV's Grant of Ireland to Henry II (c. 1155) 782
Three Letters of Pope Alexander III, Confirming Henry II's Conquest of Ireland (1172) 782
The Treaty of Windsor (1175) 784
Grant of Prince John to Theobold Walter of Lands in Ireland (1185) 785
From The Topography of Ireland (1188), by Giraldus Cambrensis 786
From Expugnatio Hibernica (1189), by Giraldus Cambrensis 788
Grant of Civic Liberties to Dublin by Prince John (1192) 788
Magna Carta Hiberniæ (The Great Charter of Ireland) (12 November 1216) 790
The Statutes of Kilkenny (1366) 791
King Richard II in Ireland (1395) 799
Declaration of Independence of the Irish Parliament (1460) 801
Poynings' Law (1494) 803
From Vocation of John Bale to the Bishopery of Ossorie (1553), by John Bale 804
Act of Uniformity (1560) 806
From Two Bokes of the Histories of Ireland (1571), by Edmund Campion 806
From "Notes of His Report" (1576), by Sir William Gerard 807
Letter to Elizabeth (12 November 1580), by Lord Arthur Grey de Wilton 808
Ferocity of the Irish Wars (1580s–1590s) 809
From The Image of Irelande (1581), by John Derricke 810
From "The Sons of Clanricard" (1586), by John Hooker 811
From Solon His Follie (1594), by Richard Beacon 812
From A View of the Present State of Ireland (1596), by Edmund Spenser 813
Tyrone's Demands (1599), by Hugh O'Neill 818
Accounts of the Siege and Battle of Kinsale (1601) 819
English Account of the Flight of the Earls (1607), by Sir John Davies 820
Irish Account of the Flight of the Earls (1608), by Tadhg Ó Cianáin 821
Conditions of the Plantation of Ulster (1610) 822
From A Direction for the Plantation ofUlster (1610), by Thomas Blennerhasset 823
From A New Description of Ireland (1610), by Barnaby Rich 824
From A Discovery of the True Causes WhyIreland Was Never Entirely Subdued (1612), by Sir John Davies 825
On Catholic Ireland in the Early Seventeenth Century 827
From An Itinerary (1617), by Fynes Moryson 829
From "A Discourse of Ireland" (1620), by Luke Gernon 831
From The Total Discourse of His Rare Adventures (1632), by William Lithgow 833
From Travels (1634–1635), by Sir William Brereton 834
Confederation of Kilkenny (1642) 835
Speech to the Speaker of the House of Commons (1642), by Richard Boyle 836
From A True and Credible Relation (1642) 837
From A Remonstrance . . . , Being theExaminations of Many Who Were Eye-Witnesses of the Same, and Justified upon Oath by Many Thousands (1643), by Thomas Morley 838
On the Capture of Drogheda (17 September 1649), by Oliver Cromwell 840
From The Great Case of TransplantationDiscussed (1655), by Vincent Gookin 841
From The Interest of England in the Irish Transplantation Stated (1655), by Richard Lawrence 842
Treaty of Limerick (1691) 844
From The Memoirs of Edmund Ludlow (1698) 846
An Act to Prevent the Further Growth of Popery (1704) 847
The Declaratory Act (1720) 853
On the Whiteboys (1769), by John Bush 853
From A Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland (1777), by Reverend Thomas Campbell 854
The Catholic Relief Act (1778) 857
On Irish Rural Society and Poverty (1780), by Arthur Young 858
The Catholic Relief Act (1782) 860
The Ulster Volunteer Resolutions (1782) 861
Yelverton's Act (1782) 862
The Renunciation Act (1783) 863
The Catholic Relief Act (1793) 864
United Irish Parliamentary Reform Plan (March 1794) 866
Grievances of the United Irishmen of Ballynahinch, Co. Down (1795) 867
Speech Delivered at a United Irish Meeting in Ballyclare, Co. Antrim (1795) 868
The Insurrection Act (1796) 869
The United Irishmen Organization (1797) 871
Statement of Three Imprisoned United Irish Leaders (4 August 1798) 873
Irish Act of Union (1 August 1800) 877
Speech from the Dock (19 September 1803), by Robert Emmet 880
From A Description of the . . . Peasantry ofIreland (1804), by Robert Bell 881
On Presbyterian Communities in Ulster (1810, 1812), by John Gamble 881
From Narrative of a Residence in Ireland (1817), by Anne Plumptre 884
Origin of the "Catholic Rent" (18 February 1824) 885
The Catholic Relief Act (1829) 888
Account of the Wexford Rising (1832), by Thomas Cloney 890
On Irish Catholicism (1839), by Gustave de Beaumont 892
On Irish Society before the Famine (1841–1843), by Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall 893
On Repeal of the Act of Union at the "Monster Meeting" at Mullingar (14 May 1843), by Daniel O'Connell 896
Letter Advocating Federalism as an Alternative to Repeal (November 1844), by William Sharman Crawford 899
On Rural Society on the Eve of the Great Famine (1844–1845), by Asenath Nicholson 900
Speech on the Use of Physical Force (28 July 1846), by Thomas Francis Meagher 902
From Narrative of a Recent Journey (1847), by William Bennett 903
Resolutions Adopted at the Tenant-Right Conference (6–9 August 1850) 904
Resolution Adopted at the Tenant League Conference (8 September 1852) 905
Two Fenian Oaths (1858, 1859) 905
"God Save Ireland" (1867) 906
Resolutions Adopted at the Home Rule Conference (18–21 November 1873) 907
Speech Advocating Consideration of Home Rule by the House of Commons (30 June 1874), by Isaac Butt 908
From Belfast Fifty Years Ago (1875), by Thomas Gaffikin 910
Establishment of the National Land League of Mayo (16 August 1879) 911
Call at Ennis for Agrarian Militancy (19 September 1880), by Charles Stewart Parnell 914
Land Law (Ireland) Act (22 August 1881) 915
On Home Rule and the Land Question at Cork (21 January 1885), by Charles Stewart Parnell 919
On Home Rule at Wicklow (5 October 1885), by Charles Stewart Parnell 920
On the Home Rule Bill of 1886 (8 April 1886), by William Gladstone 922
The Irish Parliamentary Party Pledge (30 June 1892) 925
From "The Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland" (25 November 1892), by Douglas Hyde 925
Address at the First Annual Convention of the National Council of Sinn Féin (28 November 1905), by Arthur Griffith 927
Resolutions Adopted at the Public Meeting Following the First Annual Convention of the National Council of Sinn Féin (28 November 1905) 929
Declaration against Home Rule (10 October 1911) 930
"Solemn League and Covenant" Signed at the "Ulster Day" Ceremony in Belfast (28 September 1912) 930
Address on the Ulster Question in the House of Commons (11 February 1914), by Sir Edward Carson 931
O'Donovan Rossa Graveside Panegyric (1 August 1915), by Patrick H. Pearse 932
"What Is Our Programme?" (22 January 1916), by James Connolly 933
Proclamation of the Irish Republic (24 April 1916) 935
"Easter 1916" (1916), by William Butler Yeats 936
Declaration of Irish Independence (21 January 1919) 937
The "Democratic Programme" of Dáil Éireann (21 January 1919) 938
Government of Ireland Act (23 December 1920) 939
The Anglo-Irish Treaty (6 December 1921) 942
"Time Will Tell" (19 December 1921), by Eamon de Valera 945
Speech in Favor of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921 (7 January 1922), by Arthur Griffith 948
Proclamation Issued by IRA Leaders at the Beginning of the Civil War (29 June 1922) 949
Provisional Government Proclamation at the Beginning of the Civil War (29 June 1922) 950
Speech at the Opening of the Free State Parliament (11 September 1922), by William T. Cosgrave 950
Constitution of the Irish Free State (5 December 1922) 951
Republican Cease-Fire Order (28 April 1923) 954
Speech on Ireland's Admission to the League of Nations (10 September 1923), by William T. Cosgrave 955
Letter on the Commission on the Gaeltacht (4 March 1925), by William T. Cosgrave 956
"The End" (1926), by Tomás Ó Criomhthain 957
"Aims of Fianna Fáil in Office" (17 March 1932), by Eamon de Valera 959
"Pierce's Cave" (1933), by Maurice O'Sullivan 960
On "A Protestant Parliament and a Protestant State" (24 April 1934), by Sir James Craig 962
"Failure of the League of Nations" (18 June 1936), by Eamon de Valera 963
"Scattering and Sorrow" (1936), by Peig Sayers 965
From the 1937 Constitution 968
"German Attack on Neutral States" (12 May 1940), by Eamon de Valera 970
"National Thanksgiving" (16 May 1945), by Eamon de Valera 971
On the Republic of Ireland Bill (24 November 1948), by John A. Costello 975
Letter to John A. Costello, the Taoiseach (5 April 1951), by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid 976
From the Report of the Commission onEmigration and Other Population Problems, 1948–1954 (1955) 978
From Economic Development (1958) 979
"An Irishman in Coventry" (1960), by John Hewitt 983
Speech to Ministers of the Governments of the Member States of the European Economic Community (18 January 1962), by Seán Lemass 984
On Community Relations in Northern Ireland (28 April 1967), by Terence O'Neill 987
"Ulster at the Crossroads" (9 December 1968), by Terence O'Neill 989
Statement by the Taoiseach (13 August 1969), by Jack Lynch 991
From the Report of the Commission on theStatus of Women (1972) 992
"Towards Changes in the Republic" (1973), by Garret FitzGerald 993
From the Decision of the Supreme Court in McGee v. the Attorney General and the Revenue Commissioners (19 December 1973) 1000
On the Family Planning Bill (20 February 1974), by Mary Robinson 1003
"Punishment" (1975), by Seamus Heaney 1005
Anglo-Irish Agreement (15 November 1985) 1005
"Inquisitio 1584" (c. 1985), by Máire Mhac an tSaoi 1009
"Feis" ("Carnival") (c. 1990), by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill 1010
Irish Republican Army (IRA) Cease-Fire Statement (31 August 1994) 1012
Text of the IRA Cease-Fire Statement (19 July 1997) 1013
The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement (10 April 1998) 1013