IRELAND-ENGLAND RELATIONS FROM WAR TO UNION (1169-1801)

Year 2021, Volume: 3 Issue: 2, 142 - 159, 31.12.2021

Akif Bayğın

https://doi.org/10.52735/bellek.1023235

Abstract

Ireland and England are two neighboring countries that have been in constant interaction both politically and economically. The colonization activities which England began in Ireland in the 12th century covered a long period and were observed to have dominated the Irish lands in time. One of the reasons that led to the England military intervention in Ireland was the ideas put forward by Pope Adrian IV regarding the Ireland. The pope claimed that the Ireland had become a rebel community by turning away from Christianity and asked Henry II for military intervention. Since the 16th century, England has sought to establish a system of land ownership to Protestantize Catholic Ireland through their colonization activities. The reform movements that have arisen in Europe have also affected Britain. The reformation process with the abolition of the Pope's authority over England was another important issue in terms of Ireland and England relations. But Catholics, the great majority of the Irish people, have continued to embrace the teachings of the Roman Church. Even though the Irish tried to fight against England's expansionism, their attempts to fight were always unsuccessful because they did not have enough military forces to be successful.
In this study, by examining the relations of the two countries in the historical process, how England took control of land ownership in Ireland and the events between the two countries during the process have been examined. In addition, the struggle between the two sides in Ireland, which began with the colonization process, took a different dimension with the conflicts arising from sectarian differences after the reformation movements. In order to protect the Protestants settlements in Ireland, England attempted to control the religious, economic and social life of the local population by restrictive laws. In that process, there has been a remarkable transformation of land ownership to the advantage of Protestants. This transformation has led to the progressive impoverishment of the Catholic Irish, who depend on the land. The Protestant Irish and British landowners, who progressively extended their lands, also became rich. However, while the attempt failed, it did provide them to obtain some political rights. The British government, which did not want to make any more concessions to Ireland, ensured that the two countries were united and established as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with the Union Act enacted in 1801. As a result, England had the right to direct control of Ireland.
The Irish potato famine between 1845 and 1852 is regarded as one of the most tragic events in modern history. As a result of the rotting of the potato, which is the main food of the majority of the Irish population, which was 8.2 million in 1845, due to Phytophthora infestans, sufficient yield could not be obtained. 1.2 million (%14,6) Irish, whose main source of income was potatoes, lacked purchasing power and lost their lives as a result of hunger and epidemics. An estimated 2 million (%24) had to migrate to foreign countries such as the United States, Canada, and Australia. As the main problem of the research, it has been attempted to focus on the historical process of the transformation of land ownership in Ireland, which caused the severe consequences of famine.
As part of this study it is objective to examine the events that took place until 1801, when the two countries were united, by addressing the historical process of Ireland-England relations that started in the 12th century. Without a doubt, the potato famine that occurred between 1845 and 1852 was a significant breaking point in relations between these two countries. In this context, in this study, it has been tried to understand the relations between the two countries by offering an insight into the process leading up to the period in question and to draw attention to the source of the conflicts that occurred between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland.
The political, economic, and religious events which took place between 1169 and 1801 in the context of Irish-English relations were discussed. The events that occurred as a result of the interaction between Catholics and Protestants and the actions of England on this matter have been revealed. Therefore, the scope of the study is limited to examining the historical dimension of the relations between Ireland and England that took place between 1169 and 1801.
As a method, the document analysis system, which is one of the research methods in the social science field, has been used. Firstly, books and articles on Irish-English relations have been researched. Studies and investigations in this area have been provided. Following the classification of the data obtained from the literature review, they were analyzed with some criticism. Then, the obtained data were synthesized and the writing phase was started.

Keywords

Ireland, England, Catholic, Protestant, Relations between Ireland-England

SAVAŞTAN BİRLİĞE İRLANDA-İNGİLTERE İLİŞKİLERİ (1169-1801)

Abstract

İrlanda ve İngiltere gerek siyasi gerekse ekonomik alanlarda birbirleri ile sürekli etkileşim halinde olmuş iki komşu devlettir. İngiltere’nin XII. yüzyıldan itibaren İrlanda’da başlatmış olduğu kolonizasyon faaliyetleri uzun bir dönemi kapsamış ve zamanla İrlanda topraklarına hâkimiyet kurmuştur. İngiltere’nin, İrlanda’ya karşı yayılmacı bir siyaset izlemesinin önemli sebeplerden biri Papa IV. Adrian’nın İrlandalılar hakkında öne sürdüğü düşünceler olmuştur. Nitekim Papa IV. Adrian, İrlandalıların Hristiyanlıktan uzaklaşarak asi bir topluluğa dönüştüğünü ileri sürmüş ve II. Henry'den askeri bir müdahalede bulunmasını istemiştir. İngilizlerin Papa’nın da desteği ile başlatmış oldukları askeri müdahale İrlanda’da uzun yıllar sürecek olan İngiliz yayılmacılığının ilk adımı olmuştur. İngilizler XVI. yüzyıldan itibaren kolonileşme faaliyetleri ile Katolik İrlanda’yı Protestanlaştırmaya yönelik bir toprak mülkiyet sistemi oluşturmayı hedeflemiştir. İrlandalılar İngiliz yayılmacılığına karşı koymaya çalışsa da yeterli güce sahip olmadıklarından girişimleri sürekli başarısızlığa uğramıştır.
Bu çalışmada iki ülkenin tarihsel süreç içerisindeki ilişkileri incelenerek İngiltere’nin İrlanda üzerindeki toprak mülkiyetinin kontrolünü nasıl ele geçirdiği ve süreç boyunca iki ülke arasında yaşanan olaylar incelenmiştir. Ayrıca İrlanda’da iki taraf arasında kolonileşme süreci ile başlayan mücadele, reform hareketlerinin ardından mezhep farklılıklarından kaynaklanan çatışmalarla farklı bir boyut kazanmıştır. İngiltere, İrlanda’ya yerleştirilen Protestanları korumak için yerli halkın dini, iktisadi ve sosyal hayatını kısıtlayıcı yasalarla kontrolü ele geçirmeye çalışmıştır. Bu süreçte toprakların mülkiyetinde Protestanların lehine dikkate değer ölçüde bir dönüşüm gerçekleşmiştir. Bu durum toprağa bağlı bir şekilde hayatını idame ettiren Katolik İrlandalıların giderek fakirleşmesine yol açarken topraklarını giderek genişleten Protestan İrlandalılar ve İngiliz toprak sahiplerinin de aynı ölçüde zenginleşmesine neden olmuştur.
Amerikan Bağımsızlık Savaşı ve Fransız İhtilali’nin İngiltere ekonomisi ve askeri gücü üzerindeki olumsuz etkilerini fırsata çeviren İrlandalılar, 1798 yılında bağımsızlık girişiminde bulunmuş ancak bu girişim başarısızlık ile sonuçlanmıştır. İrlandalılar son girişimlerine rağmen İngiltere’den birtakım siyasi haklar elde etmiştir. Daha fazla taviz vermek istemeyen İngiltere hükümeti 1801 yılında yürürlüğe koyduğu Birlik Yasası ile iki ülkenin Büyük Britanya ve İrlanda Birleşik Krallığı şeklinde birleşmesini sağlamıştır.

Keywords

İrlanda, İngiltere, Katolik, Protestan, İrlanda-İngiltere İlişkileri

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