Irish Medieval History

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

The destruction of the great forests of Ireland - accounts of the military campaigns of the English forces of Queen Elizabeth I at the end of the 16th century make it quite clear that these forests were a considerable natural barrier to troop movements as well as a place for concealment and refuge for the Irish armies. In 1585, following the years of the Desmond Rebellion, Sir John Perrot, President of the council of Munster and thus Queen Elizabeth's representative in the Province suggested that the woods be cut to "deprive the rebels of their place of succour". It was about this time, too, that English settlers were planted in Munster on lands confiscated from the natives. These settlers started the clearance of the forests for their own security and prosperity.

The economy of Ireland under the Gaelic Order was that of the forests. This great resource was the provider of raw materials, medicine, weapons, tools, charcoal, food (in the form of berries, nuts, fungi, fruit, wild animals, etc.) as well as the basis for spirituality and wisdom. No other country has as many placenames connected to the forest.

Forenames derived from the name of trees include Eoghan (yew), Darragh/Daire/MacDara (oak). So revered were trees that even the father of the Irish goddess of love Áine was Fer Í and sometimes Eógabal both names deriving from yew. Many surnames still carry this reverence too in names like Cullen, MacCullen and Cullinane are derived from Cuileann the Irish word for Holly. Blackthorn or Draighneán gave us Drennan, Thornton, Skehan (from sceach – whitethorn). Coill (meaning wood) itself has many variants such as Woods, Quill, Quilty, McEnhill (Mac Conchoille or the ‘hound of the woods’).

The last of the great forests were deliberately burned down by the English military as part of a "scorched earth" campaign under commanders such as Walter Devereux, Richard Bingham and Humphrey Gilbert.

Edmund Spenser's account reads "In those late wars in Munster; for notwithstanding that the same was a most rich and plentiful country, full of corn and cattle, that you would have thought they could have been able to stand long, yet ere one year and a half they were brought to such wretchedness, as that any stony heart would have rued the same. Out of every corner of the wood and glens they came creeping forth upon their hands, for their legs could not bear them; they looked Anatomies [of] death, they spoke like ghosts, crying out of their graves; they did eat of the carrions, happy where they could find them, yea, and one another soon after, in so much as the very carcasses they spared not to scrape out of their graves; and if they found a plot of water-cresses or shamrocks, there they flocked as to a feast for the time, yet not able long to continue therewithal; that in a short space there were none almost left, and a most populous and plentiful country suddenly left void of man or beast."

The purpose of colonisation is theft and the colonisers made vast sums of money with no regard for sustainability or the country. Jonathan Swift wrote “there is not another example in Europe of such a prodigious quantity of excellent timber cut down in so short a time with so little advantage to the country either in shipping or building.’’ The planters became so rich that one of them Richard Boyle became the richest man in the world. It has been estimated that he alone made £100,000 by his iron-works (using timber fuel) and as much again from the sale of timber. As Swift notes the great forests were all destroyed within a generation.

In 1800 only 2% of the land of Ireland was under forest cover and by 1900 it was down to 1%. Fuel shortages during WWI reduced that figure to below 1%. Furthermore the establishment of the land commission in 1881 which required landlords to sell their estates to their tenants meant that many simply “cashed in” their woodlands prior to the sale of their estate. After independence more landlords “cashed in” and the process continued right up to the 1980s.

On her visit to Ireland in 2011 Queen Elizabeth II planted a single Oak tree at the official residence of the President of Ireland, Áras an Uachtaráin. Was it symbolic recompense? In advance of her visit one group of activists wrote:

"The Woodland League call on Elizabeth II to sanction a gesture of peace and goodwill to mark her visit to Ireland, in this year of 2011 (UN, International year of the forest), by offering compensation from the UK for the loss of Ireland's forests over many centuries of English rule. [...] Irish timber was used to build English fleets. These ships in turn facilitated the creation of a vast empire of riches."

Methinks no hope and Bob Hope are the only hopes of that ever happening!

Image: Killarney National Park in Co. Kerry contains the most extensive area (120 square Kms/30,000 acres) of semi-natural native woodland) remaining in Ireland. The woodland was invaded by non-native Rhododendrons (which are one of the few plants which thrive under the forest canopy) In the 1980s it was discovered that these plants were killing the woodland by preventing the trees from regenerating. Now every year volunteers up root and burn the blighters.

Sources include:
The Woods of Ireland by Caesar Litton Falkiner
http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/E900000-001/text001.html
http://www.ncas.rutgers.edu/center-study-genocide-conflict-resolution-and-human-rights/16th-17th-century-plantation-ireland

Approximate pronunciation guide
Áras an Uachtaráin – Aur- us on ocht-are-awin
Áine – Awna
Coill – koyl often anglicised as ‘kyle’ or ‘kil’
Cuileann -cwil an
Eoghan - Owen
Sceach - skah