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The editors wish to acknowledge the special usefulness of the pioneering collection—Irish Historical Documents, 1172–1922—edited by the late Edmund Curtis and R. B. McDowell and published in London in 1943 by Methuen and Co. Many of the documents reproduced in this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