Newspapers report a potato blight has hit Ireland. High rents imposed by absentee landlords meant that most people could only afford to live on small tenant farms with inferior soil that only potatoes could grow on; but the potato crop was prone to disease and the farmers did not have extra land to rotate crops. […]
Rugadh Ciarán i gContae Ros Comáin sa bhliain 516. Siúinéir agus déantóir carbaid ab ea a athair Uaireanta tugtar ‘Ciarán Óg’ air chun idirdhealú a dheánamh idir é féin agus Ciarán an Seanóir a bhí ina easpag ar Osraighe sa 5ú haois. Airítear é ar dhuine de ‘Dháréag Aspal na hÉireann’. Seo an bealach a […]
Michelangelo’s “David”, probably the most famous sculpture in the world, was first unveiled to the public on this day, September 8th, 1504, in the Piazza della Signoria, in Florence. The statue, as the name suggests, represents the David who defeated Goliath in the bible. David was a favourite of the Florentines because, as a small […]
The Legion of Mary, which remains the largest lay organisation in the Roman Catholic Church, was founded in Dublin on this day, September 7th, 1921, by Frank Duff, and celebrates 99 years in existence today. Almost a century after it was founded in a small room on Francis Street, Dublin, the Legion of Mary has […]
After the Treaty of Limerick and the Battle of the Boyne, the Irish and English parliaments brought in draconian measures to crush the Catholic population. Even though Catholics had retained ownership of a mere 22% of the land which was further reduced to 14%, the penal laws attempted to ensure that no Irish Catholic would […]
Grace O’Malley (Gráinne Ní Mháille) demanded the release of her son, who had been imprisoned by Richard Bingham, Governor of Connacht. Elizabeth agreed, and Bingham was recalled to England. Grace was born in 1530 into the Ó Máille dynasty in the west of Ireland; the daughter of Eoghan Dubhdara Ó Máille. She is well-known historical […]
Aodh Mór Ó Néill (Hugh O’Neill), Earl of Tír Eoghan and Rudhraighe Ó Domhnaill (Rory O’Donnell) Earl of Tír Conaill – modern day Donegal), fled Ireland for the continent with about ninety followers on this day, September 4th, 1607. It’s often said that their flight from Ireland came at the end of the Nine Years […]
Oliver Cromwell, the butcher of Drogheda, died on this day in 1658, having suffered a painful end from a urinary tract infection that caused blood poisoning. Three years after he died, his body was exhumed and ceremonially hanged in chains, and then thrown into a pit, so that his enemies could be sure that he […]
September 2nd is not a day, oddly, on which much of significance happened. It’s the calendar’s version of a slow news day. But on this day in 1901, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt of the United States gave a speech to the Minnesota state fair, in which he uttered a phrase which has long outlived him […]
Martha, the last passenger pigeon, died on this day, September 1st, 1914. With her death, her kind became extinct. The passenger pigeon was driven to extinction by humans, and because they were so easy to catch. As recently as 1850, there were almost a million pigeons in North America. But the passenger pigeon was tasty, […]
Henry VI of England came to the throne on this day, August 31st, 1422, at the age of nine months. His disastrous reign would last 39 years, until it ended with the wars of the roses. His father, Henry V, was amongst the great English Kings, finally unifying the thrones of England and France, which […]
The Zulus never had an independent country again