Free Danny Boy by Malachy McCourt

France arrived in southeast Ireland.
    50 A.D. Gaeil or Goidets migrate from Europe to the Kenmare River in south Kerry and the Boyne estuary near Drogheda.
    600 St. Brendan of Kerry is said to have sailed to North America (not proven).
    795 Vikings land near St. Columcille’s monastery on Lambay Island.
    800–850 Norwegian Vikings plunder many Irish monasteries. In 845, Thorgils, king of the Norsemen in Ireland, is captured and killed by Maelseachlainn, king of Meath.
    853 Danish fleet defeats the Norwegians and takes possession of Dublin.
    1507 Accession of Henry VIII.
    1515 Anarchy in Ireland.
    1534 Kildare rebellion.
    1547–1549 Henry VIII made his great breach with Rome, and set himself up as the head of the Church of England.
    1548 Henry VIII declares himself king of Ireland.
    1548 Henry VIII dies and is succeeded by the boy king Edward VI.
    1577 Mary ascends the throne.
    1558 Accession of Elizabeth I.
    1577 Elizabethan wars in Ireland.
    1577 Spanish Armada sent by Phillip of Spain to conquer England.
    1594 Accession of James 1. Surrender of Hugh O’Neill. Enforcement of English Law in Ireland.
    1595 Rebellion of Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone.
    1601 Defeat of O’Neill, O’Donnell and Spaniards by Mountjoy at Battle of Kinsale.
    1632–38 Compilation of the Annals of the Four Masters.
    1641 Great Catholic-Gaelic rebellion for return of lands, later joined by Old English Catholic in Ireland. Under leadership of Irish chieftain, Rory O’Moore, conspiracy was formed to seize Dublin and expel the English. English settlers were driven out of Ulster. Catholics hold 59% of land in Ireland.
    1642 Confederation of Kilkenny met.
    1647 Alliance between lords of Pale and native Irishmen came to an end.
    1648 English soldier and statesman, Oliver Cromwell, landed at Dublin. His troops killed 2,000 men. A great part of lands in Munster, Leinster and Ulster (Drogheda and Wexford) were confiscated and divided among the English soldiers.
    1651 The Siege of Limerick.
    1656 Over 60,000 Irish Catholics had been sent as slaves to Barbados and other islands in the Caribbean.
    1658 The population of Ireland, estimated at 1,500,000 before Cromwell, was reduced by two-thirds, to 500,000, at his death in 1658.
    1659 The Siege of Derry.
    1660 Accession of Charles II.
    1661–68 The Duke of Ormond ruled Ireland as Viceroy.
    1672 Over 6,000 Irish boys and women sold as slaves since England gained control of Jamaica.
    1685 Rory Dall O’Cahan (aka Rory Dall Morrison and Rory Dall, 1660-1712), an Irish harper, may have composed the melody later known as the Londonderry air. Accession of James II.
    1688 Protestant Apprentice Boys close gates, raise drawbridge and refuse to surrender to Catholic forces in Derry; James II’s Parliament restored all lands confiscated since 1641. Catholics now hold 22% of land in Ireland.
    1689 William of Orange lands at Carrickfergus and defeats James II at Battle of the Boyne.
    1690 Catholic defeat at Aughrim and surrender at Limerick.
    1692–1829 Exclusion of Catholics from Parliament and all professions.
    1695 Anti-Catholic Penal Laws introduced. Catholics hold 14% of land in Ireland.
    1698 William Molyneaux pamphlet against England making laws for Irelend.
    Early 1700s Ancient Scottish manuscript originating from Lowland Scotland appears to include a melody very similar to the melody of the Londonderry air.
    1714 Catholics hold 7% of land in Ireland.
    1740 The Forgotten Famine.
    1770 Thomas Moore is born.
    1775 Henry Grattan becomes leader of the Patriot Party; Daniel O’Connell born at Derrynane, County Kerry. He received early schooling from Parish Priest and was then sent to France to receive further instruction at St. Omer and Douai.
    1782 Legislative Independence won from Britain by Irish Parliament.
    1789 George Petrie is born.
    1798 Act of Union passed.
    1803 Robert Emmett’s rising, trial and execution.
    1823 Daniel O’Connell’s Catholic