Year by Year
Explore Year by Year articles from the most modern historical year back to the oldest.
3,295 Articles Archived
Tudor Accession
Archived: 19 October 2026
In 1485, Ireland comprised competing lordships, towns and ecclesiastical jurisdictions, while Kildare dominated the English administration. His Trim parliament defended corporate privileges, funded frontier defence, Castledermot’s construction and plague relief, anticipating England’s uncertain succession. Henry VII’s accession after Bosworth altered calculations without immediately displacing Kildare. In Connacht, Uilleag Burke succeeded violently, with annals differing over his campaign and Tulsk Castle’s destruction. Successions, killings and raids reshaped Connacht and Ulster, where O’Neill and O’Donnell forces fought then made peace. Breifne conflicts involved castles, cattle and Kildare’s intervention. Church appointments, chantries, scholarship, hospitality, disease and hardship reveal communities facing persistent insecurity throughout.
Galway Mayoralty
Archived: 19 October 2026
In 1484, Ireland comprised the English lordship, autonomous towns, Anglo-Irish magnates and Gaelic dynasties, each governed through distinct but connected powers. Under Richard III, Gerald FitzGerald, earl of Kildare, dominated Dublin administration, while parliament regulated coinage, revenues, religious property, fortification and urban affairs. Galway strengthened its position when St Nicholas’s became collegiate and Richard granted the town a mayoralty. Elsewhere, insecurity persisted: northern war between O’Neill and O’Donnell coincided with a violent Maguire succession dispute in Fermanagh, involving murder, raids, captives and church attacks. Annals also record deaths, imprisonment and pastoral wealth, revealing fragmented political and social life across Ireland.
O’Donnell Campaign
Archived: 19 October 2026
In 1483, Conn O’Neill was released from captivity, inaugurated lord of Tír Eógain, and entered a major conflict with Aodh Ruadh O’Donnell. O’Donnell’s coalition, including Clandeboye forces, raided the Dundalk district, burned Traghbhaile and Baile-Lugh-mhaigh, defeated Kildare’s pursuing army, and exacted protection payments. Returning through Tír Eógain, it cleared woodland and built a wicker bridge across the Abhann Mór, escaping pursuit. Other conflicts occurred across Ireland, while bishops and learned hereditary officials died or succeeded. English dynastic change brought Richard III’s accession, but Kildare remained deputy. The annals depict interconnected lordships, warfare, landscape, church institutions, learning, and local livelihoods alike.
Conn O’Neill
Archived: 19 October 2026
In 1482 Ireland’s events reflected regional lordship, kinship, religion and learning rather than national change. Conn Ó Néill of east Ulster died, renowned as a warrior, protector and patron of Irish and Scottish learned people; Ó Néill violence followed. Feuds among Ó Raghallaigh, Mag Uidhir, Ó hAinligh and families exposed fragility of peace, guarantees and oaths, while alliances crossed Gaelic and Anglo-Irish lines. Annals commemorated scholars and hospitable clergy, revealing learning, guest-houses and devotion as authority. Roland Savage’s appointment and Tadhg Mac Cárthaigh’s papal provision to Ross showed English administrative and ecclesiastical connections, both constrained by local power in practice.
Maguire Murder
Archived: 19 October 2026
In 1481, Ireland’s annals recorded conflict, patronage and administration across politically fragmented lordships. On 5 October, Toirdelbach Mag Uidhir was treacherously killed by kinsmen in his Fermanagh castle, alongside several companions; his learning, hospitality and bardic generosity were widely mourned. Tír Eógain endured warfare among O’Neill factions, producing raids, killings, captures and the mutilation of Patrick Savage. Other deaths commemorated aristocratic patrons, poets and clerics, demonstrating the importance of learning, pilgrimage and religious institutions. Killings in Wexford reflected local rivalries, while the English lordship’s 1481–82 business addressed lands, castles, church property, revenues and urban privileges, revealing uneven but governmental authority.
Castlefinn Peace
Archived: 19 October 2026
In 1480, Irish annals recorded interconnected conflicts, settlements and deaths across Ulster, Fermanagh and Connacht. Gerald FitzGerald, Earl of Kildare, joined Conn O’Neill’s unsuccessful siege of a rival O’Neill castle, demonstrating both Dublin’s reach and its limits. Raids between Tír Eógain and Tír Chonaill caused burnings, cattle losses and casualties, while O’Donnell dynastic rivalries continued. At Castlefinn, O’Donnell, Conn O’Neill and Neachtan O’Donnell’s sons negotiated peace and appointed Eigneachán O’Donnell tanist. Obituaries for Tomás Óg Maguire, Cathal Óg Mac Maghnusa, poets and teachers emphasised hospitality, religious patronage and learning. Local feuds also involved MacMahons, Maguires, O’Rourkes and de Burgh factions.
Meelick Observance
Archived: 19 October 2026
In 1479, Ireland’s diverse political and religious worlds were marked by reform, conflict and administrative adjustment. At Meelick, O’Madden patronage supported a Franciscan Observant renewal, strengthening dynastic commemoration and regional religious links. In Ulster, warfare between Tír Chonaill and Tír Eóghain involved raids, cattle seizures, ransom and hostages, burdening local communities. Obituaries around Lough Erne reveal clergy, artisans and hospitality networks underpinning lordship. In Dublin, Edward IV appointed Gerald FitzGerald, eighth earl of Kildare, deputy lieutenant, acknowledging dependence on local power. Statutes concerning merchants, civic privileges and Gaelic subjects exposed the English lordship’s porous, contested frontiers and commercial regulation alike.
Assaroe Pestilence
Archived: 19 October 2026
In 1478 Ireland experienced severe disruption from weather, disease and conflict. Annals describe a destructive Epiphany storm that damaged livestock, buildings, churches and Dublin windows, while Cormac MacCarthy was blinded during dynastic strife. A plague reportedly arrived by ship at Assaroe, spreading through north-western Ireland and causing deaths among nobles, clergy and learned families. Thomas FitzGerald’s death brought Gerald, later Gearóid Mór, to the Kildare earldom. In Connacht, contests for Sligo, Moylurg, Roscommon and Machaire Connacht involved sieges, devastation and changing lordships; Annaly saw partition after peace. Together, uneven records depict connected communities vulnerable to maritime disease, warfare and disaster.
Tírhugh Burning
Archived: 19 October 2026
In 1477, annals depict Ireland as a patchwork of contested lordships, where kinship, land, ecclesiastical institutions and armed followings shaped power. In Tír Chonaill, Aodh Ruadh O’Donnell fought Neachtan O’Donnell’s sons, while Énrí O’Neill, supporting the rivals, devastated and burned Tírhugh. Fermanagh saw several Maguire deaths, alongside passing learned erenagh Matthew Ua Luinín and Ailbhe Maguire’s monastic association. Cormac Mac Carthaigh’s capture helped spread war across Munster; other dynastic killings occurred in Connacht and Leinster. A great wind damaged buildings, crannógs and stored produce nationwide. Kildare’s accession belongs to 1478, not 1477, according to contemporary annalistic and modern scholarly evidence.
Belfast Castle
Archived: 19 October 2026
In 1476, Ireland’s competing lordships combined warfare, negotiation and institutional continuity. Henry Ó Néill captured and demolished Bel-Feirste castle, while raiding Oirghialla; Clandeboye survived. Maguire succession in Fermanagh was destabilised by killings and deaths. In Connacht, brief seizures of Roscommon castle exposed fragile authority, whereas Mac William Burke and Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill negotiated a division of Lower Connacht after confrontation. English forces devastated crops, a monastery and settlements in the midlands. Dublin lordship maintained parliamentary, fiscal and legal activity. Annals also recorded prominent poets, clerics and scholars, revealing interconnected political, religious and learned cultures amid violence across the island.
Some records do not yet have a verified historical year and are awaiting chronological placement.