JC History key terms

A document, object, or other evidence created during the period being studied, such as a diary, letter, photograph, or artefact. It gives direct, first-hand information but must be checked for bias and reliability.

A later account or interpretation of past events, written after the period by someone who was not present, such as a textbook, biography, or documentary. It relies on primary sources and reflects the author's selection and viewpoint.

An unfair slant or one-sided view in a source, often caused by the creator's opinions, loyalties, or purpose. Historians identify bias by asking who made the source, why, and what it leaves out.

The extent to which a source can be trusted as accurate evidence. It is judged by the creator's knowledge, closeness to events, purpose, and whether other sources support its claims.

A human-made object from the past, such as a tool, weapon, pot, or coin, usually recovered by archaeologists. Artefacts provide physical evidence about how people lived, worked, and traded.

The careful, systematic digging of an archaeological site to uncover and record remains in the order they were deposited. Modern excavation records the exact position of every find and preserves evidence for later analysis.

The study of layers (strata) of soil and debris at an archaeological site. Because lower layers are usually older than upper ones, stratigraphy helps archaeologists establish the relative sequence of human activity.

A scientific method that measures the decay of carbon-14 in once-living material such as wood, bone, or charcoal to estimate its age. It is widely used for prehistoric sites and can date objects up to about 50,000 years old.

The Middle Stone Age in Ireland, roughly 8000–4000 BC, when hunter-gatherer groups used flint tools and lived near rivers and coasts. Sites such as Mount Sandel in County Derry provide evidence of their huts and diet.

The New Stone Age, beginning in Ireland around 4000 BC, when farming, pottery, and permanent settlements arrived. Megalithic tombs such as Newgrange and court cairns date from this period.

A large stone-built burial monument of the Neolithic period, including court tombs, portal dolmens, and passage tombs. These tombs show organised communities, ritual beliefs, and skilled engineering.

A large passage tomb in the Boyne Valley, County Meath, built around 3200 BC. At the winter solstice, sunlight enters the roof box and illuminates the inner chamber, showing sophisticated astronomical knowledge.

A Neolithic landscape of stone-walled field systems preserved under bog in County Mayo, dating to around 3500 BC. It is among the oldest known agricultural field systems in the world.

A term describing a family of related languages and cultural traditions spread across Iron Age Europe, including Ireland. In Irish history it often refers to the Iron Age people whose art and language influenced later Gaelic culture.

The earliest form of writing found in Ireland, consisting of groups of notches cut along the edge of a stone. Most surviving ogham stones date from around the fifth to seventh centuries AD and often mark burials.

The period from the fifth to the ninth century AD when Christianity spread across Ireland and monastic settlements flourished. It produced famous illuminated manuscripts, stone crosses, and missionary activity in Europe.

A religious community of monks or nuns living under a rule, often enclosed by a wall. Irish monasteries such as Clonmacnoise became centres of learning, craft, and manuscript production.

A tall, cylindrical stone tower with a conical roof built beside Irish monastic sites from around the ninth century. Towers served as bell towers and places of refuge during Viking raids.

An illuminated manuscript of the four Gospels, produced around 800 AD and associated with the monastery of Iona and later Kells. It is celebrated for its intricate decoration and is held at Trinity College Dublin.

A sudden attack by Norse seafarers, beginning in Ireland in the late eighth century, often targeting wealthy monasteries. Raids later gave way to settlement and trade, shaping towns such as Dublin and Waterford.

The Gaelic-speaking society and political order of Ireland before the Anglo-Norman invasion, organised around tuatha (peoples), kings, and brehon law. Its culture and language survived long after the invasion.

The traditional legal system of Gaelic Ireland, administered by professional judges called brehons. It dealt with offences through fines and compensation rather than imprisonment and survived in some areas into the seventeenth century.

A Tudor policy in which Gaelic lords surrendered their lands to the English crown and received them back with an English title. It aimed to bring Irish lords under English law and control.

The organised settlement of English and Scottish Protestants on land confiscated from Irish Catholics, especially in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Plantations aimed to secure English control and spread Protestantism.

The settlement of English and Scottish Protestant planters in six counties of Ulster from 1609, following the Flight of the Earls. It reshaped land ownership, religion, and politics in the north of Ireland.

The departure in 1607 of Hugh O'Neill, Hugh O'Donnell, and other Gaelic lords from Ireland to mainland Europe. Their departure removed the strongest Gaelic leadership and paved the way for the Ulster Plantation.

A series of laws passed mainly in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries restricting the rights of Catholics and Protestant dissenters. They limited land ownership, education, and political participation.

The removal of most legal restrictions on Catholics in the United Kingdom, achieved in 1829 through Daniel O'Connell's campaign. It allowed Catholics to sit in Parliament and hold senior public offices.

The law passed in 1800 that abolished the Irish Parliament and created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 January 1801. Ireland was then represented at Westminster.

A rising against British rule in Ireland led mainly by the Society of United Irishmen, inspired by the American and French revolutions. It was defeated within months, and its failure led directly to the Act of Union.

A radical organisation founded in Belfast in 1791 by Presbyterians and others who sought parliamentary reform and Catholic rights. It later became a secret revolutionary society aiming for an independent Irish republic.

A Protestant founder of the United Irishmen who sought French help for an Irish republic. He was captured after the 1798 Rebellion and died in prison in Dublin.

The period 1845–1852 when potato blight destroyed Ireland's main food crop, causing mass starvation, disease, and emigration. About one million people died and over a million emigrated, drastically changing Irish society.

A fungal disease that rotted potato crops in Ireland from 1845, destroying the staple food of poor families. Repeated outbreaks turned a food crisis into a national catastrophe.

A institution run by Poor Law unions where destitute people could receive food and shelter in return for labour. Workhouses became overcrowded and deadly during the Great Famine.

A nickname for the overcrowded, poorly equipped emigrant ships that carried famine refugees to North America. Disease and death were common on board, and many passengers died before reaching land.

The demand for a separate Irish parliament within the United Kingdom to manage domestic affairs. Three Home Rule bills were introduced between 1886 and 1914, and the third was suspended because of the First World War.

A rebellion in Dublin during Easter week 1916, led by the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army, who proclaimed an Irish Republic. Although it failed, the execution of its leaders increased public support for independence.

The guerrilla conflict from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army and British forces in Ireland. It ended with the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which created the Irish Free State.

The agreement signed in December 1921 that ended the War of Independence and established the Irish Free State as a dominion. It allowed Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom and caused a split among nationalists.

A cultural movement beginning in fourteenth-century Italy that revived interest in classical learning, art, and science. It emphasised humanism, individual achievement, and observation of the natural world.

A Renaissance intellectual movement that focused on the study of classical texts and human potential rather than purely religious matters. Humanists such as Erasmus encouraged critical thinking and reform of education and the Church.

The sixteenth-century movement that challenged the authority of the Catholic Church and led to the creation of Protestant churches. It began with Martin Luther's criticisms in 1517 and transformed European religion and politics.

The Catholic Church's response to the Protestant Reformation, including the Council of Trent, reform of religious orders, and renewed missionary activity. It reaffirmed Catholic doctrine and strengthened papal authority.

A mechanical device developed by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-fifteenth century that allowed texts to be reproduced quickly and cheaply. It spread Renaissance and Reformation ideas rapidly across Europe and raised literacy.

An eighteenth-century intellectual movement that emphasised reason, science, liberty, and progress. Its ideas about natural rights and government by consent influenced the American and French revolutions.

The political and social upheaval in France from 1789 that overthrew the monarchy and established a republic based on liberty, equality, and fraternity. It inspired revolutionary movements across Europe, including in Ireland.

A political belief that a people sharing a common language, culture, or history should form their own independent nation-state. It drove nineteenth-century unifications and independence movements across Europe.

The war from 1775 to 1783 in which the thirteen American colonies won independence from Britain. Its ideas of liberty and representative government influenced reformers in Ireland and Europe.

Information, often biased or misleading, spread deliberately to promote a political cause or point of view. Historians treat propaganda cautiously because it is designed to persuade rather than to record facts accurately.

The arrangement of events in the order in which they occurred. Historians use timelines and dating methods to establish sequence and cause-and-effect relationships between events.