Biran Friel, Making History, Historical Background
Making History: Background Research
. Geographical Background:
Area 1 is Tyrconnell - The area that O'Donnell ruled
Area 2 is County Tyrone - The area that O Neil ruled
Both of these are in the area that we now know as Northern Ireland.
Also marked on the map:
* Kinsale
* Derry
* Dublin
* Newry
* Sligo
* Dundalk
All these places are referred to in the play and are all non fictional.
2. Elizabethan English Occupation of Ireland:
The time after the horrible massacre that the English considered as the salvation of the savage Celts and is called the English Invasion was every bit as horrible as the war. The English, still considering the Irish to be savage beasts, treated them like slaves. One king who was infamous for his cruelty to the Irish people is Henry VIII.
From the beginning of his reign, Henry VIII undertook a self goal to destroy the very basic of Irish resistance by wiping out their culture. Ridiculous laws restricting marriage, fosterage, the use of native literature and language, and every other tradition of the Irish were reenacted.
Another of Henry's devices for the conquest of Ireland was the kidnapping of noblemen's sons and having them reared and educated in England, hostile to every tradition and instinct of their nationality. He would falsify papers that claimed he purchased land from an Irish landlord. In Irish tradition, the landlord did not have the right to sell land that the people lived on. This would cause a riot or rebellion against the landlord who would try to convince him of his innocence. Henry would send troops down to kill everyone in the town, labeling them 'rebels.'
The Reign of Queen Elizabeth was not much different, except that by her time, certain lords who had given allegiance to England had become quite powerful. She did not like that. She gave large gifts to some in order to insure their support, and then declared war against the others thus pitting Irish men against each other without loosing English soldiers. Then she either betray some of the remaining houses and start another war, or she would attempt to assassinate one of her allies.
Naturally the remaining Irish landlords with any power soon caught on and made no more alliances with Queen Elizabeth. In response, an army of eight hundred men led by Sir Walter Raleigh went in and slaughtered hundreds.
The head of the Burkes, Clanrickard, a 'queens' man, was seized and sent to Dublin. Then all the Burkes loosened their swords in their scabbards and sprang into rebellion. The rebellion grew. The English simply rounded up all the Burkian pacifist Catholics and killed them. This horror led to the surrender of several of the garrisons. They were killed. An army began to march, considering men, women, children, and elderly as 'rebels' to the crown. All were killed who stood in the way of Queen Elizabeth.
(adapted from http://home.snu.edu/~dwilliam/f97projects/ireland/EnglishOccupation.html)
3. Battle of Kinsale & Nine Years War:
i) Background
The Nine Years War took place from 1594 to 1603 and is also known as County Tyrone's Rebellion. It was fought between the forces of Irish chieftains Hugh O'Neill (Earl of Tyrone), Hugh Roe O'Donnell (Earl of Tyrconnell) and their allies, against the Elizabethan English government of Ireland.
The war was fought in all parts of the country, but primarily in the northern province of Ulster. It ended in defeat for the Irish chieftains, which led ultimately to their exile ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
(adapted from http://home.snu.edu/~dwilliam/f97projects/ireland/EnglishOccupation.html)
3. Battle of Kinsale & Nine Years War:
i) Background
The Nine Years War took place from 1594 to 1603 and is also known as County Tyrone's Rebellion. It was fought between the forces of Irish chieftains Hugh O'Neill (Earl of Tyrone), Hugh Roe O'Donnell (Earl of Tyrconnell) and their allies, against the Elizabethan English government of Ireland.
The war was fought in all parts of the country, but primarily in the northern province of Ulster. It ended in defeat for the Irish chieftains, which led ultimately to their exile in the Flight of the Earls and to the Plantation of Ulster. It is not be confused with the Nine Years War of the 1690s, part of which was also fought in Ireland.
ii) Causes
The Nine Years War was caused by the collision between the ambition of the Gaelic Irish chieftain Hugh O'Neill and the advance of the English state in Ireland, from control over the Pale* to ruling the whole island. In resisting this advance, O'Neill managed to rally other Irish septs who were dissatisfied with English government and those Catholics who opposed the spread of Protestantism in Ireland.
*The Pale - Area marked on map
iii) Battle of Kinsale
The battle of Kinsale could be described as the pinnacle of the nine years war; O' Neil was promised help from Spain as a result of him communicating with the king of Spain. In April 1596, O'Neill received promises of help from Spain, and thereafter chose to temporize with the authorities, professing his loyalty to the crown as circumstances required. This professional help came at the battle of Kinsale.
"In October 1601, the long awaited aid from Spain appeared in the form of an army under Don Juan de Aguila, which occupied the town of Kinsale in the extreme south of the country. Mountjoy rushed to contain the Spanish, while O'Neill and O'Donnell were compelled to hazard their armies in separate marches from the north, through territories defended by Sir George Carew, in the depths of a severe winter. At Bandon they joined together, and then blockaded the English army that was laying siege to the Spanish. The English were in a poor state, with many of their troops disabled with dysentery, and the extreme winter weather made life in camp very difficult. But owing to poor communications with the besieged Spanish and a crucial failure to withstand the shock of a daring English cavalry charge, O'Neill's army was quickly dispersed. The Irish army retreated, and the Spanish commander surrendered. The defeat at the battle of Kinsale was a disaster for O'Neill and ended his chances of winning the war."
Source: Wikipedia.com
4. Earl of Tyrone:
The Earl of Tyrone was an Irish title created several times. It was created first in 1542 for The O'Neill Mór, King of Tir Eoghan, Conn Bacach O'Neill, who submitted to the English king Henry VIII and was rewarded with the title of Earl. Shane O'Neill was was considered by some to have been the second earl. However, he went into rebellion and was killed before the title could be conferred. The title was forfeited in 1608 by his grandson, the third earl: Hugh.
In making history, the Earl of Tyrone and Hugh O'Neil can both be historically proven.
5. Brian Friel:
i) Background
Born 9 January 1929, Catholic, in Omagh, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland, Brian Friel is one of Ireland's most prominent playwrights. In addition to his published plays, he has written short stories; screenplays; film, TV and Radio adaptations of his plays; and several pieces of non-fiction on the role of theatre and the artist.
ii) Influences
Friel's early life had a strong influence on his writing. Though his father was a teacher, his grandparents, whose first language was Irish, were illiterate peasants from County Donegal whose first language was Irish. Thus his own family exemplifies the divisions between traditional and modern Ulster and Ireland, a recurring theme for Friel. Donegal is another influence that features strongly in Friel's life and work. He moved there in 1969 because he always felt his roots lay in Donegal "partly to get into the countryside and partly to get into the Republic"; he left partly because of the political situation in the North, where he says, "The sense of frustration which I felt under the tight and immovable Unionist regime became distasteful". He had joined the Nationalist Party in Derry but had left in 1967, disappointed with its lack of initiative.
iii) Common Themes
"Friel's plays deal with identity, the notion of truth, and communication, which he explores through the nature of language. Identity is formed through memory, both public and private, and it is the collective memories of a community which distinguish it from others. However, communal memory often conflicts with individual experience and several communal memories may exist simultaneously even within an individual.
The different associative and emotive memories and experiences of individuals and communities allow for different perspectives and perceptions of reality to exist. In examining the issue of memory, Friel exposes the falsity in the notion of a single, comprehensive history or truth. What becomes important is not a factual history or identity but exploring different histories and identities.
Language, for Friel, is closely implicated with identity. The names of places, for example, contain within them the history and memories, both public and private, associated with them. However, because of this difference in association, there is always a gap in communication. Friel's later plays expose the inadequacy of language in any real communication and move towards an exchange beyond language. "
Source: http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Friel.html
6. Front Cover:
Couldn't find relevant information
7. Trinity College Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin, corporately designated as the Provost, Fellows and Scholars of the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I, and is the only constituent college of the University of Dublin, Ireland's oldest university. Trinity is located on College Green opposite the former Irish Houses of Parliament (now a branch of the Bank of Ireland). The original name, Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth is referred to on page two of Making History by Harry.
8. Brehon Law
The Brehon Laws were statutes that governed everyday life and politics in Ireland until the Norman invasion of 1171. The laws were written in the Old Irish period (ca. 600-900 AD) and are assumed to reflect the traditional laws of pre-Christian Ireland. These secular laws existed in parallel with, and occasionally in conflict with, Canon law throughout the early Christian period.
The laws were a civil rather than a criminal code, concerned with the payment of compensation for harm done and the regulation of property, inheritance and contracts: the concept of state-administered punishment for crime was foreign to Ireland's early lawmakers. They show Ireland in the early medieval period to have been a hierarchical society, taking great care to define social status, and the rights and duties that went with it, according to property, and the relationships between lords and their clients and serfs.
This is truly reflected on page 4 when Harry refers to the Brehon law in the case of someone taking refuge at another persons house.
9. Robert Essex:
His real name was actually Robert Devereux but as he was the 2nd earl of Essex he has become to be known as just Robert Essex. He was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth, is the best-known of the many holders of the title "Earl of Essex." He was a military hero, but following a poor campaign against Irish rebels during the Nine Years War in 1599, he defied the queen and was executed for treason.
The greatest failure of Essex was as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, a post which he talked himself into. In the middle stages of the Nine Years War (1595-1603), no other English commander had shown himself capable of taking on the extreme challenges that faced the crown forces in that country. Superior military resources had been required to combat the rebels, who were being supplied from Spain and Scotland and led by Hugh O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone.
0. Hugh O'Neil - Earl Of Tyrone:
From reading the first few pages of the play and from some background research it is easy to conclude that Hugh O'Neil was an extremely central historical figure in Ireland during the nine years war and all the time he was the earl.
"He named himself as the "The O'Neil," and offered open rebellion to Queen Elizabeth's authority, but, despite assistance from Spain, was subdued by Essex and Mountjoy; was permitted to retain his earldom, but in James I.'s reign was again discovered intriguing with Spain; fled the country, and had his lands confiscated; d. 1616"
Source: http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Wood-NuttallEncyclopaedia/t/tyronehughoneilearlof.html
1. Friels Agenda as a Playwright
"Much of Friel's work has concerned Irish political issues, but plays such as Translations are easy for non-Irish audiences to understand and appreciate. Despite its portrayal of the English as unconscious oppressors, it generated wild enthusiasm in audiences in London's National Theatre during its extensive 1981 run. Making History (1989), set in Elizabethan Ireland, again concerns English oppression and is part of a historical cycle of plays. Friel's play Dancing at Lughnasa (1990) is a personal examination of a childhood in Ballybeg in the 1930s" http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/litLinks/drama/friel.htm
Before he started writing plays he was a school teacher. He is almost definitely aware that his plays are studied, but personally it would seem a pointless exercise to simply write plays with the intention of having them studied and ruling out a great success of having them performed around the world such as his first play "Philadelphia, Here I Come!"
1 James Kelsall