The flight of the earls

Sceala Clann Counsellor Location: NZ

ireland mourns ouster of chieftains
afp
ireland is marking the 400th anniversary of the traumatic ouster of its traditional rulers by england, which president mary mcaleese yesterday said it is only now coming to terms with.
the "flight of the earls" in 1607 saw some of ireland's top aristocrats, or chieftains, and their followers quitting their homeland for continental europe amid a clampdown by the english, who ruled the nation at the time.
they never returned and their departure symbolised the downfall of the old catholic political, legal and cultural order, paving the way for an intensification of english colonial rule.
"even today we struggle to fully comprehend the downstream consequences of the loss, the driving out of our great native leaders," mcaleese said as she unveiled an anniversary commemorative sculpture in county donegal, north-west ireland.
"and so the scene was set for the ireland of unfinished business, of unsolved problems we were to inherit all these years later." land in the north which was confiscated from the chieftains who had fled was handed to loyal protestants from england and scotland. that area later became the british-ruled province riven by violence for several decades until the 1998 good friday agreement. it has been ruled by a devolved government since may.
kerrin, did you see the president?
the food sounds great.

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The flight of the earls