The English satirical journal, Punch, consistently under-estimated the severity of the crisis in Ireland and depicted the famine as a moral issue. It blamed indolence of the Irish for the continuation of the famine and for ’sponging! on the British taxpayer. Hard work or industry (symbolised by a shovel) at home or emigration were Punch's answers to poverty in Ireland. In the main, British press coverage of the Famine was coloured by anti-Irish prejudice and political and practical considerations. The general tenor was that the Irish were a backward race and lived on inferior food - the potato; they were ungrateful and disloyal; Ireland was a drain on British resources; and Britain was being flooded with Irish paupers. Punch, in particular, along with The Times ’reinforced traditional animosities and alienated the sympathies of the British upper and middle classes.'

In the course of the Civil War Oliver Cromwell rose from obscurity to high command in the armies of Parliament. At the end of the Civil War Parliament was faced with rebellion in Ireland. Cromwell was given the task of bringing Ireland back under English control. In this letter he describes part of the campaign to Sir Thomas Fairfax. Cromwell achieved his objectives in his Irish campaign but at a terrible cost. The savage massacres of troops and civilians at Drogheda and Wexford forged his reputation as a fearsome enemy.

The following are depictions of the Irish rising which commenced in Ulster on 22 October 1641 amid a constitutional and related economic crisis convulsing Charles I’s multiple monarchy. There were three plots - a conspiracy by Rory O’More and Conor Maguire in February 1641; a conspiracy of army officers disbanded from Wentworth’s army, subsequently abandoned; and the coalescence of these earlier plots under Sir Phelim O’Neill in August. The insurrection has traditionally been seen as a revolt against the Ulster plantation. However, the main conspirators were debt-ridden scions of families who were originally beneficiaries rather than victims of the plantation.

Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis) wrote The History and Topography of Ireland around 1200. In it he contrasts the beauty of the island and the richness of its fauna with the barbarity of its inhabitants. The result of his visit in 1185, it is the source for virtually all we know about Ireland in the Middle Ages except for a few sparse chronicle accounts. Gerald clearly wished to please his master, Henry II, by justifying the invasion as a civilising mission. Nevertheless, there is no reason to suppose that he was not genuinely shocked by the deviant aspects and apparent laxness of the Irish Church or by the barbarity of the Irish in general. For a commentary and comments on individual woodcuts, go to http://iisresource.org/Documents/0A3_Norman_Images_Ireland.pdf .

One of the most influential works in determining Tudor views of Ireland and the Irish was John Derrick's, Image of Ireland, a book of 'stolid verse' accompanied by twelve vivid woodcuts. Derrick's woodcuts have become familiar illustrations in Irish history books. However their message is often ignored, sublimated, or misunderstood. For a commentary and comments on individual woodcuts, go to http://iisresource.org/Documents/0A3_Tudor_Images_Ireland.pdf .

A selection of distinguished paintings representing the Easter Rising in Ireland and the Battle of the Somme in 1916. For more resources on 1916, please go to: http://iisresource.org/pos_05_1916.aspx.