Red Henry's War
The professor shuffles into the lecture hall and procedes with his usual routine. He then turns to face his class
"A lot of nationalism and romanticism has been assigned to Red Henry's War. The image of brave and noble Irishmen fighting tyrannical English for their freedom makes for a really great movie. Unfortuetly it has little to do with the historical reality."
"In truth, the Irish portion of Red Henry's War, as we know the spasm of coinciding conflicts that acompanied the first decade of the rule of Henry VIII of England, had it's roots in a jurisdictional conflict between two different Irish proto-governments."
"The first and eldest was the English-created Irish Parliment in Dublin, stocked with English Lords, and boistrously pro-England. The second, younger government was the Vassal Council. The first had more legal legitimacy, but virtually no influence outside of the Pale. The second had been much more effective at meeting the tax demands of Henry VII, but stood on shaky ground legally."
"Near the end of his reign Henry VII had begun openly favoring the Vassal Council despite their seperatist leanings. Henry VIII, however, wasn't going to have any of that. He established the primacy of Parliment over the Vassal Council, legally making their rulings binding and relegating the Council to the status of an administrative organ. But the De Facto situation didn't change, except that the Council became aware that without their cooperation the decrees of the English King carried little weight in Ireland."
"The Council was still quietly ignoring the Act of Irish Primacy when King Henri of France declared war upon England, primarily over the fortress port city of Calais. The more militant wings of the council wanted to declare for France, but the Council maintained de facto neutrality. Parliment, of course, didn't even consider anything but supporting their King."
"The English continental army was anhiliated by the French in the Pas-de-Calais within a few months. The illustrious Lord Norfolk was called back to London to prepare defences against an expected invasion of England. The English Navy was engaged in a brutal campaign to win superiorilty of the Channel, though thanks to superior leadership the French were getting the better part of it."
"Still, Ireland did not rise in revolt. The Parlimentary Irish Army, now under the command of the rather inept Colonel Daniel Dingle, was still numerically superior. Then in the second spring since the war began, the French invasion came, but it did not aim at London, but Dublin."
"The French Generale La Palice sailed from Western Brittany, avoiding the English Navy engaged in the Channel around Calais, and landed just to the south of Dublin. Colonel Dingle was slow in organizing the Parlimentary army stationed their, and allowed La Palice too much time to order his men after disembarking. In any event he could not match La Palice in terms of strategic ability. The Parlimentary Army of Ireland suffered atrocious casualties in the Battle of the Dublin Beaches. As La Palice arranged his men and cannon for what would become a long, costly seige, Dingle led his demorilized and decimated men toward Galway. There he hoped to find aide in the form of Commander-in-Chief Micheal Northumberland's Army of Erin."
"Just why Dingle thought he could persuade Northumberland to join the Parlimentarians is a subject of debate. Answers range from stupidity, madness, and desperation to bribes, blackmail and a secret conspiracy. In any event, Dingle never got to make his case, as the Council, no longer Vassals, declared war upon the King of England upon word of the French landings. Northumberlands army annhiliated the remaining Parliment Irish in the Battle of the Burren, but Dingle was down to a few hundred men, with most of his rank and file Irish volunteers deserting."
"A triumphant Northumberland joined the seige of Dublin. Deferring to his obvious mastery of the art of warfare, he agreed that La Palice would command the joint conduct of the seige. La Palice is generally believed to have acted in good faith, with the successfull outcome of the seige in mind, but the later actions of his King cast him in a bad light in Ireland for many, many years."
"At this point, despite French victories on the continent, despite the Franco-Celtic army outside dublin, England could still have won the war, or at least forced a stalemate. Her fleet, though battered, was more than able to ferry supplies and reinfocements to Dublin. The bulk of her army stood ready to face a french invasion under the command of Lord Norfolk, who was every bit a match for French Generals like La Palice. But as luck would have it, events in Copenhagen sealed the fate of Ireland."
"Denmark was at this time a major player in the Baltic Sea trade, but faced constant infuriating medling from the Hanseatic League, a collection of North German states with mercantile interests of its own in the region. Conflict ignited over the region of Holstien- famous as the home of a popular breed of cow. Though a vassal of Denmark, Holstein was a peculiar peasant republic, not a proper part of the kingdom, that had sought military and political protection from the league."
"An act of petty theft culminated in a jurisdictional conflict, which escalated into war. Holstien called in the Hansa for help. The Hanse, in turn, turned to their good friend, ally and significant debtor, Henry VIII. Henry at first wanted to pass, but faced with the choice of having his hanseatic creditors call in his debts in the middle of a war, he consented. He apparently intended the English military commitment to be a token one, but the king of Denmark took it very seriously, using the oportunity to establish his naval supremecy in the North Sea. England now faced not only the risk of invasion in the south from france, but in the North from the danish realm of Norway."
"Henry then was much too busy to prevent the fall of Dublin which surrendered to La Palice. Peace negotiations in France produced a treaty which removed forever the English presence in the Pas-de-Calais, and prevented the English kings from claiming the title "King of France", as they had been for centuries. In return for these concessions, France would return the city of Dublin to England. The treaty made no mention of the fate of Ireland asside from that. When La Palice recieved the news, he was horrifyed to betray the comrades he said "had fought with bravery unheard of in such ill-trained soldiers". But he carried out his orders, and turned over the city to the English mayor, who wasted no time re-building the walls and forming a new milita."
"The Army of Erin had retired to Belfast for supply reasons, awaiting an anticipated counterinvasion from England. When word of the Black Accord reached Northumberland, he marched his men with all speed to Dublin, but found the gates barred, walls manned and mayor unwilling to negotiate. He had no choice but to resume the siege."
"It would be another year before the Starving Men's Riot would sieze the gates and throw them open to the Irish, forcing the English mayor to retreat. The English then launched a half-harted counteratack, an amphibious assault dubbed "The Battle of the Crippled Seals" after the way English soldiers floundered in the heavy surf as Northumberland's Erin Army liesurly waited on the beach to spear those who got that far and were still in any shape to fight."
"After the Wounded Seals debacle, Henry VIII would still wait another year and a half before meeting Irish demands to turn over the City of Dublin and recoginize a sovreign nation of Ireland. But, of course, he did, giving us the fine holiday of Nation Day in the process. For that, at least, we owe Red Henry some thanks."
"That's all for today, be sure to read the section on postwar Europe and the Tara Concord for next time."
<Much shuffling of notebooks and murmured conversations as the students exit>
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