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History of Cork
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History of Cork
Cork, located on Ireland's south coast, is the second largest city within the Republic of Ireland after Dublin and the third largest on the island of Ireland after Dublin and Belfast. Cork City is the largest city in the province of Munster. Its history dates back to the sixth century.
Cork began as a monastic settlement, founded by St Finbar in the sixth century. However the ancestor of the modern city was founded between 915 and 922, when Viking settlers established a trading community. The Viking leader Ottir Iarla is particularly associated with raiding and conquests in the province of Munster. The Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib connects this with the earliest Viking settlement of Cork. The Norse phase of Cork's history left a legacy of family names, such as Cotter and Coppinger, peculiar to Cork which are claimed to have Norse origins. In the twelfth century, this settlement was taken over by invading Anglo-Norman settlers. The Norsemen of Cork fought against the Norman incomers, mounting an expedition of 32 ships against them in 1173, which was defeated in a naval battle. Cork's city charter was granted by Prince John in 1185. Over the centuries, much of the city was rebuilt, time and again, after numerous fires. The city was at one time fully walled, and several sections and gates remain. The title of Mayor of Cork was established by royal charter in 1318, and the title was changed to Lord Mayor in 1900.
For much of the Middle Ages, Cork city was an outpost of Old English culture in the midst of a predominantly hostile Gaelic countryside and cut off from the English government in the Pale around Dublin. Neighbouring Gaelic and Hiberno-Norman lords extorted "Black Rent" from the citizens to keep them from attacking the city. The Cork municipal government was dominated by about 12–15 merchant families, whose wealth came from overseas trade with continental Europe – in particular the export of wool and hides and the import of salt, iron and wine.
The medieval population of Cork was about 2,000. It suffered a severe blow in 1349 when almost half the townspeople died of bubonic plague when the Black Death arrived. In 1491 Cork played a part in the English Wars of the Roses when Perkin Warbeck a pretender to the English throne, landed in the city and tried to recruit support for a plot to overthrow Henry VII of England. The former mayor of Cork John Atwater and several important citizens went with Warbeck to England but when the rebellion collapsed they were all captured and executed. Cork's nickname of the 'rebel city' originates in these events.
A description of Cork written in 1577 speaks of the city as, "the fourth city of Ireland" that is, "so encumbered with evil neighbours, the Irish outlaws, that they are fayne to watch their gates hourly ... they trust not the country adjoining [and only marry within the town] so that the whole city is linked to each other in affinity".
The character of Cork was changed by the Tudor conquest of Ireland (c. 1540–1603) which left the English authorities in control of all of Ireland for the first time, introduced thousands of English settlers in the Plantations of Ireland and tried to impose the Protestant Reformation on a predominantly Catholic country. Cork suffered from the warfare involved in the reconquest, particularly in the Second Desmond Rebellion in 1579–83, when thousands of rural people fled to the city to avoid the fighting, bringing with them an outbreak of bubonic plague.
Shandon Castle (just outside the walls of the city) became the official residence of the President of Munster in the late sixteenth century. As a "centre of English administration" in the area, Cork by and large sided with the Crown in the conflicts of the period, even after a Spanish expeditionary force landed at nearby Kinsale in 1601 during the Nine Years War. However, the price the citizens demanded for their loyalty was toleration of their Roman Catholic religion. In 1603, the citizens of Cork along with Waterford and Limerick rebelled, expelling Protestant ministers, imprisoning English officials, seizing the municipal arsenals and demanding freedom of worship for Catholics. They refused to admit Lord Mountjoy's English army when it marched south, citing their charters from the twelfth century. Mountjoy retorted that he would, "cut King John his charter with King James his sword" and arrested the ringleaders, thus ending the revolt.
In 1641, Ireland was convulsed by the Irish Rebellion of 1641. Cork became a stronghold for the English Protestants, who sought refuge there after the outbreak of the rebellion and remained in Protestant hands throughout the ensuing Irish Confederate Wars. An ineffective Irish Confederate attempt to take the city in 1642 was beaten off at the battle of Liscarroll. In 1644, Murrough O'Brien, Earl Inchiquinn, the commander of English forces in Cork, expelled the Catholic townsmen from the city. Although most of them went no further than the city's suburbs, this was the beginning of Protestant domination of the city that would last for nearly two centuries. The population of Cork by this times was around 5,000, most of whom lived outside the city walls.
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History of Cork AI simulator
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History of Cork
Cork, located on Ireland's south coast, is the second largest city within the Republic of Ireland after Dublin and the third largest on the island of Ireland after Dublin and Belfast. Cork City is the largest city in the province of Munster. Its history dates back to the sixth century.
Cork began as a monastic settlement, founded by St Finbar in the sixth century. However the ancestor of the modern city was founded between 915 and 922, when Viking settlers established a trading community. The Viking leader Ottir Iarla is particularly associated with raiding and conquests in the province of Munster. The Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib connects this with the earliest Viking settlement of Cork. The Norse phase of Cork's history left a legacy of family names, such as Cotter and Coppinger, peculiar to Cork which are claimed to have Norse origins. In the twelfth century, this settlement was taken over by invading Anglo-Norman settlers. The Norsemen of Cork fought against the Norman incomers, mounting an expedition of 32 ships against them in 1173, which was defeated in a naval battle. Cork's city charter was granted by Prince John in 1185. Over the centuries, much of the city was rebuilt, time and again, after numerous fires. The city was at one time fully walled, and several sections and gates remain. The title of Mayor of Cork was established by royal charter in 1318, and the title was changed to Lord Mayor in 1900.
For much of the Middle Ages, Cork city was an outpost of Old English culture in the midst of a predominantly hostile Gaelic countryside and cut off from the English government in the Pale around Dublin. Neighbouring Gaelic and Hiberno-Norman lords extorted "Black Rent" from the citizens to keep them from attacking the city. The Cork municipal government was dominated by about 12–15 merchant families, whose wealth came from overseas trade with continental Europe – in particular the export of wool and hides and the import of salt, iron and wine.
The medieval population of Cork was about 2,000. It suffered a severe blow in 1349 when almost half the townspeople died of bubonic plague when the Black Death arrived. In 1491 Cork played a part in the English Wars of the Roses when Perkin Warbeck a pretender to the English throne, landed in the city and tried to recruit support for a plot to overthrow Henry VII of England. The former mayor of Cork John Atwater and several important citizens went with Warbeck to England but when the rebellion collapsed they were all captured and executed. Cork's nickname of the 'rebel city' originates in these events.
A description of Cork written in 1577 speaks of the city as, "the fourth city of Ireland" that is, "so encumbered with evil neighbours, the Irish outlaws, that they are fayne to watch their gates hourly ... they trust not the country adjoining [and only marry within the town] so that the whole city is linked to each other in affinity".
The character of Cork was changed by the Tudor conquest of Ireland (c. 1540–1603) which left the English authorities in control of all of Ireland for the first time, introduced thousands of English settlers in the Plantations of Ireland and tried to impose the Protestant Reformation on a predominantly Catholic country. Cork suffered from the warfare involved in the reconquest, particularly in the Second Desmond Rebellion in 1579–83, when thousands of rural people fled to the city to avoid the fighting, bringing with them an outbreak of bubonic plague.
Shandon Castle (just outside the walls of the city) became the official residence of the President of Munster in the late sixteenth century. As a "centre of English administration" in the area, Cork by and large sided with the Crown in the conflicts of the period, even after a Spanish expeditionary force landed at nearby Kinsale in 1601 during the Nine Years War. However, the price the citizens demanded for their loyalty was toleration of their Roman Catholic religion. In 1603, the citizens of Cork along with Waterford and Limerick rebelled, expelling Protestant ministers, imprisoning English officials, seizing the municipal arsenals and demanding freedom of worship for Catholics. They refused to admit Lord Mountjoy's English army when it marched south, citing their charters from the twelfth century. Mountjoy retorted that he would, "cut King John his charter with King James his sword" and arrested the ringleaders, thus ending the revolt.
In 1641, Ireland was convulsed by the Irish Rebellion of 1641. Cork became a stronghold for the English Protestants, who sought refuge there after the outbreak of the rebellion and remained in Protestant hands throughout the ensuing Irish Confederate Wars. An ineffective Irish Confederate attempt to take the city in 1642 was beaten off at the battle of Liscarroll. In 1644, Murrough O'Brien, Earl Inchiquinn, the commander of English forces in Cork, expelled the Catholic townsmen from the city. Although most of them went no further than the city's suburbs, this was the beginning of Protestant domination of the city that would last for nearly two centuries. The population of Cork by this times was around 5,000, most of whom lived outside the city walls.