Professor David Abulafia of Cambridge University has presented a list of key events in British history that all school pupils should know. The events include the signing of the Magna Carta, the execution of Charles I, and the Battle of Trafalgar.
Here is a quiz to test similarly important dates in the history of Ireland, how will you score?
Anything between 0 and 5 and we’ll assume you were literally born yesterday. Scoring between 6 and 10 means you should head to the McClay Library immediately. 11 to 15 is respectable. 16 to 20 and you should have your own show. And if you use the internet to get your answers I won’t be angry, just very disappointed.
1. When was St. Patrick sent to Ireland?
a) 432 b) 491 c) 522
2. When did Henry II of England invade Ireland?
a) 1167 b) 1171 c) 1189
3. When was Poynings’ Law passed?
a) 1485 b) 1495 c) 1509
4. When was the Crown of Ireland Act passed?
a) 1534 b) 1536 c) 1542
5. When was the Flight of the Earls?
a) 1607 b) 1611 c) 1625
6. When was the Irish Rebellion?
a) 1636 b) 1641 c) 1645
7. When was the Cromwellian Settlement?
a) 1649 b) 1652 c) 1659
8. When was the Battle of the Boyne?
a) 1685 b) 1688 c) 1690
9. When did the Act of Union come into effect?
a) 1798 b) 1801 c) 1807
10. When was the Roman Catholic Relief Act passed?
a) 1829 b) 1832 c) 1840
11. In which year is the Irish Famine generally believed to have begun?
a) 1841 b) 1845 c) 1851
12. In what year was Harland and Wolff formed?
a) 1849 b) 1855 c) 1861
13. When was the First Home Rule Bill introduced?
a) 1886 b) 1893 c)1899
14. When did Queen Victoria visit Dublin?
a) 1892 b) 1900 c) 1901
15. When did the GAA purchase what is now Croke Park?
a) 1913 b) 1916 c) 1918
16. When did James Joyce publish Dubliners?
a) 1906 b) 1912 c) 1914
17. When did the War of Independence begin?
a)1919 b) 1921 c) 1925
18. When did the Troubles begin?
a)1960 b) 1969 c) 1972
19. In which year was the constitutional prohibition of divorce removed in the Republic of Ireland?
a) 1981 b) 1990 c) 1996
20. When was the Good Friday Agreement?
a) 1994 b) 1998 c) 2004
Answers: 1) 432, 2) 1171, 3) 1495, 4) 1542, 5) 1607, 6) 1641, 7) 1652, 8 ) 1690, 9) 1801, 10) 1829, 11) 1845, 12) 1861, 13) 1886, 14) 1900, 15) 1913, 16) 1914, 17) 1919, 18) 1969, 19) 1996, 20) 1998.
2 Comments
13, not too bad.
Hi Matthew,
I got 16 ot of 20. I would have got a maximum score had you, yourself, not got four answers wrong:
2) Henry didn’t “invade.” He came over for a spot of fishing and golf and decided to build a holiday home. Isn’t that the very thing the Irish Tourist Board is still trying to encourage?
5) The Flight never got off the ground. They had booked Ryan Air
6) You say the rebellion was in 1641. Every true Prod/Unionist knows that the rebellion is ongoing.
18) The Troubles officially began in 1171—-when the croppies refused to lie down after building Henry’s holiday home.
* As for Q 10: There was no sense of relief in my great, great grandfather’s (Pastor Tumbleweed Kane) house when that Act was passed.
Regards
Alex.