Tomorrow marks Saint Patrick’s Day and provides an ideal opportunity to examine France and Ireland’s many ties – from religious conflict to fierce sports rivalries – which run deep between these countries.
De Gaulle’s maternal great-grandmother was a McCartan from Ireland’s 1645 rebellion who flees to France as self-imposed exile and becomes part of modern French society through her descendent’s influence.
Normans
The Normans were descended from Vikings who arrived and settled parts of Northern Europe during the late ninth century. These warrior people left an indelible mark across much of Northern Europe.
In 910, Rollo the Viking Chief received an area in northern France as part of a peace treaty between Charles “the Simple”, King of West Francia (an early forerunner to modern France) and Rollo and his “Northmen”. They pledged not to attack French realms again while cultivating land and understanding the language and culture of their new home country.
These Northmen quickly integrated with the local population, becoming even more Irish than they themselves were. Gradually they gave up speaking their native tongue and adopted Celtic religion before being subsumed into an Anglo-Norman aristocracy that left lasting effects across Ireland and England.
Wars of Religion
Conflicts over who had the right to dictate religion led to the Wars of Religion. Catholic kings wanted to enforce their faith universally while Protestant nobles wanted freedom of choice when it came to choosing their beliefs without persecution. Many times these conflicts resulted from tensions between king and people over issues like taxation and political representation.
The French Wars of Religion lasted over 25 years and saw bloody massacres such as St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (1572) that claimed thousands of Huguenot lives. A resolution finally arrived with the Edict of Nantes that granted Huguenots extensive rights.
This war gave rise to a new form of Protestantism influenced by Jean Calvin, with strict church discipline and emphasis on personal salvation as its hallmarks. Additionally, it marked an end of large scale religious conflict in Europe; though official intolerance and violent clashes continued well into the nineteenth century, even pious monarchs increasingly refused to initiate or engage in full-scale war in defense of their religious convictions.
Protestantism
The Protestant Reformation began in the 16th century, although its roots can be found much further back. Reformers wanted to return Christianity to a more bibliocentric form while rejecting corruption they perceived within it. Additionally, they emphasised an invisible church which unifies believers across denominations as opposed to Catholic beliefs in one that can be seen with its pope at its head.
The term “Protestant” originated with protests at the Second Diet of Speyer in 1529 against a Catholic majority’s rejection of Luther’s teachings by rejecting him at this Diet, leading to their eventual rejection by an overwhelming Catholic majority and, later on, through Protestant denominations themselves. Since this point forward, Protestantism has taken shape through various denominations who reject Catholic authority such as Pope Gregor VII as its leader and are dedicated to rejecting him and all forms of church authority such as papal infallibility has played a vital role in shaping its development through various denominations and organizations today.
Today there are between 800 and 1000 million Protestant Christians worldwide, accounting for roughly 30 percent of global population. France traditionally maintained a strict separation between church and state while religion in Ireland remains deeply embedded; recent years saw Irish-French relations strengthen through diplomatic legations openings on both sides and an increase in job seekers seeking work in each economy.
Vikings
Vikings were a diverse Scandinavian seafaring warrior culture who raided coastal and inland regions of Europe from the late 8th to 11th centuries, leaving their mark upon them by raiding other nations as well as having a massive effect on cultures they encountered. Although typically used to refer to those involved with raiding other nations, modern academic research has demonstrated their highly complex daily lives had an incredible influence over these same cultures that they encountered. The term “Vikings” only refers to their activities at sea – however academic research has also discovered their daily lives were highly complex with profound influences having an enormous effect upon cultures they encountered – hence having an immense impactful legacy among many cultures they encountered during these raiding expeditions.
These new arrivals to England were welcomed quite easily – perhaps more easily than their English counterparts, given Irish culture was still very much alive at this time and Irish Kings weren’t as religious. Additionally, burial close to home rather than church cemeteries was still the norm.
France became a natural home for Irish families due to an atmosphere of mutual respect and shared heritage, giving rise to over 70 million people globally who can proudly claim Irish roots like Charles de Gaulle did in his iconic photo.