安·戈塔·莫尔
A Full Day: Roscommon Castle, Strokestown House, and the Famine Museum
Several students have been asking when they would get to see a real Irish castle, 上周四就是那一天. Our first stop of the day was at Roscommon Castle, in County Roscommon. This is an Anglo-Norman castle dating from about 1300. It’s a ruin, of course, but it’s open to the public and free. 这是一个值得探索的好地方, and students enjoy trying to climb the walls and photographing themselves among all the crumbling stones. It has great examples of classic Norman drum towers.
.A short drive from from Roscommon is Strokestown House, 由马洪家族于18世纪30年代建造, 盎格鲁-爱尔兰优势的成员. These were people who had been sent over to England, 从17世纪开始, 建立种植园并耕种土地. They were given large tracts of land as rewards for their loyalty and service to the British crown. They built very impressive mansions and employed dozens of servants to help maintain their upper-class lifestyle.
It’s important to point out that hundreds (thousands?) of Irish farmers were pushed off their own land and farms in order for these English to settle in 爱尔兰. Many were pushed out to the west of the country, 在哪里, 正如我们所见, 这块地多岩石，很难耕种. Others were forced to rent their own land back from the Anglo-Irish and became tenant farmers. 随着时间的推移，盎格鲁-爱尔兰人, 他们几乎都是新教徒, 拥有爱尔兰95%的土地. Catholic land-ownership declined from 60% of all the land in 爱尔兰 in 1641 to just 5% in 1776, due to the establishment of these plantations and the ridiculously discriminatory laws about Catholic property ownership established by the British.
The Mahon family lived comfortably and elegantly.
We saw several striking examples of how the landowners strove to keep their distance from their Irish servants, 包括走廊厨房. The Anglo-Irish (Protestant) lady of the house would toss down her written orders from above, so as to avoid having to actually interact with the Irish-Catholic servants working below.
This board game in the nursery makes it clear 在哪里 this family's sympathies lay.
The elegance of Strokestown House provides a great counterpoint to the Famine Museum that has been established in the former outbuildings of the manor house.
It’s important to note that the Irish refer to the potato famine of the 1840’s as 安·戈塔·莫尔, 这是爱尔兰语“大饥荒”的意思.” We spent time in class talking about the difference between the words “famine” and “hunger.” Nearly a million people died in 爱尔兰 during 安·戈塔·莫尔, but this was not because there was not food in 爱尔兰. 它只是不属于可怜的爱尔兰人. The Anglo-Irish continued to export food – beef, dairy products, etc. -在饥荒期间到其他国家. 这是当时的一位爱尔兰政治家, 约翰一, 引用他的话说, “万能的上帝确实创造了马铃薯枯萎病. 英国人制造了这场饥荒.” The museum displays are extensive and compelling, and the complexity of the underlying causes and the response to this famine raise important questions still relevant today.
