Resumo de The History Of Limerick

The history of Limerick, the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland and a major cultural and industrial centre, stretches back to its establishment by the Vikings as a walled city on "King's Island" (an island in the River Shannon) in 812, and its charter in 1197. A great castle was built on the orders of King John in 1200. It was besieged three times in the 17th century, resulting in the famous Treaty of Limerick and the flight of the defeated Catholic leaders abroad. Much of the City was built during the following Georgian prosperity, which ended abruptly with the Act of Union in 1800. The depression was to last nearly two centuries, through famine, war, and emergency, until the boom times of the 1990s. The city's position as one of Europe's most westerly points has made it somewhat of a crossroads between the old and new worlds. Famous visitors have included John F. Kennedy, Che Guevara, Boris Yeltsin and Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia.
Siege and treaty
Main article: Sieges of Limerick
Limerick was besieged several times in the 17th century. The first was in 1642, when the Irish Confederates took the King John's Castle from its English garrison. The city was besieged by Oliver Cromwell's army under Henry Ireton in 1651. The city had supported Confederate Ireland since 1642 and was garrisoned by troops from Ulster. The Confederates supported the claims of Charles II to the English throne, and the besiegers fought for a parliamentary republic. Famine and plague lead to the death of 5,000 residents before heavy bombardment of Irishtown led to breach and surrender in late October of that year.

Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan.In the Williamite war in Ireland, following the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, French and Irish forces (numbering 14,000) regrouped in behind Limerick's walls. Time and war had led to a terrible decay of the once proud fortifications. The occupying armies are recorded as claiming that the walls could be knocked down with rotten apples. The Williamite besiegers, while numbering 20,000, were hampered by the loss of their heavier guns to an attack by Patrick Sarsfield. In fierce fighting, the walls were breached on three occasions, but the defenders prevailed. Eventually the Williamites withdrew to Waterford.

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