Ribbonism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ribbonism, whose adherents were usually called Ribbonmen, refers to the Ribbon Society first founded in Ireland in 1826. The name is derived from a green ribbon worn as a badge in a button-hole by the members.[1]
The Ribbon Society was principally an agrarian secret society, whose members consisted of rural Irish Catholics.[2] The society was formed in response to the miserable conditions in which the vast majority of tenant farmers and rural workers lived in the early 19th century in Ireland. The agrarian objectives of this society were to prevent landlords from changing or evicting their tenants. They also attacked tithe and process servers, and later evolved the policy of Tenants' Rights.[3]
Depending on the district, the society was variously known as the Fraternal Society, the Patriotic Association or the Sons of the Shamrock. The Ribbonmen's organisation was similar to that of the Whiteboys or the Defenders of earlier periods. They were organised in lodges, and during the 1820s were in contact with certain organisations of Radicals in England.[3]
The ideology of the Ribbonmen supported the Catholic Association and the political separation of Ireland from Great Britain, and the rights of the tenant as against those of the landlord.[4] The Ribbonmen were involved in violent (and sometimes deadly) riots with the Orange Order in the north of Ireland, and elsewhere used violence to resist paying tithes to the Protestant Church of Ireland.[4] As the agitation for Catholic Emancipation grew, the tension between Ribbonism and Orangeism increased.[1]
Ribbonists were most active between 1835 and 1855 and in the Tithe War.[1]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c Wood, Rev. James, ed. (1907), The Nuttall Encyclopædia
- ^ Robert Kee, The Green Flag, 1972, p. 299
- ^ a b H. B. C. Pollard, Secret Societies of Ireland, Their Rise and Progress, 2003, pp. 34-37
- ^ a b Frazier, Adrian (2000), George Moore, 1852–1933, Yale University Press, pp. 604, ISBN 0-300-08245-2
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.
