Ribbonism, whose supporters were usually called Ribbonmen, was a 19th-century popular movement of poor

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in Ireland. The movement was also known as Ribandism. The Ribbonmen were active against

landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, t ...

s and their agents, and opposed "Orangeism", the ideology of the Protestant

Orange Order The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants, particularly those of Ulster Scots heritage. It al ...

History

The Ribbon Society was principally an agrarian

secret society A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence a ...

, whose members consisted of rural Irish

. 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. Its objective was to prevent landlords from changing or evicting their tenants. Ribbonmen also attacked tithe and process servers, and later evolved the policy of Tenants' Rights.H. B. C. Pollard, Secret Societies of Ireland, Their Rise and Progress, 2003, pp. 34–37 The existence of "ribandmen" was recorded as early as 1817. The name is derived from a green ribbon worn as a badge in a button-hole by the members. 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 The Whiteboys ( ga, na Buachaillí Bána) were a secret Irish agrarian organisation in 18th-century Ireland which defended tenant-farmer land-rights for subsistence farming. Their name derives from the white smocks that members wore in thei ...

or the

Defenders Defender(s) or The Defender(s) may refer to: *Defense (military) * Defense (sports) **Defender (association football) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Defender'' (1989 film), a Canadian documentary * ''The Defender'' (1994 ...

of earlier periods. They were organised in lodges, and during the 1820s were in contact with certain organisations of Radicals in England. 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. The Ribbonmen were involved in violent (and sometimes deadly) riots with the

in the north of Ireland, and elsewhere used violence to resist paying tithes to the Protestant

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the secon ...

. As the agitation for

Catholic Emancipation Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...

grew, the tension between Ribbonism and Orangeism increased. Historians disagree over the extent to which Ribbonism was an organised network of conspirators, as opposed to unrelated local groups whose similar actions were not coordinated. A.C. Murray suggests that any unsolved agrarian crimes after the

and before the Land League were conveniently blamed on Ribbonism, with the 1871 report of the select committee into disturbances in

County Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = , subdivis ...

being a case in point.

References

External links

Trench, William Steuart, Realities of Irish Life, 1868
contains his experiences with Ribbonism and Ribbonmen {{Authority control Rebellions in Ireland Anti-Protestantism Protestantism-related controversies Irish secret societies Irish agrarian protest societies

History

See also

References

External links