The story of Ireland is a documentary history “BBC Series” that examines the history of Ireland and its impact on the wider world, from the earliest times right up to the present day. This compelling five-part series is written and presented by BBC correspondent Fergal Keane. Over the course of the five episodes, Fergal travels across three continents, tracing the events, the people and the influences that shaped modern Ireland. The story of Ireland takes an outward-looking approach to key developments in Ireland down through the centuries mirrored against events and changes in Europe and the rest of the world and challenges long held myths.

In this second episode, Fergal Keane examines how the huge upheavals of Europe in the Middle Ages altered the story of Ireland irrevocably. Beginning with the Anglo Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169, he investigates how the Normans changed Irish life and why Gaelic Kings initially welcomed an English ruler. But it is also the story of an incomplete conquest. The English Crown only finally moves to impose its will in Ireland after the Protestant reformation places Ireland in the forefront of religious war.

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