Editing Limerick (section)

===Late Renaissance/Early modern history===
[[File:DV405 no.235 Limerick.png|thumb|Limerick, painted in 1830]]
[[File:George Street, Limerick (5691906290).jpg|thumb|Cannock's Department Store on O'Connell Street in the early 20th Century]]

Limerick in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was sometimes called the most beautiful city in Ireland.{{Attribution needed|date=September 2019}} The English-born judge [[Luke Gernon]], a resident of Limerick, wrote in 1620 that at his first sight of the city he had been taken by its "lofty buildings of marble, like the Colleges in [[Oxford]]".<ref>Gernon, Luke  ''A Discourse of Ireland'' 1620 edited by C.L. Falkiner 1904</ref>

During the civil wars of the 17th century the city played a pivotal role, besieged by [[Oliver Cromwell]] in 1651 and twice by [[William III of England|the Williamites]] in the 1690s. The [[Treaty of Limerick]] ended the [[Williamite war in Ireland]] which was fought between supporters of the Catholic [[King James II]] (Jacobites) and the Protestant [[William III of England|King William of Orange]] (Williamites). The treaty offered toleration to Catholicism and full legal rights to Catholics that swore an oath of loyalty to [[William III of England|William III]] and [[Mary II of England|Mary II]]. The Treaty was of national significance as it ensured closer British and Protestant dominance over Ireland. The articles of the Treaty protecting Catholic rights were not passed by the Protestant [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]] which rather updated the [[Penal Laws against Irish Catholics|Penal Laws]] against Catholics which had major implications for [[History of Ireland|Irish history]]. Reputedly the Treaty was signed on the Treaty Stone, an irregular block of limestone which once served as a mounting block for horses. This stone is now displayed on a pedestal at Clancy Strand. Because of the treaty, Limerick is sometimes known as the Treaty City. This turbulent period earned the city its motto: {{lang|la|urbs antiqua fuit studisque asperrima belli}} (an ancient city well studied in the arts of war).

The peaceful times that followed the turmoil of the late 17th century allowed the city to prosper through trade in the late 18th century. During this time Limerick Port established itself as one of Ireland's major commercial ports exporting agricultural produce from one of Ireland's most fertile areas, the [[Golden Vale]], to Britain and America.<ref name="libraryireland.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/L/Limerick-Port.php|title=Limerick Port|publisher=libraryireland.com|access-date=21 September 2013|archive-date=25 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130925151832/http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/L/Limerick-Port.php|url-status=live}}</ref> This increase in trade and wealth, particularly amongst the city's merchant classes saw a rapid expansion of the city as [[Newtown Pery, Limerick|Georgian Limerick]] began to take shape. This gave the city its present-day look, including the extensive terraced streets of [[Georgian architecture|Georgian]] townhouses which remain in the city centre today. The [[Waterford and Limerick Railway]] linked the city to the [[Dublin–Cork railway line]] in 1848 and to [[Waterford]] in 1853. The opening of a number of secondary railways in the subsequent decades developed Limerick as a regional centre of communications. However, the economic downturn in the European conflicts of the [[French Revolution]] and Napoleonic eras, and following the [[Act of Union 1800]], and the impact of the [[Great Irish Famine]] of 1848 caused much of the 19th century to be a more troubled period.