MEDIEVAL IRELAND

The C oming of the Normans, 11671185

By the 12th century, Ireland was divided politically into a shifting
hierarchy of petty kingdoms and over-kingdoms. Power was
concentrated into the hands of a few regional dynasties contending
against each other for control of the whole island. The orthern !"
#ill ruled much of what is now !lster. Their kinsmen, the $outhern
!" #ill, were %ings of Brega &'eath(. The kingship of )einster was
held *y the dynamic !i +heinnselaigh dynasty. , new kingdom rose
*etween )einster and 'unster, -sraige, ruled *y the family of 'ac
.iolla Ph/draig. 'unster was nominally controlled *y the 'ac
+artaig, who were however in reality often su*0ect to the !" Bhriain
of Thomond. orth of Thomond, +onnacht1s supreme rulers were the
!" +honchu*hair.
,fter losing the protection of Tyrone +hief, 'uirchertach
'ac)ochlainn, 2igh %ing of Ireland, who died in 1133, 4ermot
'ac'urrough &Irish Diarmait Mac Murchada( , was forci*ly e5iled
*y a confederation of Irish forces under the new 2igh %ing, 6ory
-1+onnor. 4iarmait fled first to Bristol and then to ormandy. 2e
sought and o*tained permission from 2enry II of 7ngland to use the
latter1s su*0ects to regain his kingdom. By 1138 'ac'urrough had
o*tained the services of 'aurice 9it: .erald and later persuaded 6hys
ap .ruffydd Prince of 4eheu*arth to release 'aurice1s half-*rother
6o*ert 9it:-$tephen from captivity to take part in the e5pedition. 'ost
importantly he o*tained the support of the 7arl of Pem*roke 6ichard
de +lare, known as $trong*ow.
The first orman knight to land in Ireland was 6ichard fit: .od*ert
de 6oche in 1138, *ut it was not until 113; that the main forces of
ormans, <elsh and 9lemings landed in <e5ford. <ithin a short
time )einster was regained, <aterford and 4u*lin were under
4iarmait1s control, and he had $trong*ow as a son-in-law, and named
him as heir to his kingdom. This latter development caused
consternation to %ing 2enry II of 7ngland, who feared the
esta*lishment of a rival orman state in Ireland. ,ccordingly, he
resolved to visit )einster to esta*lish his authority.
The Papal Bull and 2enry1s invasion= Pope ,drian I> &the first
7nglish Pope, in one of his earliest acts( had already issued a Papal
Bull in 11??, giving 2enry authority to invade Ireland as a means of
cur*ing ecclesiastical corruption and a*uses. )ittle contemporary use,
however, was made of the Bull Laudabiliter since its te5t enforced
papal su:erainty not only over the island of Ireland *ut of all islands
off of the 7uropean coast, including 7ngland, in virtue of the
+onstantinian donation. The relevant te5t reads= @There is indeed no
dou*t, as thy 2ighness doth also acknowledge, that Ireland and all
other islands which +hrist the $un of 6ighteousness has illumined,
and which have received the doctrines of the +hristian faith, *elong to
the 0urisdiction of $t. Peter and of the holy 6oman +hurch@.
6eferences to Laudabiliter *ecome more freAuent in the later Tudor
period when the researches of the renaissance humanist scholars cast
dou*t on the historicity of the 4onation of +onstantine.
2enry landed with a large fleet at <aterford in 1181, *ecoming the
first %ing of 7ngland to set foot on Irish soil. Both <aterford and
4u*lin were proclaimed 6oyal +ities. ,drian1s successor, Pope
,le5ander III ratified the grant of Irish lands to 2enry in 1182. 2enry
awarded his Irish territories to his younger son Bohn with the title
Dominus Hiberniae &@)ord of Ireland@(. <hen Bohn une5pectedly
succeeded his *rother as %ing Bohn, the @%ingdom of Ireland@ fell
directly under the 7nglish +rown.
2enry was happily acknowledged *y most of the Irish %ings, who saw
in him a chance to cur* the e5pansion of *oth )einster and the
2i*erno-ormans. This led to the ratification of the Treaty of
<indsor &118?( *etween 2enry and 6uaidhr". 2owever, with *oth
4iarmuid and $trong*ow dead &in 1181 and 1183(, 2enry *ack in
7ngland and 6uaidhr" una*le to cur* his nominal vassals, within two
years it was not worth the vellum it was inscri*ed upon. Bohn de
+ourcy invaded and gained much of east !lster in 1188, 6aymond le
.ros had already captured )imerick and much of north 'unster,
while the other orman families such as Prendergast, fit: $tephen, fit:
.erald, fit: 2enry and le Poer were actively carving out virtual
kingdoms for themselves.
ae!i" res#rgen"e, Norman $e"!ine 1%5&15'6
2i*erno-orman Ireland was deeply shaken *y three events of the
1Cth century. The first was the invasion of Ireland *y 7dward Bruce of
$cotland who, in 1D1?, rallied many of the Irish lords against the
7nglish presence in Ireland. ,lthough Bruce was eventually defeated
in Ireland at the Battle of 9aughart, near 4undalk, his troops caused a
great deal of destruction, especially in the densely settled area around
4u*lin. In this chaotic situation, local Irish lords won *ack large
amounts of land that their families had lost since the conAuest and
held them after the war was over.
The second was the murder of <illiam 4onn de Burgh, Drd 7arl of
!lster, in Bune 1DDD. This resulted in his lands *eing split in three
among his relations, with the ones in +onnacht swiftly re*elling
against the +rown and openly siding with the Irish. This meant that
virtually all of Ireland west of the $hannon was lost to the 2i*erno-
ormans. It would *e well over two hundred years *efore the Burkes,
as they were now called, were again allied with the 4u*lin
administration.
The (!a") Death rapidly spread along the ma0or 7uropean sea and
land trade routes. It reached Ireland in 1DCE and decimated the
2i*erno-orman ur*an settlements. The third calamity for the
medieval 7nglish presence in Ireland was the Black 4eath, which
arrived in Ireland in 1DCE. Because most of the 7nglish and orman
inha*itants of Ireland lived in towns and villages, the plague hit them
far harder than it did the native Irish, who lived in more dispersed
rural settlements. , cele*rated account from a monastery in %ilkenny
chronicles the plague as the *eginning of the e5tinction of humanity
and the end of the world. The plague was a catastrophe for the 7nglish
inha*itations around the country and, after it had passed, .aelic Irish
language and customs came to dominate the country again. The
7nglish-controlled area shrunk *ack to the Pale, a fortified area around
4u*lin.
,dditional causes of the .aelic revival were political and personal
grievances against the 2i*erno-ormans, *ut especially impatience
with procrastination and the very real horrors that successive famines
had *rought. Pushed away from the fertile areas, the Irish were forced
to eke out a su*sistence living on marginal lands, which left them with
no safety net during *ad harvest years &such as 1281 and 1288( or in a
year of famine &virtually the entire period of 1D11F1D1;(.
-utside the Pale, the 2i*erno-orman lords adopted the Irish
language and customs, *ecoming known as the -ld 7nglish , and in the
words of a contemporary 7nglish commentator, *ecame @ more Irish
than the Irish themselves .@ -ver the following centuries they sided
with the indigenous Irish in political and military conflicts with
7ngland and generally stayed +atholic after the 6eformation. The
authorities in the Pale grew so worried a*out the @.aelicisation@ of
Ireland that, in 1D38 at a parliament in %ilkenny , they passed special
legislation &known as the $tatutes of %ilkenny ( *anning those of
7nglish descent from speaking the Irish language , wearing Irish
clothes or inter-marrying with the Irish. $ince the government in
4u*lin had little real authority, however, the $tatutes did not have
much effect.
Throughout the 1?th century, these trends proceeded apace and central
government authority steadily diminished. The monarchy of 7ngland
was itself thrown into turmoil during the <ars of the 6oses, and as a
result 7nglish involvement in Ireland was greatly reduced. $uccessive
kings of 7ngland delegated their constitutional authority over the
lordship to the powerful 9it:gerald earls of %ildare, who held the
*alance of power *y means of military force and widespread alliances
with lords and clans. This in effect made the 7nglish +rown even
more remote to the realities of Irish politics. ,t the same time, local
.aelic and .aelicised lords e5panded their powers at the e5pense of
the central government in 4u*lin, creating a polity Auite alien to
7nglish ways and which was not overthrown until the successful
conclusion of the Tudor reconAuest.