Ireland's OWN: History

 

Norman Invasion of Ireland —by Douglas Dalby, IrishAbroad England's dominance of Ireland and centuries of conflict were put in train by the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1169, writes IrishAbroad's Douglas Dalby "Again again the soldiers came, sacked our houses, stole our grain, But they could not make us turn, We are a river flowing, We're a river flowing." Irish Ways and Irish Laws Perhaps the most surprising thing about the Norman invasion of Ireland is that it took them more than 100 years for them to get around to it. After all, the conquerors had settled all over England after their victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. They did not land in Ireland until May 1169, when a 400-strong force of Anglo-Normans, Welsh and Flemish warriors led by Robert FitzStephen came ashore at Bannow Bay, Co Wexford. Two hundred more arrived the following day. Epitomising the fractious nature of Irish society at that time, the six hundred invaders were joined by Dermot MacMurrough, king of Leinster and around 500 men. He had assembled the foreigners as new-found allies in his feud with a northern warlord, Tiernan O'Rourke, who — seeking revenge after MacMurrough had kidnapped his wife — drove the Leinster king from his stronghold. MacMurrough sought help from Henry II, king of France and England, who readily agreed to an invasion after receiving the imprimatur of Adrian IV, the only ever Englishman to be elected to the papacy. After an initial humiliating defeat in 1167 when O'Rourke forced him to pay 100 ounces of gold in reparation for the abduction of his wife, MacMurrough and his allies returned to finish the conquest. The combined force took the town of Wexford and its 2,000 inhabitants swore fealty to him. Within a year the famous Norman warlord Strongbow arrived with more than a thousand reinforcements to finish the job. He took Waterford, married MacMurrough's daughter Aoife there, and then captured Dublin. Strongbow became king of Leinster in 1171 following MacMurrough's death. Henry II himself arrived in Dublin in October 1171 and granted land all over Ireland to his victorious barons. They built a formidable chain of fortresses to safeguard their new assets. However, the Normans never really subdued the unruly landscape. Many of them may have intermarried but their relationships with many of the native Irish were anything but cordial. In 1175 Ruairi O'Connor was recognised as High King of Ireland outside Leinster, Meath and Waterford. In return, he recognised Henry II as his overlord. Henry demanded tribute from the Irish chiefs but it proved to be largely unenforceable. The following few centuries would be dominated by the development of trade and the never-ending attempts to impose English rule on a fractured country. See Also: Brian Boru — The Last Great High King of Ireland A Short History of Ireland The Vikings Page last updated 9 Mar 2006 Ireland's OWN Logo by Eamann Website Design and Celtic Background  by Míchealín Ní Dhochartaigh Copyright © 2006 Ireland's OWN All Rights Reserved.