The Twelfth Century III - Normans and Angevins
Summary . Describes
the political history of Ireland in the Twelfth Century, first of Ireland before
the coming of the Normans, and the what the Normans did. As usual the petty wars
of the provincial Irish chiefs can be skipped
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The Reigns of Henry and his Sons
'Over-chiefs
of Tara'
Events in the rest of Ireland
Lords of Ireland
Background to
the Coming of the Normans
The Coming of the Normans
The King’s
Reaction
The First
Years of Henry’s Lordship (1172
– 1176)
Political
Changes after the Death of
Strongbow 1176
John, Lord of Ireland
Events during
the Reign of Richard 1189-99
John King of
England and Lord of Ireland
Postscript
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The Reigns
of Henry and his Sons
Henry was one of the luckiest and most
successful kings of England. Under him the dominions ruled by the king of England
reached an extent not to be reached again for several hundred years. He was
king of England and Wales, overlord of Scotland,
overlord of Ireland, overlord of Brittany, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou, and Duke
of Aquitaine. His lands on the Continent consisted of five distinct fiefs (that
of Aquitaine was as a vassal of the king of France),
and they stretched from Flanders to the Pyrenees. The tenure of these lands was always uncertain, and always
challenged, and the dominions were gradually whittled away until the loss of
the last one, Calais in 1558. As Henry’s father was Count of Anjou, Henry and his successors
are called Angevins, not Normans. (In England
the royal house between 1154 and 1485 was called Plantagenet, but they were
Angevins. In this book, Angevin refers to the royal family; all the others,
whether from Wales, England, Normandy, Flanders, Anjou or elsewhere are referred to as Normans. All those
of Scandinavian origin are referred to as Norsemen or Vikings.
When he
came to Ireland in 1171 at the height of his power, the Church reformers no
doubt saw him as a powerful ruler who enforced peace, enforced a scutage or
money payment instead of personal service thus dispensing with feudal levies,
made just laws, established peace in the kingdom, and protected the Church, his
quarrel with Thomas a Becket notwithstanding. In 1170 he had his eldest son and
heir, Henry, crowned as joint king of England
along with himself. Thomas a Becket whom he had promoted to be archbishop of
Canterbury was
resisting the king’s attempts to reduce the excessive jurisdiction of the
ecclesiastical courts. Taking an incautious remark of the king literally, four
of his knights murdered the archbishop inside his own cathedral. At this point
1171 he crossed over to Ireland to deal with Strongbow and then hastily returned to France to
meet the legates of a wrathful Pope. He succeeded in explaining that he had not
plotted the murder or ordered it and was absolved. The reason Henry had to
leave Ireland so hastily, and surrender so abjectly to the Papal representatives
was that his son Henry was demanding to be made actual king of England
and was prepared to side with Henry’s enemies to get his hands on actual power.
The young Henry got the support of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, of his
brothers Richard Lionheart and
Geoffrey duke of Brittany, the king of France
and various other nobles. Henry acted swiftly to crush the rebellion that broke
out in 1173 but had to draw troops from Ireland.
The struggle was not over until the autumn of 1174. Henry was reconciled with
his sons and he restored them to their fiefdoms. About this time he decided
that John could be provided with the territory of
Ireland as his
fief. Though given the title of lord he was intended to be king, and to rule as
a king, subject only to his feudal lord, the king of England
who would be able to call on him for feudal services, and prohibit him for
taking actions against his feudal lord’s allies or subjects. Presumably the
reason he was called lord and not king was to avoid angering Richard. The
patriarch of Jerusalem in person besought him to lead a crusade, but though willing to go,
he could not get the support of the English barons. Then in 1183 his sons Henry
and Geoffrey joined the nobles of Aquitaine against
him and Richard Lionheart. The sudden death of young Henry left Richard
as heir to the throne and the rebellion ended. Next Richard sided with the king
of France perhaps suspecting that Henry wished to disinherit him. Henry had
to flee for his life. For once Henry’s favourite son John turned against him.
Henry had to agree to all of Richard’s demands and he died of a fever soon
after in 1189.
Richard came to England
to be crowned, and as he had already pledged to go on crusade following the
capture of Jerusalem by Saladin in 1187, he set about raising money by every possible
means. He renounced the feudal homage due from William the Lion king of Scotland
for 10,000 marks. He was crowned in September 1189 and on 11 December he set
out for the Holy Land along with Philip Augustus, king of France
(1180-1223). The crusade lasted three
years, at the end of which Richard was forced to make a truce with Saladin and
returned home. On the way he was captured and held to ransom by the German
emperor. When part of the ransom was part paid and part pledged he was allowed
to return home in 1194 where his brother John was plotting against him. He
intended returning to the Crusade but was prevented from so doing by the plots
of John and Philip of France. He spent the rest of his reign until his death in
1199 trying to foil their plots. (As Saladin had died in 1193 his chances of
success would have been much enhanced.)
John has long had a reputation of being
a ‘bad king’ just as his brother Richard had a reputation of being a ‘good
king’. John was forced by the great lords of England
to grant them a charter of rights. But these rights only applied to the great
lords who had no intention of passing on those rights to their subordinates.
Eventually, in England a middle way was found between the absolutism of monarchs in France
and the shattering into a patchwork of local rulers as in Germany,
and the Magna Charta proved an
excellent starting point. But John cannot be either praised or blamed for this.
It has been suggested that the great barons disliked John because he spent most
of his time in England keeping an eye on them. Richard and Henry had spent most of their
lives abroad.
The great warlords
in England had doubts about accepting John because of his past behaviour (John
DNB) but he succeeded in gaining their assent and was crowned king of England. John’s
claim was supported by Hubert Walter, archbishop of Canterbury and
William Marshal who considered him the best warrior to defend England
against Philip Augustus, king of France.
The chief lords in Richard’s other lands, Brittany,
Anjou, Maine, and
Touraine preferred
Arthur the son of John’s brother Geoffrey. The strict rules of primogeniture
still did not apply. But John, supported by his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine,
was able to seize the lands while his rival Arthur, still a minor, was a ward
of the king of France, the nominal overlord of the lands on the Continent.
Philip, for the moment, was unable to overcome John so he came to terms with
him.
In 1201 John got
involved in another war, and this time Philip was more prepared and initially
had considerable success. John managed to capture Arthur and put him to death,
and drove off Philip. Philip however began to conquer the castles in
Normandy with the
connivance of some of the Norman lords, and repulsed an attack by John. In 1204
John returned to England to collect more money from the nobles and the Church. Meanwhile
Philip completed the conquest of Normandy. This had the result that those lords who formerly had lands in
both Normandy and England were compelled to remain on their English estates and became wholly
English in feeling. In 1206 John reconquered Poitou but avoided meeting
Philip in a decisive battle. A truce was made for two years, John surrendering
his claim to all lands north of the Loire. John returned to England
to raise more money especially by a levy on Church lands, which was refused. On
the death of the archbishop of Canterbury in 1205 John tried to get the clergy to elect a favourite of his
John de Grey. Two elections were held and the case referred to Rome where the
Pope, Innocent III, set both aside and told the monks of Canterbury in the
delegation to elect Cardinal Stephen Langton. John refused to recognise him, so
the Pope laid an interdict on England
so that the sacraments could not be celebrated publicly. John seized the revenues
of the Church in England, forced William the Lion of Scotland and the Welsh chiefs, and the
major lords to give hostages, and defied the Pope. He evicted the Cistercians
from all their monasteries and only allowed them to return on the payment of
large fines. The wife of William de Braose however refused to give her children
as hostages, so in 1210 John set out for Ireland
to deal with him, and with the de Lacys who were supporting him. Walter de
Lacy, 2nd Lord of Meath, was a marcher lord with extensive lands along the
Welsh border and in Normandy, and was married to a daughter of William de Braose. Walter
immediately submitted to John but the king seized Irish lands. Such seizures
were not intended to be permanent, but the king got the benefit of their
revenues until such time as he might restore them. They were in fact largely
restored in 1213. The quarrel with de Braose apparently sprung from the fact
that the latter had not paid monies he owed the king. His wife had also refused
to hand over hostages, and his son was one of the bishops who sided with the
Pope. Strangely enough, it seems that John’s quarrel was principally with de
Braose’s wife Maud de St.Valerie, who is said to have accused him of murdering
his nephew Arthur. She with her grown-up son fled to Meath, and when John
followed fled to Scotland but was captured by Duncan of Carrick and handed back to John at
Carrickfergus. She and her son were imprisoned in Windsor castle and
it is said starved to death. William fled to France.
John returned to England
and extorted money from the Jews, invaded north Wales and
planted castles there. As he refused to return the property of the Church he
was excommunicated in 1212 by the Pope, who also deposed him and authorised
Philip Augustus to effect the deposal. John made an alliance with the Count of
Flanders and submitted his land to the suzerainty of the Pope and swore to
return the lands to the Church and allow the bishops who had fled overseas to
return. Philip invaded Flanders but an English fleet destroyed the French fleet. John built up an
alliance on the Continent against Philip and landed in France.
He had considerable initial success but Philip decisively defeated his army at
Bouvines in 1214 and his allies deserted him. John returned to England
where he found the barons determined to force him to grant them a written
charter of their rights such as they claimed to have enjoyed under Henry I.
This he was forced to concede in 1215. John however went back on his word and
civil war broke out. John had considerable success at first in crushing the
rebellion. Some of the lords elected Louis the son of Philip as king. He landed
in England with some French lords and the war began to go against John. The
latter died suddenly while campaigning the following year. His nine-year-old
son, Henry III, succeeded him. Bouvines also re-established the power of the
king of France and weakened that of the Holy Roman emperor who was John’s ally.
In Wales, after the death of Owain Gwynedd
in 1170 the most powerful chief in Wales was
the Lord Rhys. Owain was a chief in the largely unconquered north of Wales, but
Rhys ap Gruffydd was a chief in south Wales which had been successfully
conquered by Norman adventurers at an early date. These Normans had married
Welsh women, and from them the adventurers who crossed to Ireland
were chiefly drawn. Fighting equally against Owain Gwynedd, the local Normans, and Henry II he established himself in
a powerful position in south central Wales, and had his position recognised by
Henry on his way to and from Ireland. The understanding with the king was
important in another way, for the Normans of south Wales did not feel threatened and could leave their lands to seek more
lands in Ireland. Rhys supported Henry during the rebellion of his sons in 1173. In
1176 a local Norman marcher lord, William de Braose invited seventy of the
heads of the leading local Welsh families to a banquet and murdered them
preparatory to seizing their lands. (Cattle raiding was also endemic. That a
marcher lord should try to kill the thieves and seize their lands was
considered normal.) One of those killed, however, was a brother-in-law of Lord
Rhys. Rhys took no action against him, but the murders were to become one of
the national grievances of Wales.
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Ireland
to 1166
'Over-chiefs
of Tara'
Murtagh (or Muirchertach) O’Brien
1086-1119, son of Turlough
(Donal MacLoughlin 1083-1121,
MacLoughlin branch of Cenel Eogain)
Turlough O’Connor 1121-1156, son of Rory, (Ui
Briuin Ai)
Murtagh MacLoughlin 1156-66,
grandson of Donal of Cenel Eogain
Rory O’Connor, 1166-72, (Ui Briuin Ai)
son of Turlough.
The
twelfth century in Ireland
is one in which the political pattern is most difficult to follow or remember.
It was the only one in which there were real attempts made by various chiefs to
be the over-lord of the whole of Ireland. In
each province, except Munster,
there was only one family regularly challenging to be the over-chief of the
province. The exception was Munster
where the O’Briens and MacCarthys were fairly equally matched. Only four of the
five provincial families were in a position to seek that power, the exception
being Meath where the O’Mellaghlins of Clann
Cholmain were reduced to secondary rank like the MacCarthys of the Eoganacht Caisil. Within each province
there was considerable consolidation, and there was always a handful of warring
chiefs of the second rank seeking to expand.
The O’Briens were dominant up
to roughly 1125, the O’Connors from 1125 to 1150 though relatively weak after
1135, and the MacLoughlins from 1150 to 1166. Rory O’Connor managed to rule for
five years until Henry of Anjou took control. Dermot MacMurrough, though he
established himself securely in Leinster, and was frequently at war outside it never really got to a
position to challenge for the over-chiefdom. His best chance was frustrated by
the sudden revival of the power of the MacLoughlins, so his hour passed. The
year 1171 was therefore a pivotal one in Irish history for it established in
Dublin the state
which was finally to subdue all the others, never itself being subdued by any
of the others.
Murtagh O’Brien was
continuing his attempt to dislodge Donal MacLoughlin. In 1101 he invaded the
North, and destroyed the fortress of Aileach, which may have been abandoned at
that date. His fleet along the coast accompanied his march to the north. He
failed to defeat Donal, but took hostages from the Ulaid whose support or neutrality he needed. In 1098 Magnus Barelegs son of the king of Norway,
led a great expedition to restore the influence of the Norse crown. His fleet
was raiding at the mouth of the Shannon in 1101. (Magnus was killed two years later attacking the Ulaid on his way home to Norway.)
Murtagh made an alliance with him and gave him one of his daughters as his
son’s wife. He also married another daughter to Arnulf de Montgomery, earl of
Pembroke, the brother of the Earl of Shrewsbury who was in rebellion against
Henry I. Murtagh dispatched a fleet to the earl’s assistance. It would seem that
O’Brien did not quite trust him when he came to Ireland
and that he had designs on O’Brien's lands. So too probably had Magnus. In any
case the promised help was too late to save the Earl of Shrewsbury. Magnus
seems to have assisted O’Brien in his attack on MacLoughlin, and was killed
while campaigning in Ulster in 1103. In 1103 MacLoughlin inflicted a heavy defeat on O’Brien.
Which of them was the strongest was never really decided because two successive
abbots of Armagh succeeded on several occasions in getting them to agree to truces.
In 1114 Murtagh fell seriously ill and was deposed by his brother Dermot, but
he recovered his throne the following year. He handed over the ancestral lands
of the Eoganacht of Cashel to the
Church to endow the see of Cashel. In Meath and Connaught he expelled the
ruling dynasties and installed puppets of his own. He broke up conquered
chiefdoms if this suited him. These practices were to be developed in Ireland
in the course of the century (O’Corrain 150). The traditional rights of the
various grades of lord and chief were ignored, and their land confiscated, and
given to the chief’s own family or to others. Murtagh died in 1119 and Donal
MacLoughlin died in 1121.
Turlough O’Connor became over-chief of Connaught in 1106 but for many
years he was powerless against the O’Briens and MacLoughlins, so he played them
off against each other. Though he was the most successful warrior of his time,
and his family the most powerful he suffered strong opposition all his days. (I
have dated for convenience sake, and to avoid overlapping, his pretension to
the overchieftainship to 1121 following the death of Donal MacLoughlin.) He
first had to secure his position in Connaught against the O’Rourkes of Breifne who had succeeded in wresting the
overlordship from the Sil Muiredaig
(O’Connors) Turlough O’Connor became overlord in 1106 and died in 1156.). The
chief representative of the O’Rourkes, Tiernan O’Rourke, became chief of his
family in 1128 and died in 1172, but in his long life was never able to wrest
the overlordship from the O’Connors. He was however the most powerful ruler
ever produced by the Ui Briuin Breifne.
Turlough’s first
objective was to reduce the power of the O’Briens but first he had to make Connaught secure against attacks
from Munster or anywhere else. He surrounded his territories with castles, and
built an even greater fleet than that of the O’Briens. What was called ‘the
first castle in Ireland’ was built in 1129. The castles were probably of wood and earth,
but would have had the same purpose as the Norman castles in England.
The fact that his castle building is mentioned reminds us that traditionally
there were no fortified defended sites. The defenders retreated into the
forests or other naturally inaccessible spots. He built bridges over various
rivers to allow him to advance and to withdraw. Bridges were made of wood, and
always had to be guarded on both banks. Cavalry had been noted in Ireland
about the time of Brian Boru, and now
being used more often in Ireland
as elsewhere in Europe.
Turlough O’Connor
marched into Munster following the death of Dermot O’Brien the overchief of the Dal Cais in 1118, and partitioned it
between Dermot’s sons and the MacCarthys. Murtagh O’Brien was still overlord of
Cashel, but he was very old and he and his sons were ignored. In 1121 Turlough
ravaged Munster burning 70 churches in the process. He continued his ravages in the
two following years. This was how warfare was conducted when defeated chiefs
refused to surrender. The tactic was the same as that applied by William the
Conqueror in the North of England. Turlough O’Connor wished to build up the Eoganacht of Cashel, the MacCarthys, as
rivals to the O’Briens, and partitioned Munster between
them in 1127. The sphere of the O’Briens was restricted to North Munster, called Thomond
in Norman times, and that of the MacCarthys South Munster, or Desmond. (Munster is roughly
diamond-shaped, sitting on one point. Later, North Muster was divided and part
of it to the east was called East Munster, or Ormond.) In practice, the O’Briens were around Limerick with most of their
lands to the north of it, and the MacCarthys around Cork with most of
their lands to the west of it. As the O’Briens and MacCarthys at times
preferred to unite against the Connaughtmen the tactic was not very successful.
The boundary between them was neither defined nor fixed, and depended on which
could control the chiefs of the small intervening tuatha. These tuatha were
to form the path of entrance of the Normans.
Cormac McCarthy was
chief of Desmond from 1123 until he was murdered by the O’Briens in 1138. He is
chiefly famous for the little Romanesque chapel on the Hill of Cashel known as
Cormac’s Chapel. The O’Briens in Thomond had two brothers as joint chiefs, Turlough
and Conor O’Brien, from 1118 to 1142, and Turlough alone until 1167. A third
O’Brien brother, Tadg (Taigue) was chosen in 1122 but deposed the following
year. With the accession to sole rulership of Turlough O’Brien in 1142, and
disputes with the MacCarthys over the succession resolved, O’Brien rose to be
the strongest chief in Munster.
Turlough O’Connor
was attacked in 1124 by a coalition led by O’Mellaghlin of Meath including
Tiernan O’Rourke and Enna MacMurrough. For centuries the Ui Briuin Breifne had been trying to break out of the poor lands of
Leitrim into the more fertile lands of Meath at the expense of the Conmaicne and Gailenga. Now was their chance. The alliance soon broke up.
Turlough defeated them and partitioned Meath into three petty states, and
extended the lands of Tiernan O’Rourke of Breifne (Ui Briuin Breifne) who suddenly changed sides and supported him. He
then imposed a king on Leinster from among the Ui Dunlainge
in order to foment disputes with the MacMurroughs. Tiernan O’Rourke was first
mentioned in 1124, and Dermot MacMurrough in 1126. MacMurrough died in 1171 and
O’Rourke in 1172. Though only chiefs of the second rank, it was largely their
quarrels that brought the Normans into Ireland.
After Donal MacLoughlin died in 1121 Turlough had no serious rival
left in Ireland until 1131 when his enemies from the MacLoughlins, O’Briens,
MacCarthys, and O’Rourkes combined against him. In 1128 O’Connor wasted Leinster, assisted by Tiernan
O’Rourke. Leinster was then left alone for three years. Dermot MacMurrough however
succeeded in getting control in Leinster and re-establishing the power of the Ui Chennselaig, and then invaded Ossory. After the attack in 1131
the O’Briens ravaged Connaught and the MacCarthys assisted by Tiernan O’Rourke. By 1135 Connaught was seriously
weakened, which allowed Leinster under Dermot MacMurrough to assert itself. MacMurrough invaded
Munster and
succeeded in getting the submission of the O’Briens and MacCarthys. Finally
after 1140 the power of the O’Connors was limited by the growing strength of
Turlough O’Brien on one side and Murtagh MacLoughlin on the other. Nevertheless
for twenty six years between 1125 and his death in 1156 he was often the most
powerful single chief in Ireland.
During the period of O’Connor’s weakness (c. 1135) he was
forced to give hostages to Murchad O’Mellaghlin, thus losing his claim to be
king of Ireland. O’Connor made various attempts to throw off the control of
O’Mellaghlin, but was unsuccessful until 1141 when he forced him to give
hostages and recognise his overlordship. During a revolt at home his son was
blinded to exclude him from the succession. Also, the unconsidered Conmaicne raided his territory. Turlough
O’Connor's prime objective therefore became to reduce neighbouring Meath to
subjection and to break it up so that the O’Mellaghlins would never be a
threat. MacMurrough preferred to defend Meath or capture it himself, so
O’Connor backed off temporarily. But Dermot, wishing to attack
Munster, gave
hostages to O’Connor who was then able to invade and partition Meath between
Donnchad O’Mellaghlin, O’Rourke, and MacMurrough in 1144. In the same year
O’Connor and O’Brien made a peace at the monastery of Terryglass, and agreed to
partition Meath between two O’Mellaghlins. This immediately drove MacMurrough
and O’Rourke to revolt against O'Connor.
Murtagh MacLoughlin
in Ulster had again gathered the forces of the Cenel Eogain together and in 1149 was able to take hostages from
all the provincial chiefs, including O’Connor who again lost the
overchieftainship, except in Munster. MacMurrough extended his rule unchallenged to all Leinster. However O’Connor
defeated Turlough O’Brien finally at Moin Mor in 1151, and Munster was again
partitioned between the O'Briens and MacCarthys. MacMurrough, O’Mellaghlin, and
O’Rourke supported O’Connor. Moin Mor was one of those rare events in Ireland,
a hard-fought pitched battle, beloved of the annalists, which would seem to
indicate that O'Brien considered he had a good chance of defeating O’Connor.
Apparently this was MacMurrough’s first experience of a major battle.
O'Connor's losses were heavy, but O'Brien's much heavier. O’Connor still had to
give hostages to MacLoughlin, who was now for all practical purposes the
over-chief of Ireland. Moin Mor was the last attempt of an O’Brien to seize the
overlordship of Ireland. Donnchad O’Mellaghlin, a very successful warrior, was in theory
chief of Meath from 1106 to 1153, but he was deposed and replaced on several
occasions. This was the last chance Clann
Cholmain was ever to have. That it survived so long in its divided state
was due only to the fact that O’Brien and MacLoughlin both chose to prop it up
against O’Connor.
In 1150 MacLoughlin
partitioned Meath between O’Rourke, O’Connor, and O’Carroll of Oriel. In 1152
O’Rourke, who had reputation for obnoxious behaviour equalled only by
MacMurrough's, quarrelled with both O’Connor and MacMurrough. MacLoughlin,
O’Connor, and MacMurrough invaded and devastated Breifne, and MacMurrough
carried off Devorgilla, O’Rourke's wife, either willingly on her part or not.
Devorgilla was a daughter of Murchad O’Mellaghlin, but O’Rourke was constantly
at war with his father-in-law. Meath was once again re-partitioned. MacLoughlin
added two sub-chiefdoms in north Leinster Ui Faelain (Offelan) and Ui Failge (Offaly) to O’Mellaghlin’s
territory to strengthen him. Dermot MacMurrough never gave up the claim to
them, Offaly was not the present county but a small barony in Kildare.
The incident of
O’Rourke's wife was significant because it led to a bitter and life-long
hostility between O’Rourke and MacMurrough. But there was another factor
involved, and that was divorce under Brehon Law. If Devorgilla wanted to
divorce her husband, an honour price had to be paid to the husband. MacMurrough
refused to pay this. But the reforming clergy wanted the law changed so as to
be in accord with Christian doctrine. The several partitions of Meath had the
important result that the Normans were able to establish themselves in the shattered and fragmented
province after the power of Clann
Cholmain had been broken. The partitioning of Munster had the
same effect for the Normans were able easily to establish themselves in the lands between the
O’Briens and MacCarthys. In the following century, a family feud between the
O’Connors allowed the Normans to establish themselves in Connaught, while another family dispute among the Ulaid allowed them to establish themselves in Ulster.
Turlough O’Connor died in 1156 and was succeeded by his son Rory, but
MacLoughlin maintained his superiority. The situation changed in 1166 when
MacLoughlin blinded the captured chief of the Ulaid Eochaid MacDonlevy in violation of guarantees given by the
archbishop of Armagh and Donough O’Carroll of Oriel. This led to a revolt in the north
in which MacLoughlin was killed.
MacLoughlin was the
last chief of the Cenel Eogain to
exercise power outside of Ulster.
Like Mael Sechlainn II of Clann Cholmain
he was one of the greatest warriors of his race, but he had no successor of
equal stature. The events in the reign of Rory O’Connor will be dealt with
below.
[Top]
Events in the rest of Ireland
At the beginning of
the twelfth century in Ulster the ever-expanding Cenel
Eogain remained the most powerful kinship group. But the Cenel Conaill and the Ulaid had established powerful chiefdoms
(what elsewhere would have been called earldoms or counties). The Oirgialla were partly swallowed up be
the Cenel Eogain, but also succeeded
in establishing a powerful chiefdom in the south of the province.
The MacLoughlin
family had eclipsed the O’Neill branch with regard to the chieftainship of
Aileach. But the MacLoughlins were not able to resist Murtagh O’Brien. They nevertheless
kept up pressure on the Ulaid. When
Murtagh O'Brien retired to a monastery in 1119 Donal MacLoughlin made an
unsuccessful attempt to be recognised as overchief. The Cenel Eogain was at the same time conquering new lands from the Oirgialla to the west of Lough Neagh. In
1121 Conor MacLoughlin succeeded Donal and the pattern persisted with constant
strife between the Ui Neill and with
the Ulaid. In 1127 the Ui
Neill attacked the newly re-founded monastery of Bangor in the
territory of the Ulaid where St
Malachy was commencing his reform movement. The Cianachta were still holding out around Dungiven in
county
Londonderry
even though the centre of O’Neill power had moved to Tyrone in Mid-Ulster.
Conor MacLoughlin
attacked the Ulaid and by 1131 had subdued
them sufficiently to raid outside the province into Turlough O’Connor’s lands,
with some of the Ulaid in the host.
The strength of any chief depended on how many subchiefs he could order, or
entice, or force to come to his hosting. The following year he raided in
county
Louth. The
MacLoughlins were fatally weakened by their perpetual struggle with the
O’Neills of Tullaghogue. Successive O’Neill pretenders were slain by the
MacLoughlins until 1176. There were also other feuds. Conor MacLoughlin (1121-36)
was deposed in 1128 in favour of his uncle Magnus, and restored the following
year. Murtagh MacLoughlin (1136-66) was deposed in 1143 in favour of Donal
O’Gormley, but was restored with the help of the Cenel Conaill.
Murtagh
MacLoughlin, nephew of Conor succeeded in 1136. His father, Niall MacLoughlin
had been chief of the Cenel Conaill. His
youth had been spent in minor wars in Ulster,
and then became engaged in a three-cornered fight, apparently between equals,
with the Ulaid and the O’Carrolls of
Oriel. But Murtagh finally emerged about 1149 as the dominant chief, and the Cenel Conaill, the Ulaid and the Oirgialla
gave him hostages. We can assume that thereafter they were forced to join his
hostings. The role of a hostage was not a happy or secure one. Even though they
were the sons of chiefs they were regarded as pawns to be sacrificed if
necessary. The later career of Murtagh has been described earlier. The end came
in 1166. In 1165 the Ulaid revolted,
and Murtagh suppressed the revolt. The Ulaid
chief, Eochaid MacDonlevy was deposed and restored after an intervention by
Donough O’Carroll and the archbishop of Armagh. The following year, Murtagh blinded him, despite his compact with
O’Carroll and the archbishop. His supporters melted away and he was slain by
O’Carroll in a minor skirmish. At the same time, Dermot MacMurrough, similarly
hard pressed fled to England to seek support.
All the branches of
the Cenel Eogain were expanding at
their neighbour’s expense. At this time the O’Cahan (O’Kane) branch of Clann Connor of Magh Ithe, itself a branch of the Cenel Mhic Earca branch of the Cenel
Eogain began to come to the fore. By
1138 the O’Cahans were overlords of the Cianachta
and their neighbours the Fir na
Croebe and the Fir Li in eastern
Londonderry, so presumably they had not at that time absorbed their
territories. The O’Cahans were also fighting another branch of the Ui Neill, the Cenel Binnig. (This latter group soon after lost out to the
O’Cahans but survived in the area as separate families of O’Hamills, Toners and
Kellys to this day.) The dynamics of these internal wars are not clear. The Cenel Feradaig branch of the Ui Neill (the MacCawells) was
establishing itself in Clogher in the heartland of the Oirgialla just at the time when the O’Carrolls of the Oirgialla were conquering Co. Louth. The
Cenel Moen branch (O’Gormleys)
gradually occupied the lands of the Ui
Fiachrach Ardsratha (Ardstraw) around Strabane. Along with the O’Cahans,
the O’Gormleys attacked and took the lands of the Cenel Enda, originally the third branch of the Northern Ui Neill along with the Cenel Eogain
and the Cenel Conaill. The O’Cahans
supported the MacLoughlins. The Ui
Tuirtre, a branch of the Oirgialla,
under pressure from the O’Cahans, established themselves on the other bank of
the Bann, became the leading clan in the area, and was subdued later by de
Courci. It is clear that a static picture of Irish politics before the Norman
invasion is false, and that the Normans were profiting from a very fluid situation. From this, as from
other evidence, it is obvious that the great Irish chiefs had little interest
in fighting the Normans, and every interest in keeping the Normans on their
side. They were far more interested in taking the land of their immediate
neighbours. About this time the Cenel
Binnig and the Fir Li disappear
from the annals. During the Middle Ages the Ui
Tuirtre (O’Flynns) acknowledged the Normans as
overlords.
For various obscure
reasons, the Cenel Eogain lost
control of their original homeland in Inishowen to a branch of the Cenel Conaill (later the O’Dohertys).
The Cenel Conaill launched a major
attack on the peninsula in 1117 and seized part of it. The O'Mulfoyle chiefs of the Cenel Eogain were not finally dislodged
for another century. (A later distribution of surnames seems to indicate that
they fled to north Connaught.) The Cenel Conaill were
consolidating themselves. Though never very successful at extending their
borders, being hemmed in by the O’Neills on one side and the O’Connors of Connaught
on the other, they were not without their successes in inching their frontiers
forward. The Ulaid continued to be a powerful compact chiefdom. It was able to
prosper while the infighting among the O’Neills continued. Its greatest power
was under Cu Ulad MacDonlevy (1131-57). The events surrounding the death of
Murtagh MacLoughlin have been mentioned above.
The O’Donnell
chiefdom, though isolated in Donegal, and the O’Flaherty chiefdom in west Connaught belonged to the less
successful branches of the dominant families in their provinces. Later too, the
other great chiefly families sprouted off sub-families, the O'Sullivans from
the MacCarthys, the MacNamaras and O’Kennedys from the O’Briens, and the
O’Cahans from the O’Neills. With the decline of Clann Cholmain the O’Rourkes of Breifne and the O’Carrolls of Oriel
were gradually encroaching on the northern parts of Meath and of Louth. The
latter was included in the diocese and chiefdom of Clogher, while the region
around Clogher itself was gradually occupied by the Cenel Feradaig, the MacCawells.
. The origins of
the chiefdom of Oriel out of the small tuatha
of the Oirgialla in south Ulster, the
Mugdorna, the Ui Meith, the Dartrige,
the Fir Rois, and the Fernmag is obscure. A chief called
Donough O’Carroll (Donnchad Ua Cerbaill)
succeeded in building up quite a powerful chiefdom among the tuatha of the Oirgialla, for the future to be called Oriel or Uriel. This
chiefdom, like the comparable chiefdoms of the O’Rourkes of Breifne, and the
MacGillaPatricks of Ossory, the O’Farrells of Annaly (Longford), the O’Connors
of Offaly (O’Connor Faly), and the O’Mores of Leix (Loigse) lay in difficult boggy and forested lands between the great
chiefdoms. It was the prime aim of both the great Gaelic chiefs and later of
King John to root them out, but that was easier said than done. The internal
feuding among the O’Neills on one side and the O’Mellaghlins on the other
allowed Donough O’Carroll and Tiernan O’Rourke to expand their domains far
beyond what would have been normally possible. In 1138 Donough joined Turlough
O’Connor and Tiernan O’Rourke in attacking Dermot MacMurrough of Leinster. After Murtagh
MacLoughlin had established himself as overlord of Ulster,
Donough O’Carroll submitted to him, and joined in his expedition against Meath.
For this he was duly rewarded by the grant of territories, or recognition of
his conquests. O’Carroll had succeeded in extending his rule over the whole of
county Louth as far as the Boyne before 1140, for in that year O’Carroll was
able to give a grant of land to the Cistercians for the foundation of Mellifont
in the very south of the county not far from the Boyne. At its greatest extent
Oriel extended over the three counties of Monaghan, Armagh, and Louth or the
combined dioceses of Clogher and Armagh.
By 1166, the
chiefdoms in the North had been effectively reduced to four, the O’Neill
chiefdom of Tullaghogue or Tir Eogain
(Tyrone), Ulaid (or Ulster to
give it its Norse name), Oriel, and Tir
Conaill of the Cenel Conaill,
with a single overchief of the province, a MacLoughlin. By Ulster in
those days was meant counties Antrim and Down, and by Tyrone was meant counties
Tyrone and Derry.
Meanwhile the great
struggle between the O'Neills and MacLoughlins continued. The tide began to turn
in 1160 when Aed im Macaem Toinlesc
(which has been translated as Hugh the Lazy-arsed youth, Burke.) slew the
MacLoughlin who had slain his father. He became undisputed chief of the Ui Neill in 1176. A medieval French poem
claimed that he brought 3,000 men to aid Rory O’Connor. The MacLoughlins killed
him in 1177. He was succeeded by Mael Sechlainn MacLoughlin, but in 1196 his
own son, Aed Meth (the Fat)
(1196-1230) recovered the chieftainship.
In Meath the various branches of the Southern Ui Neill had split into mutually hostile fragments which were to be easily
conquered by the Normans. The O’Mellaghlins were declining slowly. They were still a major
power in Meath, but never a match for the over-chiefs of the other provinces.
Like other chiefs before him, Henry II claimed the overlordship of Meath, and
distributed sufficient lands to his followers to enable them to enforce the
king’s will. Hugh de Lacy was designated the Lord of Meath. This Meath had
suffered from the encroachments of Donough O’Carroll and Tiernan O’Rourke
amongst others. The O’Farrells of Annaly (Longford) remained in place and were
more or less independent. To the north of Meath, Tiernan O’Rourke was steadily
expanding his chiefdom. It is recorded that a body of horsemen commanded by him
defeated a similar body of horsemen under Conor MacLoughlin in 1128. In 1130 he
defeated and killed Dermot O’Mellaghlin. He was engaged in most of the major
campaigns until his death in 1172, and slowly but steadily increased his
territory annexing much of Cavan His territory equalled the present diocese of
Kilmore, approximately Leitrim and Cavan. He has been described as a restless
meddler who never let a year of his life go by without interfering in some
strife (Furlong)
Interestingly, when
the various dioceses were being delineated in 1152, the territories of
MacLoughlin, O’Carroll, and O’Rourke were roughly equal in size. This though
reflects the temporary weakness of the MacLoughlins, less the lands of the
O’Neills, and the expansion of O’Carroll and O’Rourke. It also shows how easy
it was for the strongest power in a province, once he got an advantage, to
compel the other chiefs to joint his hosting. They in turn had to force the
subchiefs to join the hosting, so that he could raise a large army to attack
the other provinces.
Leinster was a province about
the size of Normandy, dominated by MacMurrough, but quite large tracts of the
province were left under the local rulers (ruiri),
the O’Mores (Loigse in Leix), the
O’Connors (Ui Failge Offaly), the
MacGillaPatricks (Osraige
Ossory/Kilkenny), the O’Byrnes and the O’Tooles (Wicklow). Eleven more or less
independent chiefs were recognised in Leinster, where the concentration of power had not proceeded as far as in Ulster.
There was surprisingly little good land in Leinster, and most of this was in one band perhaps twenty miles wide,
curving inland from Dublin to the west of the Wicklow
Mountains, and
curving back to meet the sea at Wexford. Three of the five suffragan dioceses
assigned to Dublin, Kildare, Leighlin and Ferns were in this belt, the other two being
Glendalough, an ancient monastery, and Ossory.
These rulers of the badlands were no more
unruly or warlike than the great feudal families in Ireland
or elsewhere in Europe. Among their woods and bogs and broken hilly country they were
surprisingly difficult for anyone, whether Gaelic chief or Norman earl to
dislodge. They may have been little different from bandits, surviving on
cattle-raiding and blackmail, but there was little anyone could do about them.
In this century the dominant force in Leinster was Dermot MacMurrough. The MacMurroughs of the Ui Chennselaig controlled the southern
part of the fertile band, corresponding to the county of
Wexford or the
diocese of Ferns. As one of the leading families of Leinster they often had the
title of chief of Leinster. On the death of Enna MacMurrough in 1126, Turlough O’Connor
determined to reduce Leinster, like Munster and Meath to impotence. He tried successively to impose his own
son, and then a chief of the Ui
Dunlainge, over Leinster. Enna’s son Dermot refused to give up his claim, so Turlough
O’Connor, assisted by the opportunist Tiernan O’Rourke wasted Dermot’s lands.
It was something, that Dermot, still apparently in his teens, never forgot. In 1128 on the death of the Ui Chennselaig abbess of Kildare,
MacMurrough's appointment was ignored and MacFaelain of Ui Faelain (Offelan) made an appointment. The Ui Failge (Offaly)
contested this and war ensued and the abbess was not installed until 1132.
Dermot attacked the town and abbey and had the abbess raped, and appointed a Ui Chennselaig abbess,
a MacMurrough; Dermot then imposed his authority on the other Leinster chiefs,
the Ui Failge ruled by
O’Connor Failge (O’Connor Faly); Ui Faelain ruled by MacFaelan in N.
Kildare (Furlong). By 1134, with the help of
the Norse of Dublin, Dermot was firmly established in Leinster.
The Ui
Chennselaig, from the days of Dermot mac Mael na mbo had claimed to be the rightful chiefs of Dublin and
Enna MacMurrough had that title. Dermot
regarded the title as his own, calling himself King of Leinster and the
Foreigners. It would seem that the wrath of Turlough O’Connor was aroused by a
claim of Dermot to the pretensions of Dermot mac Mael na mbo. Dermot’s first years were devoted to securing himself
against Ossory and the Ui Dunlainge,
but his defeat of Conor O’Brien and his capture of Waterford in 1137 secured
him recognition as a power in Munster. He was inclined to favour the O’Briens
over the MacCarthys. For most of his life he was only a secondary player, but
he pursued his own policies in Munster
and Meath. In 1137 turned north, and made a treaty of
mutual assistance with Murrough O’Mellaghlin, whose daughter Devorgilla, was to
marry Tiernan O'Rourke. He took hostages from the O’Tooles, one of whom
was Laurence the future Archbishop, and married Mor, Laurence’s sister. In 1138 O’Mellaghlin called of Dermot’s assistance when
O’Connor, O’Rourke, and O’Carroll attacked Meath. Dermot and O’Mellaghlin
gathered their forces; O’Connor withdrew (Furlong). MacMurrough’s action on
this occasion merely postponed the partition of Meath. In 1140 Dermot
savagely crushed an attempted uprising in north Leinster
blinding, in accordance with current practice, 17 of his chief opponents. He
had no further trouble in Leinster
for a quarter of a century. In 1142 he was forced to give hostages to O’Connor.
In 1151 he was with O’Connor at the great battle at Moin Mor where the O’Briens
were disastrously defeated. Furlong notes that this was Dermot’s first
participation in a major battle. Much of his life was spent trying to
out-manoeuvre O’Rourke for the spoils of Meath. Dermot joined the Church
reformers, introduced new religious orders and got a letter of thanks from St
Bernard of Clairvaux. He was no worse than the other chiefs and kings of his
time. In general MacMurrough allied himself with Murtagh MacLoughlin while his
archenemy O’Rourke had to ally himself with O’Connor. He was virtually
untouchable while MacLoughlin was alive but on the death of the latter in 1166
he became vulnerable.
Dublin had lost its independence, but not its importance. Each of those
who claimed the overlordship of Ireland
also claimed to be the ruler of Dublin or claimed the right to appoint him. The Norse fleet of
Dublin was probably
still the most powerful in Ireland.
Dublin was not the
only trading port, for Waterford and Wexford to mention the most important traded directly with Britain.
Norse chiefs were again established in Dublin from about
1127 when the O’Briens and MacMurroughs failed to impose chiefs. It was said
that Dermot MacMurrough’s father, Enna mac Donough MacMurrough, chief of Leinster, was murdered by the
citizens of Dublin in 1126 and buried along with a dog. It was to take Dermot over
fifty years before he could avenge his father.
Munster was now divided between the two rival families contending for the
overlordship of Munster, the MacCarthys (Eoganacht
Caisil) and the O’Briens (Dal Cais).
The MacCarthys had been expelled from their centre of power in north
Munster, but the
O’Briens failed at this time to occupy and hold the land. Only later in the
Middle Ages did offshoots of the O’Briens, the O’Mulryans and the O’Kennedys
wrest the land from the Butlers. These lands in north Munster were
allotted by the crown to various Norman lords at the end of the century, as
were the lands of the collapsed Ui
Fidgente that the O’Briens had failed to secure. The O’Brien chiefs who
followed Brian Boru seem to have had
a very narrow powerbase. Though they extended the lands they controlled
directly or indirectly in the Middle Ages they never were more than a secondary
chiefdom.
The Eoganacht Caisil, like the O’Briens and the Ui Neill, were gradually swallowing up those minor clans adjacent to them.
In Thomond the O’Briens were continuing to grab the lands of the tuatha around them, and gradually they
and their sub-families came to own and occupy county
Clare. They
also took over the little chiefdom that formed the diocese of Kilfenora. They
contended with the O’Flahertys for control of the Aran Islands. Later in the
Middle Ages they had a common frontier with the Norman Burkes of Connaught. The great dispute in
Munster was between the O’Briens and MacCarthys, and in Munster at least
the policy, inaugurated by King John, of keeping the main contenders apart
worked permanently.
In Connaught there was no change. The O’Connors were dominant, and they pursued
their ambition to rule the whole of Ireland.
There was an unexpected revival of the fortunes of the Ui Briuin Breifne. The last of the O’Rourke overchiefs of Connaught was Donal mac Tiernan
O’Rourke (1098-1102). Rory (Ruaidri,
Roderick) O’Connor, son of Turlough, was accepted as over-chief, and
immediately imprisoned three of his brothers and blinded one of them. He then
took hostages from the O’Briens. Rory tried to emulate his father in the rest
of Ireland, but was checked by Murtagh MacLoughlin. The O’Connors kept the
overlordship for the next century despite all the efforts of the O’Rourkes.
[Top]
Ireland After 1166
Lords of Ireland
Henry of Anjou
1172-76
Richard I Lionheart,
1189-99, son of Henry (feudal overlord)
John Lackland
1176-1216, son of Henry
Kings of England
Henry II 1154-1189, Henry
Fitzempress of Anjou
(Plantagenet)
Richard I Lionheart,
1189-99, son of Henry
John Lackland 1199-1216,
son of Henry.
[Top]
Background
to the Coming of the Normans
Changes there were, but Gaelic society was always
changing by introducing changes from abroad. Gaelic society was evolving
towards a feudal structure, and the greater Gaelic chiefs saw great benefits
for themselves in promoting this change. To be able to hold land in perpetuity,
to have the succession to the chiefdom from father to son, to have all the
minor chiefs as subinfeudatory tenants, appealed to the Gaelic provincial
chiefs. Henry, and the Normans respected the rights of all the Gaelic chiefs,
whether they had submitted to Henry or not, and there is no doubt that Henry
and John wished to regard all of the chiefs, Norman and Gael, as equal
subjects.
Nor did the Gaelic chiefs have any wish to get
rid of the Normans. The were prepared to recognise Strongbow as the chief of Leinster,
and de Lacy as the chief of Meath, to have them as allies, to marry their
daughters or sisters to them, to grant them lands in return for services,
provided only the Normans recognised the Gaelic chief as his over-chief. Their
attitude towards the Normans seems no different to their attitude to the later Scottish
gallowglasses from Scotland. If Henry wanted to remain over-chief of Tara it was up to him to
establish his rule in the traditional manner, by conquering all the chiefs in
turn.
It is not clear how many actual foreigners
monks, clerics, or laymen, came to Ireland
in the twelfth century before the military invasion of the Normans. The
example of Mellifont shows that monks could be sent abroad to be trained. But
no doubt there was quite a number. There would also be a number of merchants
and craftsmen. Much legal, clerical, and administrative work in the courts of
the chiefs would have been done by clerics, and all correspondence with
foreigners which required a fluent knowledge of written and spoken Latin. These
were not necessarily high-ranking clerics; they might for example have received
only the tonsure or short clerical haircut.
Some of these too may have either have been foreigners or received some
training abroad.
What is surprising is that the Irish chiefs were
so slow in seeking the assistance of the knights and men-at-arms. These would
have to be paid in land, but as the land would have been seized from somebody
else that did not count. Soon after this the Irish chiefs began the policy,
which was to last for centuries, of employing mercenaries from Scotland,
the gallowglasses. As it was, the Normans were established in Wales and
Scotland for a hundred years before they ventured into Ireland.
The chief who eventually asked for their assistance was one of those on the
east coast.
When he made the first move the pattern that had
been established in Scotland and Wales for a hundred years quickly established itself, and most of the
chiefs, or sub-chiefs, sought their help. The advantages of bringing in the
Normans were so
great, that it is again surprising that it had not been tried before. There
were little towns in Ireland, founded by the Vikings, though the local chiefs controlled all of
them that survived. But William the Lion in Scotland
recognised the need to establish proper towns with proper charters, organised
and controlled by guilds of merchant to systematically develop crafts, markets,
and trade, and to introduce feudal law and custom to the countryside to promote
and develop agriculture to produce and export surplus production. In Wales the
marcher lords did likewise. When John de Courci moved into Ulster
the transformation was put into place immediately. Fifteen boroughs with
markets, not all successful, were established in an area amounting to about
half of the present counties of Antrim and Down. Skilled craftsmen moved in
from England. So the mystery remains why was this not done earlier?
In the general rush to get Norman alliances and
assistance the O’Neills of Tyrone seem to have been unusual, resisting
intermarriage, the assistance of Norman troops, the introduction of towns, and
the development of agriculture to produce a marketable surplus. But the ruling
families were succeeding well with the existing system at least by their own
traditional standards. They succeeded in conquering most of the unimproved
lands in mid-Ulster, being themselves largely invulnerable to invasions. Their
standard of living might be very low, and the lives of the cultivators of the
soil utterly miserable. But they were satisfied with their success and saw no
reason to share it with outsiders who might become greedy. This mentality was
probably the common one in Ireland
before the arrival of the Normans. But when one chief made the break, most of the others rushed to
join him.
[1166] There was no particular reason why the
year 1166, the year Murtagh MacLoughlin died, should have marked a turning
point in Irish history. Had there been a powerful successor to Murtagh MacLoughlin
in the North matters would have been very different. Or if Rory O’Connor had
been as significant a warrior as Murtagh MacLoughlin or Turlough O’Connor and
able to crush the small Norman forces, history also would have been different.
But in the five years between 1166 and 1171 the course of Irish history and the
development of Irish society changed dramatically.
. In Connaught, the O’Connors were supreme, but for adventures outside their
province depended on the support of Breifne. The O’Connors had one great
advantage. Dynastic disputes following the death of Turlough O’Connor in 1156
were quickly, if brutally, settled and his son Rory was soon the undisputed
master of Connaught. Rory proceeded to do what anyone with pretensions to establishing a
permanent kingship in Ireland had to do, and that was to split the opposition in the other
provinces (Curtis 46). In Munster the O’Briens and MacCarthys neutralised each other, and Rory
confirmed both in their respective areas. Cormac MacCarthy remained chief of
Desmond. In Thomond Turlough O’Brien died in 1167 and was succeeded by his son
Murtagh O’Brien in 1167 and by Donal O’Brien in 1168.
In the North the dispute between the
MacLoughlins and O’Neills allowed chiefs of second rank in Ulster,
Oriel, and Breifne a rather unusual freedom to expand. (Donough O’Carroll was
murdered in 1186 and Oriel ceased to be important.) Murtagh MacLoughlin was
succeeded in 1166 by his son Conor,
who was deposed in 1167, and was succeeded by his brother Niall MacLoughlin who
was forced by Rory O’Connor to share the chiefdom with Aed O’Neill from the
rival branch at Tullaghogue. This was Aed im
Macaem Toinlesc which has been
translated as Hugh the Lazy-arsed youth (Burke). Whatever about the nickname he
was a vigorous warrior, and restored the fortunes of the O’Neill branch
In Meath,
the O’Mellaghlins (Clann Cholmain),
riven by disputes, had sunk to second rank. Rory partitioned Meath between
O’Mellaghlin and O’Rourke. In Leinster, Dermot MacMurrough, also profiting by disputes and divisions had
raised the provincial status of Leinster, but Rory had plans to partition that province as well. Dermot had
depended on support from the MacLoughlins. Tiernan O’Rourke’s great ambition in
life was to get as much of the O’Mellaghlin lands as he could. He also wished
to avenge himself on MacMurrough, something he had never been able to do when
Murtagh MacLoughlin was alive.
As it was, Rory O’Connor, over-chief of Connaught since 1156 became the
over-chief of Tara in 1166, and the MacLoughlins no longer protected MacMurrough in Leinster. Rory was inaugurated
as high king of
