Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland
The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans and Cambro-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land in Ireland over which the monarchs of England then claimed sovereignty. The Anglo-Normans claimed the invasion was sanctioned by the papal bull Laudabiliter. Gaelic Ireland then consisted of several kingdoms, with a High King claiming lordship over most of the other kings. The Anglo-Norman invasion was a watershed in Ireland's history, marking the beginning of almost 800 years of British presence in Ireland.
In May 1169, Anglo-Norman mercenaries landed in Ireland at the request of Diarmait mac Murchada, the deposed King of Leinster, who sought their help in regaining his kingship. They achieved this within weeks and raided neighbouring kingdoms. This military intervention was sanctioned by King Henry II of England. In return, Diarmait had sworn loyalty to Henry and promised land to the Normans.
In 1170, there were further Norman landings, led by the Earl of Pembroke, Richard "Strongbow" de Clare. They seized the important Norse-Irish towns of Dublin and Waterford, and Strongbow married Diarmait's daughter Aoífe. Diarmait died in May 1171 and Strongbow claimed Leinster, which Diarmait had promised him. Led by High King Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair, a coalition of most of the Irish kingdoms besieged Dublin, while Norman-held Waterford and Wexford were also attacked. However, the Normans managed to hold most of their territory.
In October 1171, King Henry landed with a large army to assert control over both the Anglo-Normans and the Irish. This intervention was supported by the Roman Catholic Church, who saw it as a means of ensuring Irish religious reform, and a source of taxes. At the time, Irish marriage laws conflicted with those of the broader Church, and the Gregorian Reform had not been fully implemented. Henry granted Strongbow Leinster as a fiefdom, declared the Norse-Irish towns to be crown land, and arranged the synod of Cashel to reform the Irish church. Many Irish kings also submitted to him, likely in the hope that he would curb Norman expansion, but Henry granted the unconquered kingdom of Meath to Hugh de Lacy. After Henry's departure in 1172, fighting between the Normans and Irish continued.
The 1175 Treaty of Windsor acknowledged Henry as overlord of the conquered territory and Ruaidrí as overlord of the remainder of Ireland, with Ruaidrí also swearing fealty to Henry. The treaty soon collapsed: Norman lords continued to invade Irish kingdoms and the Irish continued to attack the Normans. In 1177, Henry adopted a new policy. He declared his son John to be the "Lord of Ireland" and authorised the Norman lords to conquer more land. The territory they held became the Lordship of Ireland, part of the Angevin Empire. The Normans' success has been attributed to military superiority and fortress-building, the lack of a unified opposition from the Irish and the support of the Church for Henry's intervention.
Background
In the 12th century, Gaelic Ireland was made up of several over-kingdoms, which each comprised several lesser kingdoms. At the top was the High King, who received tribute from the other kings but did not rule Ireland as a unitary state, though it had a common culture and legal system. The five port towns of Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, and Limerick were inhabited by the Norse-Irish and had their own rulers.The Normans conquered England between 1066 and 1075, with all earldoms thereafter held by Normans, as were all bishoprics after 1096. In parallel, the Treaty of Abernethy created a limited settlement between the Norman conquerors and Scotland, with lands in Cumbria exchanged for peace. Over the following decades, Norman lords conquered much of south Wales and established their own semi-independent lordships there. According to historian John Gillingham, after the Norman conquest, an imperialist attitude emerged among England's new French-speaking ruling elite, and they came to view their Celtic neighbours as inferior and barbarous.
Early Norman designs and contacts
It is thought that the Dublin-Leinster army in the 1014 Battle of Clontarf may have included troops from the Duchy of Normandy.After the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, the Normans became aware of the role Ireland played in providing refuge and assistance to their enemies. They also contemplated the conquest of Ireland. It is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that if William the Conqueror had lived for two more years "he would have conquered Ireland by his prudence and without any weapons". William's son, William II, is stated as having said "For the conquest of this land, I will gather all the ships of my kingdom, and will make of them a bridge to cross over".
In September 1155, King Henry II of England held a council at Winchester. According to Robert of Torigni, Henry discussed plans to invade Ireland and grant it to his brother William FitzEmpress as a provision. The Anglo-Norman clergy strongly backed the proposal. The plans came to nothing, allegedly due to opposition from his mother, the Empress Matilda.
There were contacts between the Irish and Normans well before 1169. The Norman lord of Pembroke, Arnulf de Montgomery, was the son-in-law of Murtough O'Brien, king of Munster and High King of Ireland. De Montgomery and his family had rebelled against Henry I in 1100 and sought Irish aid. De Montgomery married O'Brien's daughter and obtained the assistance of his fleet, but was still forced to flee to Ireland in 1102. Orderic Vitalis' account says De Montgomery used his troops to aid O'Brien in Ireland and hoping to succeed his father-in-law as king, but had to flee after his hosts turned against him. William of Malmesbury states it was only after the Normans imposed a trade embargo on Ireland that the situation died down and the O'Brien-de Montgomery alliance ended.
From at least 1144, the king of Leinster, Dermot MacMurrough, had been on good terms with the future Henry II. After becoming king of England in December 1154, Henry II had allied with Somerled, Lord of Argyll, and Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn, king of the Cenél nEógain, to put pressure on the new king of Scotland, Malcolm IV. The fruits of this alliance saw Malcolm cede parts of Scotland to England in 1157 and make peace with Somerled in 1160. In Ireland, Mac Lochlainn invaded the Kingdom of Breifne, forced the submission Rory O'Connor, king of Connacht, and in 1161 gave MacMurrough eastern Meath. For six months in 1165, the fleet of Dublin, which was under the control of Dermot MacMurrough, was used to aid Henry II's forces in an abortive campaign in north Wales.
Role of the church
Some of the initiative for political and military intervention came from Anglo-Norman church leaders – especially Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury – who wanted to control the Irish church and fully implement the Gregorian Reforms. Irish church leaders had legislated for reform, notably at the synods of Cashel, Ráth Breasail and Kells. These reforms, intended to tighten attitudes towards marriage, clerical celibacy, the sacramental system, and control of church lands and offices, "would demand the abandonment of features of Gaelic society going back to pre-Christian times and of practises which had been accepted for centuries by the church in Ireland." Implementing the reforms was slow and difficult.At the Synod of Kells, the church of Canterbury had its claims to primacy over the Irish church dismissed by Pope Eugene III, who felt the Irish church could handle its own affairs. This did not go down well with the Anglo-Norman clergy. In 1155 John of Salisbury, Secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and good friends with the recently elected Anglo-Norman Pope Adrian IV, made an "extraordinary intervention" at the Roman Curia. He called for Norman involvement in Ireland to reform its "barbaric and impious" people. This resulted in the papal bull Laudabiliter, or an equivalent, which purported to grant Henry II papal authority to intervene in Ireland, such as by conquest. Salisbury had been inspired in his views on the Irish by the "Life of Malachy", written by Malachy's friend, Bernard of Clairvaux.
This hagiography, written within a year of Malachy's death in 1148, depicted the Irish, in fact highly Christianised, in exaggerated terms as barbaric, semi-pagan and in need of reform. Historian F. X. Martin writes that Ireland was "barbaric" in Bernard's eyes because it "had retained its own culture and had remained outside the Latin secular world". This depiction of Ireland and the Irish became established as the mainstream view throughout Europe.
Landings of 1169
In 1166, Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair, king of Connacht, was acknowledged as High King of Ireland by most of the Irish kings. He led a coalition—that included Tigernán Ua Ruairc of Bréifne, Diarmait Ua Maelsechlainn of Míde, the Norse-Irish of Dublin, and several Leinster princes—which ousted Diarmait mac Murchada as king of Leinster for having abducted Dervorgilla, the wife of Tiernan O'Rourke, King of Breifne, 15 years prior. Diarmait refusing to accept his fate sailed from Ireland on the 1 August for Bristol with his daughter Aoife and sought help from Henry II in regaining his kingship. Henry gave Diarmait permission to recruit forces and authorised his subjects to help Diarmait, in return for Diarmait swearing loyalty to Henry. Among other benefits, a loyal Diarmait restored to power would allow the fleet of Dublin to be used in Anglo-Norman campaigns against the Welsh and Scots.Several Marcher Lords agreed to help: Richard FitzGilbert de Clare, Robert FitzStephen, Maurice FitzGerald, and Maurice de Prendergast. Diarmait promised Strongbow his daughter Aoífe in marriage and the kingship of Leinster upon Diarmait's death. He promised Robert and Maurice the town of Wexford and two neighbouring cantreds. Under Irish law, Diarmait had no right to do this. Having secured their help, he returned to his home territory of Uí Ceinnselaig in 1167 with one knight, Richard FitzGodebert, and a small number of soldiers. He smoothly resumed power as chief and awaited the arrival of his allies. King Ruaidrí and Tigernán confronted him with a small force and there was a skirmish at Killistown. Diarmait gave hostages to Ruaidrí and a hundred ounces of gold to Tigernán, and FitzGodebert left Ireland.
On 1 May 1169, Robert FitzStephen and Maurice de Prendergast landed at Bannow Bay, on the south coast of County Wexford, with a force of at least 40 knights, 60 men-at-arms and 360 archers. This force merged with about 500 men led by Diarmait. They set about conquering Leinster and the territories Diarmait had claimed sovereignty over. First they besieged the Norse-Irish seaport of Wexford, which surrendered after two days. They then raided and plundered the territories of north Leinster, which had refused to submit to Diarmait. They also raided the neighbouring kingdom of Ossory, defeating the forces of king Donnchad Mac Gilla Patraic in the battle of Achad Úr. However, Donnchad withdrew his forces to safety. Prendergast then announced he was withdrawing from Ireland with his 200 men, but Diarmait would not let them set sail from Wexford. In response, Prendergast offered his men as mercenaries to Donnchad of Ossory, which Donnchad accepted. He used these mercenaries to temporarily subdue Loígis. However, Prendergast refused to fight his former companions, and he soon left Ireland with his men.
In response, High King Ruaidrí led an army into Leinster to confront Diarmait and the Normans. The army included contingents from Connacht, Breffny, Meath, and Dublin, each led by their respective kings. An agreement was reached at Ferns: Diarmait was acknowledged as king of Leinster, in return for acknowledging Ruaidrí as his overlord and agreeing to send his foreign allies away permanently. To ensure compliance, Diarmait agreed to give Ruaidrí hostages, one of whom was his son. However, Diarmait apparently sought to use his Anglo-Norman allies to make himself High King. Shortly after the Ferns agreement, Maurice FitzGerald landed at Wexford with at least 10 knights, 30 mounted archers and 100-foot archers. In a show of strength, Maurice and Diarmait marched an army north and laid waste to the hinterland of Dublin.