The Norman Invasion of Ireland
By the 12th century, Ireland was invaded two times. Although a brutal piece of Irish history, two important invasions by Norman brought lots of new things to Ireland such as Architecture, languages (English and French) and farming ideas.
The first Norman knight to land in Ireland was Richard fitz Godbert de Roche in 1167, but it was not until 1169 that the main body of Norman, In 1169, The Norman military invasion of Ireland headed by Diarmait Mac Murchada. He sent word to Wales and pleaded with Strongbow to come to Ireland as soon as possible. Strongbow's small force landed in Wexford. Waterford and Dublin were under Diarmait's control. Without long he had regained the King of Leinster seat and moved onto remove the High King of Ireland, Ruaidri Ua Conchobair. In this battle MacMurrough failed to remove O’Connor from the throne and requested that Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke come to Ireland and assist with his quest.
Robert fitzStephen was quite right when he told his followers that Diarmait 'loves our race; he is encouraging our race to come here and has decided to settle them in this island and give them permanent roots...'. And Diarmait even went to the trouble of marrying his daughter to Strongbow to make sure that the alliance had staying power.
Their agreement spelled out that if none of Diarmait's sons survived (and one had been blinded, another been taken hostage, another was illegitimate), then Strongbow could even inherit the throne of Leinster himself. At which point Henry II suddenly sat up and took notice of what was going on in the west. He had meant to use Diarmait's appeal to get a foothold in Ireland.
So in the winter of 1171, Henry landed with a large fleet at Waterford, becoming the first King of England to set foot on Irish soil. In November Henry accepted the submission of the Irish kings in Dublin. In 1172 Henry arranged for the Irish bishops to attend the Synod of Cashel and to run the Irish Church in the same manner as the Church in England. Adrian's successor, Pope Alexander III, then ratified the grant of Ireland to Henry, ".. following in the footsteps of the late venerable Pope Adrian, and in expectation also of seeing the fruits of our own earnest wishes on this head, ratify and confirm the permission of the said Pope granted you in reference to the dominion of the kingdom of Ireland."
And though everything that happened afterwards in the sad history of England and Ireland wants to say this was the moment when Ireland lost her freedom, no one at the time saw it that way at all.
The Irish kings did homage to Henry as they would to any High King, building the ritual hall through which they entered as his men, promising him one of every ten of their cattle hides in tribute.
And they saw him not as imperial conqueror at all, but as their protector against the Strongbows and the Anglo-Norman barons.
By the 12th century, Ireland was invaded two times. Although a brutal piece of Irish history, two important invasions by Norman brought lots of new things to Ireland such as Architecture, languages (English and French) and farming ideas.
The first Norman knight to land in Ireland was Richard fitz Godbert de Roche in 1167, but it was not until 1169 that the main body of Norman, In 1169, The Norman military invasion of Ireland headed by Diarmait Mac Murchada. He sent word to Wales and pleaded with Strongbow to come to Ireland as soon as possible. Strongbow's small force landed in Wexford. Waterford and Dublin were under Diarmait's control. Without long he had regained the King of Leinster seat and moved onto remove the High King of Ireland, Ruaidri Ua Conchobair. In this battle MacMurrough failed to remove O’Connor from the throne and requested that Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke come to Ireland and assist with his quest.
Robert fitzStephen was quite right when he told his followers that Diarmait 'loves our race; he is encouraging our race to come here and has decided to settle them in this island and give them permanent roots...'. And Diarmait even went to the trouble of marrying his daughter to Strongbow to make sure that the alliance had staying power.Their agreement spelled out that if none of Diarmait's sons survived (and one had been blinded, another been taken hostage, another was illegitimate), then Strongbow could even inherit the throne of Leinster himself. At which point Henry II suddenly sat up and took notice of what was going on in the west. He had meant to use Diarmait's appeal to get a foothold in Ireland.
So in the winter of 1171, Henry landed with a large fleet at Waterford, becoming the first King of England to set foot on Irish soil. In November Henry accepted the submission of the Irish kings in Dublin. In 1172 Henry arranged for the Irish bishops to attend the Synod of Cashel and to run the Irish Church in the same manner as the Church in England. Adrian's successor, Pope Alexander III, then ratified the grant of Ireland to Henry, ".. following in the footsteps of the late venerable Pope Adrian, and in expectation also of seeing the fruits of our own earnest wishes on this head, ratify and confirm the permission of the said Pope granted you in reference to the dominion of the kingdom of Ireland."
And though everything that happened afterwards in the sad history of England and Ireland wants to say this was the moment when Ireland lost her freedom, no one at the time saw it that way at all.
The Irish kings did homage to Henry as they would to any High King, building the ritual hall through which they entered as his men, promising him one of every ten of their cattle hides in tribute.
And they saw him not as imperial conqueror at all, but as their protector against the Strongbows and the Anglo-Norman barons.
By Yongjin Kim
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