FROM JOHN'S VISIT IN 1210 TILL THE INVASION BY THE BRUCES IN 1315.
[Sidenote: John acts as lord of Ireland under his father and brother.]
Richard I. did not interfere with his brother's jurisdiction over
Ireland, and this may be the reason why the records of the colony during
his reign are so scanty. The invaders, though they fought a good deal
among themselves, continued to extend their power, and gained a firm
footing in Connaught. Some years before the death of Henry II., Roderic's
sons had invited the Anglo-Normans into his kingdom, and in 1183 the last
monarch of Ireland retired to the abbey of Cong, where he died in 1198.
His brother Cathal Crovdearg, or Charles of the Red Hand, about whom many
marvellous stories are told, ultimately made himself supreme; but not
without the help of William Fitz-Adelm, who lost no opportunity of
advancing the claim given him by Henry's thoroughly unjustifiable grant.
Fitz-Adelm, who had made himself master of Limerick, at first opposed
Cathal Crovdearg, but joined him in 1201 and enabled him to triumph over
all competitors. The accession of John to the crown of England put an end
to the separate lordship of Ireland, but his successors, until the time
of Henry VIII., continued to call themselves only lords of Ireland. If
Berengaria had had children, it is possible, and even probable, that
Ireland would have passed to John's issue as a separate, or at the most a
tributary kingdom. The early years of John's reign were much disturbed by
a violent feud between the De Lacies and De Courcy. The King favoured the
former party, and in 1205 created the younger Hugo Earl of Ulster and
Viceroy. He proved an oppressive governor, over-taxing the King's
subjects to provide means for his foreign enterprises. The southern
colonists, in alliance with some of the natives, defeated the Viceroy
near Thurles, and the King began to fear that he had given too much power
to one family; for Walter de Lacy continued to rule Meath, while his
brother was all-powerful in the north and east. A royal army was
accordingly levied, and John prepared to revisit the lordship where he
had so signally failed twenty-five years before.
[Sidenote: King John visits Ireland.]
The excommunicated King sailed from Milford Haven with a motley army of
mercenaries, under command of Fair Rosamond's son, William Long-sword,
and landed on June 20, 1210, at the same place as his father had done.
Among his train were John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich, whom Innocent III.
had refused to make Archbishop of Canterbury, and John de Courcy, who had
been captured and given up by the De Lacies, and who had suffered a
rigorous imprisonment, but was now again in favour with the King. John
did not let the grass grow under his feet. On the eighth day after his
arrival he was at Dublin, having travelled by Ross, Thomastown, Kilkenny,
and Naas. The first effect of his presence was to separate the two De
Lacies, and the Lord of Meath sent him the following message:--'Walter
salutes the King as his liege lord, of whom he holds all he possesses;
and prays the King to relax his ire, and suffer Walter to approach his
presence; Walter will not plead against the King, but places all his
castles and lands in the hands of the King as his lord, to retain or
restore as he pleases.' The messenger added that Walter had lost much by
his brother Hugo, and that he left him to the King's pleasure. It is
possible that this was said in consequence of an arrangement between the
two brothers. John was not pacified, and prepared to invade both Meath
and Ulster. Trim was reached by July 2, and Kells by the 4th, and the
Kings of Connaught and Thomond were summoned to take part in the
expedition to Ulster. Cathal Crovdearg and Donough O'Brien both obeyed
the King's order, and the royal army proceeded by Dundalk, Carlingford,
and Downpatrick to Carrickfergus. The latter place was taken and
garrisoned. Hugo de Lacy had already fled into Scotland. The King stayed
eight or nine days at Carrickfergus, where he was visited by Hugh
O'Neill, who does not appear to have made any real submission, and then
marched by Holywood, Downpatrick, Banbridge, and Carlingford to Drogheda.
From Drogheda he again entered Meath, visited Duleek and Kells, and seems
to have penetrated as far west as Granard. He was in Dublin by August 18,
and back to England before the end of the month, having spent sixty-six
days in Ireland. On his return from Ulster he had summoned Cathal
Crovdearg a second time, bidding him bring his son 'to receive a charter
for the third part of Connaught.' Over-persuaded by his wife, Cathal went
to the King alone. John's object may have been to make a hostage of the
boy, and he seized instead MacDermot of Moylurg, O'Hara of Sligo, and two
other men of importance in Connaught. Carrying these chiefs with him to
England, the King left the government of Ireland to Bishop de Grey, who
signalised his advent to power by building a castle and bridge at
Athlone. William de Braose, who had enormous estates in Ireland, was
driven into exile by John, who starved his wife and son to death, and
gave his castle of Carrigogunnel on the Shannon to Donough O'Brien.
[Sidenote: The Anglo-Normans flock to the King. He erects twelve shires.]
The Anglo-Norman barons of Ireland flocked to Dublin while John was
there, and swore to obey the laws of England. The King divided their
country into twelve counties: Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Uriel or Louth,
Carlow, Kilkenny, and Wexford in Leinster; and Waterford, Cork, Kerry,
Limerick, and Tipperary in Munster. Every knight's fee was bound to
supply a well-armed horseman, and inferior tenants were bound to provide
foot-soldiers. The Viceroy was to give a notice of forty days when the
feudal array was to muster at Dublin, and serve against the King's
enemies for forty days in each year. Ulster and Connaught were not
shired, but were afterwards sometimes regarded as counties. Perhaps the
nobles of these provinces were supposed to be constantly employed against
the Irish. The native chiefs were considered as tributary subjects, but
not as tenants. In 1215 John ordered the Archbishop of Dublin to buy
enough scarlet cloth to make robes for the Kings of Ireland; and it is
clear that they were expected to serve, though the exact measure of the
aid rendered may have been left to themselves.
[Sidenote: Leinster is divided after Earl Richard's death.]
When Strongbow died without a son the principality of Leinster fell to
his eldest daughter Isabel, who became a ward of the Crown. In 1189 the
minor was given in marriage to William Earl Marshal, who thus became Earl
of Pembroke and Strigul, and lord of a territory in Ireland,
corresponding nearly to the counties of Wexford, Kildare, Carlow,
Kilkenny, and part of the Queen's County. He built a castle and
incorporated a town at Kilkenny, and died in 1219, transmitting his
honours and great power to his son William. The younger William was
Viceroy in 1224, and depressed the De Lacies, allying himself generally
with Cathal Crovdearg O'Connor. He died in 1231, leaving all to his
brother Richard, who made good his position, although Henry III.'s
foreign advisers plotted his destruction. Strongbow's grandson was killed
in 1234 by the feudatories who were bound to defend him, and the colony
never recovered the blow.
[Sidenote: The De Burgos in Connaught.]
Fitz-Adelm's son, Richard de Burgo, generally called MacWilliam by the
Irish, married Una, Cathal Crovdearg's grand-daughter, and procured from
Henry III. a grant of all Connaught, except five cantreds reserved for
the support of the post at Athlone. From the first the position of the
Anglo-Normans in Connaught differed from their position in other parts of
Ireland. They were there rather as allies of the native chiefs than as
conquerors, and the easy lapse of their descendants into Irish habits is
the less to be wondered at. Richard de Burgo obtained a confirmation of
his grant in 1226, through the favour of his kinsman, the great
justiciar, Hubert, and he soon afterwards made himself master of Galway,
which he fortified strongly, and made the chief place of Connaught. After
his time the O'Connors never regained possession of it, and the
importance of the royal tribe steadily diminished during the whole of the
thirteenth century. Richard de Burgo's eldest son Walter married Maud,
daughter and heiress of the younger Hugo de Lacy, who died in 1243, and
he thus became Earl of Ulster as well as Lord of Connaught. His son
Richard, commonly called the Red Earl, advanced the power of the
Anglo-Norman state to the furthest point which it ever attained.
[Sidenote: Poverty of the colony under Henry III.]
Constant war is not favourable to the production of wealth, and it seems
probable that no very considerable progress was made in the arts of
peace. Tallage was first imposed on Ireland in 1217, in the name of Henry
III., but it seems to have yielded little, and a generation later there
was equal difficulty in collecting a tithe for the Pope. Innocent IV.
ordered that a sum should be so raised for the liberation of the Holy
Land, and very stringent letters were sent to Ireland in 1254; but
collector Lawrence Sumercote declared that the difficulties were
insuperable. The Irish, he explained, never saved anything, but lived
riotously and gave liberally to all, and he professed that he would
'rather be imprisoned than crucified any longer in Ireland for the
business of the Cross.' The plan of drawing upon Ireland for English or
Continental wars was, however, largely practised during the reign of
Henry III., and it tended to sap the strength of the colony. Ready money
might be scarce, but there were men, and they could be ill-spared from
the work of defending their lands against a native race who were ever on
the watch to take advantage of their absence or neglect.
[Sidenote: Edward I. had not time to attend to Ireland personally.]
A vast number of documents remain to show that Edward I. took great pains
about Ireland. Phelim O'Connor, who died in 1265, may be regarded as the
last King of Connaught. His son Hugh did indeed assume the title, and,
according to the annalists, 'executed his royal depredations on the men
of Offaly, where he committed many burnings and killings;' but his
kingship does not appear to have been officially recognised, and the De
Burgos were the true rulers. The Red Earl was supreme in the northern
half of Ireland; but O'Neill was recognised as King of Tyrone, while his
claim to be head of all the Irish in Ireland was denied. O'Cahan was also
sometimes given the title of king. O'Donnell was treated with less
respect, and a price was set upon his head, which appears to have been
actually brought to Dublin in 1283. In 1281 Hugh Boy O'Neill, whom the
annalists call 'royal heir of all Erin, head of the hospitality and
valour of the Gael,' sided with the English against Donnell Oge
O'Donnell, who is called 'King of the north, the best Gael for
hospitality and dignity; the general guardian of the west of Europe, and
the knitting-needle of the arch sovereignty, and the rivetting hammer of
every good law, and the top-nut of the Gael in valour.' A battle was
fought near Dungannon, and O'Donnell, who had under him the O'Rourkes and
MacMahons, and 'nearly the majority of the Irish of Connaught and
Ulster,' was defeated and slain. Two years later Hugh Boy was killed by
the MacMahons. The story of this contest is a good illustration of the
hopeless incapacity of the natives for anything like a national
combination. If Edward I. had been able to attend to Ireland personally,
it is at least probable that he would have conquered the country as
completely as Wales.
[Sidenote: Frequency of quarrels among the colonists.]
In 1275, Edward granted the whole of Thomond to Thomas de Clare, who took
advantage of the dissensions among the O'Briens, and built the strong
castle of Bunratty to dominate the district. The conquest of Thomond was,
however, never completed, or nearly completed, nor did the De Clares
succeed in establishing themselves like the De Burgos. They might have
done so had they not come so late into the field, and their failure was
certainly not owing to any exceptional power of combination shown by the
Irish. It was rather due to quarrels among the colonists, whose strength
was being constantly sapped by taking part in Edward's Scotch wars, and
who were not recruited by any considerable immigration. In 1245, the male
line of the Earl Marshal was finally extinguished, and the inheritance of
Strongbow fell to five sisters, the great grand-daughters of Dermod
MacMurrough. Matilda, the eldest, obtained Carlow and carried the
hereditary office of Earl Marshal to her husband, Hugh Bigot, Earl of
Norfolk. Joan, the second, received Wexford. Isabella, the third, had
Kilkenny, which her descendants sold to the Ormonde family. Sibilla, the
fourth, had Kildare for her share. Eva, the youngest sister, married
William De Braose; and through her daughter, who was married to Roger
Mortimer, became ancestress of most of the royal houses of Europe. As
the five daughters of William Earl Marshal were all married, and had all
children, the history of Leinster becomes very confusing. Had it remained
in one strong hand the Irish would hardly have recovered their ground.
But, as Giraldus points out, the 'four great pillars of the conquest,
Fitz-Stephen, Hervey, Raymond, and John de Courcy, by the hidden but
never unjust judgment of God, were not blessed with any legitimate
offspring.' A similar fatality attended many others, including Earl
Richard, to whom, and not to Fitz-Stephen, common fame, more true in this
case than contemporary history, has attributed the real leadership among
the Anglo-Norman invaders of Ireland.
[Sidenote: Edward I. weakens the colony by drawing men and supplies from
it.]
In his great campaign of 1296 Edward had much help from Ireland. The Earl
of Ulster was among those who led contingents to Scotland, and the names
of Power, Butler, Fitzthomas, Wogan, Rocheford, Purcell, Cantoke, and
Barry appear among the leaders. The whole force from Ireland consisted of
310 men-at-arms, 266 hobelers or horsemen with unarmoured horses, and
2,576 foot, including many archers and cross-bowmen. All who went
received pardons, but some refused or neglected to obey the royal
summons. In 1298 Edward drew provisions from Ireland. His requisition
included 8,000 quarters of wheat, chiefly fine flour in casks; 10,000
quarters of oats; much bran, bacon, salt beef, and salt fish; and 10,000
casks of wine. If so much wine could not be got in Ireland, then the
Viceroy was to agree with some merchant to bring it from Gascony as quick
as possible. Edward used Ireland as a base for operations, or as a
recruiting ground, but he never had time to give it much of his personal
care. First Wales, then Gascony, then Palestine, then Scotland engrossed
his vast energies; but Ireland was left to herself. Without the means to
keep order themselves, Viceroys found it necessary to preserve the colony
by stirring up dissensions among the Irish. The justiciar, Robert
d'Ufford, was sent for by Edward and charged with this evil policy. He
answered, that to save the King's coffers, and to keep the peace, he
thought it expedient to wink at one knave cutting off another. 'Whereat,'
says an old author, 'the King smiled, and bade him return to Ireland.'
[Sidenote: Disorders after the death of Edward I.]
John's imperfect partition of Ireland into shires was still more
imperfectly carried out. At the death of Edward I. four out of his
grandfather's twelve counties--namely, Meath, Wexford, Carlow, and
Kilkenny--were liberties or exempt jurisdictions in the hands of what
Davies calls 'absolute palatines,' claiming and exercising almost every
attribute of sovereignty. The Fitzgeralds had acquired similar authority
over a portion of Desmond, and the De Clares over a portion of Thomond.
Connaught and Ulster were under the De Burghs, in so far as they had been
reduced at all, and Roscommon was a royal castle and the head of a
separate county. At Randon on Lough Ree was another royal castle, and
these were almost the only strongholds of the Crown in Connaught; for
Galway was quite subject to the De Burghs. Within their palatinate
jurisdictions, the great nobles made barons and knights, appointed
sheriffs, and executed justice. The King's writ only ran in the Church
lands, and was executed by a separate sheriff. So complete was the
distinction, that in the mediæval parliaments knights were separately
returned for the counties and for the 'crosses,' as the ecclesiastical
jurisdictions were called. The inherent weakness of such a polity was
probably aggravated by the suppression of the Templars, who always kept a
strong armed force. In 1308 Edward II. called for an account of their
lands and revenues, and the barons of the exchequer answered that they
could make no proper inquisition. 'On account,' they wrote, 'of the long
distances, and of the feuds between certain of the magnates of Ireland,
we do not dare to visit the places named, and jurors of the country
cannot come to us for the same reason.'
[Sidenote: Reasons why the colony declined. The Bruces invade Ireland.]
Dissensions among the barons, caused by the weakness and absence of the
Crown, were one great cause of the decline of the colony. Another was the
policy of Edward I., which left him little time to attend to Ireland, and
tempted him constantly to draw supplies of men from thence. A third was
the battle of Bannockburn, which allowed victorious Scotland to compete
with England for the dominion of the neighbouring island; and the Irish
themselves were not slow to adopt the principle that England's difficulty
is Ireland's opportunity. In 1315 Edward Bruce landed near Larne with
6,000 men, including some of the best knights in Scotland. Having been
joined by O'Neill and the chiefs depending on him, Bruce twice defeated
the Red Earl of Ulster, occupied the strongholds of Down and Antrim, and
wintered in Westmeath. In the spring he overthrew the Viceroy, Sir Edmund
Butler, at Ardscull, for the Earl of Ulster disdained to serve under the
King's representative, and the English armies were therefore beaten in
detail. Bruce gained another battle at Kells, wasted all northern
Leinster, and then returned to Carrickfergus, where he was joined by King
Robert with reinforcements. The Scots went almost where they liked, and
Robert Bruce is said to have heard mass at Limerick on Palm Sunday, 1317.
They did not cross the Shannon, and seem not to have gone further south
than Cashel. Dublin was not attacked, though the invaders came as near as
Castleknock. On Easter Thursday, 1317, Roger Mortimer landed at Youghal
with 15,000 men and full viceregal powers, and the Bruces retired before
him into Ulster. They had devastated the country, and lost many men from
the famine which they themselves had caused.
[Sidenote: The Bruces fail to conquer Ireland.]
The Bruces were descended from Strongbow and from Dermod MacMurrough, and
Robert's wife was descended from Roderic O'Connor. The true principles of
hereditary succession were not fully accepted, and they might pretend
some right to interfere in Ireland. They had been invited by the De
Lacies of Meath, who for want of male heirs saw their territory divided
between De Verdon and De Mortimer. In the first flush of his victorious
advance from the south, Roger Mortimer called the De Lacies before him.
They refused to appear, and were proclaimed traitors, but continued to
adhere to Edward Bruce's fortunes. The invader, after his brother's
departure, remained for more than a year at Carrickfergus, in hopes of
being able to take the offensive again, and still retaining the title of
King, which he had assumed after his first successes. He had been so
often victorious in battle that he despised the colonists, and, against
the advice of his Irish allies, resolved to fight once more without
waiting for reinforcements from Scotland. John de Bermingham, at the head
of an army which greatly outnumbered the Scots, forced an engagement
between Faughard and Dundalk, and Bruce and most of his officers were
killed. The remnant of his army, with Walter and Hugo de Lacy, managed to
escape to Scotland. The sovereignty of the English Crown in Ireland was
never again seriously disputed; but the feudal organisation was shattered
by Bruce's invasion, which did nothing to compose the differences already
existing among the colonists. John de Bermingham received a grant of
Louth with the title of earl, but his great services were soon forgotten,
and eleven years after the battle of Dundalk he was murdered by the
English of his own earldom.
[Sidenote: Horrible cruelties of the Bruces.]
English and Irish are agreed as to the cruelty and ferocity of the
Bruces. Clyn the Franciscan records, in terse and vigorous Latin, that
'Robert Bruce, who bore himself as King of the Scots, crossed Ireland
from Ulster, where he landed, almost to Limerick, burning, killing,
plundering, and spoiling towns, castles, and even churches, both going
and returning.' Clyn was an English partisan, but the same cannot be said
of the Lough Cé annalists, who record that 'Edward Bruce, the destroyer
of all Erin in general, both foreigners and Gaels, was slain by the
foreigners of Erin, through the power of battle and bravery at Dundalk;
and MacRory, King of the Hebrides, and MacDonnell, King of Argyll,
together with the men of Scotland, were slain there along with him; and
no better deed for the men of all Erin was performed since the beginning
of the world, since the Formorian race was expelled from Erin, than this
deed; for theft, and famine, and destruction of men occurred throughout
Erin during his time for the space of three years and a half; and people
used to eat one another, without doubt, throughout Erin.'
[Sidenote: The Irish fail to give the Bruces effectual support.]
There can, however, be no doubt that Edward Bruce came to Ireland on the
invitation of the Irish. Donnell O'Neill, claiming to be the true heir to
the chief kingship, and the other chiefs, in the famous remonstrance
which they addressed to John XXII., informed that Pope that they felt
helpless for want of a leader, but were determined no longer to submit
like women to Anglo-Norman oppression, and that they had therefore
invited over 'the brother of the most illustrious Lord Robert, by the
grace of God King of the Scots, and a descendant of the most noble of
their own ancestors,' and that they had by letters patent constituted him
king and lord. The blood of Roderic O'Connor and of Eva evidently went
for something, but the chiefs also believed that Edward Bruce was 'a
person of piety and prudence, of a chaste and modest disposition, of
great sobriety, and altogether orderly and unassuming in his demeanour.'
Scottish historians are not entirely of the same opinion. It is indeed
probable that Bruce had no other idea than to carve out a kingdom with
his sword, like a genuine Norman as he was. He had the memory of Earl
Richard, of Fitz-Stephen, and of De Courcy to guide him; and if a more
modern instance was required, there could be none better than that of his
brother Robert.
[Illustration: IRELAND ABOUT 1300.]