Tudor Ireland (1) with maps

Points of interest: Ireland was never invaded by the Romans although there was Roman
influence through trade; Christianity arrived in Ireland with St Patrick in 432CE.

In order to understand Ireland during the Tudor period, it’s helpful to have a little knowledge
about what went before. So today I’m going to offer a very brief, and very simplified,
overview of the period 800CE - 1485CE.

I’ve chosen to start at around 800CE because that’s when the Vikings first arrived. At that
time Ireland was inhabited by the Gaelic people. The land was divided into 4 main provinces
– Ulster in the north, Leinster in the southeast, Munster in the southwest and Connaught in
the west. Within these provinces were several mini-kingdoms called tuatha based around
tribal/family groups. There was no central rule. Over time these small groups formed
alliances and merged. One of the groups, the Ui Neill (O’Neill), came to dominate much of
west Ulster and north Leinster.

The Vikings first landed in Ireland in 795CE and by 841CE they had established a settlement
in Dublin. For nearly 200 years there was on/off warfare between the native Gaelic kingdoms
and the Viking settlers. There were two main waves of invasion. During the first, they
expanded Dublin (known as Dubh Linn or Black Pool), and then during the second wave
they established Waterford, Wexford, Limerick and Cork.

The Vikings often get a bad press as being war-mongers, and they were a belligerent
people, but they also introduced some positive aspects to society. They brought with them
the notion of towns and cities and today their influence is still felt, for example in the
organisation of roads, and in some of the place names. There was intermarriage and inter-
relations with the Gaelic (or Irish) people everywhere, with trade, commerce and aspects of
language shared.

Nevertheless, internal strife continued in Ireland as the various Lords struggled for more
overall control as well as trying to resist the Viking influence. The Battle of Clontarf (just
outside Dublin) took place in 1014CE. Brian Boru, from the southern province of Munster,
and a self-proclaimed High King of Ireland was fighting against a Norse-Irish alliance. The
battle lasted from dawn to dusk on 23rd April and resulted in a ‘victory’ for the southern forces
with Viking power diminished, even though Brian himself was killed. This battle has become
central to Irish folklore which gives hero-like status to Brian as the conqueror of the Vikings,
but recent historians have questioned this traditional understanding believing that the battle
was fought more between the Irish kingdoms with Vikings fighting on both sides.

Internal wrangling between the Irish and the Irish and the Irish and the Vikings continued.

The Normans arrived in England in 1066 and they soon became interested in expanding
their power into Ireland, but it wasn’t until 1169/70 when they were invited by the ousted King
of Leinster, Dermot MacMurrough, to help him in his campaign against the southern King of
Munster, that they began to make their presence felt. In effect, they arrived as mercenaries
under the leadership of Richard FitzGilbert de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, aka Strongbow. In
return for his assistance, Strongbow was given lands in Ireland as well as marriage with
Dermot’s daughter, Aoife. Thus the Normans gained a foothold in Ireland, paving the way for
Henry II who, uncertain of his own position in England, launched a 4 year offensive in Ireland

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in1171CE. He arrived with 4000 foot soldiers, 500 knights and spent 6 months in the country
establishing the areas of Dublin, Wexford and Waterford as his Royal Domains. This
became known as The Conquest of Ireland.

Henry left the Anglo-Norman barons to maintain and further establish English control.
Among the Barons were the prominent families the FitzGeralds, the Butlers and the Burkes.

The Treaty of Windsor (1175CE) was signed (at Windsor) between Henry II and the then
High King of Ireland, Rory O’ Connor. In simple terms, the treaty halved Ireland under 2
influences: Henry II as Lord of the Anglo-Norman lands and Rory as Lord of the Rest of
Ireland. The downside for the Irish was that Rory had to swear fealty to Henry. In 1177CE in
a move to further strengthen the position Henry created the Lordship of Ireland as a
designated Lordship of the English crown. He bestowed this honour upon his son, John, and
when John became King in 1199, the Lordship of Ireland and the Crown of England became
inextricably linked and remained so until 1541.

During the rule of the later Plantagenet Kings the former Norman Barons adopted Gaelic
language and culture and began to carve out fiefdoms for themselves with their own laws
and arms forces. They achieved a high level of independence. By 1300CE they controlled
most of the island apart from a few pockets in Connemara, the peninsulas of Cork, Kerry,
Clare and north-western Ulster. (Interestingly, these are the Irish or Gaelic speaking
communities of modern day Ireland). Although the English monarch was the Lord of Ireland
in name, it was the Deputy who took on the role of Governor and Chief Administrator and
this role was usually held by one of the Barons. This was probably the high point of English
‘conquest’ in Ireland.

Thereafter, the Irish lords began to push back and English authority became increasingly
compromised. The area around Dublin from where the English Lords held power is what is
known to us as The (English) Pale, although there is no mention in official documents until
1495 of it being so called.

Plague devastated Ireland in 1348 with the English areas being more badly affected than
those of the Irish. Many of the English left. In 1366 the Statutes of Kilkenny were
established in order to try and re-establish English control which had been steadily dwindling
– these forbade intermarriage between the English and the Irish, and forbade the English
from using the Gaelic language or adopting the Irish modes of dress. In practice, there was
little difference in behaviour.

It is worth noting that the House of York had a strong connection to Ireland with Richard
Plantagenet, Duke of York, holding the positions of Earl of Ulster, Lord of the Liberty of
Meath and Chief Governor 1449-50 and 1459-60, and during his reign Edward IV visited
Waterford. Ireland also provided protection to Yorkists during the Wars of the Roses.

Sources

A Brief History of Ireland by Richard Killeen (2012)

Website.wildernessireland.com

Podcasts: Not Just the Tudors and The Rest is History

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