Ireland

by Vincent McDonnell

  The Normans were very good soldiers. The knights wore suits of chain-mail armour and iron helmets and carried great swords or maces. The armour was so heavy that they would not have been able to walk very well while wearing it, and so they rode horses, which were also protected with armour. They must have made a terrific din as they rode along with all that metal clinking and clanking. Accompanying them were archers on foot who were experts with longbows. The longbow was so powerful that its arrows could travel an enormous distance and still kill an enemy. It’s said that when the archers released a shower of arrows you could hear them hiss as they flew threw the air, and that a shower of them could block out the sun. The Irish were not used to fighting such soldiers, which is why they were so quickly and easily defeated.

  Strongbow, determined to secure his kingdom, now marched on Dublin, the most important Irish city. He captured the city, which was then in turn besieged by Rory O’Connor and his forces. After two months, Strongbow’s forces rushed out and attacked the besiegers. Rory O’Connor was swimming in the River Liffey at the time, and was not expecting such an attack. He and his soldiers were caught by surprise and defeated. Strongbow now held all of Leinster and when Dermot MacMurrough died in 1171, Strongbow became king of Leinster. With his superior Norman knights to fight for him, he was now the most powerful man in Ireland.

  This situation worried Henry II, who feared that Strongbow would become king of Ireland, and threaten his own rule in England. Henry decided to sail to Ireland and claim the country for himself. He landed in Waterford in October 1171 with an army so powerful that even Strongbow dared not oppose him. Instead, Strongbow and most Irish kings pledged loyalty to Henry, who now claimed Ireland as part of his kingdom, declaring himself Lord of Ireland. It was another momentous event in Irish history. Because of it, today, 850 years later, an English monarch still reigns over the six counties of Northern Ireland.

  Before Henry II sailed from Ireland he granted some Irish lands to his Norman kinsfolk. This caused anger and resentment among those native Irish who lost their lands, and brought them into conflict with the Normans. Henry left John de Courcy in Ireland to conquer the northern part of the country, whose kings had not pledged loyalty to him. De Courcy marched north with his army and captured Downpatrick, the main Ulster stronghold. To defend the territory, he needed a secure base and built a Norman castle at Dundrum, County Down.

  These first Norman castles were not built of stone. Instead, a wooden structure was built on a hilltop, or mound, called a motte. Here, the inhabitants could take shelter from their enemies. Below the mound a structure called a bailey was built. This was an area surrounded by a wooden palisade fence within which houses were built, and cattle and other animals and food and supplies kept safe.

  Over the next 200 years the Normans captured more and more Irish land. Their success was often due to the fact that the Irish kings were always fighting among themselves. They even sided with the Normans against their own countrymen. Much of Leinster, Munster and Connacht came under Norman control. The Normans built great stone castles to defend their conquests and we can still see them today in the Irish countryside. These castles were built at Dublin, Kilkenny, Limerick, Carrickfergus in County Antrim, Trim in County Meath and at many other locations.

  The Normans also developed the towns, which had been founded by the Vikings. Later they built great medieval cathedrals and introduced a number of religious orders to Ireland, like the Dominicans and the Franciscans. They also introduced the feudal system of land ownership, which was common in England and Europe. Under this system, the lord owned the land and protected the people who worked for him. They, in turn, owed complete allegiance to their master, and had to fight for him when necessary.

  Over time, friendships and alliances were established between the conquerors and the native Irish. Marriages took place between both sets of people and the Normans began to adopt Irish habits and customs and language. This led to a saying that the Normans ‘became more Irish than the Irish themselves’. They began to think of themselves as Irish, and felt that they no longer owed allegiance to an English king. This attitude brought English kings to Ireland from time to time, determined to assert their authority.

  Gradually the Normans’ real power base became centred in the eastern half of the country, especially around Dublin. They also controlled the main towns around the coast. Elsewhere, Irish kings, chieftains and Normans lived side by side, though as usual, there was a good deal of fighting among them, with alliances being formed and broken on a regular basis.

  One of the most important points about the coming of the Normans to Ireland was that from then on the English monarchs claimed Ireland as part of their kingdom. But like the High Kings before them, they did not control the whole country. Yet this claim meant that Ireland’s destiny was, from 1171 on, closely linked with that of England. Whenever there was a dispute in England over who should be the reigning monarch, it almost always affected Ireland. Battles for the English crown were later fought in Ireland, bringing great hardship on the people, including the descendants of the Normans. There were also many rebellions in Ireland to try and win her freedom from English rule, and for the next 800 years, Ireland was the scene of invasions, wars, rebellions, battles, sieges and famines, in which a great deal of blood was shed and tens of thousands of lives lost.

  12

  Robert the Bruce and the Spider

  You will have realised by now that kings always want to conquer other lands and become even more powerful and rich. Henry II had declared himself Lord of Ireland, and the English kings who succeeded him wanted to be kings of Scotland and Wales as well. This led to wars between England and Wales, and England and Scotland, and one of these latter conflicts brought war to Ireland.

  After they had conquered England, the Normans took lands in Wales. You remember Strongbow was a Norman whose family seized lands at Pembroke. But yet no English king could truly claim to be king of Wales. It was not until 1272, when Edward I was king of England, that Wales was conquered. Edward didn’t like the Welsh or the Scots – he didn’t like the Irish either – and was determined to conquer Wales and Scotland. In 1272 he led a great army into Wales, conquered the country and declared himself king. He now built massive castles and from these impregnable fortresses his soldiers could ensure that any rebellion was quickly subdued.

  Edward knew that the Scots would not be as easily conquered as the Welsh. The Romans, who had conquered much of the then known world, had never conquered Scotland. So when Scottish king Alexander III died after falling from his horse, Edward I saw an opportunity for his own son to become king of Scotland.

  Alexander’s children had died before their father and his heir was his young granddaughter. Edward I arranged for his son to marry this girl, even though she was just six years of age. This would not have been a proper marriage, but still it would have been a terrible shock for the little girl. One day she’s happily playing with her dolls and the next day she is to be married and a queen. But in olden times, arranged marriages between royal children were common as a king sought to ensure that his family would continue to rule after his death.

  Unfortunately, this little girl died before she could marry. This, too, was quite common then. Even a simple illness could kill, as there were few medicines available to treat disease. When the child died, Edward nominated John Balliol to be king of Scotland. He was a weak man, and was Edward’s puppet. Under pressure from the Scots, who didn’t like him, Balliol resigned. Edward was furious and he led his army into Scotland and in revenge murdered thousands of people in the town of Berwick.

  This enraged the Scots, and one of them, William Wallace, rebelled against Edward, who now claimed to be king of Scotland. At first, Wallace was successful, but eventually he was defeated and executed by being hanged, drawn and quartered, not at all a pleasant way to die. After his death, Robert Bruce became the leader of the Scottish rebellion, but eventually was forced to flee Scotland. Legend claims tha
t he took refuge in a cave on Rathlin Island off the coast of County Antrim, where he decided to give up his resistance to Edward. But then Bruce saw a spider trying to spin a web in a corner of the cave. Seven times the spider tried to spin the web and seven times it failed. At the eighth attempt it succeeded. This showed him that if you kept on trying you could succeed.

  Bruce returned to Scotland and renewed his fight against the English. This time he was successful in battle and was crowned king of Scotland at Scone in 1306. Over the next eight years he captured most of the English-held castles in Scotland. Meanwhile, Edward I died and his son, Edward II, became king of England. He was enraged that Bruce should claim the Scottish crown, and in 1314, Edward marched north with the largest army ever seen in England. He was intent on defeating Bruce and declaring himself king of Scotland.

  The Scottish and English armies met at Bannockburn, south of Stirling, on Sunday, 23 June 1314. The English numbered about 23,000 men, which included knights in armour and archers, while Bruce probably had about 9,000 men. He was greatly outnumbered, and seemed certain to be defeated.

  But a famous incident before the battle gave the Scots great heart. An English knight, Henry de Bohun, spotted Bruce sitting on his horse. Bruce was not wearing armour and de Bohun charged him, certain that he could kill his enemy and cause the Scots to lose heart. An armoured knight charging at full gallop on a huge warhorse would have terrified any man. But Bruce was a brave man and instead of galloping to safety, he stood his ground. While his soldiers watched on in terror, certain that their leader was about to die, Bruce nimbly turned his own horse aside as de Bohun reached him. As the knight charged past, Bruce struck him on the head with his battleaxe, slicing through de Bohun’s helmet and splitting his skull in two. Bruce’s reaction was to complain that he had broken his battleaxe and ask for a new one.

  The incident was seen as a good omen by the Scots and despite being outnumbered almost three to one, they won the battle which raged for two days. The English army was routed and Edward II fled for his life. Robert Bruce, or as he was more generally known, Robert the Bruce, was now the undisputed king of Scotland and reigned until his death in 1329.

  Robert the Bruce had a brother, Edward, and after the victory at Bannockburn the brothers turned their attention to Ireland. They decided that a war there would weaken the English, who would have to send soldiers to Ireland to defend their territory. This could prevent the English from becoming strong enough to attack Scotland. The Scots had also been asked for help by the O’Neills and other Irish kings and chieftains, who were trying to keep their lands from being taken by the Normans and their Irish allies.

  The Irish and Scots were closely linked. They had a common language and many Scots were of Irish descent, while many of the Irish in the north of Ireland had Scottish blood. You remember that Irishmen from the north had gone to Scotland and settled in Argyll. Some of them had become kings of Scotland. There were also links between the two countries because of the Irish missionaries like Columcille who had preached the gospel in Scotland. Soldiers from Scotland, called Gallowglasses, helped Irish kings fight the Normans. The Irish and Scots also disliked the English, whom they both saw as ruthless conquerors.

  In May 1315, Edward Bruce landed near Larne, County Antrim with an army of 6,000 men. He was joined by O’Neill and other chieftains, and began to win back territory held by the English, but not without great slaughter and bloodshed. In June, at Carrickfergus, he was acknowledged by the Irish as King of Ireland, though in reality he never controlled more than the north-eastern part of Ireland.

  Meanwhile in Connacht, encouraged by Bruce’s success, the O’Connors, the descendants of Rory, rose up against the English. But they were defeated at the Battle of Athenry, where many of the O’Connors and other Irish kings were killed.

  When Bruce and his army routed the English forces at the Battle of Kells, County Meath, Edward II decided to take decisive action. A large English army set out to engage Bruce in battle at Faughart, the birthplace of Saint Brigid, on 14 October 1318. Bruce was outnumbered and instead of waiting for reinforcements, decided to fight.

  Bruce was killed in the battle and his army defeated. This defeat left Edward II still the undisputed Lord of Ireland and the opportunity for Ireland to win her freedom ended for now. But this was not the last battle to be fought on Irish soil over who should be king of Scotland or England. Ireland was still bound to England and within 150 years a war in England over who should be king, known as the War of the Roses, would affect Ireland.

  But war did not bring the next great threat to Ireland and her people. Instead they were threatened by a more deadly foe – a tiny insect, which would cause more death and suffering that even that caused by the recent wars.

  13

  Black Death and the Wars of the Roses

  The tiny insect, which brought such death to Ireland, was a flea. The disease it caused was called the plague, also known as the Black Death. It was transmitted to humans by fleas that lived on the blood of black rats. Almost everyone who came in contact with an infected person caught the disease, which meant it was at its worst in towns and cities. In Ireland, this affected the English settlers more than it did the Irish or the Normans, who lived mostly in rural areas.

  The plague was widespread in Europe and by 1450 Europe’s population had halved. Ireland did not fare any better, and the country virtually ground to a standstill. Trade ceased, crops were not sown or harvested, and people also died of starvation and other diseases. The worst effects of the plague ended within a year, but it continued to erupt from time to time over the next fifty years. Following the plague, many English landowners returned to England and fewer came to Ireland. The Irish, encouraged by Edward Bruce’s campaign, had also won back some of their lands. By 1366, English control in Ireland had been greatly weakened.

  At this time there were three distinct groups of people in Ireland. There were the native Irish, the descendants of the Celts; there were the Norman families, the descendants of those who had come with Strongbow and in the years since then, many of whom now thought of themselves as Irish; and there were the new English settlers who had been granted lands by English kings.

  At the time of the plague, the Normans had been in Ireland for nearly 200 years. Over these two centuries many of them had begun to practise Irish customs, dress like the Irish, speak Irish and marry Irish men and women. They were, in the words of the famous quote, ‘more Irish than the Irish themselves’. They, along with Irish kings, now controlled large areas of the country. The influence of the English was centred in an area around Dublin, which became known as the Pale. The new English settlers who lived there, and English settlers elsewhere in the country, no longer felt safe among the Irish and the Normans. They lived in fear of rebellion, of losing their lands and of being murdered. They were also alarmed that the Normans were now behaving like the Irish, and oftentimes siding with them in disputes against the English.

  By 1366 Edward III was king of England and was alarmed at the situation in Ireland. He was so worried about losing control of Ireland that he sent his son, Lionel, to be his representative in the country. This position has been known by many names and so as not to confuse you, I’m going to call it the Viceroy. Lionel summoned a parliament, consisting of English settlers from the Pale, in Kilkenny in November 1366. This parliament passed laws, which are known as the Statutes of Kilkenny. These laws forbade the Normans and the English settlers from wearing native Irish clothes, practising Irish customs, playing Irish games like hurling, speaking Irish or marrying Irish persons. However, the Normans ignored them, which continued to alarm the settlers in the Pale and the English king.

  In 1377, Richard II became king of England. He was then only ten years old and his uncle, John of Gaunt, ruled the country. When Richard was old enough to rule, he decided to regain control of Ireland. In October 1394 he landed at Waterford with a great army of 34,000 men. His campaign seemed a success when many Irish kings publicly
submitted to him. But once he returned to England the Irish kings continued on as before.

  Richard, like most kings, made many enemies in England, and on his return from Ireland he had some of these enemies murdered. He also seized the lands and property of John of Gaunt. This was Richard’s big mistake, for John of Gaunt had a son named Henry Bolingbroke. He decided to fight to regain what was his by right, and to take revenge on Richard.

  In Ireland, Richard’s power and influence continued to weaken. By 1399 he was forced to return to Ireland to try and regain control once more. While he was here with his army, and before he could regain control, Henry Bolingbroke claimed the English throne. Richard hurried back to England, but was captured and imprisoned and died there, most probably murdered. Henry was crowned King Henry IV on 30 October 1399. But like Richard, his influence in Ireland was restricted almost entirely to the Pale, which was decreasing in size.

  There are a number of reasons why the power of the English king waned in Ireland at this time. One reason is that some Norman families, like the Fitzgeralds of Kildare, had been given positions of power and influence in Ireland. Members of the Fitzgerald family served as Viceroys, but they, like many other Norman families, now regarded themselves as Irish, and resented the English in the Pale, and the power of the English king in Ireland.

  Another reason why English influence in Ireland waned around this time is because English kings were fighting wars in France. You remember that the Normans came from Normandy in northern France, and from the time of William the Conqueror, English kings claimed to be kings of part of France. English armies regularly fought with the king of France to try and protect their lands there. Wars cost money and men, and this meant that the English kings could not spare money or men to fight in Ireland.