Anglo-Norman conquest of Ireland

The Anglo- Norman Conquest of Ireland , also known as the Norman Conquest of Ireland , was an important turning point in Irish history . Between 1169 and the middle of the 13th century, much of Celtic Ireland was conquered by Anglo- Norman conquerors from England , Wales, as well as by Normans from Normandy and other regions. The conquest did not follow a single strategy, as the Anglo-Norman barons conquered their territories in Ireland mainly for themselves. In contrast to the Norman conquest of Wales , the English kings were barely able to enforce their suzerainty over the conquered area. Because of the lack of support from the English kings, and especially because the Anglo-Norman barons were their own greatest opponents, the Anglo-Norman could not complete the conquest of Ireland and were pushed back by the Irish from the middle of the 13th century.

The Celtic Kingdoms of Ireland at the beginning of the 11th century

Starting position

In the 12th century Ireland was a backward country on the edge of Europe. It was ruled by quarreling tribal chiefs, abbots whose offices were hereditary, and the descendants of the Dublin Vikings . The English King Henry II planned to intervene in Ireland during a large council meeting on Michaelmas Day 1155 in Winchester , in order to hand it over to his brother Wilhelm . Because of the objections of his mother Matilda , this plan was rejected again. Henry sent John of Salisbury , the secretary of the Archbishop of Canterbury, to Rome, whereupon the English-born Pope Hadrian IV authorized the English king in the Bull Laudabiliter to conquer Ireland in order to reform the independent Irish Church and, above all, to to submit them to the suzerainty of the Pope. For this he sent him an emerald ring as a symbol of the new Lord of Ireland. Pope Alexander III confirmed the bull in 1172.

Beginning of the Anglo-Norman conquest

The Diarmuid Mac Murchadha Caomhánach , the petty king of Leinster , who was driven out by the Irish kings Ruaidhrí Ua Conchobair and Tigernán Ua Ruairc , sought the support of Henry II in 1165 to regain his empire. The English king, who was taking care of parts of his Angevin empire in France after a failed campaign against Wales , had no ambitions to intervene in Ireland at this time. He was therefore content to accept Diarmuid as his vassal and allow him to seek support from the Anglo-Norman nobles of his empire. Diarmuid went to Wales, where some barons of the Welsh Marches , whose estates were besieged by the expansion of the princes of Gwynedd and Deheubarth, promised their support. In May 1169 a first attack by a group of Cambrian-Norman nobles led by Maurice FitzGerald and Robert FitzStephen finally took place . From 1170 they were supported by a force from Richard Strongbow . With a lot of luck, the small force was able to conquer parts of Leinster and the region around Dublin . Their success encouraged more Anglo-Normans to go to Ireland. In open battle, the Irish troops were far inferior to the powerful armored Anglo- or Cambronormann knights and the accompanying Welsh archers, which is why the conquerors were also able to occupy Munster . Strongbow married Aoife , a daughter of Diarmuid, and was able to establish their own territory in Eastern Ireland after the death of his father-in-law in 1171.

Strongbow and Aoife's wedding. Historical representation by Daniel Maclise from the 19th century

Intervention of the English king

The English king realized that some of his barons were building their own territories outside of his empire and eventually even founded their own kingdom, which he could not accept. That is why Henry II decided in Argentan in July 1171 to go to Ireland with an army. To ensure Strongbow's loyalty, he previously occupied his holdings in Wales. Strongbow anticipated a conquest of his Irish possessions by leaving Ireland and taking the oath of fief to the English king for his Irish possessions . On October 17, 1171, Henry II landed with his army at Waterford . The Anglo-Norman troops, harassed by the Irish attacks, were relieved by the king's troops and Robert Fitz-Stephen, who had been captured by Ireland, was released, but the king forced the Anglo-Norman barons to rule and the Irish kings of Desmond and Thomond also submitted. Henry II confirmed Strongbow as Lord of Leinster and appointed him Earl of Striguil , one of his Welsh possessions. However, to curtail Strongbow's power, the king claimed Meath and Waterford as royal harbors. He granted Dublin city charter and Hugh de Lacy appointed Lord of Meath. Heinrich stayed in Dublin during the winter. According to the papal authority, he convened a synod in Cashel at the beginning of 1172 in order to initiate church reforms. Henry II fell out with the papal legate , which ultimately led to the formation of a Norman-influenced church in the areas conquered by the Anglo-Normans, which submitted to papal authority, while in the areas that remained under Irish rule, the old Irish-influenced church was largely dominated by the pope continued to exist autonomously.

Attempt at English suzerainty

Because of the crisis following the death of Thomas Becket , the king left Ireland on April 17, 1172. In place of Richard Strongbow, he appointed Hugh de Lacy as his representative and justiciar of Ireland . After Heinrich's departure, Tigernán Ua Ruairc, the petty king of Brefni, revolted . He was defeated and killed by Hugh de Lacy in 1172. In 1173 Richard Strongbow supported the English king in France during the rebellion of his sons, and in 1175 the king signed the Treaty of Windsor with Ruaidhrí Ua Conchobair. After that, this Hochkönig should be in the unconquered parts of the country, but he should recognize the suzerainty of the English king and pay him tribute. However, the authority of the English king quickly fell apart. Ruaidhrí Ua Conchobair could not assert himself against the other Irish kings, while the Anglo-Norman barons disregarded the authority of the royal justiciar and continued their wars of conquest in Ireland. After Strongbows death in 1176 the territory was during the minority of his son Gilbert to King Henry II., Who in 1177 in Oxford his youngest son John Lackland for Lord of Ireland said. The Justiciar Hugh de Lacy, however, increasingly defended the rights of the Irish and in 1181 married a daughter of Ruaidhrí Ua Conchobair.

The Clonard Moth was probably erected by Hugh de Lacy around 1177

Campaign of Johann Ohneland 1185

In 1185 the king sent his now 17-year-old son Johann with an army of 300 knights and over 2000 mercenaries as well as with clerks to Ireland. Johann left Milford Haven in Wales for Ireland on April 24th and landed in Waterford the next day. However, his expedition failed completely. Johann treated the kings of Limerick , Cork and Connacht without respect, who then allied against him. He ignored the advice of the English justiciar Ranulf de Glanville who was accompanying him and promised his favorites lands in Dublin, with which he made enemies of both the Irish and the English colonists. In the guerrilla war against the Irish, his armored riders could not prevail and suffered losses. Johann wasted the money his father brought with him so that he could no longer pay his mercenaries. These began to loot and eventually deserted. In September 1185 Johann had to leave Ireland again without having achieved anything. For his failure he blamed the Justiciar Hugh de Lacy, which is why King Henry II removed him from his office and replaced him with John de Courcy , who had conquered Ulster from 1177 onwards. On July 25, 1186, Hugh de Lacy was murdered by an Irishman near Durrow .

Ireland under Richard I. and Johann Ohneland

King Richard I , the son and successor of Henry II, paid almost no attention to Ireland during his reign. Richard Strongbow's young son Gilbert had died in 1185, so Strongbow's daughter Isabel became his heir. The new king allowed William Marshal , a loyal follower of his father to marry Isabel, and conferred on him Strongbow's title of Earl of Pembroke . Under King Richard's reign, the conquest by the Anglo-Norman barons continued. After the death of King Domnall Mór Ó Briain von Thomond in 1194 and the conquest of Limerick, William de Burgh attacked Connacht, which had been loyal to the English king, and was supported by the sons of Hugh de Lacy and the FitzGeralds. The Anglo-Norman barons were deeply at odds with one another through various feuds. The old high king Ruaidhrí Ua Conchobair died peacefully in the monastery in Cong in 1198 .

In 1200 King John, who had succeeded his brother Richard on the throne in 1199, appointed his cousin Meiler FitzHenry as Justiciar of Ireland, against whose authority the former Justiciar John de Courcy opposed. King John tried to play the Anglo-Norman barons off against each other. In 1201 he gave Limerick, which had previously belonged to William de Burgh, to his favorite William de Braose , and on behalf of the king, Hugh de Lacy attacked John de Courcy and, with the help of Meiler FitzHenry, was able to beat and capture him. In 1205 the king made Hugh de Lacy Earl of Ulster . However, in 1207, William Marshal, heir to Richard Strongbow, arrived in Ireland. He had fallen out of favor with King John in England, and he was now able to unite the de Lacys against the Justiciar. In 1208 Hugh and Walter de Lacy expelled the Justiciar from Ireland. Johann now appointed his confidante John de Gray , Bishop of Norwich, as the new legal advisor. When William de Braose, who had meanwhile rebelled against the king, fled to Ireland with his family in 1208, he was taken in by his feudal husband William Marshal and his brother-in-law Hugh de Lacy. King John therefore undertook another campaign to Ireland in 1210. William Marshal got ahead of him and submitted to the king in Pembroke . King John arrived in Ireland on June 6th from Pembroke. In a swift campaign he moved first to Dublin, then drove Hugh and Walter de Lacy from Meath and then from Ulster. William de Braose fled to Wales, the de Lacys to Scotland, and the de Braose family were eventually captured. The king returned to England on August 29th.

Ireland around 1300; blue the areas ruled by Anglo-Norman barons

Colonization and end of the Anglo-Norman conquest

The Anglo-Norman barons introduced feudal rule in the areas they had conquered . The barons were followed by colonists from Wales and England, and some from Scotland and Flanders. This was favored by the population growth in these regions, which encouraged younger sons to emigrate, by the granting of freedoms and rights for the colonists and by the chance to achieve prosperity in fertile Ireland within a short time. Grain cultivation was promoted instead of the previous cattle breeding. Trade was encouraged by the construction of ports, roads and bridges, and wool, cattle, grain, cheese and especially hides and furs were exported from Ireland to Wales and England. In the country, in which there were previously hardly any villages and towns, the conquerors founded numerous settlements in which craftsmen and traders settled. Monks came to Ireland from other parts of Europe and helped build new churches and cathedrals. To secure their rule, the conquerors built numerous castles, and Dublin Castle was built as the center of royal power from 1204 . The English kings divided the country into counties and counties . In 1207, under King John, a uniform coin system based on the English model was introduced, which bore the harp symbol. King John also tried to transfer the English legal system to Ireland and oust the Irish Brehon Laws . He established a Court of the King's Bench as the highest court, but its jurisdiction was limited to the quarrels between the royal vassals. The Brehon Laws continued to apply to the Irish.

In 1223 Hugh de Lacy returned to Ireland and re-conquered Meath. In 1227 he got Ulster back, in addition he supported the conquest of Connacht. De Lacy died in 1242 without an heir, after which his land fell back to the crown. In 1263 Ulster was given to the de Burghs. By 1235 Richard Mór de Burgh , a son of William de Burgh, had conquered Connacht. This marked the climax of the Anglo-Norman conquest. The Anglo-Normans controlled about three quarters of Ireland around 1250, mostly Leinster, Meath and Munster. After that, the expansion stalled for several reasons:

Some of the Anglo-Norman barons no longer administered their baronies themselves, but they owned other estates in England, where they mostly stayed. Consequently, they made no further conquests of Irish territory.
After King John's campaign in 1210, until the campaign of King Richard II from 1394 to 1395, no other English monarch came to Ireland for almost 200 years. The Anglo-Norman barons disregarded the authority of the royal justiciar, feuded one another and weakened their possessions by dividing inheritance.
the Irish improved their equipment and armaments along the lines of the conquerors. In 1220 they were able to drive an Anglo-Norman army out of southern Ulster for the first time. With the help of mercenaries from the Hebrides and Scotland, they were able to inflict further defeats on the Anglo-Normans.

Due to these and other causes, Gaelic society regained its strength in the 14th and 15th centuries and Anglo-Norman rule was pushed back. The remaining Anglo-Norman barons, such as the Earls of Desmond , von Ormonde or von Kildare, assimilated with the Irish because of their small number. They married Irish women, cultivated Irish poetry and culture, and eventually adopted the Gaelic language as well . Only the region around Dublin, the Pale , remained permanently under direct English control.

Web links

Anglo-norman Invaders of Ireland (Oxford DNB) (license required)
BBC History: Invasions of Ireland from 1170-1320

Individual evidence

↑ Michael Maurer: Little History of Ireland . Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 1998. ISBN 3-15-009695-2 , p. 37.
↑ Christine Kinealy: History of Ireland . Magnus, Essen 2004. ISBN 3-88400-418-2 , p. 60.
↑ Alheydis Plassmann: The Normans. Conquer, rule, integrate. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2008. ISBN 978-3-17-018945-4 , p. 303.
↑ Christine Kinealy: History of Ireland . Magnus, Essen 2004. ISBN 3-88400-418-2 , p. 55.

[1] Michael Maurer: Little History of Ireland . Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 1998. ISBN 3-15-009695-2 , p. 37.

[2] Christine Kinealy: History of Ireland . Magnus, Essen 2004. ISBN 3-88400-418-2 , p. 60.

[3] Alheydis Plassmann: The Normans. Conquer, rule, integrate. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2008. ISBN 978-3-17-018945-4 , p. 303.

[4] Christine Kinealy: History of Ireland . Magnus, Essen 2004. ISBN 3-88400-418-2 , p. 55.