Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland
| Norman Invasion of Ireland | |||||||||
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 The result of the Norman Invasion of Ireland a century-and-a-quarter later. Over the course of the century following the date of this map, the majority of Ireland would be reclaimed as Gaelic territory, with the notable exception of Dublin. | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Normans and their allies:  Kingdom of Leinster |
Irish kingdoms: | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Dermot MacMurrough |
Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair, | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
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12,000+ |
10,000+ and 30 ships | ||||||||
The Norman invasion of Ireland was a Norman military expedition to Ireland that took place on 1 May 1169 at the behest of Dermot MacMurrough (Irish: Diarmait Mac Murchada), the King of Leinster. It was partially consolidated by Henry II on 18 October 1171 and led to the eventual entry of the Lordship of Ireland into the Angevin Empire. Immediate consequences were the end of the Irish High Kingship.
Invasion of 1169
After losing the protection of Tyrone Chief, Muirchertach MacLochlainn, High King of Ireland, who died in 1166, MacMorrough was forcibly exiled by a confederation of Irish forces under the new High King, Rory O'Connor.
MacMurrough fled first to Bristol and then to Normandy. He sought and obtained permission from Henry II of England to use the latter's subjects to regain his kingdom. By 1167 MacMurrough had obtained the services of Maurice Fitz Gerald and later persuaded Rhys ap Gruffydd Prince of Deheubarth to release Fitz Gerald's half-brother Robert Fitz-Stephen from captivity to take part in the expedition. Most importantly he obtained the support of the Earl of Pembroke Richard de Clare, known as Strongbow.
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, Welsh and Flemish forces landed in Wexford. Within a short time Leinster was regained, Waterford and Dublin were under Diarmait's control. Strongbow married Diarmait's daughter, Aoife, and was named as heir to the Kingdom of Leinster. This latter development caused consternation to Henry II, who feared the establishment of a rival Norman state in Ireland. Accordingly, he resolved to visit Leinster to establish his authority.
Arrival of Henry II in 1171
Pope Adrian IV, the first English pope, in one of his earliest acts, had already issued a Papal Bull in 1155, giving Henry authority to invade Ireland as a means of curbing ecclesiastical corruption and abuses. Little contemporary use, however, was made of the Bull Laudabiliter since its text enforced papal suzerainty not only over the island of Ireland but of all islands off of the European coast, including England, in virtue of the Constantinian donation. The relevant text reads:
"There is indeed no doubt, as thy Highness doth also acknowledge, that Ireland and all other islands which Christ the Sun of Righteousness has illumined, and which have received the doctrines of the Christian faith, belong to the jurisdiction of St. Peter and of the holy Roman Church".
References to Laudabiliter become more frequent in the later Tudor period when the researches of the Renaissance humanist scholars cast doubt on the historicity of the Donation of Constantine.
Henry landed with a large fleet at Waterford in 1171, becoming the first King of England to set foot on Irish soil. Both Waterford and Dublin were proclaimed Royal Cities. In November Henry accepted the submission of the Irish kings in Dublin. Adrian's successor, Pope Alexander III ratified the grant of Ireland to Henry in 1172, and it was approved by all the Irish bishops at the synod of Cashel. Henry awarded his Irish territories to his younger son, John, with the title Dominus Hiberniae ("Lord of Ireland"). When John unexpectedly succeeded his brother as king, the "Kingdom of Ireland" fell directly under the English Crown.
Henry was happily acknowledged by most of the Irish Kings, who saw in him a chance to curb the expansion of both Leinster and the Hiberno-Normans. This led to the ratification of the Treaty of Windsor in 1175 between Henry and Ruaidhrí. However, with both Diarmuid and Strongbow dead (in 1171 and 1176 respectively), Henry back in England and Ruaidhrí unable to curb his nominal vassals, within two years it was not worth the vellum it was inscribed upon. John de Courcy invaded and gained much of east Ulster in 1177, Raymond le Gros had already captured Limerick and much of north Munster, while the other Norman families such as Prendergast, fitz Stephen, fitz Gerald, fitz Henry and le Poer were actively carving out virtual kingdoms for themselves.
Subsequent assaults
While the main Norman invasion concentrated on Leinster, with submissions made to Henry by the other provincial kings, the situation on the ground outside Leinster remained unchanged. However, individual groups of knights invaded:
- Connaught in 1175
- Munster in 1177
- East Ulster in 1177
These further conquests were not planned by or made with royal approval, but were then incorporated into the Lordship under Henry's control, as with Strongbow's initial invasion.
List of Norman captains
William Camden claims the following list of people present at the invasion.[1]
Persons who collaborated with Dermot MacMorrogh during the 1169 invasion:
- Maurice de Prendergast
- Robert Barr
- Meiler Meilerine
- Maurice Fitz-Gerald
- Robert FitzHenry
- Meiler FitzHenry
- Redmond nephew of Fitz-Stephen
- William Ferrand
- Miles de Cogan (Cogan)
- Gualter de Ridensford
- Gualter and Alexander sons of Maurice Fitz-Gerald
- William Notte
- Richard Caddell (Progenitor of the Blake family)
- Robert Fitz-Bernard
- Hugh Lacie
- William Fitz-Aldelm
- William Macarell
- Hemphrey Bohun
- Hugh De Gundevill
- Philip de Hasting
- Hugh Tirell
- Walter de Barât
- Henry de Barât
- David Walsh
- Robert Poer (First Poer le Poer in Ireland)
- Osbert de Herloter
- William de Bendenges
- Adam de Gernez
- Philip de Breos
- Griffin nephew of Fitz-Stephen
- Raulfe Fitz-Stephen
- Walter de Barry
- Philip Walsh
- Adam de Hereford
Others claimed to have been present during the 1169 invasion:
- John Courcy
- Hugh Contilon
- Redmund Fitz-Hugh
- Miles of St. David's Walynus, a Welshman who came to Ireland with Maurice Fitzgerald
- Sir Robert Marmion, with Strongbow
Those present during the invasion of Henry II in 1172:
- Richard de Tuite
- William de Wall
- Randolph FitzRalph, with FitzStephen
- Alice of Abervenny, with Raymond FitzWilliam Le Gros
- Richard de Cogan, with Strongbow
- Phillipe le Hore, with Strongbow
- Theobald Fitzwalter, with Henry II
- Robert de Bermingham, with Strongbow
- d'Evreux, with Strongbow
- Eustace Roger de Gernon, with Strongbow
- de la Chapelle (Supple)
- Gilbert d'Angulo and sons Jocelyn and Hostilo (Costello), with Strongbow.
A baron of Hugh de Lacy, the MacCostellos (Mac Oisdealbhaigh) were one of the first Norman families in Connacht, settling in Mayo in what became the Barony of Costello, which originally included part of neighboring County Roscommon (their sixteenth-century seat was near Ballaghadereen, now in Roscommon). They were the first of the Norman invaders to adopt a Gaelic name, which marks their descent from Oisdealbh, son of the famous Gilbert de Nangle (Latin: de Angulo), who was one of the first Cambro-Norman invaders. His family, the de Angulos, obtained vast estates in Meath, where they were Barons of Navan. The family thence spread into Leinster and Connacht, where the leading family adopted the Gaelic patronymic Mac Oisdealbhaigh, as we have seen. Those in Leinster, and those in Connacht that did not adopt this form, became Nangles (de Nogla); while those in Cork became Nagles. The Waldrons (Mac Bhaildrin) are a branch of the MacCostellos in Mayo.
Notes
- ^ William Camden (1610) Britannia