make their opinions count. In truth, Ireland in 1171 was a deeply divided society. Learned Irish scholars taught that their land was divided into two halves, northern and southern; into five provinces – Leinster, Munster, Ulster, Connacht and Meath; and into more than a hundred peoples (
tuatha
), each one ruled over by a chief (
toisech
) or by a king (
rí
). A mini-kingdom with a radius of ten miles was by no means impossibly small. Each
rí túaithe
owed tribute and military service to more powerful neighbouring kings. They in turn owed allegiance to kings who were, or claimed to be, supreme in one of the provinces. When a powerful king died, a struggle for kingship within the family ensued while more established kings in other kingdoms took full advantage. In this state of flux scores of kings competed to be the strongest in a province, or even to be the greatest king in all Ireland, sometimes known as
rí Erenn
, king of Ireland, or the ‘high king’. The competition for resources and prestige took the form of war, of cattle raid and counter-raid, in which casualties were often high.
In one of these struggles for power, in 1166, Diarmait, king of Leinster, had been driven out of Ireland. With Henry II’s permission, he recruited a small band of soldiers and managed to regain a foothold in his family’s homeland in south Leinster. In 1169 and 1170 more mercenaries crossed the Irish Sea, lured by Diarmait’s promises of land and money. To Richard de Clare, Diarmait promised the hand of his daughter Aífe and, in flagrant breach of Irish custom, the succession to Leinster. In August and September 1170 Diarmait and Strongbow won some striking successes, capturing the two biggest towns in Ireland: Waterford and Dublin. When Diarmait died in the spring of 1171, Strongbow became
de facto
king of Leinster. It was at this point that Henry II decided to intervene. Strongbow travelled to England to come to terms with Henry and to do homage to him for Leinster. But the king of England had no intention of calling off his invasion plans.
On 18 October Henry entered Waterford, and there began the process of taking the submissions of Irish kings. Some of the ‘modernizers’ among Irish ecclesiastics welcomed the king of England as an ally in their attempts to reform the Irish Church. Letters from them led Alexander III to express his joy at the news that ‘a barbarous and uncivilised people has been made subject to the noble king of the English.’ Henry assumed the title ‘Lord of Ireland’ – which was retained by all subsequent kings of England until 1541, when another bruiser, Henry VIII, decided it would be nicer to be called king of Ireland too.
In November Henry II went to Dublin, where he had a new ‘Irish-style’ palace built. Here he celebrated Christmas 1171, holding court and trying to impress the invited Irish with a demonstration of nouvelle cuisine. By now many Irish kings had submitted; but not all. The high king, Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair (Rory O’Connor), king of Connacht, kept his distance. According to one of Henry’s clerks, despite the wet weather and the mountainous and boggy terrain, it would have been easy to defeat O’Connor, had not other urgent business meant that the king had to leave Ireland in a hurry in April 1172. That business was the arrival of papal legates in Normandy, who had come north, Henry had been informed, to settle the question of his responsibility for the murder of Thomas Becket.
Before Henry II left, however, he confirmed the conquests that the newcomers had already made. His decision to have Dublin, Wexford and Waterford administered by royal officials meant that the English crown kept the richest prizes for itself. When Laurence O’Toole, the last Irish archbishop of Dublin, died, he was replaced by John Comyn, one of Henry II’s chancery clerks.
Despite Henry’s burgeoning influence, most of the island remained in the hands of Irish kings. In 1175 Henry recognized
tuatha
), each one ruled over by a chief (
toisech
) or by a king (
rí
). A mini-kingdom with a radius of ten miles was by no means impossibly small. Each
rí túaithe
owed tribute and military service to more powerful neighbouring kings. They in turn owed allegiance to kings who were, or claimed to be, supreme in one of the provinces. When a powerful king died, a struggle for kingship within the family ensued while more established kings in other kingdoms took full advantage. In this state of flux scores of kings competed to be the strongest in a province, or even to be the greatest king in all Ireland, sometimes known as
rí Erenn
, king of Ireland, or the ‘high king’. The competition for resources and prestige took the form of war, of cattle raid and counter-raid, in which casualties were often high.
In one of these struggles for power, in 1166, Diarmait, king of Leinster, had been driven out of Ireland. With Henry II’s permission, he recruited a small band of soldiers and managed to regain a foothold in his family’s homeland in south Leinster. In 1169 and 1170 more mercenaries crossed the Irish Sea, lured by Diarmait’s promises of land and money. To Richard de Clare, Diarmait promised the hand of his daughter Aífe and, in flagrant breach of Irish custom, the succession to Leinster. In August and September 1170 Diarmait and Strongbow won some striking successes, capturing the two biggest towns in Ireland: Waterford and Dublin. When Diarmait died in the spring of 1171, Strongbow became
de facto
king of Leinster. It was at this point that Henry II decided to intervene. Strongbow travelled to England to come to terms with Henry and to do homage to him for Leinster. But the king of England had no intention of calling off his invasion plans.
On 18 October Henry entered Waterford, and there began the process of taking the submissions of Irish kings. Some of the ‘modernizers’ among Irish ecclesiastics welcomed the king of England as an ally in their attempts to reform the Irish Church. Letters from them led Alexander III to express his joy at the news that ‘a barbarous and uncivilised people has been made subject to the noble king of the English.’ Henry assumed the title ‘Lord of Ireland’ – which was retained by all subsequent kings of England until 1541, when another bruiser, Henry VIII, decided it would be nicer to be called king of Ireland too.
In November Henry II went to Dublin, where he had a new ‘Irish-style’ palace built. Here he celebrated Christmas 1171, holding court and trying to impress the invited Irish with a demonstration of nouvelle cuisine. By now many Irish kings had submitted; but not all. The high king, Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair (Rory O’Connor), king of Connacht, kept his distance. According to one of Henry’s clerks, despite the wet weather and the mountainous and boggy terrain, it would have been easy to defeat O’Connor, had not other urgent business meant that the king had to leave Ireland in a hurry in April 1172. That business was the arrival of papal legates in Normandy, who had come north, Henry had been informed, to settle the question of his responsibility for the murder of Thomas Becket.
Before Henry II left, however, he confirmed the conquests that the newcomers had already made. His decision to have Dublin, Wexford and Waterford administered by royal officials meant that the English crown kept the richest prizes for itself. When Laurence O’Toole, the last Irish archbishop of Dublin, died, he was replaced by John Comyn, one of Henry II’s chancery clerks.
Despite Henry’s burgeoning influence, most of the island remained in the hands of Irish kings. In 1175 Henry recognized
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