POLITICALLY, Ireland would never be the same after the Battle of Clontarf. Before Brian Boru's time the country had been made up of various kingdoms with little or no political relationship to each other. These kingdoms might vary in size, but there was no central authority to which they all owed fealty. King Brian had effectively established a high-kingship that was closer to the European model of kingship than anything Ireland had seen before. He had been a strong and powerful ruler and had gained the support of a majority of the Irish kingships, but he did not have the allegiance of the whole island. The Leinster Irish had fought alongside the Vikings against him at the battle. He nevertheless made the high-kingship potentially so powerful that now other dynasties and royal families would fight to gain control of it. This new kingship became something to be sought after by anyone with ambition, and there was plenty of that around in Ireland at the time. But in the ensuing struggle for the high-kingship an event, unprecedented in Irish history, would eventually bring about an invasion from the neighboring island of Britain. This invasion would forever leave its mark on Irish history.
Although the Viking invasion and expansion had been stopped in its tracks, the Viking influence did not die out. Those who had settled in Ireland remained. While the Viking population might have been small in overall numbers, the towns and cities they had founded would forevermore be a feature of the Irish landscape and lifestyle. Because few women had traveled with them, the Viking men intermarried with Irish women and soon became a part of the general Irish population. Familiar Irish names such as Doyle, MacAuliffe, Reynolds, and MacIvor are of Viking origin. Many of the native Irish were also now living in urban areas drawn in by the wealth of the new towns. Dublin, on the east coast, was the largest and most important of the Viking towns, and it grew and prospered.
Dublin now became essentially the capital of this new Ireland. From now on economic and political control of Ireland would always start with control of Dublin and its wealth. Control of Dublin initially went to Brian's descendants. Donnchadh Ó Corráin explains, "I think that what victory at Clontarf did was put Dublin under the control of Brian's descendants. That was of strategic importance for Irish history for the following years. And then you find that everybody who wants to be king of Ireland, one of his first cares is to get control of Dublin—Dublin and its resources." Workshops, making and selling a variety of goods, became the focus of this new Irish economy. Fine cloths like silks and satins and elaborate jewelry were being produced, very often for export and trade.
The Dublin Viking fleet was not destroyed at the battle and became a merchant fleet, lending itself out for hire to anyone who would pay for it. For instance, at the Battle of Hastings in England in 1066, the Dublin fleet fought on the side of the Anglo-Saxons against the invading Normans. They actually brought the family of the English King Harold back to Dublin for safety after the Anglo-Saxon defeat. Ireland entered another age of prosperity. Pat Wallace of the National Museum of Ireland said that "Money flowed into Dublin. So by about 1050 or so, Dublin became very, very rich. 'Filled with the wealth of barbarians,' is the phrase of the [Danish] historian Saxo Grammaticus. That's how he describes Dublin and that's exactly what it was and that's how we find all these buildings, all these manufacturers, and by 1052 the king of Leinster occupies Dublin. Before that a king would have burned Dublin down to the ground. Dublin has been the capital of Ireland in effect from 1052."
Dublin, now the main economic center of Ireland, nevertheless looked outward towards the rest of the then-known world. Trading was an important part of this economy. Dublin streets would have been filled with the hustle and bustle of people from many foreign countries, all speaking different languages. Ships coming in and out of the Dublin harbor would have been trading in leather, textiles, silk, satin, and wine. The ultimate proclamation of Dublin's importance can probably be seen in the high-kingship when in 1166 the O'Connor high-king entered Dublin and had himself inaugurated king there. He was the first Irish high-king to do so. This was the absolute sign that if Tara belonged to ancient times, Dublin belonged to the future.
Viking craftsmen now also brought their influence to Irish arts and crafts. As they settled and lived in Ireland the Vikings became Christianized, and crafts from cities like Dublin began to reflect this new fusion. Chalices, crosses, personal curios, and jewelry made at this time show a remarkable Viking influence. Pat Wallace explained that the Viking art style "was brought in here to Ireland by the Scandinavians about the year 1020, digested by Irish craftsmen, mainly in Dublin, and regurgitated." The Viking style known as Ringerike, called after a district in Norway, was to be found throughout Europe in the second half of the eleventh century, but it is in Ireland that it had its major development. Pat explained that the Ringerike style "finds its greatest expression in the town of Dublin, in the artifacts produced here." The well-known Norse design known as the "gripping beast" can also be distinguished on some Dublin Viking artifacts, most especially on the Clonmacnoise crosier that was produced at this time. Aesthetically the blending of these Viking designs with the native Irish Celtic tradition was a success. The twelfth-century Cross of Cong is a magnificent example of Viking and Irish artistic fusion.
In the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks in Dublin, Raghnall Ó Floinn, an archaeologist who works at the museum, has investigated a collection of Irish Viking artifacts found in County Kilkenny's Dunmore Caves. This hoard is remarkable for many reasons: it contains many expensive items like silver hair decorations, brooches, and coinage; it was obviously hidden by someone who might have been in danger of having it stolen, and the decorations on these items show a Viking-style design and yet do not seem to have been made by Vikings. As Raghnall explained, "There is a local flavor to the material. It is quite possible that this hoard, like many of the hoards of mixed silver, were in the hands of the Irish. So it was an Irish man or woman who, this being their personal wealth, [hid] it in a time of great danger." But of course what exactly that danger might have been is only guesswork. That the Irish of the time were rich enough to own such luxury items gives us some idea of what the society must have been like. Wealthy Irish merchants and traders were prospering in the new towns and cities. Even regional Irish kings recognized the importance of the towns, and many of them built new residences there.
Irish money also owes its origins to the Vikings. In the year 997 the first Irish coinage was struck by the Viking King Sitric of Dublin. The coinage was designed with the head of the monarch on one side and on the other the signature of the coin maker. Hard currency was a necessary ingredient to the growing economy. The older barter economy based on cattle was giving way to this new world of money and commerce. Pat Wallace explained that the Vikings also "brought better techniques of shipbuilding. All the words in our Irish language for ships and boats come from the Scandinavian influence, from Old Norse, the language of the Vikings in Dublin. Another thing the Vikings introduced was much better blacksmithing, much better ironworking, better edges on swords and weapons and hatches. Even the stirrup of the horse, and the spur—all of that comes in to Ireland with the Scandinavian influence."
While they were once regarded as savage heathens from the north, the Viking influence on Ireland is now acknowledged as being of primary importance in the physical development of the towns and cities and in the development of the commercial economy of the country. Their contribution to establishing Dublin as the wealthy capital of Ireland in the eleventh century is without dispute.
Yet, in spite of the growing economy, Brian's death at the Battle of Clontarf left the country in political chaos. There was no clear succession to Brian's high-kingship. In spite of the Irish tradition of election for succession, Brian had groomed his eldest son—now also dead—for kingship and probably had hoped that, European style, he would succeed him as high-king. His younger son, Donn-chadh, lacked the charisma and political astuteness to hold the fragile union together. He did, however, become king of Munster and held the title for many years until his death in 1064. But the power that Brian Boru had generated around his high-kingship had died with him. The Irish had not introduced primogeniture, so allegiance to the son of the high-king was not guaranteed. From ancient times a new leader had usually been "elected" by senior community members after the death of a king or chieftain. The fact that a leader had no real power made the system work quite well. Now that system would break down as the high-kingship meant power over the whole country and not just the local community. The election system was not designed to cover a situation like this. It had worked on a local level, but the high-kingship established by Brian now meant control could pass from a local level to a national level. The Annals of Ulster reflect the confusion after Clontarf and all that it would mean in the future. "Numerous indeed are the events of this year" wrote the scribe in 1014 with a note of wonder. Worse "events" were to come.
The absence of any ordered way of succession meant that the high-kingship would be up for grabs to anyone who could win the allegiance of the other lesser kings. Few regional kings could resist the possibility of becoming high-king. It became a perennial struggle within Ireland without easy resolution. Because there was no universal consensus on the question, very often those who took the title high-king were referred to in the annals as "high-king with opposition." Even a seemingly strong king had difficulty being universally accepted. One of Brian Boru's great grandsons, Muirchertach O'Brien, did become high-king and held the title from 1086 to 1119, yet the annals referred to him throughout his long career as being "high-king with opposition." There never developed an established line of succession by which the title king of Ireland would pass from father to son. Because of this, regional kings continued to feel that the title should or could be theirs for the taking.
It would be a mistake, however, given the many historical references to these struggles, to suppose that the entire population of the country was caught up in these battles. Most of this political juggling did not impinge much on the ordinary life of the individuals living and farming on their own piece of land. The plundering and attacking that went on for kingship was not without its lighter side. One of the main purposes seems to have been to at least aggravate your opponent, even if you could not defeat or subject him. The Annals of Clonmacnoise describe Hugh O'Connor, king of Connaught, going to Thomond in 1061 where he "broke down the palace built by Brian Boru in Kincora and also did eat the two salmons that were in the [O'Brien] king's fountain or fishpond there." It must have been a dismal scene for the O'Briens to come home to—house wrecked and dinner eaten by the vandals.
Into the arena of this political chaos came also the conflict between European Christianity and the Irish church. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the Irish church was considered very insular and out of touch with the Gregorian reforms sweeping the rest of Europe. Rome was developing a stronger papacy and now wanted to bring the whole of Christianity within its orb. A formerly independent Irish church would have to learn to toe the line. In this atmosphere a campaign of propaganda was conducted in Europe against the Irish church, which was depicted as barbarous and pagan in its practices. Much of the propaganda was not true, but the stories of barbarism became so widespread that the Irish began to be referred to as insula barbarorum—the island of barbarians. The clerics were charged with corruption and with being lax in their Christian teaching. The morals of ordinary people also came under fire from outside reformers who accused the Irish of immorality as regards marriage. At this time the church in Rome was now making new rules and laws regarding marriage. The Irish were still following their own customs in Brehon Law on this subject, so divorce was quite common in Ireland. One source said the Irish "exchanged wives as fast as they exchanged horses." The church in Rome did allow for annulment, but this had to be done under church, not civil, control. Annulment also tended to be reserved for royalty and high-ranking people who could afford the process. The Irish Brehon Law would have applied to all levels of society.
Behind the propaganda lay the real issue that the Irish church and monastic system could not continue to be as independent as it had been. It was not only the papacy that wanted to bring the Irish church under its control but also the archbishop of Canterbury in England. For, despite Armagh's claim to primacy and its acceptance throughout Ireland, there is no evidence that it actually meant very much. Individual churches and monasteries enjoyed a great measure of independence without any reference to a primary church. Because of this lack of centralized structure, the English church had ambitions of bringing the Irish church under its jurisdiction. Both forces, papal and English, would combine against the Irish to attempt to bring about serious reform and eventually invasion.
The monastic schools were still conducting a lively intellectual life and were in touch with the new European learning in the French and German schools. But one of the problems for the papacy was that the Irish monasteries had too much power and controlled the wealth of the church. That wealth was staying within these monastic families and was not going to the church itself. The abbots were now almost all laymen who were passing the monasteries and their assets on to one of their sons or close relatives. Conversely the bishops in the church had practically no power at all. It is true that the bishops were the ones who controlled ordination and fitness to minister, but the wealth of the church remained within the family-owned monasteries. Outside of the towns founded by the Vikings, the church was not organized in a way that we would recognize today. For instance, there were no parishes. So "clerical laymen" essentially held the power and, most important, the income of the church.
Reform of the old system came from a number of synods held in the early to mid-twelfth century and by the introduction into Ireland of European religious orders. Many Irish pilgrims had found their way to Rome and were aware of how the church was developing outside Ireland. Some of these brought back information on the organizational church reforms that were sweeping Europe at the time, as power within the church was becoming concentrated under a stronger Rome. More important, the newly Christianized Viking cities in Ireland were not under the influence of the Irish church but looked abroad for spiritual direction. From the early eleventh century the bishops of these Irish Viking towns were being consecrated by Canterbury in England. These bishops disapproved of how the Irish church was structured and did not much like the power of the abbots or abbesses. Reform of the old Irish system was inevitable.
Attempts at change actually started from within Ireland. In Armagh in 1105 Cellach Ua Sinaig inherited the position of abbot. He was the seventh member of his family to inherit the position without having being ordained. But Cellach had himself consecrated bishop and became the primate of Ireland. Armagh's position as the ecclesiastic center was not to change, but Cellach was determined to see changes in the Irish church. Some years later he oversaw a synod at Rath Breasail near Cashel when Ireland was officially divided into twenty-four diocesan sections in an attempt to replace the old monastic system. But it would be almost forty years before this new structure could successfully be implemented. The family-owned monastery system was too strong to be simply put aside so easily.
When Cellach died in 112,9 he left instructions that the position of bishop of Armagh should be given to his younger friend Malachy, later known as St. Malachy. Nevertheless it would be five years before he could actually take up the title because of opposition from the family-owned monastery. Seven generations of Ua Sinaig had previously held the title, and they were not happy about having to give it up to an outsider. Malachy did eventually win out over their objections and some years later decided to travel to Rome to seek help in reforming the Irish church. Malachy was convinced that much of the church's problems in Ireland stemmed from its lack of organizational structure.
On his way to Rome he met with Bernard of Clairvaux, who impressed Malachy with the new monastic rules he had developed for his own religious community, the Cistercians. They became close friends, and Malachy did not hesitate to tell him of his frustration with what he saw as the poor organization of the Irish church. From this time on, Bernard would become one of the most arrogant propagandists against the Irish church. He was, however, enamored of Malachy and would later write his biography. In Bernard's Life of Malachy he is somewhat patronizing of his friend whom he describes as being of "a barbarous tribe," who surprisingly did not betray a "mite of his rude origin." Bernard oversaw the introduction of a continental monastery system to Ireland. In 1142 the first Cistercians arrived and built a house in Mellifont in County Meath. They would be the first of many continental orders to arrive over the next half-century and eventually totally replace the older native Irish monasteries.
The most important synod in changing the Irish church was held in Kells in 1152 when Ireland was divided into thirty-six sees with four archbishops overseeing them. They would reside at Armagh, Cashel, Dublin, and Tuam. The historian Elva Johnston points out another change that came into force at this synod: "Significantly the abbess of Kildare was no longer to hold the status of bishop, as this was revoked." The position of women in the Irish church was thereby considerably reduced. Hereditary succession in monasteries was formally abolished and clerical celibacy was insisted upon. Celibacy for ordained men had recently been introduced into the European church as an absolute requirement. The papal legate who attended the synod reported to Rome that Ireland was now successfully organized along a Roman model. Nevertheless propaganda against the Irish was enormous, and the momentum for further outside interference was too strong to be stopped. More reforms would follow until the Irish church, which had survived for centuries as a beacon of light in European learning, would lose all trace of its former status. The reforms eventually killed the spirit of learning and artistic expression that had been the hallmarks of Irish Christianity.
We visited Clonmacnoise with the purpose of trying to get a sense of that ancient monastic Irish church and its contribution to European learning. Clonmacnoise had been one of the greatest of these establishments and had produced scholars of the highest caliber. The twelfth-century reforms diminished the status of the monasteries, which were reduced to the rank of parish churches. They were no longer able to collect taxes on their own behalf. Walking through the ruins of the once noble and powerful monastery, Donnchadh Ó Corráin explained that "The reform was a triumph for the administrators and a disaster for Irish literature and general culture. The reformers destroyed the social, economic, and cultural base of Irish learning. Nothing replaced the greater monasteries with their schools and learned cadres, which were now robbed of their resources and their status." Reform spelled the end of the native Irish monastery system and its contribution to European civilization. The continental orders, which arrived in Ireland after this period, would never achieve the level of scholarship or mastery of ornamental art of the once great early Irish church.
Meanwhile an English pope, Adrian IV, had come to the papacy. Given the perceived state of the Irish church and the political unrest over the issue of the high-kingship, he would play a major role in changing the course of Irish history. But within Ireland the struggle of the kings was about to come to a boil.
For the hundred or so years after Brian's death his descendants held on to the kingship of Munster, but it was the high-kingship that had become the great prize. This period in Irish history is probably the most confusing of all as many powerful families vied with one another in their desire for the status of high-king. It seemed that every provincial king in Ireland sought to attain it. Eventually the jostling for it became a central issue in Irish politics, and by the twelfth century the fight for the high-kingship was center stage.
Turlough O'Connor was the greatest Irish king of the early twelfth century. He was the king of Connaught in the west of Ireland, maintained a large army and navy, and built a number of fortresses or castles throughout his province. He also built a number of bridges across the River Shannon which were heavily guarded by his own army. He had ambitions to be high-king, and to achieve it he knew he had to break the power of the O'Briens of Munster. Between 1115 and 1131 he waged a long war against Munster and finally brought the province under his control. Turlough O'Connor died in 1156 without having achieved the supreme position he wanted, but he paved the way for one of his descendants to do so. It was this king, Rory O'Connor, who would have the distinction of being the last high-king of Ireland.
The struggle of the kings of Ireland for the high-kingship is complex because there were so many contenders for the title. Gaining allies was an important part of the process. After the death of Turlough O'Connor, the Uí Néill king, Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn, allied himself with the king of Leinster, Dermot Mac-Murrough, and they sought to destroy the power of the O'Connors and the newest claimant to the high-kingship, Rory O'Connor. Dermot MacMurrough had strong ambitions himself. He was king of Leinster, and his family had controlled the area of south Leinster for generations. In spite of the fact that their lands were not large, they were no upstart dynasty. For generations they ruled the small kingdom of Uí Chennselaig with its center at Ferns. It lay in what is now north County Wexford. They had claimed to be kings of Leinster and with that went control over the Vikings of Dublin with their small but wealthy city-state.
The Battle of Clontarf had weakened Dublin's independence but enhanced its economic importance. As the city's autonomous political power declined, its economic importance increased, and it became obvious that any king with pretensions to the high-kingship had to control Dublin. Control of Dublin became a bloody struggle for generations with power changing hands many times. Dermot was known as "Dermot of the Foreigners" because of his lordship over the Gaill or foreigners of Dublin. He must have felt that he was in a powerful position. It was this very familiarity with the city of Dublin and its trading partners across the Irish Sea that would bring about an event unparalleled in Irish history.
Dermot MacMurrough wanted to be high-king. If the one time obscure Dál Cais could produce Brian Boru and the Ua Briain/O'Brien high-kings of Ireland then the Uí Chennselaig could rival them with Dermot. At the time in Ireland he was probably the most likely candidate for greatness. Dermot was only sixteen years old in 1126 when he assumed leadership of his kingdom. From the start he had to fight members of his own family to establish his position, and eventually he succeeded. Descriptions of him are full of grand accolades with some reservations about his personality. Giraldus Cambrensis, the twelfth-century Norman chronicler, says of Dermot that he was "tall and well-built, a brave and warlike man among his people, whose voice was hoarse as a result of constantly having been in the din of battle. He preferred to be feared by all rather than loved. He treated his nobles harshly and brought to prominence men of humble rank."
From his kingdom of Uí Chennselaig, Dermot MacMurrough dreamed of controlling the whole of Ireland. He also knew that in order to realize his ambition he would have to do some careful planning. He knew he had to challenge the power of O'Connor. In order to succeed he needed the help and support of other small kingdoms. Consequently Dermot went on campaigns throughout the country and gained allies for himself. When Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn, who was one of the Uí Néill of Ulster, became his ally he must have felt that he had a powerful ally indeed.
But by this time Rory O'Connor had strong allies too, and one of them was Ua Ruairc (later O'Rourke) of Bréfne, a small kingdom in the northwest of Ireland. In the struggle for the high-kingship the battles were small but numerous. Both sides fought each other frequently in their attempts at supremacy. It was in an attack on Bréfne that Dermot did something which is much recorded in the Irish annals. The facts surrounding this event are numerous and quite detailed, and it is probably one of the best stories to come out of medieval Ireland. MacMurrough invaded Bréfne territory, burned Ua Ruairc's fortress, and then carried off his wife Dervorgilla on the back of his horse. The amount of documentation that describes this act tells us how important a factor this must have been in how future events unfolded. The annals contain numerous references to this abduction. Some describe Dervorgilla climbing willingly onto the back of the horse and then crying out in mock anguish as she was taken away. Dermot is described as being in love with her and having planned the event for some time. Her relationship with her husband does not fare too well in the reports. The Annals of Clonmacnoise blame her brother for persuading her to flee with Dermot in order to get back at her husband for his harsh treatment of her.
Dervorgilla may in fact have been an abused wife who was looking for a way out of her marriage. She may even have colluded with Dermot in her escape. The Norman writer Giraldus, shortly after the events, says tartly, "No doubt she was abducted because she wanted to be." Significantly, annalists also say that with her went her own wealth, her cattle, and her furniture. Under Brehon Law a wife's possessions always remained her own. To make matters worse for Ua Ruairc, she was "rescued" the following year by one of the O'Connors and was allowed to leave without opposition from MacMurrough. Her wealth and her cattle, we are told, again left with her. Dervorgilla did not travel lightly. She did not return to Ua Ruairc but chose instead to live her life out in a convent. She apparently distributed her wealth to the building up of women's religious houses. She was the benefactress of the Nuns' Church at Clonmacnoise and died in 1193 in religious retirement in Drogheda at the age of eighty-five.
Things did not go so peacefully with Dermot. When his chief ally, Mac Lochlainn, was killed in a small battle in 1166, Dermot's support system fell apart. At this point Rory O'Connor declared himself high-king. Ua Ruairc immediately set about in revenge for what must have been a huge embarrassment for him. The whole of Ireland knew of the abduction of his wife and her refusal to go back to him when she was "released." If the extensive reports in the annals are accurate, it was the talk of the country. Burning with anger, he marched into Uí Chennselaig and captured and burned the capital of Ferns. There he demolished MacMurrough's stone residence and within days put MacMurrough to flight. If he had killed MacMurrough, Irish history would have been very different. But MacMurrough lived to cause more havoc than even he could have imagined.
Being an enterprising and informed man who knew well the world beyond Ireland, Dermot immediately thought of getting help to regain his kingdom. He therefore crossed the Irish Sea and went to the English port of Bristol, which had long been a trading partner of Dublin. Dermot, always thinking of allies, was looking for Henry II of England. He felt secure in his relationship with Henry. In 1165 Henry II had actually hired the Dublin fleet in an attempt to conquer Wales. So perhaps in Dermot's mind Henry owed him. Dermot traveled to France to find him and talk with him. At the time Henry was engaged in a war with France over French territory claimed by the English monarchy. When he reached Henry in France, Dermot asked for help in regaining his lost throne. By this one simple act Dermot MacMurrough unwittingly and unintentionally changed the direction of Irish history forever. The invitation for help did not end there. What Dermot had sought was an ally for his immediate problem. What Ireland ultimately got was an invasion.
The eleventh century in Europe had witnessed the emergence of a new and important power. The Normans had taken over England after they defeated the Anglo-Saxons in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings. Normans were originally descendants of Vikings who had settled in Normandy. In the eleventh century they had crossed over to England, defeated the Anglo-Saxon King Harold of England, and taken control of England and the English throne. A hundred years later these Anglo-Normans were setting their sights on Ireland. Even before Dermot's request for help there had been some indication that the Normans planned to invade. The pope, Adrian IV, the only Englishman ever to hold the chair of Peter, was approached by the English hierarchy in 1155 concerning reform of the Irish church. The archdiocese of Canterbury was ambitious to take over Irish diocesan affairs and thereby expand its own territory. The Gregorian reforms of the Christian church throughout Europe made many dioceses ambitious to expand their territories and play greater roles in the management of this new-style Christianity with its absolute center in Rome.
So within this climate John of Salisbury, secretary to the archbishop of Canterbury, approached the pope, possibly at the request of the archbishop, and asked for permission to enter Ireland and "reform" the Irish church, which was described as barbarous. John of Salisbury was an Englishman who traveled widely and had strong connections in Rome. This claim of Canterbury was not without some expectation of success. For some years Canterbury had been ordaining a number of Irish bishops, those serving the Viking towns, and saw this as a natural stepping-stone to taking over the entire Irish church system. As early as 1121 the burghers and clergy of Dublin had written to Canterbury that "the bishops of Ireland are very jealous of us, especially that bishop who lives in Armagh, because we are unwilling to be subject to their rule but wish always to be under your authority."
Given the propaganda also circulating throughout Europe on the condition of the Irish church, the climate was right for such a move. But the synod of Kells had angered Canterbury by establishing Irish bishoprics, especially one in Dublin, which were answerable to Armagh. Here was a possible attempt at redressing the situation. So in 1155 Pope Adrian IV issued a papal bull, usually referred to as Laudabiliter, in which he granted permission to the king of England, Henry II, to invade Ireland and bring the Irish within Roman jurisdiction. Henry had been too busy with other disputes within his own kingdom to pay much attention to the document. So no action had been taken on the decree—that is, until a rather distraught but determined Dermot MacMurrough turned up at Henry's court some ten years later and asked for help in regaining his Leinster kingship.
Henry II saw his opportunity and agreed to help Dermot. Too busy with his war with the French, he could not personally oversee the campaign. He gave MacMurrough a letter to his lords in England, asking them to travel to Ireland to help Dermot win back his kingdom. Dermot returned to Ireland in 1167 with a small band of Norman mercenaries and was able to reestablish himself in Uí Chennselaig. The Annals of Inisfallen simply record the moment in 1167 as: "Dermot MacMurrough returned from overseas, and Uí Chennselaig was taken by him." Little attention was paid to this at first, but when he tried to renew his claim to his lost title king of Leinster, the high-king, Rory O'Connor moved against him. Dermot was defeated and forced to recognize O'Connor as high-king and abandon his plans for recovery of his Leinster kingship. He was also, interestingly enough, forced to pay one hundred ounces of gold to Tigernan Ua Ruairc as reparation for abducting his wife fifteen years earlier. In exchange for all of this Dermot was allowed to retain the small area of Uf Chennselaig.
But MacMurrough was only biding his time for another, greater force to arrive. It came on May I, 1169. The Anglo-Normans landed at Bannow Bay in Wexford with three shiploads of soldiers and quickly took over the town. The town of Wexford was granted by Dermot to the invading Norman leader Robert FitzStephen and his half-brother Maurice FitzGerald. Norman names had arrived in Ireland. A year later it was the earl of Pembroke, Richard FitzGilbert, commonly known as Strongbow, who was willing to assemble yet another force to go to Ireland. To sweeten the request Dermot had also offered him the hand of his daughter Aoife in marriage and the right of succession to the kingdom of Leinster on Dermot's death, in violation of Irish succession law. Dermot also held out the possibility of the high-kingship itself to FitzGilbert. Dermot knew how to get allies. Strongbow, an ambitious man, liked the offer and took it. He arrived in August 1170 with a reported two hundred knights and a thousand troops. They easily took the town of Waterford and shortly afterwards Strongbow married Aoife. With their superior weaponry, including their notoriously deadly crossbows, and their armored knights on horseback, the Normans were well able to combat any Irish resistance to their presence. The Irish had never seen this type of organized European warfare before. They had nothing to compare with it in either weaponry or armor.
Within a short time Dublin, now the economic axis of Ireland, had fallen to the invaders. Dubliners had tried to resist them and had arranged for assistance from the high-king, but the Normans reached the city first and the town was taken by storm and buildings burned. The Normans were here to stay. The High-King Rory O'Connor failed in an armed attempt to regain Dublin for the Irish and was forced to surrender. When Dermot MacMurrough died in May 1171, Strongbow established himself as lord of Leinster. Henry II of England was somewhat disturbed at this turn of events and demanded that Strongbow recognize Henry's overlordship of the Irish acquisitions. The English king was afraid that his Norman lords were rather too successful and might attempt to establish Ireland as a separate and independent kingdom. Wisely, Henry II traveled to Ireland in the autumn of 1171 with a large army of five hundred knights and about four thousand archers to make sure that his Norman lords did not try to grab Ireland for themselves. Henry also had the blessing of the pope, now Alexander III, who wrote to Henry listing four grievances against the Irish. The first concerned lax marriage practices, the second the eating of meat during Lent, and the third accused the Irish of not paying tithes to the church. Fourthly they were showing insufficient respect for church property and for clerics. The suggestion was that Henry put an end to all of this irregularity and bring the Irish under papal control. In 1172 the synod of Cashel implemented this reorganization.
Rory O'Connor, the high-king, did not submit to Henry II when Henry came to Dublin in 1171 but reached an accommodation with him in 1175 in the Treaty of Windsor. This treaty recognized O'Connor's rule over the unconquered parts of Ireland not under the Normans. It was broken shortly afterwards by the Normans who kept up their incursions into Irish areas, and O'Connor's rule was gradually eroded. He died in 1198 in Cong and was buried, quite prophetically it would seem, at the monastery of Clonmacnoise. Both the high-kingship and the Irish monastery system would be supplanted as a result of this invading force. Rory O'Connor was the last high-king of Ireland.
Large stone fortifications and castles were the landmarks of the new Norman presence in Ireland. Everywhere they went they built impressive, strong homes as if to indicate the permanence of their intentions. It must have been a bewildering and frightening experience for the native population. An Irish poet of the twelfth century wrote in bitterness and frustration:
Numerous will be their powerful wiles
Their shackles and their chains
Numerous their lies and executions
And their secure strong houses . . .
The largest and greatest of these castle fortifications was Trim Castle in County Meath, which lies about thirty miles west of Dublin. It was the first Norman castle to be built in Ireland. In its day it marked the outer boundary of English power emanating from Dublin. It was once a huge rampart of gigantic proportions set on a picturesque site on the River Boyne. Nowadays it lies in ruins but a large-scale restoration is planned on the site, and work has been done to reinforce the structure. In 1993 it was handed over to the Irish government by its owners.
We walked through the ruins with historian Edel Bhreathnach to discuss the Normans and the effect on Irish society of this invasion. It was a major turning point in Irish affairs because, whether the Irish wanted it or not, they were not to remain outside European politics from this time on. Standing outside of this still-impressive fortification with its once-strong walls weathered by time, Edel talked with us about the Normans and Dermot Mac-Murrough: "Associated with the coming of the Normans to Ireland you have the idea, which is true, of new military strategies. They had archers and built great defenses like Trim Castle. They also made Ireland a part of a greater world which ultimately stretched from Ireland southwards into the south of Europe."
Scholars debate whether it is correct to use the term invasion as regards the Norman arrival in Ireland, because the invitation to come had been proffered from an Irish king. But in the final analysis an invasion is what occurred. The invitation inevitably became an invasion. Dermot in fact had no official political standing in Ireland at the time of his "invitation," as he was a deposed king. But once they had gained a foothold on the country, the Normans were never to leave. Within a short time they had spread out all over the country in invasion style, forcibly removing many Irish families from their traditional homelands. For more than six thousand years the Irish had lived in Ireland and controlled their own destiny, however uneven that destiny might have been. Christianity had not significantly changed Irish society. It had arrived and taken on a uniquely Irish shape. But with the arrival of the Anglo-Normans major changes were coming to the country. Christianity would take on a more Roman, or diocesan, form. Most significant, political control of the island would pass to a new power outside of Ireland.
Yet in time Ireland would take to these newcomers just as these newcomers would take to Ireland. Names like Fitzgerald, Burke, Joyce, Butler, and others would eventually become an integral part of the Irish tapestry of ethnicity. That these newcomers would become "more Irish than the Irish themselves," as later records indicate, would not, however, diminish the noxious role that the connection to the English crown would play in future Irish history. The political repercussions of this legacy and the bitterness of that struggle have not been resolved to the present day.