Irish History Articles - Norse, Norman and English Invaders by Dr. Samuel Couch

Article: Irish History - Norse, Norman and English Invaders

by Dr. Sam Couch, Ph. D.
Owner, Rising Road Tours

The Arrival of the Longboats

By the 8th century, Christianity had taken hold and given up some of its austerity. Money and treasure came to the monasteries. Local kings were engaged in ongoing feuds and paid little attention to young Scandinavians beginning to flex their muscles. Armed with steel armor, helmets, axes and swords, these men in boats appeared nearly invincible. Their first stop on conquering an empire that ultimately would stretch to the Mediterranean; they began by forays on the north European coasts or up rivers where they could find loot. In 795 Vikings robbed Rathlin. By 830 a Norse chief ruled Armagh for a time. Many of Ireland's main towns are Viking towns: Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, and Limerick. Through much of the 9th and 10th centuries, the Norsemen continued to raid Ireland. At the end of the 10th century, Brian Boru, King of Munster (later High King of Ireland) rebelled. In 1014 his forces massacred the Vikings at Clontarf outside Dublin. The Scandinavians living in Ireland actually became assimilated into Irish society, severing ties with the north, accepting Christianity and intermarrying.

The Anglo-Norman Takeover

Even though some Norsemen assimilated and became Irish, the country still would hear from these marauders. Prior to Clontarf a group settled in Normandy. This group of Viking descendants under William the Conqueror conquered England in 1066. William sent many of his soldiers to Wales, out of harms way. In 1152 a battle erupted when Dermot MacMurrough, king of Leinster, eloped with the wife of a minor king. MacMurrough was unpopular and when his vassals revolted in 1166, the wronged husband took control. MacMurrough went to England and persuaded King Henry II to allow him to recruit an army of the Noman Welsh. In 1169, Mac Murrough allied with Richard de Clare, Earl of Pemborke (Strongbow) and routed the last High King of Ireland Rory O'Connor. When MacMurrough died in 1171, Strongbow welcomed King Henry who took the title Lord of Ireland. From then on England would tighten its grip on the island. Ever since Whitby, the papacy had looked with askance on the Irish and their heresies. In 1155 Pope Adrian IV (an English pope) issued a bull Laudabiliter which authorized the English king to impose rule on Ireland. Ever since, the Vatican has seemed to side with the English against the Irish.

Going Native

Everybody who settled among the Irish, although they despised the vanquished, seemed to want to be a part of them. Henry sent military settlers to the country as well as administrative officials. After a few generations, the immigrant families could not be distinguished from the Irish. By the mid 14th century, England was fed up with this process of hibernicization and passed statutes in 1366 outlawing marriage between English and Irish. Overturning the Irish Brehon legal system, these edicts banned the Irish language, Irish dress, saddles, Irish laws, customs, hurling and the Irish mustache. It continued for several centuries. It is during this period that the great Norman towers were built; they remain on the landscape today. The beginnings of absentee landlords started during this time. English domination centered on Dublin. This was the area known as the Pale, sometimes extending through the east, southeast and Munster. Ironically Ulster, currently a vestige of British colonial rule, held out longest against English influence during this period.

Butlers and FitzGeralds

During the 15th century, the Pale shrank to just thirty miles around Dublin. Outside the region cooperation with the English was varied and unreliable (hence the expression, "beyond the pale".) Governance depended on large families. The Butlers southwest of Dublin were semi-loyal and eventually were granted a marquisette. Other clans were inconsistent and sometimes hostile. Other times they were benign enough to secure a royal marriage for their progeny. After the Butlers the most powerful and mercurial families were the two branches of the FitzGeralds. The Desmonds reputedly owned 1/2 million acres and many castles and houses and ultimately aroused royal jealousy and suspicion. Thomas, Earl of Desmond, was executed by Edward IV in 1468 because of his closeness to the Irish. The Kildare FitzGeralds had many estates and kept ties to both Dublin Castle and native Irish chieftains. Edward IV made Garrett Mor his lord deputy. Henry VII replaced Garret with Sir Edward Poynings who created the law that no legislation could be initiated in Ireland without the approval of the king AND his council in England. This Poynings' Law gave Parliament the ability to pass or disallow certain laws. Garrett Mor rebelled in 1495. He prevailed and King Henry made him Lord of Ireland. In his later years he subsidized the Pontifical College at Maynooth and consolidated his power by forcing other chieftains into line. His son Garret the Younger was pawned as security for the behavior of his father. Cardinal Wolsey, chancellor to Henry VIII, did not care for young Garrett and bounced him back and forth between holding the highest office in Ireland and the Tower of London. Ultimately a rebellion against the crow by Garret Og and his son Silken Thomas led to the hanging, drawing, and quartering of all the Kildare FitzGeralds in 1537. A rising by the Desmond FitzGeralds later in the century allowed the army to remove the remaining branch and step up systematic English settlement of Ireland.

This series of articles is based on lectures given by Dr. Samuel Couch to Irish Studies courses at Georgia Southern University and Young Harris College between 1997 and 2004. Documented sources come from Couch's research and studies in American universities and with scholars in Ireland. The articles are in no way intended to be comprehensive.

Background materials come from, but are not limited to, readings in the following books:

Duffy, Sean, ed., Atlas of Irish History. Gill & Macmillan: Dublin. 1997.
Joyce, P.W., Outlines of the History of Ireland from the Earliest Times to 1905. M.H. Gill & Son: Dublin. 1909.
Killeen, Richard, A Short History of Ireland. Gill & Macmillan: Dublin. 1994.
Smyth, Daragh, A Guide to Irish Mythology. 2nd ed. Irish Academic Press: Dublin. 1996.

Any lack of attribution to primary sources is unintentional and the sole responsibility of Dr. Couch.

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