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The Normans in Ireland
The Norman invasion of Britain, as depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, is well known, but the later invasion of Ireland is much less well documented. Yet much of what we see today in Irish heritage has Norman roots. Ireland and Britain have many similarities, although relations between them have too often descended into bitterness and violence. This book goes back to the starting point of this, more than eight hundred years ago. Beginning with Irish history before the Norman invasion, the book describes how Ireland was conquered and settled by the French-speaking Normans from north-west France, whose language and culture had already come to dominate most of Britain.
It looks at the creation and government of a large region called the Liberty of Leinster between 1167 and 1247, a turning point in Irish history, identifying the Frankish institutions imposed upon Ireland by its Anglo-Norman conquerors. The Normans were not always belligerent conquerors, but they were innovators and reformers, who incorporated the sensible traditions and practices of their subjugated lands into their new government. In little over one hundred years the Normans had a transforming effect on British and Irish societies and, while different in many ways, both countries benefited from their legacy.
It looks at the creation and government of a large region called the Liberty of Leinster between 1167 and 1247, a turning point in Irish history, identifying the Frankish institutions imposed upon Ireland by its Anglo-Norman conquerors. The Normans were not always belligerent conquerors, but they were innovators and reformers, who incorporated the sensible traditions and practices of their subjugated lands into their new government. In little over one hundred years the Normans had a transforming effect on British and Irish societies and, while different in many ways, both countries benefited from their legacy.
308 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 19, 2022
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August 31, 2024
Leafing through the pages of this book in Waterstones one name caught my eye and made me determined to buy it.
In part at least this is an account of William the Marshall's interest in and contribution to the development of normo-Irish culture through his control of the Liberty of Leinster at the turn of the twelfth and thirteenth century. For those with an interest in the Plantagenet kings, one that delves beneath the surface layer of historical sobriquets (John Lackland, Richard the Lionheart, Henry II and his 'turbulent priest') William the Marshall is an iconic figure. Rising from modest begininngs (if not lowly, then certainly no more than gentle) his prowess as a courtier and a knight saw him rise to be friend, servant and advisor to five Plantagenet monarchs (Henry II, The young King Henry, Richard I, John, and Henry III). He bestrode the last two decades of the 1100s and the first two of the 1200s as few non-royals have managed.
So William the Marshall's presence in this narrative made for a compelling perspective through which to reach the relatively unexplored history of Leinster and the gradual normanisation of Ireland. Lomas highlights the differences between the Norman conquest of England and this process almost of infecting Ireland with Norman practices. Unlike England, Ireland had not yet formed into a coherent nation state with widely agreed practices of government. Ireland had around nine kingships of relatively fluid territorial boundaries in a constant struggle both to enforce their authority over their own subkings and aspire to the fragile and temporary status of High King - more a primus inter pares than an absolute overlord. In such circumstances much politics was conducted by violence.
While Ireland offered no coherent head of state to overthrow, nor national machinery of government to coerce into compliance, the 'invaders' (for similar reasons) lacked the single leader with a claim to justify wholesale invasion.
Instead it was the territorial ambitions of minor nobles like Richard 'Strongbow' de Clare, egged on by Henry II and invited by the temporarily territorially embarrassed Diarmait Mac Murchada, king of Leinster. that precipitated a Norman influx into Ireland. In seeking Strongbow's help to reclaim his overrun kingdom, Mac Murchada also, in giving his daughter's hand in marriage, assured that Strongbow would inherit his Irish Kingship. Strongbow in turn having a daughter who later married William the Marshall perpetuated the Norman influence on Leinster.
Lomas provides a thorough catalogue of events, institutions and characters in Ireland, while also providing the important context of how those factors were influenced or engendered by developments in Western Europe as a whole. As such, the book provides a window not just on Leinster but on the medieval world with many illuminating aspects of church and political life brought up. The etymology of place names and titles is one that particularly interested me. sheriff being a concatonation of shire-reeve for example, while shire and county are Norse and Saxon terms for similar parcels of land, though it was county that eventually replaced the Irish notion of Cantreds.
While a relatively short read, this was an informative account that helped add colour to a period of history that has always interested me!
In part at least this is an account of William the Marshall's interest in and contribution to the development of normo-Irish culture through his control of the Liberty of Leinster at the turn of the twelfth and thirteenth century. For those with an interest in the Plantagenet kings, one that delves beneath the surface layer of historical sobriquets (John Lackland, Richard the Lionheart, Henry II and his 'turbulent priest') William the Marshall is an iconic figure. Rising from modest begininngs (if not lowly, then certainly no more than gentle) his prowess as a courtier and a knight saw him rise to be friend, servant and advisor to five Plantagenet monarchs (Henry II, The young King Henry, Richard I, John, and Henry III). He bestrode the last two decades of the 1100s and the first two of the 1200s as few non-royals have managed.
So William the Marshall's presence in this narrative made for a compelling perspective through which to reach the relatively unexplored history of Leinster and the gradual normanisation of Ireland. Lomas highlights the differences between the Norman conquest of England and this process almost of infecting Ireland with Norman practices. Unlike England, Ireland had not yet formed into a coherent nation state with widely agreed practices of government. Ireland had around nine kingships of relatively fluid territorial boundaries in a constant struggle both to enforce their authority over their own subkings and aspire to the fragile and temporary status of High King - more a primus inter pares than an absolute overlord. In such circumstances much politics was conducted by violence.
While Ireland offered no coherent head of state to overthrow, nor national machinery of government to coerce into compliance, the 'invaders' (for similar reasons) lacked the single leader with a claim to justify wholesale invasion.
Instead it was the territorial ambitions of minor nobles like Richard 'Strongbow' de Clare, egged on by Henry II and invited by the temporarily territorially embarrassed Diarmait Mac Murchada, king of Leinster. that precipitated a Norman influx into Ireland. In seeking Strongbow's help to reclaim his overrun kingdom, Mac Murchada also, in giving his daughter's hand in marriage, assured that Strongbow would inherit his Irish Kingship. Strongbow in turn having a daughter who later married William the Marshall perpetuated the Norman influence on Leinster.
Lomas provides a thorough catalogue of events, institutions and characters in Ireland, while also providing the important context of how those factors were influenced or engendered by developments in Western Europe as a whole. As such, the book provides a window not just on Leinster but on the medieval world with many illuminating aspects of church and political life brought up. The etymology of place names and titles is one that particularly interested me. sheriff being a concatonation of shire-reeve for example, while shire and county are Norse and Saxon terms for similar parcels of land, though it was county that eventually replaced the Irish notion of Cantreds.
While a relatively short read, this was an informative account that helped add colour to a period of history that has always interested me!
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