FREE ESSAY ON THE CONQUEST OF IRELAND

THE CONQUEST OF IRELAND

THE CONQEST OF IRELAND:
ENGLISH IMPERAIALISM UNDER HENRY II
THE CONQEST OF IRELAND:
ENGLISH IMPERAIALISM UNDER HENRY II 
In 1155 Pope Adrian IV issued a significant bull that changed the history of Ireland and
England forever. The papal bull issued gave Henry II, King of England (1154-1189), the
right to conquer Ireland . Ireland has gained and lost as a result of English rule. It
was rewarded with a stronger Church and a more centralized government. It lost some of
its cultural values and customs, as well as its own system government for example; its
clan-based hierarchy was removed. 
Henry II's control of Ireland was not solely based on the word of Adrian IV, there were a
number of nobles who made it possible. One of the most important was Dermot MacMurrough,
the king of Linster (an Irish city-state). Linster held in its bounds the main port city
between Ireland and England. Being the King of Linster MacMurrough had control over trade
and all other maritime activities of Ireland while he was king. Because of their close
proximity, trade, and other maritime activity MacMurrough and Henry II developed a close
relationship . Shortly after Adrian IV issued the bull, MacMurrough went to Henry II
asking for help because he had been banished from Ireland his other Irish nobles. Henry
II saw the weak Irish government and the internal quarrels that it created as an
opportunity to act on the bull issued to him and agreed to help MacMurrough. Henry II
wrote a letter to MacMurrough upon hearing his request for assistance; it is the best
evidence of such sentiment.
Henry, king of England, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to all his
liegemen, English, Normans, Welsh, and Scots, and to all other nations subject to his
dominion, Sendeth, greeting, Whensoever these our letters shall come unto you, know ye
that we have received Dermitius [Dermot], prince of Leinster, unto our grace and favor,
-Wherefore, whosoever within the bounds of our territories shall be willing to give him
aid, as our vassal and liegeman, in recovering his territories, let him be assured of our
favor and license on that behalf. 
What fallowed was the first stepping-stone in Henry II occupation of Ireland. MacMurrough
was searching for two things after his expulsion from Ireland, the recovery of his power
and prestige. This is most evident in his bolstering when he received a letter from
Bernard of Claurveaux , and his willingness to give Linster to Henry in return for a
smaller fiefdom of his own, if Henry II would lend him the necessary troops to return and
conquer the city. The stipulation Henry gave to MacMurrough was, that the power of the
bull was now in full effect and Ireland owed allegiance to the King of England. The
troops that Henry II provided MacMurrough were not quite sufficient enough so MacMurrough
solicited the help of a Welshmen by the name of Strongbow, in return for his daughter's
hand in marriage as well as succession to the throne. 
Armed with English and Welsh troops MacMurrough returned to Ireland where he was
victorious not only in claming his old territory Lenster its capital Dublin, and Wexford,
as well as all port cities on the islands coast, but Limerick, an inland city state ruled
by MacMurrough's son-in-law. 
Dermot MacMurrough then did something surprising, he signed a truce with the archbishop
of Dublin in order to secure that territory. This was surprising because of MacMurrough
known hatred for the city of Dublin and its people. However, he had able to make
concessions to them in order to ensure he would still have land to give Henry II when his
quest for expansion was over in addition to the territories he wanted for himself. After
signing the truce with the Archbishop of Dublin, MacMurrough appointed Milo de Cogan as
constable. Cogan, a soldier in the army thrown together by MacMurrough and Strongbow, was
largely responsible for the taking of Dublin. MacMurrough then turned the army north and
proceeded to take Meath, in order to expand his lands and settle a personal vendetta with
the O'Rourke clan. 
In the meantime Henry II was in France trying to further his political power. He had
relied on others to establish the English rule in Ireland. However, in 1171 King Henry
was forced to go Ireland after receiving word that there had been resistance to
MacMurrough and Strongbow's efforts to establish English rule. Upon his arrival there was
quick submission to the King by the rabble-rousers and the nobles. In the six months that
King Henry was in Dublin he was able to put together a working centralized government
with ties to the outlying counties. MacMurrough and Strongbow had been unsuccessful in
their attempts to gain complete political control over the city-states they had
conquered. This is a credit to Henry II and is ability to rule and run a successful
government. He was however unsuccessful in maintaining the order and control for very
long.
Shortly after King Henry success in establishing a working peripheral government other
matters in France and England called him away before he was able to complete a strong
lasting government that would work and represent his authority. Soon after he left
Ireland the newly established government collapsed and the old practices of exploiting
the Irish countrymen by the self-serving nobles and soldiers of fortune continued once
again. In retrospect it is unfortunate that Henry had to be called away on other matters
because the natives began to mount a resistance and this time they did it with some
success. The English army had been depleted over time and many of the soldiers had
returned to their homes in England or Wales. This made Strongbow and MacMurrough very
vulnerable, especially when they kept trying to expand their presences and their wealth.

Here it is interesting the important role that Irish culture played in curbing English
conquest. At the time King Henry left Ireland there where three people all vying for the
right to rule, and all for different reasons. King Henry beginning to recognize what was
really happening in Ireland, resolved to solve the problem and preserve order in his
empire he sent his son John to maintain his efforts. His father then gave John the title
King of Ireland. However, John's nobles alienated the local Irish magistrates and began
mocking them and their manner and dress, in essence their culture. The alienation and
mocking of the Irish chieftains led directly to another native uprising. The revolt
nominally was led by Murtaugh MacMurrough, Dermot MacMurrough's nephew and heir (buy
hereditary right), who claimed that succession should be determined by Irish (Brehon)
law, not his uncle's agreement with Strongbow. Significantly, Murtaugh had military
support from the other Gaelic lords who where dissenting strongly from the English
presence. The superior Norman's military established its supremacy once and for all in
its defeat of Irish attempt to overthrow Strongbow and his army. . The uprising, despite
its loss, ruined "King" John's authority amongst the nobles as much as it did for the
commoners. The Irish chiefs and its native citizens sank deep in to a state of political
misery and years of quarrelling between each other and the many English who still
remained in Ireland for English rule had been established. 
Henry II died in 1189, and his vast Angevin empire (of which England was only a small
part) quickly began to break apart. Henry II, succeeded by his son, Richard the Lionheart
(1189-99), a magnificent warrior, but a inept administrator, whose glaring blunder was to
concede that English monarchs were simply feudal under-lords to Philip II of France and
his successors. Henry's second son succeeded Richard; the much maligned John I
(1199-1216), who had been Lord of Ireland since 1190. So in his death Henry II presence
and his admirable talent for organization came to a close and were replaced by his less
competent sons and an end to English conquest, until the reign of Elizabeth I. 
Looking past the often-violent struggles there are some ways that Ireland benefited from
the English occupancy of Ireland. England had an advanced government and more central
control on social and political stability. Prior to the English conquest the Irish had no
central government. There where instead different counties, headed by tribal chieftains.
Quarrelling often erupted regarding who established the laws and was the recipient of the
taxes and duties. Once the English were able to defeat some of the wealthier and more
powerful chieftains their centralized government was put in place. As much as English
presence was detested at the time it did give Ireland a sense of stability for a brief
period of time. All the laws in Ireland became uniform the taxes and duties, which where
stilled paid to Irish lords, where regulated by a single entity and published. 
Religion is another example of how Ireland was able to gain a greater sense of unity
during Henry II conquest. The role the religion first began to play an important role
Ireland when Saint Patrick (389-461), the patron of Ireland, was a real person, a bishop
and missionary came to Ireland. He came from England to Ireland to convert the
inhabitants to Catholicism and to educate them and convert them. He succeeded beyond any
rational expectation, as Ireland eventually became almost exclusively Christian. Irelands
practice of Catholicism was largely different than that practiced in Rome and in England.
These loose practicing's being one of the reason that Pope Adrian IV cited in his bull to
Henry II as a justification for conquest and pacification. The irony of Catholicism in
all of this is the very church that almost all of the population was part of was the same
entity that provided the justification for their subjection. During Henry II reign Masses
got to be so crowded that the number of churches was insufficient and they where
conducted outdoors. 
The damaging blows that Ireland suffered, other than the mass slaughter of its citizens,
as a result of colonization by the English lords; was the loss of self-identity. The
where unable to grow as there own country with there own values and customs. Instead the
Irish had a core set of values imposed on them and their own culture essentially outlawed
in a later document issued by Elizabeth I. 
As has been illustrated Pope Adrian IV bull that gave Henry II the right to conquer
Ireland changed both country's history forever. There where allot of favors granted and
promises made and broken on both sides that lead to Ireland gains and loses that defined
their growth during the Middle Ages. Henry II's control of Ireland was due in a much
larger part to Dermot MacMurrough than to Adrian IV, even though he gave him papal
approval, MacMurrough gave Henry the in that he needed to exercise the powers granted to
him by the pope. Henry II was blessed with the weak Irish government and the opportunity
to act on the bull issued to him and for that he created history. All of the struggles
and political problems that existed before and as a result of Henry II, Dermot
MacMurrough, and Adrian IV are still being challenged today.
BIBLOGRAPHY
The Bull of Pope Adrian IV Empowering Henry II to Conquer Ireland: 1155.
Gerald of Wales: The Conquest Of Ireland. Book I Chapter 46.
Curtis, Edmund, A History of Ireland. London: University Paperback, 1970.
F.X. Martin, The Course of Irish History. Dublin: Roberts Rinehart Press, 1994.
F.X. Martin, A New History of Ireland. Oxford: Cossgrove, 1987.
Hays, L. & Jones, E.D. "Policy on the Run: Henry II and Irish Sea Diplomacy." Journal of
British Studies v.29 n.4 (1990): 293-316.
Kee, Robert Ireland. Boston: Little Brown and Co., 1982.
Powell, F. York, Strongbow's Conquest of Ireland. London: G.P. Puttnum's Sons, 1888.
Turner, Edward Raymond, Ireland and England: In the Past and at Present. New York:
University of Michigan Press, 1920.