John de Courcy
John de Courcy | |
---|---|
Affrica Guðrøðardóttir | |
Father | William de Courcy II |
Mother | Avice de Rumelly |
Occupation | Knight |
Sir John de Courcy (1150–1219)
Early career in Ireland
Belonging to a family which took its name from
De Courcy's exact parentage is unknown. The man thought to be his great-grandfather, Richard de Courcy is named in the Domesday Book.[3] De Courcy's grandfather, William de Courcy I, married Emma de Falaise. His father, William de Courcy II, married Avice de Rumilly and died before 1130, leaving the family estates in Somerset and elsewhere in England to his son, William de Courcy III, John's possible brother.[4]
John was very ambitious and wanted lands for himself. He decided to invade the north of Ireland which was controlled by Irish dynasties. In early January 1177, he assembled a small army of 22 knights and 300 foot-soldiers and marched north, at the rate of thirty miles a day. They skirted the back of the Mourne Mountains and took the town of Dún Dá Leathghlas (now Downpatrick) by surprise. After two fierce battles, in February and June 1177, de Courcy defeated the last King of Ulaid, Ruaidhrí Mac Duinnshléibhe.
He did all this without King Henry II's permission.
After conquering eastern Ulster, he established his seat at
In 1183, de Courcy provided for the establishment of a priory at the cathedral of
He also made incursions into the west to increase his territory and lordship. In 1188 he invaded Connacht, but was repulsed and the next year he plundered Armagh.[5]
Later career in Ireland
After the accession of
Sir Hugh de Lacy was commanded to do what he might to apprehend and take Sir John de Courcy, and so devised and conferred with certain of Sir John's own men, how this might be done; and they said it were not possible to take him, since he lived ever in his armour, unless it were a Good Friday and they told that his custom was that on that day he would wear no shield, harness nor weapon, but would be in the church, kneeling at his prayers, after he had gone about the church five times bare-footed. And so they came at him upon the sudden, and he had no shift to make but with the cross pole, and defended himself until it was broken and slew thirteen of them before he was taken.
In May 1205, King
Holy Land and death
King John then had John de Courcy imprisoned and he spent the rest of his life in poverty. He was subsequently released when he "crossed himself" to go on a pilgrimage to the
Literary references
The story of John de Courcy's defeat of the French champion, and his winning the privilege to remain covered in the presence of the King, appears in Chapter 12 of Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper.
In his book Saint Patrick's Town, Anthony M. Wilson said about John de Courcy:
Giraldus, a contemporary, names John de Courcy as one of the four great men, a hero of his time.
Norman invasion of Ireland, clearly admired this remarkable man who first established a power base in Ulster and then dominated the whole country. His conspicuous place in Irish history is secure. The people of modern Ulster can look back to him as a counterpart of William the Conquerorin England, the man who brought Ulster, albeit by force, into the mainstream of European law, religion and culture.
By the inhabitants of Downpatrick he must be regarded and honoured as the founder of their town. He came as an alien Englishman, a foreign invader and, by that process so often effective in the very air of Ireland, he was converted into a true Irishman. He personally fostered and promoted the fame and honour of Saint Patrick and linked the name of the town and Abbey to the name of the patron saint. As well as the Benedictine Abbey on the hill, he founded three other monasteries close to the town and he created on the hills of Down a city, both monastic and mercantile, of which both the mediaeval and the twentieth century citizens can be proud.
Genealogy
Family tree I
________________________________________ | | | | Baudri the German Vigor =niece of Godfrey (?) of Brionn | |________________________________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Nicholas Fulk Robert Richard Baudri Vigor Elizabeth daughters de Bacqueville de Alnou de Courcy of Neville of Bocquence of Apulia =Fulk of Bonneval issue issue =Hebrea issue issue | | Richard =Wandelmode | __________________________| | | | | | | Robert Richard William, died c. 1130. =Rohesia de Grandesmil =Emma de Falise | | | | William Robert, died c. 1151. | | de Courcy de Courcy of France of England and Ireland
Family tree II
Serlo de Burci Corbutonis de Falise =? =Ameline | | | |_________________________________________ | | | | | | | | | | Martin = Geva de Burci = William de Falise Roger Gaufridus Galterus | | | |_____________________________ | | | | | | Robert fitz Martin Emma = William de Courcy Sibil = Baldwin de Bullers | ___________________________|______________ | | | | | | William, died c. 1151. Robert Jordan =Avice de Rumelly =? | | |____________________ |___________ | | | | | | | | | | William Robert Richard John Jordan | | Baron Kingsale
- Derived from Flanders 2009, pp. 177, 178, 180, 181.
References
- ^ "John de Courci" in Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^ DeBreffny Castles of Ireland, pp. 104–105.
- ^ read online
- ISBN 0851158633.
- ^ a b DeBreffny Churches and Abbeys of Ireland, pp. 60–61.
- ^ Chisholm 1911.
- ^ Mac Annaidh Dictionary of Irish History
Sources
- DeBreffny, Brian; Mott, George (1976). The Churches and Abbeys of Ireland. London: Thames & Hudson. pp. 60–61.
- DeBreffny, Brian (1977). Castles of Ireland. London: Thames & Hudson.
- Duffy, Seán (2004). "Courcy, John de". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 25 September 2007.
- Flanders, Steve (2009). De Courcy: Anglo-Normans in Ireland, England and France in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. ISBN 978-1-84682-094-6.
- Mac Annaidh, Séamus, ed. (2001). Illustrated Dictionary of Irish History. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan. ISBN 0717135365.
- O'Laverty, James (1887). An Historical Account of the Diocese of Down and Connor. Duffy & Sons.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Courci, John de". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 319. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the