Lordship of Ireland
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Lordship of Ireland | |||||||||
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1177–1542 | |||||||||
King of England | |||||||||
Capital | Dublin2 | ||||||||
Common languages |
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Religion | Lord | | |||||||
• 1177–1216 | John (first) | ||||||||
• 1509–1542 | Henry VIII (last) | ||||||||
Henry FitzRoy (last) | |||||||||
Legislature | Parliament | ||||||||
House of Lords | |||||||||
House of Commons | |||||||||
Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
• Established | May 1177 | ||||||||
June 1542 | |||||||||
Currency | Irish pound | ||||||||
ISO 3166 code | IE | ||||||||
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Today part of | |||||||||
1A commission of Edward IV into the arms of Ireland found these to be the arms of the Lordship. The blazon is Azure, three crowns in pale Or, bordure Argent. Typically, bordered arms represent the younger branch of a family or maternal descent.[1][2] 2Although Dublin was the capital, parliament was held in other towns at various times. |
The Lordship of Ireland (
The kings of England claimed lordship over the whole island, but in reality the king's rule only ever extended to parts of the island. The rest of the island – referred to subsequently as Gaelic Ireland – remained under the control of various Gaelic Irish kingdoms or chiefdoms, who were often at war with the Anglo-Normans.
The area under English rule and law grew and shrank over time, and reached its greatest extent in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The lordship then went into decline, brought on by its
History
Arrival of the Normans in Ireland
The authority of the Lordship of Ireland's government was seldom extended throughout the island of Ireland at any time during its existence but was restricted to
Henry Plantagenet and Laudabiliter
From 1155 Henry claimed that Pope Adrian IV had given him authorisation to reform the Irish church by assuming control of Ireland. Religious practices and ecclesiastical organisation in Ireland had evolved divergently from those in areas of Europe influenced more directly by the Holy See, although many of these differences had been eliminated or greatly lessened by the time the bull was issued in 1155.[4] Further, the former Irish church had never sent its dues ("tithes") to Rome. Henry's primary motivation for invading Ireland in 1171 was to control Strongbow and other Norman lords. In the process he accepted the fealty of the Gaelic kings at Dublin in November 1171 and summoned the Synod of Cashel in 1172, this bringing the Irish Church into conformity with English and European norms.
In 1175 the Treaty of Windsor was agreed by Henry and Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair, High King of Ireland.[5]
The popes asserted the right to grant sovereignty over islands to different monarchs on the basis of the Donation of Constantine (now known to be a forgery). Doubts were cast by eminent scholars on Laudabiliter itself in the 19th century, but it had been confirmed by the letters of Pope Alexander III. The Papal power to grant also fell within the remit of Dictatus papae (1075–1087). While Laudabiliter had referred to the "kingdom" of Ireland, the Papacy was ambiguous about continuing to describe it as a kingdom as early as 1185.
John Lackland as Lord of Ireland
Having captured a small part of Ireland on the east coast, Henry used the land to solve a dispute dividing his family. For he had divided his territories between his sons, with the youngest being nicknamed Johan sanz Terre (in English, "John Lackland") as he was left without lands to rule. At the Oxford parliament in May 1177, Henry replaced William FitzAldelm and granted John his Irish lands, so becoming Lord of Ireland (Dominus Hiberniae) in 1177 when he was 10 years old, with the territory being known in English as the Lordship of Ireland.
Henry had wanted John to be crowned King of Ireland on his first visit in 1185, but
Following the deaths of John's older brothers he became King of England in 1199, and so the Lordship of Ireland, instead of being a separate country ruled by a junior Norman prince, came under the direct rule of the Angevin crown. In the legal terminology of John's successors, the "lordship of Ireland" referred to the sovereignty vested in the Crown of England; the corresponding territory was referred to as the "land of Ireland".[8]
Perennial struggle with Gaeldom
History of Ireland |
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The Lordship thrived in the 13th century during the
The Norman élite and churchmen spoke Norman French and Latin. Many poorer settlers spoke English, Welsh, and Flemish. The Gaelic areas spoke Irish dialects. The
The Lordship suffered invasion from Scotland by
Additionally, the
Between 1500 and 1542 a mixed situation arose. Most
Transformation into a Kingdom
English monarchs continued to use the title "Lord of Ireland" to refer to their position of conquered lands on the island of Ireland. The title was changed by the
Parliament
The government was based in Dublin, but the members of Parliament could be summoned to meet anywhere, whether Dublin or Kilkenny:
- 1310 Kilkenny
- 1320 Dublin
- 1324 Dublin
- 1327 Dublin
- 1328 Kilkenny
- 1329 Dublin
- 1330 Kilkenny
- 1331 Kilkenny
- 1331 Dublin
- 1341 Dublin
- 1346 Kilkenny
- 1350 Kilkenny
- 1351 Kilkenny
- 1351 Dublin
- 1353 Dublin
- 1357 Kilkenny
- 1359 Kilkenny
- 1359 Waterford
- 1360 Kilkenny
- 1366 Kilkenny
- 1369 Dublin
See also
- History of Ireland
- History of Ireland 1169–1536
- List of Lords of Ireland
- Ireland King of Arms
Notes
- ^ Middle English (until the 15th century), Early Modern English (from the 15th century)
- ^ Medieval Latin (11th-14th century), Renaissance Latin (from the 14th century)
- ^ Middle Irish (until the 13th century), Early Modern Irish (from the 13th century)
References
- ^ Perrin, WG; Vaughan, Herbert S (1922), British Flags. Their Early History and their Development at Sea; with an Account of the Origin of the Flag as a National Device, Cambridge, ENG, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 51–2.
- ^ Chambers's Encyclopædia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge, 1868, p. 627,
The insignia of Ireland have variously been given by early writers. In the reign of Edward IV, a commission appointed to enquire what were the arms of Ireland found them to be "three crowns in pale". It has been supposed that these crowns were abandoned at the Reformation, from an idea that they might denote the feudal sovereignty of the pope, whose vassal the king of England was, as lord of Ireland
. - ^ "The Norman Feudal System". Spartacus Educational. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ^ Poole, Austin Lane (1993), From Domesday book to Magna Carta, 1087–1216, Oxford University Press, p. 303.
- ^ Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí (2013), Early Medieval Ireland, 400-1200, London: Routledge, p. 6,
1175: Treaty of Windsor between Ruaidri Ua Conchobhair, high-king, and Henry II. 1183: Ruaidri Ua Conchobhair deposed.
- ^ McLoughlin, William (1906), Pope Adrian IV, a Friend of Ireland, Cork, IE: Browne and Nolan, p. 100.
- ^ Warren, WL (1960), King John, London, ENG, UK: Eyre & Spottiswoode, p. 35.
- S2CID 159713467.
- Davies, Norman (1999), The Isles: A History, Palgrave-Macmillan, ISBN 0-333-76370-X.
- Frame, Robin (1982), English Lordship in Ireland 1318–1361, Clarendon Press, ISBN 0-19-822673-X