PART III.

THE PERIOD OF THE INVASION.

1172-1547.

In this Third Part is told the story of the Anglo-Norman Invasion, beginning with the expedition of Fitzstephen and Prendergast, and ending with the reign of Henry VIII., the first English monarch who assumed the title of king of Ireland.

The conquest of Ireland, whose history we are now about to enter upon, might have been accomplished in a few years, if only proper measures had been adopted. Why it took so long was pointed out nearly three hundred years ago by Sir John Davies, an Englishman, who was attorney general of Ireland.

The force employed in the first instance was wholly insufficient for conquest.

The king did not reside in Dublin; and there was no adequate representative of royalty with state and power to overawe the whole people both native and colonial.

The great Anglo-Norman lords had too much power in their hands, and for their own selfish ends kept the coun try in a state of perpetual warfare.

Great tracts of land belonged to absentees living in England, who merely drew their rents and did nothing for the country.

But the most fatal and disastrous mistake of all was this. The native Irish, sick of anarchy, would have welcomed any strong government able and willing to maintain peace and protect them from violence. But the government, instead of treating them as subjects to be cared for, and placing them under the law that ruled the colonists, looked upon them as enemies, and refused them the protection of English law.

Henry II. did not conquer Ireland: it would have been better for both nations if he had. It took more than four centuries to do that-probably the longest conquestagony recorded in history.

CHAPTER I.

DERMOT MAC MURROGH.

189. During the time that the two O'Conors were struggling with Murkertagh O'Loghlin, Dermot Mac Murrogh was king of Leinster. This Dermot, who was in after times often called Dermot-na-Gall (of the English), was a man of great size and strength, stern in manner, brave and fierce in war; and his voice was loud and hoarse from constant shouting in battle. He was cruel, tyrannical, and treacherous, and was hated in his own day as much as his memory has been hated ever since. His whole life was a record of violence and villainy.

190. In 1152, a few months after the battle of Moanmore, where he had fought on the side of O'Conor, he carried off Dervorgilla the wife of Ternan O'Ruarc prince of Brefney, while O'Ruarc himself was absent from home; and she took away with her all she had brought to her husband as dowry. O'Ruarc appealed for redress to Turlogh O'Conor king of Ireland, who in 1153 marched with

an army into Leinster and forced Dermot to restore Dervorgilla and all her rich dowry. She retired after a little time to the abbey of Mellifont, where she spent the rest of her days doing works of penitence and charity, and where she died in 1193 at the age of 85.

191. So long as king Murkertagh O'Loghlin lived he befriended Dermot and secured him in possession of Leinster. But when that king was slain in 1166, Ternan O'Ruarc led an army against Dermot, composed of the men of Brefney and Meath, joined by the Dano-Irish of Dublin under their king Hasculf Mac Turkill, and by the incensed people of Leinster. Seeing that resistance was hopeless, Dermot, breathing vengeance, fled across the sea, resolved to seek the aid of the great king Henry II. of England.

192. Many years before this time Nicholas Breakspear, an Englishman who had been elected Pope with the title of Adrian IV., influenced by an unfair and exaggerated account of the evil state of religion in Ireland, given to him by an envoy of king Henry, issued a bull authorizing the king to take possession of Ireland. Some writers have questioned the issue of this bull. But the evidence is overwhelming on the other side; and there is no sufficient reason to doubt that the Pope, moved by misrepresentations, did really issue the bull, with the firm conviction that it would be for the advancement of religion and for the good of Ireland.

193. Dermot presented himself before the king at Aquitaine, in 1168, and prayed him for help against his enemies, offering to hold his kingdom of Leinster under him, and to acknowledge him as lord and master. The king eagerly accepted the offer; but being then too busy with the affairs of his own kingdom to go himself, he gave Dermot letters, permitting any of his British or French subjects that pleased to join the expedition.

194. With these letters Dermot proceeded to Bristol, where he engaged the services of Richard de Clare earl of Pembroke, better known by the name of Strongbow;

on condition that the earl should get Dermot's daughter Eva in marriage, and should succeed him as king of Leinster.

At St. David's in Wales he engaged a number of the Geraldines, among them Maurice Fitzgerald and Robert Fitzstephen, to whom he promised the town of Wexford and the adjoining district. After this he returned to Ferns where he remained concealed during the winter.

CHAPTER II.

THE FIRST ANGLO-NORMAN ADVENTURERS.

(1169-1171.)

195. In the month of May 1169 a force of 100 knights and men-at-arms in coats of mail and about 600 archers, under Robert Fitzstephen and Maurice Prendergast landed at Bannow in Wexford with Hervey Mountmaurice, Strongbow's uncle. As knights and archers had attendants, the total force was about 2,000. Having been joined by Dermot and his son, Donall Kavanagh, with 500 horsemen, he advanced on the town of Wexford, which after a valiant defence was surrendered to them.

Then Dermot granted Wexford and the adjoining district to Robert Fitzstephen and Maurice Fitzgerald-the latter of whom had not yet arrived. He granted also to Mountmaurice the district lying between the towns of Wexford and Waterford. Dermot and his allies next attacked Ossory and forced its chief Mac Gilla Patrick to submit.

196. King Roderick O'Conor now at last became alarmed, and marched with a large army towards Ferns, where he found the king of Leinster and his foreign auxiliaries strongly entrenched. But the feeble-minded monarch, instead of promptly attacking the rebel king and his few foreign auxiliaries, made peace with Dermot and restored him to his kingdom, on condition-which was

kept secret from his new friends-that he should send home the foreigners and bring hither no more of them; and Dermot gave his favourite son Conor and two other relatives as hostages.

But Maurice Fitzgerald landing soon afterwards, Dermot broke his promises, and with all the Anglo-Normans marched on Dublin, which the Danish king Hasculf Mac Turkill was forced to surrender to them.

197. At last Dermot resolved to make himself king of Ireland, and sent to Strongbow urging him to come over. On the 1st of May, 1170, Strongbow, not being yet ready to come himself, despatched a force of about 800 men under Raymond Fitzgerald, commonly known as Raymond le Gros, who fortified himself at a place called Dundonnell on the Wexford coast not far from Waterford.

Here they were soon attacked by a great army from Waterford; but Raymond defeated them, slaying 500 of them. And after the battle 70 of the principal citizens who had been taken prisoners were cruelly executed.

198. At last, on the 23rd of August 1170, Strongbow landed near Waterford with an army of 3,000 men; and being joined by the others, they captured the city of Waterford, slaughtering great numbers of the inhabitants. Then Dermot carried out his promise: and the marriage of Strongbow and Eva was solemnized.

199. Scarcely had the ceremony ended when tidings came that Hasculf of Dublin had revolted against Dermot. Whereupon Dermot and Strongbow, in this same year 1170, marched over the mountains with an army of 5,000 men; and when the Dublin citizens beheld this formidable army approaching, they were so terrified that they sent their illustrious and saintly archbishop Laurence O'Toole with conditions of surrender. A truce was agreed on till terms of peace should be settled. But even after the conclusion of the truce, Raymond le Gros and Miles de Cogan, with a band of followers, forced their way into the city, and falling on the unresisting citizens butchered them without mercy. Hasculf and a large