2A - Henry II and Ireland: the invasions of 1169 and 1171
The intervention in Ireland began with a dispossessed Irish ruler recruiting helpers, then developed into a conquest that Henry sought to bring under his own authority. Distinguish the expeditions of 1169 and 1171, and examine how Irish rulers responded to both newcomers and king.
The political opening in 1166
Irish political rivalry created the opening for intervention, but it did not make conquest inevitable. Ireland contained regional kingdoms and powerful local rulers, with rival claims to superior kingship. A high king could seek submissions, hostages and tribute without possessing a uniform administration over the whole island.
Diarmait Mac Murchada ruled Leinster and had relied on the support of Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn. After Mac Lochlainn’s fall in 1166, a hostile coalition, including Tigernán Ua Ruairc of Bréifne and Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair of Connacht, drove Diarmait out. Ruaidrí established his position as high king. The conflict arose within Irish politics before foreign soldiers arrived.
Diarmait sought Henry’s assistance in recovering his rule. Henry gave permission to recruit help from his subjects, but did not initially send a royal army. Diarmait therefore negotiated with men connected to the Welsh Marches, the border region between England and Wales. These soldiers had experience of conquest and opportunities to acquire land; their interests were not identical to Henry’s.
Overlordship
A superior ruler’s authority over subordinate rulers or lords. It can rest on acknowledgement, obligations and the threat of force without direct administration of every district.
The distinction between Henry’s permission and Henry’s leadership matters. Permission could encourage action while leaving the king uncertain about its scale and results. Once successful adventurers obtained estates and towns, he might need to intervene to prevent their gains becoming independent power.
Religion supplied a possible justification, but Ireland was already Christian and ecclesiastical reform had begun before the invasion. The disputed document Laudabiliter, traditionally associated with Adrian IV in 1155, must not be treated as proof that Henry already governed Ireland. Diarmait’s immediate need and the ambitions of those he recruited explain the timing of the expedition more directly than a supposed uninterrupted plan beginning in 1155.
The expedition of 1169
The forces that arrived in 1169 were initially helping Diarmait recover his position, rather than acting as an army personally commanded by Henry. Robert fitz Stephen and Maurice de Prendergast landed near Bannow in the south-east; other supporters, including Maurice fitz Gerald, followed. Diarmait provided Irish allies and local knowledge, so the intervention was never simply foreign soldiers acting without Irish participants.
The combined forces captured Wexford and campaigned against neighbouring opponents. Mounted troops, archers and experience of coordinated warfare contributed to their successes. Yet military technique alone is an insufficient explanation. Diarmait’s supporters, political divisions among opponents and access to coastal landing places were also important.
Diarmait rewarded assistance with rights and land. These grants changed the purpose and durability of the intervention. A soldier who acquired a territorial interest had reasons to remain and defend it, even after an employer regained his position. What began as assistance in a local struggle could become permanent settlement and expansion.
Relations with Ruaidrí remained a constraint. Diarmait at one stage acknowledged the high king’s superiority and gave hostages, while his ambitions and the continued arrival of soldiers threatened that accommodation. A submission was therefore a political arrangement that could fail when the balance of power changed; it did not necessarily end a ruler’s desire for greater independence.
For a causal explanation, distinguish three elements: the loss of Diarmait’s position supplied the immediate purpose; recruited soldiers and Irish allies supplied means; the promise of land encouraged longer-term conquest. Calling all three “Henry’s invasion” conceals who acted and why. Henry had enabled recruitment, but the expedition’s development also created a problem for his own royal authority.
Strongbow and the crisis of 1171
Strongbow’s arrival in 1170 transformed the scale of the intervention and made its political future more dangerous for Henry. Richard de Clare, commonly called Strongbow, had limited prospects under the king and saw Ireland as an opportunity. He brought a substantial force and helped capture Waterford and Dublin.
He married Diarmait’s daughter Aífe and claimed a right to succeed to Leinster. The arrangement had a different meaning in a world of hereditary Anglo-Norman lordship from that of Irish kingship, where succession involved eligible members of a ruling dynasty and political support rather than automatic inheritance through a daughter. Diarmait’s promise could not make every Irish claimant accept Strongbow.
When Diarmait died in 1171, the issue became urgent. Strongbow’s followers faced resistance from Irish rulers, including a major challenge to their position in Dublin, but retained the city. They also faced Henry’s displeasure. A successful subject controlling ports and extensive land could become a rival power across the Irish Sea.
Henry put pressure on Strongbow through his other possessions and restrictions on support reaching Ireland. Negotiation produced a settlement: Strongbow acknowledged the king’s superiority and accepted royal control of principal towns, while obtaining recognition of his Leinster holdings as a royal tenant. Henry could thereby turn an uncertain conqueror into a subordinate lord. The Royal Irish Academy’s biography details the settlement.
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