Crannog settlement

The walls of their buildings were made like wicker baskets; this ‘wattle’ structure was daubed with mud, and the whole was roofed with thatch.

Religion

Circular earthen banks or stone walls also enclosed Ireland’s monasteries. The monks lived in simple huts of wattle-and-daub or stone. They farmed and were skilled craftsmen. Having turned their backs on family and home comforts, they wore only coarse woollen robes.Ireland had many churches, but its monks and priests did not follow the teachings of the Pope. When Henry II proposed an invasion of Ireland, Pope Adrian IV sent a letter of support, believing that Henry would restore proper religious practices to Ireland.Irish monasteries were places of great learning. Some monks spent their time copying by hand and illustrating sacred writings such as the Book of Psalms. These books were produced in the monastery’s ‘scriptorium’, ink being made from vegetable juices and applied with a feather quill pen. Metal ores were used to create the colouring for decorative work. Pages were made from the skin of sheep (parchment) or of calves (vellum). Many of these ‘illuminated’ manuscripts still exist today. The most famous and beautiful of them all is the Book of Kells, housed today in Trinity College Dublin.

Monk at work on a manuscript

Why Did the Normans Invade Ireland?

In the twelfth century, Ireland was divided into separate kingdoms: Munster, Leinster, Meath, Connacht and Ulster.

Irish kingdoms

Sometimes these kingdoms fought each other. In 1169, Dermot McMurrough, King of Leinster, was driven from his kingdom by forces under Rory O’Connor, ruler of Connacht and ‘High King of Ireland’. As McMurrough had traded across the Irish Sea with the Welsh and English, he was well aware of how the Norman warriors had conquered Britain.McMurrough went to Henry II (grandson of William The Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and King of Anglo-Norman England) to ask for his help in getting his kingdom back from O’Connor. Though Henry was occupied with other concerns at the time, he invited others to support McMurrough: ‘Know you that we have taken Dermot, Prince of Leinster, into the bosom of our grace and goodwill. Whosoever shall be willing to lend him aid in the recovery of his lands, let him know that he has our favour and permission’, wrote Henry.

Dermot McMurrough

McMurrough promised the Normans wealth, land and power if they came to Ireland to help him. To Richard FitzGilbert de Clare (‘Strongbow’), the powerful Welsh Norman Earl of Pembroke, he offered his daughter Aoife as a bride and agreed that Strongbow would inherit his kingdom of Leinster. The deal was agreed.

Pembroke Castle

Ireland had fertile land, and many of the Anglo-Norman knights in Wales who were younger sons saw an opportunity to obtain land for themselves.Strongbow invaded Ireland in 1170 with well-armed knights, archers and foot-soldiers. From Bannow Bay they marched on Wexford, and then captured Dublin, the principal (Viking) city in Leinster. The skilled Norman archers and warriors on horseback, heavily clad in armour, quickly defeated the stone-throwing, lightly-clad Irish, whose battle-axes and swords were only effective for fighting at close quarters.Within a year, Dermot McMurrough died, and Strongbow inherited his title of King of Leinster.King Henry II, fearing that Strongbow might set up an independent Norman kingdom, arrived in Ireland in 1171. However, Henry’s force of 500 knights and 4,000 archers and soldiers did not have to do battle. Strongbow and most of the Irish rulers swore allegiance to Henry. Henry allowed Strongbow to retain control of Leinster; though to restrain Strongbow’s ambitions he kept control of Dublin, Wexford and Waterford. He appointed his trusted knight Hugh de Lacy as his representative in Ireland, giving him charge of Meath. In 1172 the Pope granted Ireland to King Henry II of England.