Lordship of Ireland

Who rules

Name

John

Title

Lord of Ireland (dominus Hibernie), and since April 1199 king of England

Since

Named lord of Ireland by Henry II at the council of Oxford, May 1177; in Ireland in person 25 April to December 1185; king of England from 6 April 1199, crowned at Westminster 27 May 1199

Born

24 December 1166 (33 on 1 January 1200)

Family

Youngest son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. No wife on 1 January 1200: his marriage to Isabella of Gloucester was set aside in 1199 (the England researcher dates it); he marries Isabella of Angouleme on 24 August 1200. No legitimate children.

Confidence

high

The lordship was a grant to John personally; since April 1199 it has been joined to the English crown in his person, which is why the style 'lord of Ireland' now sits among the king's titles. He governs Ireland through a justiciar at Dublin and does not come to Ireland again until June 1210.

Overlord

None in Ireland; the papacy is cited as the source of the English title (Laudabiliter, 1155, and Alexander III's letters of 1172)

What the realm holds

• The royal cities: Dublin (charter of 1192), Waterford, Limerick (charter of 1197) and Cork, each with its Ostman suburb or cantred
• The royal manors of County Dublin (Newcastle Lyons, Saggart, Crumlin and Esker) and the king's demesne about the city
• The castles John raised in 1185 on the Suir and Blackwater: Ardfinnan, Tibberaghny and Lismore (keepers on 1 January 1200 not pinned)
• Overlordship of the liberties: Leinster (William Marshal), Meath (Walter de Lacy), the de facto principality of Ulster (John de Courcy), the kingdom of Cork (the heirs of Robert FitzStephen and Miles de Cogan), the unconquered kingdom of Limerick (Philip de Braose's grant of 1177), Ormond and Eile (Theobald Walter) and the other Munster grants of 1185
• Pleas of the crown, the mint and the exchange, which the king keeps for himself even inside the liberties
• The right to the service, tribute and hostages of the Irish kings under the treaty of Windsor (1175), honoured in 1200 only where it is enforced
• Patronage of the English sees and abbeys of the east (Dublin above all)

How it was acquired

Henry II came in October 1171, took the submission of most Irish kings and of the invading barons, kept Dublin, Waterford and Wexford for the crown (Wexford was later restored to Strongbow), and made the treaty of Windsor with Ruaidri Ua Conchobair in 1175. At Oxford in May 1177 he made John lord of Ireland and re-granted Meath, Cork and Limerick to English barons. John's expedition of 1185 added the castles on the Suir and the Munster grants.

Since 1199 the lordship rides with the English crown.

Allies and rivals

The justiciar works with the barons of Meath and Leinster and with the citizens of Dublin and Waterford; John trusts Meiler FitzHenry and William de Burgh, distrusts John de Courcy and keeps a wary bargain with William Marshal over Leinster. The Irish kings are by turns clients, employers and enemies: Cathal Crobderg Ua Conchobair of Connacht, the Ui Briain of Thomond, Domnall Mor Mac Carthaig of Desmond and Aed Ua Neill of Tir Eogain are the strongest.

The realm that morning

On the morning of 1 January 1200 John is across the sea in his French lands (he lands in England only in late February 1200) and has never been back to Ireland since 1185. The justiciar is Meiler FitzHenry, who replaced Hamo de Valognes around 1198 or 1199 (the change is not pinned to the month: the old Dictionary of National Biography says about 1198, the modern entry on Hamo has him in office until 1199; Meiler is reappointed by John in June 1200). The archbishop of Dublin, John Cumin, is in exile after his quarrel with Hamo in 1197.

The great barons are absent or half-absent: the Marshal has never seen Leinster and governs it through a seneschal; Walter de Lacy moves between Meath, the Welsh March and Normandy. The colony is at peace with itself but its knights are deep in other men's wars: William de Burgh and the English of Limerick back Cathal Carrach in Connacht, while the English of Meath and of Ulster have both fought there and in Tir Eogain during 1199.

Threats

• The Connacht war: the colony's barons are hiring themselves out to rival Ua Conchobair kings and may drag the justiciar in
• John de Courcy, who rules Ulster as a prince, coins his own money and has never been granted Ulster by the king
• The Irish of the Leinster mountains and the midlands, raiding the settlement
• Aed Ua Neill and the Cenel nEogain, who beat de Courcy's English at Donaghmore in 1199
• The quarrel with Rome over the exiled archbishop of Dublin
• Rivalry between the justiciar and the absentee liberty-holders (the Marshal, the Lacys)

Officers in 1200

• Justiciar: Meiler FitzHenry (medium confidence; see status_1200)
• Former justiciar: Hamo de Valognes, out of office by 1200, holding lands in Limerick granted at John's accession in 1199
• Butler (pincerna) of Ireland: Theobald Walter, the hereditary office John gave him in 1185
• Constable of Dublin, sheriff of Dublin and treasurer: names not pinned for that winter; the Dublin exchequer is only beginning to take shape about 1200
• Seneschal of Leinster for William Marshal: Geoffrey FitzRobert (from about 1192)

Treaties and wars

The treaty of Windsor (1175) with Ruaidri Ua Conchobair is dead letter; there is no general truce with any Irish king. In force that winter: the peace of 1199 between the two Cathals in Connacht (an Irish settlement in which de Burgh is the English broker); open war between John de Courcy and Aed Ua Neill in the north (three raids and the defeat at Donaghmore in 1199); a wasted frontier in north Munster after the English war of 1199 against Desmond and Thomond. Nothing of the Le Goulet settlement (22 May 1200) touches Ireland directly, but the Marshal, the Lacys and de Braose all answer for lands in Normandy and the March as well.

Court

There is no royal court in Ireland: the justiciar holds his court at Dublin and on circuit, and the king sends writs from wherever he is.

Coinage

Silver halfpennies and farthings in John's name as lord (the DOMINUS coinage, inscribed IOHANNES DOM and YVERNIE or similar) struck at Dublin and Waterford, with other mints (Limerick, Kilkenny) recorded for the 1190s issues (fair). John de Courcy strikes farthings in his own name at Downpatrick and Carrickfergus, a mark of how independent Ulster is. The king's coinage in Ireland as REX comes only about 1207.

Rome and the Church

The English title rests on papal approval (Adrian IV's Laudabiliter and Alexander III's letters of 1172 after the synod of Cashel). Innocent III has taken up the cause of the exiled archbishop of Dublin against the king's officers. Matthew O'Heney of Cashel's legation lapsed with Celestine III in 1198; a new legate, John of Salerno, comes only in 1201-02. The church is splitting into English sees in the east and Irish sees in the west, and Dublin denies the primacy of Armagh.

The host

The justiciar can call out the knight service of the liberties and the royal cities, the barons' own retinues and Irish allies; the colony's knights, archers and Welsh and Flemish footmen also serve Irish kings for pay (the annals call them simply 'the Foreigners'). No muster figures survive for 1199-1200.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. Late February to late April 1200John is in England (he lands about 24 February) raising the carucage before returning to Normandy; Irish petitions and grants follow him there.Depends on: John's plans in France Stopped by: War with Philip before the truce runs out
2. 1200 (season not pinned)The Connacht war turns: Cathal Carrach, with William de Burgh, the English of Limerick and men from Leinster, Thomond and Dublin, drives Cathal Crobderg out of Connacht; Crobderg flees north to Fermanagh and to Aed Ua Neill. The Four Masters put this in 1199 but the Loch Ce annals and the modern accounts in 1200.Depends on: De Burgh being paid by Cathal Carrach and the breakdown of the 1199 peace between the two Cathals Stopped by: The justiciar forbidding the barons' private war, or Crobderg buying de Burgh first
3. 1200 (not pinned)Meiler FitzHenry and the English of Leinster besiege Clonmacnoise against Cathal Carrach and plunder it (Four Masters, 1200).Depends on: The war spilling over the Shannon Stopped by: A settlement in Connacht
4. June 1200John reappoints or confirms Meiler FitzHenry as justiciar; Meiler is with John in Normandy in June 1200.Depends on: John's favour Stopped by: A change of justiciar
5. 28 October 1200John grants Meiler FitzHenry two cantreds in Kerry and one in Cork, the start of a round of new Munster grants carved out of the Irish kingdoms.Depends on: John's policy of rewarding his men with Irish land Stopped by: Royal displeasure
6. 1200 (not pinned; one local tradition says September to December 1200)William Marshal may make his first crossing to Leinster, founding Tintern Minor after a storm at sea; most accounts put his real arrival in 1207.Depends on: The king giving the Marshal leave from France Stopped by: War in Normandy keeping him with John

Later, on the likely course

1. 12 January 1201 (later course)John grants the honour of Limerick to William de Braose, reviving Philip de Braose's grant of 1177; the city of Limerick and the land round it become a new great liberty.Depends on: De Braose's high favour and his offer to the crown Stopped by: De Braose falling from favour first

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign notes (Part 6 G) have John Cumin in exile 'after a quarrel with the justiciar Hamo de Valognes in 1197 [return date not pinned]'. The Church map record for Dublin already ruled that he is still in exile on 1 January 1200 and is reconciled with John only in 1206; we follow that ruling.
• The Four Masters date the expulsion of Cathal Crobderg and the battles of Ballysadare and Kilmacduagh to 1199; the Loch Ce and Ulster annals and the modern accounts place them in 1200-01. We follow the later dating, so on 1 January 1200 Crobderg is still king.

Evidence: The structure of the lordship is well known; the justiciar's change of office is not pinned to the month, and the Irish annals for 1199-1201 disagree by a year.

On the map: The lordship is drawn through its parts: the royal demesne and cities, the liberties and the baronies, each in its own record.

Primary sources for this realm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Annals of Clonmacnoise, Anonymous; English translation of a lost Irish chronicle by Conall Mac Geoghegan (medieval original lost; translated 1627). A midland chronicle, tied to Clonmacnoise and the kings of Meath and Connacht, surviving only in a 1627 translation. Read online
• Annals of Inisfallen, Anonymous (monks of Inisfallen, Kerry, and earlier of Emly and Lismore) (the manuscript was written in 1092 and continued at Inisfallen in many contemporary hands to 1450). The Munster chronicle, written in Kerry in a hand close to the events. Read online
• Annals of Loch Ce, Various (compiled for the Mac Diarmada of Moylurg) (compiled 1580s from older annals; the medieval section rests on a Connacht chronicle). The fullest Connacht account of the year: Cathal Carrach's seizure of the kingship, Cathal Crobderg's flight north, the Connacht expedition of de Courcy and the Ui Neill on Crobderg's behalf and its defeat, William de Burgh's role, and the devastation of the province's churches, with the names of the Connacht nobles and clergy who died. Read online
• Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters, Various; compiled by Micheal O Cleirigh and others (1632 to 1636, from medieval annals now partly lost). A seventeenth century compilation but it draws on lost medieval annals, so its 1200 entries add names and incidents missing elsewhere: the Connacht war and the English of Meath and Munster, the deaths of Irish kings and churchmen across the island, and raids in Thomond and Desmond. Read online
• Annals of Ulster, Various; compiled by Cathal Mac Maghnusa (compiled about 1498 from much older annals; the entries for 1200 derive from contemporary record). The most reliable Irish annal for the north. Read online
• Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
• Mac Carthaigh's Book (Miscellaneous Irish Annals), Anonymous (a Munster compilation) (compiled in the later Middle Ages from Munster annals; manuscript of the 17th century). A Munster annal with a Mac Carthaig and Desmond slant, giving for the years around 1200 the kings of Desmond and Thomond, their wars with each other and with the English of Cork and Limerick, and the castles the settlers were building. Read online
• The History of William Marshal, Anonymous (a poet called John, writing for the Marshal family) (about 1224 to 1226). A knight's view of the Angevin succession: the council at Vaudreuil in April 1199 where the Marshal and Hubert Walter argued for John over Arthur, the Marshal's crossing to secure England, John's coronation, and the Marshal's part in Normandy in 1199 and 1200 as holder of Longueville and Orbec and a go-between with Philip. Read online
• The Topography of Ireland; The Conquest of Ireland, Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis) (Topographia 1187 to 1188; Expugnatio 1189, revised later). The Conquest ends in 1185 and the Topography describes the island as Gerald saw it in 1183 to 1185, so neither covers 1200, but they explain the lordship of Ireland as John found it: the grants of Leinster and Meath, the de Courcy conquest of Ulster, the Irish kings and their customs, and Gerald's advice on governing the country. Read online
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
• The Charter Rolls of King John (1199 to 1216, at the royal chancery). The enrolled charters of John's first years, beginning with his accession in 1199: confirmations to towns, bishoprics and abbeys, grants of land and office, and the great grants to men like William Marshal and the king's new allies in Poitou. Read online
• The Great Rolls of the Pipe for 1199 and Michaelmas 1200 (1199 and 1200, at the Exchequer). The audited accounts of every sheriff and farmer for the Exchequer year ending Michaelmas 1200: county farms, the scutage of 1199, the carucage of 1200, debts of magnates and towns, wardships, and the fines offered to the new king.

3 more in the sources library for The British Isles.