The Normans in Ireland (Notes)

[1] For the Bull Laudabiliter see Appendix I.

[2] A large district west of Lough Neagh and the Lower Bann.

[3] Giraldus Cambrensis, or Gerald of Wales, was of the great family of the FitzGeralds, or Geraldines. He came over twice to Ireland, first in 1183 with his brother Philip de Barry and Richard de Cogan, and later, in 1185, with Prince John. To him we owe much of our knowledge of contemporary events and personages.

[4] Grace, Annales Hiberniæ, 1167, says that Dermot MacMorrogh, Prince of Leinster, “while O'Rorke, King of Meath, was far from his country, ravished his wife with her own consent, and at her own solicitation.” The date, at least, is incorrect.

[5] Annals of Loch Cé, 1128.

[6] A Richard Fleming established himself in a castle at Slane before 1176. In that year all his followers, a hundred or more, were destroyed by the King of the Cinel-Eoghan of Ulster. See Annals of Loch Cé, 1176.

[7] The celebrated picture of this event painted by Maclise errs in making the marriage take place immediately after the slaughter of the inhabitants and among the slain. This is a pictorial exaggeration.

[8] The Song of Dermot and the Earl, ed. G. H. Orpen (1892).

[9] See the list given in Grace's Annales Hiberniæ, Appendix I, pp. 169-170.

[10] Giraldus Cambrensis, Conquest of Ireland, Bk. I, ch. xxxi.

[11] Chronicle of William of Newburgh, ed. Thomas Hearne (1719), pp. 194-195.

[12] Very old yews still form a walk at Glasnevin, close to Finglas, perhaps the descendants of these groves. It is now known as Addison's Walk.

[13] Annals of Loch Cé, 1172.

[14] Ibid., 1171.

[15] Henry of Hovenden, Annals, 1175. The destruction of wild birds in Ireland has been wholesale. In a Parliament held in 1480 duties were imposed on the export of hawks and falcons to restrain the carrying of them out of the land. Even at that date they were in danger of becoming extinct. The last golden eagle was shot at Killarney only some forty years ago.

[16] The common idea that Rory was ignorant of the import of his acts cannot be maintained. For some years he had considered the matter before sending his son as hostage. His adviser, Laurence O'Toole, was one of the most able and learned, as well as devout, prelates of the day, and fully qualified to deal with State affairs.

[17] Sweetman, Calendar of Documents, i, No. 38.

[18] Gesta Henrici, i, 28; Roger of Hovenden, ed. W. Stubbs, ii, 31.

[19] Annals of the Four Masters, 1171; Annals of Loch Cé, at same date; Giraldus Cambrensis, Conquest of Ireland, Bk. I, ch. xxi.

[20] Sir John Gilbert, Historical and Municipal Documents of Ireland (1870) charters of 1171 and 1185, at pp. 1, 2, 49.

[21] For the mention of large shipments of corn to France, see Gilbert, Facsimiles of National Manuscripts, Pt. II, No. LXXXIII; to England, Sweetman, Calendar, i, Nos. 756, 1052, 1055, etc.; to Galloway and the Isles, ibid., No. 1040.

[22] Francisque Michel, Récherches sur le commerce des étoffes de soie (Paris, 1854), ii, 244.

[23] Ostman, or Eastman, became a general title for the Scandinavian inhabitants about this time, and included all these nationalities.

[24] Gilbert, Historical and Municipal Documents of Ireland (1870), charter of 1192, p. 51.

[25] Gilbert, Facsimiles of National Manuscripts, Pt. II, No. LXXXI.

[26] The de Lacys took their name from their property in Normandy. The first baron had fought with William the Conqueror at Hastings, and received in reward a grant of land in the Welsh Marches. Hugh was the fifth baron. The family estates included Ewyas Lacy, Stanton Lacy, and Ludlow Castle. One of the family founded Llanthony Abbey.

[27] The different authorities give accounts of this battle varying in some details.

[28] Wilham FitzAudelin and William de Burgh, who founded the family of the de Burghs, or Burgos, are often confused. They do not seem to have been Jdentical, though of the same family, FitzAudelin's ancestor, Arlotta, mother of the Conqueror, having married a de Burgh. Later the de Burghs became known as Burkes.

[29] The marriage is said to have been “according to that country's custom” (secundum morem patriæ illius). Rose's eldest son, William Gorm, married a daughter of Llewelyn, Prince of Wales, and was killed in 1233 fighting with Cathal O'Reilly. The Lynches of Galway and Pierce Oge Lacy, the famous rebel of Elizabeth's day, were descended from him. Her other sons seem to have adopted the name of le Blund. Rose was still alive in 1224.

[30] Chronicle of William of Newburgh, ed. Thomas Hearne, i, 285; Annals of Loch Cé, and Grace, Annales Hiberniæ, 1186.

[31] Sweetman, op. cit., i, Nos. 146, 235, 271, etc.

[32] Book of Howth, in Carew, Miscellany, p. 114.

[33] Ibid., pp. 80-94.

[34] De Courcy is said to have kept a book of the prophecies of St Columcille constantly by him.

[35] A full account of the Norman Settlements will be found in Mr. Goddard H. Orpen's Ireland under the Normans, 1169-1233 (1911-20).