Episode five of a short series of articles about events surrounding the 12th century Norman invasion of Ireland and the people involved. Originally published more than a decade ago on my WordPress author website to promote my novel 'Strongbow's Wife'.
The role of a Welsh princess
Nest ferch Rhys was born in 1085. Her father was Rhys ap Twdwr, king of Deheubarth, her mother was the daughter of Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn. Rhiwallon and his brother were involved in an attack on Herefordshire shortly after the Norman conquest of England. Nest must have been quite a beauty. At an early age she caught the eye of no less a personage than King Henry I with whom she gave birth to her first child. Also named Henry, this boy became the progenitor of the FitzHenry lineage.
Irish, Welsh and Norman blood mingling
The king subsequently arranged for her marriage to Gerald FitzWalter of Windsor. She thereby gave rise to the FitzGerald lineage. Following the Norman expeditions to Ireland their two eldest sons, William and Maurice, married two daughters of the king of Munster.
The FitzGeralds, often referred to as “the Gerladines” were to become one of the most influential dynasties in the future history of Ireland. William’s son, Raymond le Gros, led the small force that arrived in Ireland in May 1170 and subsequently married Strongbow’s sister Basilia. Maurice’s son (confusingly also called William) married Strongbow’s daughter Alina. (Note that Alina was Strongbow’s daughter from a relationship entered into prior to his arrival in Ireland.)
The third son, David, became bishop of St. David’s in Pembroke. Nest and Gerald also had two daughters. One of these, Angharad, was the mother of Gerald of Wales, aka Giraldus, chronicler of the Norman expeditions to Ireland. Before his death in Hereford he had hoped to succeed his uncle David as Bishop of St. David’s. He campaigned to have St. David’s given the same status in Wales as Canterbury had in England
A nest of invaders
Following the death of Gerald FitzWalter, in 1136, Nesta married Stephen of Abertivy by whom she had another son. Robert Fitz-Stephen, too, was a member of the first Norman expeditionary force to Ireland. In total, no fewer than 17 of Nest’s male descendants participated in the Norman invasion of Ireland between 1167 and 1169.
A King's hypocrisy
When Henry II of England came to Ireland in 1171/2 he came with the Pope’s blessing. Indeed, the Pope had issued a Papal Bull some years earlier authorising such an expedition with the aim of bringing the Irish Church into line with Rome’s teachings.
One of the first things that Henry undertook was to call and, later, to officiate at, a synod attended by the Irish Bishops. This took place at Cashel and the ordinance that emanated from it listed a number of rules defining the relationship between the Church and the other institutions of government.
Readers should not be misled by that phrase “institutions of government”. Ireland at that time did not have anything remotely like a national government. It had for some considerable time had a “High King” – literally someone deemed to be more powerful than several other kings. But this person did not rule the whole Island. In the anals – contemporary documents that record events in early Irish history – some of these High Kings are described as “with opposition”. Only a few carry the designation “without opposition”.
Legal framework
There was, however, a well defined legal framework, administered by the provincial kings and predating the arrival of Christianity. The Brehon laws defined the relationship between king and subject, established rules for ownership of land and for its distrib
It also defined marriage in terms very different from the Christian ideal of monogamy. In simple terms, so long as the appropriate price was paid for a bride it did not matter how many a man took.
The Church in Ireland at this time was divided. One faction was determined to remain independent from the Church in England which was then, as now, ruled from Canterbury. But a growing number of bishops had begun to forge relationships with Canterbury. The traditional faction maintained a close relationship with the provincial kings from whom it obtained material support. To do so it was inclined not to be over-critical of those aspects of Brehon law that conflicted with Church teachings.
Murder in the Cathedral
Henry meanwhile was fresh from his own conflict with Canterbury, specifically Arch-bishop Becket. Although acting without royal authority a small group of knights loyal to the king had brought an end to years of conflict by murdering the Arch-bishop in the cathedral.
Henry needed to do something to appease an angry Pope. Worried about the way in which Strongbow, the man he had authorised to assist Dermot to repossess the provincial kingdom of Leinster, had begun to carve out large areas of the island for himself, he hoped to solve two problems at once.
So the synod of Cashel was an attempt to bring the whole of the Irish Church into line with Rome’s teachings by aligning it with, and making it subject to, the rule of Canterbury. This aim exactly paralleled the king’s other aim of making the governance of the Church subject to his direct rule. In this Henry was promoting the Church’s insistence on monogamous marriage. What makes him a right royal hypocrite is the fact that he was at the time estranged from his wife and conducting an affair with the Herefordshire heiress Rosamund Clifford.
Henry arrived in Waterford on the 17th or 18th of October 1171 with a large fleet of ships loaded with men, horses and supplies.
The extent of the preparations made for the expedition leave us in no doubt that Henry took the whole enterprise extremely seriously. More than a year had elapsed since Strongbow’s arrival. The latter had firmly established his writ over Leinster and the Norse cities of Dublin, Wexford and Waterford and seemed intent on expanding into Meath. From Henry’s point of view this was far beyond the original remit of Strongbow’s own expedition to restore Dermot to the kingship of Leinster, threatening the possible establishment of a rival kingdom.
Henry had already issued an instruction to Strongbow, and all those who had accompanied him, to return. He had also instructed all captains of sea going vessels to stop carrying supplies across the Irish Sea. Strongbow had remonstrated with the king, in person at a meeting in Newnham, Gloucestershire as well as in letters, surrendering all his “conquered lands” to the king.
Well supplied invasion force
It was too late. Preparations were already well under way. In his book The Lordsip of Ireland in the Middle Ages, James Lydon quotes at length from the English pipe rolls of the time describing the vast quantities of supplies that accompanied the king in some 400 ships:
“Enormous quantities of wheat and oats … with a supply of hand-mills for milling flour while on the move. Beans, salt, cheese and a vast amount of bacon … Cloth in large quantities was supplied for the troops … coarse grey woollen cloth suitable for the dampness of an Irish winter. But the king was expected to dress in better finery … 25 ells of scarlet cloth, 26 ells of green, 12 pieces of silk cloth, 2 skins of mountain cats and 5 otter skins.” There was also an “enormous quantity of timber and nails” as well as “axes spades and pickaxes … in great numbers.”
With the king came around 500 knights and 4,000 others, mostly archers. As things turned out not an arrow was fired.
The size of the force was sufficient to intimidate the majority of Irish kings who submitted to Henry without a fight. Perhaps they trusted him to restrain Strongbow and leave them to look after their own affairs in his name. More probably they did what they had always done in their disputes with each other – made promises they had no intention of keeping.