| |
The
Normans never succeeded in taking over all of
Ireland. They were at the height of their powers in the13th century. A number of factors in the 14th century
ledto their decline. Edward Bruce's invasion of Ireland(1315-1318) brought famine and destruction to the country and this weakened the Norman strongholds in Ireland. The Black Death
in 1348-49 spread through the whole country and killed a lot of people in towns, where the Normans power was. When the Irish families became more powerful again, the Normans began to adopt Irish ways of life, becoming more Irish than the Irish themselves. The English Kings had not put much heed in Ireland. No English King had visited Ireland since John
in 1210. Ireland was ruled by a servant of the King called the Chief Governor. |
| |
When
Edward III became King in 1331 he decided to come to Ireland but his continuing war with France put
a stop to this. In 1360 he signed a peace treaty with the French and turned his attention towards Ireland. He sent his second son Lionel of Clarence here with an army of
15000 men. In 1366 he called a parliament
together in Kilkenny and passed the Statutes of Kilkenny which
tried to prevent the Anglo-Normans from mixing with the Irish. These Laws did not work, however, and were ignored by the Normans. The King then decided
in 1369 to send William of Windsor to Ireland as Chief Governor
to see if he could raise the king's taxes from the Norman families. It was costing the King of England a lot of money sending armies to Ireland and Windsor tried to get this money back for the King by taxes. However the Anglo-Normans refused to pay most of these taxes. In 1375 the King ordered that 2 knights from every town together with 2 burgesses and two clergymen should come to England to the Parliament to consult with the King about the taxes. The Normans still refused to pay their taxes |
| Top
of page |
|
With no money to pay his soldiers in Ireland the kings
army became smaller and the Irish Chieftains took
advantage of this to attack more often. The O'Tooles
and
the MacMurroughs in Leinster the O'Briens in Munster
and
the de Burgos or Burkes in Connacht became very
powerful. The Normans in Ireland
were becoming much
more independent of the English Crown.'English by blood'
not 'English by birth' they asserted. In 1376 the
Butler
Earl of Ormond reluctantly became the King's Chief
Governor in Ireland. Edward III died in 1377 and was
succeeded by his grandson Richard II who was only 10
years of age. The Earl of Ormond resigned from his post
as Chief Governor of Ireland because he wanted to
protect his lands in east Munster against O'Brien. Nobody
was willing to take on the job and Ormond took it over
again until the King himself decided to come to Ireland
in
1394 In 1391 the Butlers who were loyal to the crown
had
bought Kilkenny Castle and all the lands that went with
it
for £30 million in today's money.
Top
of Page |
