104 IRELAND PREVIOUS TO THB INVASION BY THE ENGLISH. 



Maurice de PrenJergast, and, subsequently, Maurice Fitzgerald and 

 Raymond le Gros, -with a few levies, he sailed, a.d. 1171, for Ireland 

 •with about 1500 men, and landed near Waterford without opposition. 

 This city he took on the following day ; and on the evening of his suc- 

 cess, the marriage ceremony was performed by which he was united to 

 Eva. 



Henry, considering the success of his views with respect to Ireland 

 as certain, and perhaps jealous of Pembroke's influence, which was what 

 might have been expected from his great abilities, resolved to visit Ire- 

 land in person ; and sailed from Milford, for that kingdom, in the 

 month of October, a.d. 1172, with several barons, 400 knights, and 

 4000 men. 



Of those who paid homage to Henry on his arrival, the Prince of 

 Desmond was the first ; to him succeeded the Princes of Limerick, 

 Thomond, Decies, and Ossory. The last who made his submission to 

 the power of the English monarch, was Roderic King of Connaught. 

 It certainly seems surprising, that in the short space which intervened 

 between the landing of Henry at Waterford and his arrival at Dublin, 

 when the warlike habits of the Irish nation are considered, that he 

 should have obtained the sovereignty of that kingdom, without fighting 

 a single battle or losing a single man. It is true that the military 

 talents of Pembroke and the superiority of the English force, which had 

 previously proved decisive in every engagement, were of great use to 

 Henry in the accomplishment of this project. It is, nevertheless, be- 

 lieved by some writers, and among the rest by Dr. Leland, whose opinion 

 on the subject of Irish history deserves respect, that, in order to com- 

 mand the oaths of allegiance and submissoin from so many spirited and 

 powerful princes, besides the effect which his great force was calculated 

 to produce, promises and professions of no ordinary kind were made 

 use of to facilitate his views. The subserviency of the native clergy to 

 Henry's power on the occasion is notorious ; as a concluding resolution 

 of a synod held at Cashel, by order of that monarch, at which several 

 chiefs and the heads of the church were present, declared, that the good 

 order and tranquillity which then prevailed throughout the kingdom, were 

 owing solely to the wise government and regulations which Henry had 

 introduced. 



It may not be here improper to remark, that from a perusal of the 

 resolutions passed at this public meeting, a direct tender of the'supreme 

 government of Ireland is made to Henry, not only by the principal of 



