IRELAND. 



233 



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whom he couki (icpcnil, accompanied by 10 gentle- 

 men of service, and 70 archer*. In the meantime, Eirl 

 Strongbow was active in his preparations ; and in Au- 

 gust 1 1 7 1 , he landed in the bay of Waterford with about 

 200 gentlemen of service, and 1000 soldiers. Pre- 

 vious to his arrival, his forerunners bad attempted to 

 gain possession of this city ; and though this did not 

 succeed, yet they had greatly weakened its means of 

 defence, so that it fell easily before the forces of Strong- 

 bow. As soon as this great enterprize was effected, 

 and the promised marriage between Eva and the Eng- 

 lish chie'tain solemnized, the allies marched towards 

 Dublin, which seems to have revolted from the allegi- 

 ance it had sworn to Dermod, and to have farther 

 roused his indignation and spirit of revenge, by having 

 murdered his father. The inhabitants, intimidated and 

 divided, were unable to defend the city, which soon and 

 easily fell into the hands of Strrin^bow. The next ob- 

 ject of the allies was the invasion of the territories of 

 O'Roirk. Roderic O'Connor, alarmed at their progress, 

 threatened to put to death the son of Dermod, who 

 had been left with him as a hostage, if he did not de 

 ist from hi* purpose; and on Dermod's paying no 

 attention to his message, he carried his threat into exe- 

 cution. 



At this period, the clergy of Ireland held a grand and 

 general meeting at Armagh, to take into consideration 

 the arrival of the English. At this meeting it was una- 

 nimously agreed, that " their sins, and particularly 

 their custom of buying English subjects from pirates, 

 and keeping them u slaves, had exposed them to the di- 

 vine wrath :" and it was therefore resolved. " that the 

 English nhould be released from slavery, and hence- 

 forth that the practice of purchasing them should be 

 abandoned." 



As Henry was (till unable, or dUiuclined, to invade 

 Ireland himself, and as he was jealoux, if not afraid, of 

 the Miccess of hi* subjects in that country, he issued a 

 proclamation prohibiting any vessel Udcn with tup- 

 plies from entering the port* of Ireland, and command- 

 ing all his subject* to return home, within a specified 

 time, under the penalty of the forfeiture of their estates, 

 and banishment. For some time the king refused to 

 recal this proclamation, and, during thi.i period, the af- 

 fairs of the Engli-h in Ireland were in a precarious 

 state. In 1171, Dermod died ; and. in the same year, 

 the Danes attempted to regain Dublin, but without 

 success Obliged to be on hi* nard against the inva- 

 sions of the Dane*, and the intrigue* and open war* of 

 the Irish, Strongbow had continued and ample occasion 

 for all hi* activity and presence of mind. A* soon a* 

 the Irish prince* were convinced that he had in vain 

 "* applied to Henry to revoke his proclamation, they 

 formed a confederacy against him, which was headed 

 by Roderic O'Connor, and auisted by the king of the 

 lale of Man. Thi* powerful body at the same time 

 besieged Earl Strongbow and his troops in the city of 

 Dublin, and Fitutephen and hi* troop*, in a fort 

 which he had buih at Carreg. After much delibera- 

 tion, it was resolved by Strongbow to sally forth from 

 the city, and to direct their effort* against Roderic. 

 Thi plan wa executed with so much promptitude and 

 silence, that the lrih were surprised and defeated and 

 Boderic himself escaped with difficulty The city of 

 Dublin and the province of Leinstrr being thus rendered 

 secure, Strongbow inarched to Wexford. near which 

 the fort of Carreg was situated , but, before hi- arrival, 

 Fksstephcn, alarmed bj the report that Dublin wu 

 VOL. *JL 



taken, had been induced to surrender himself to the ene- History, 

 my. Strongbow, however, marched forward. On his "^ "Y""*' 

 approach the Irish set fire to the city, and threatened 

 to murder Fitzstephen and the rest of the prisoners, if 

 he advanced farther. 



Under these circumstances, and having received in- 

 formation that if he went to Henry himself, he might 

 probably induce him to assist in the conquest of Ire- 

 land, he embarked for England. An agreement was at 

 length settled between the king and him, the terms of 

 which were, that the Earl should swear allegiance to 

 the king, and give up to him the city of Dublin, with 

 all the other cities and forts on the sea-coast ; and, on 

 the other hand, that the Earl should hold under the 

 king the rest of his acquisitions in Ireland. 



On the 18th of October, 1172, Henry landed at Wa- Henry 

 terford ; his army consisted of 5OO knights, and about 1 nd ' n 

 4000 troops ; which were conveyed in 440 large ships. ln * mA - , 

 Soon after his landing, Fitzstephen was given up to A ' D ' 

 him ; and the kings of Cork and Limeric, as well as 

 the princes of Ossory and the Decies, voluntarily took 

 the oaths of allegiance, and agreed to pay tribute. On 

 his march to Dublin, other Irish princes followed his ex- 

 ample ; but Roderic O'Connor refused to come and of- 

 fer his obedience to the English monarch ; he, however, 

 took the oath of allegiance before two of Henry's cour- 

 tiers, who were sent into Connaught for that purpose. 



Thus the whole of Ireland was nominally subject to 

 Henry, but he was soon obliged to return to England, Returns, 

 for the purpose of doing penance on account of the mur- 

 der of Becket. Before his departure, he committed the 

 custody of the principal cities and castles to the most 

 trusty of his subjects, and took such other measures as 

 he thought would at once serve to keep the Irish in 

 awe and oU-dience, and would check the ascendancy 

 of Strongbow. But though these two object* seem 

 to Iiave been tolerably well secured, yet Henry could 

 not guard against distensions among his knights ; two 

 parties were formed, at the head of one was Ray. 

 inonil, already distinguished by his courage, enterprize, 

 and meets* ; at the head of the other was Harvey. 

 The former was so popular, a* well as a man of 

 such sound judgment, that it was deemed prudent to 

 appoint him the general of the army, in order to ap- 

 pease their discontent, and to render them capable of 

 misting the Irish. In both these point* he succeeded; 

 but. being obliged to return into Wales, on the death 

 of hi* father, the command devolved on Harvey, and a 

 reverse of fortune speedily took place. The English 

 were defeated in the neighbourhood of Cashel, by the thetll 

 Prince of Limeric ; and Roderic O'Connor, crossing the 

 Shannon, invaded Meath, and advanced to the very 

 wall* of Dublin. To add to their misfortunes, Strong- 

 bow was at this time besieged in Waterford. Ray- 

 mond was again summoned ; he obeyed the summons, 

 relieved Waterford, and received Strongbow's sister in 

 marriage. The next enteq>rize of Raymond was the 

 relief of Leinster, which had been invaded by Roderic j 

 but no sooner did the Irish prince hear of his approach, 

 than he returneu into Connaught. 



Scarcely was this object accomplished, when the 

 Prince of Limeric threw off his allegiance, and took 

 up arm* : Raymond marched against him ; at first he 

 found sonic difficulty in persuading his troops to cross 

 tin shannon ; but this being effected, the Irish were 

 put to flight, and the city of Limeric occupied. These 

 successes of Raymond, and his influence with the troops, 

 were o represented to Henry by hit rival Harvey, that 

 2a 



