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146 Stephen Dunford: The Journey of The IrIsh
Strongbow in Dublin. It is often remarked that if the Irish had had a firmer leader than Rory they would have easily overwhelmed Strongbow, and in doing so, rid Ireland of the Norman threat, once and for all.
But the coddled Rory, despite having at his command a staggering force, one which dwarfed that of his enemy and one that could easily have taken Dublin by quick and bold attack, instead laid siege to the city and passed the next several weeks in inaction.
After a siege of two months the position of the besieged Normans was desperate. With Archbishop O’ Toole acting as emissary, Strongbow proposed terms to Rory offering sub- mission if he would permit him to hold the kingdom of Leinster under the usual tribute to the High-King-Rory refused. As a result, the starving Normans resolved to stake all on a sudden and daring sally, ‘to fly or die,’ it was said, and taking Rory’s army completely by sur- prise, they fragmented, scattered and routed them to such an extent that the entire force fled in confusion leaving behind stores, supplies, arms, everything! The Normans then returned triumphant to Dublin, laden with rich booty and as the chroniclers say ‘strong of heart once more’-they quickly followed up this success by easily recapturing Wexford and Waterford. In the aftermath of these humiliating defeats, some unknown scribe remarked ‘the Normans gained much by the treachery of Dermot MacMurrough, but they gained still more by the carelessness and inefficiency of Rory O’Connor, the last High-King of Ireland.’
Leaving Dublin under the command of his lieutenants, Strongbow hurriedly made his way back to Britain and to King Henry, to whom he gave his full feudal liege submission, offering him the profits and spoils of all his triumphs in Ireland-and by such measures, it is written, did he regain the King’s favour. Meanwhile, Henry, who was determined to visit Ireland himself so that his other Norman subjects there, might, like Strongbow, renew their submission, but also to secure the submission of the Irish princes, was at this time actively engaged in mustering a large army of conquest for service here.
In October, 1171, Henry landed near Waterford with four hundred ships, at the head of an army of five hundred enfilading archers, three thousand five hundred men at arms, and four hundred armoured knights. He also had with him three men who would go on to play major roles in the attempted conquest of Ireland-Strongbow, Hugh de Lacy, and William de Burgo.
Henry’s armament made such an impression on the southern Irish princes, that without
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