Page 147 - Demo

Chapter Five 147
ighting one battle, it is told, most of them promptly swore allegiance to him. Henry then let it be understood, erroneously, that he came to Ireland not to make further conquests but rather to curb his lawless barons.
Next, he conirmed Strongbow in the ‘lordship’ of Leinster; the other Norman lead- ers, Fitzgerald and Fitzstephen, were also conirmed in the possessions which Dermot had bestowed upon them. This done, Henry then proceeded to Dublin, where all the remaining Irish Kings and princes, with the exception of the High- King Rory and the Ulster Kings, did homage to him and accepted him graciously as their overlord.
By accepting their submission, he, for the moment conirmed them in the possession of their territories-they were to pay tribute to him and in turn he would assist them, when need arose. Suave, diplomatically polite, and persistent, Henry sent several ambassadors to nego- tiate with the High-King Rory: who despite much persuasion, along with the Ulster Kings, still would not give submission and continued to refuse to negotiate. As a result, Henry then set himself to the work of establishing law courts for the Norman colonists and of dividing the island of Ireland among his barons.
It is diicult to understand why the vast majority of the Irish kings voluntarily did hom- age to a foreign monarch and accepted him so easily as their overlord. In their defence it may be said that while most of them may have believed Henry’s false pledges to curb the aggression of his marauding barons, none of them would have known or realized, for that matter, that their actions allowed the foreign king the right to deprive them of their lands. Because by feudal law, a vassal who did not perform all his feudal duties forfeited his lands to his overlord; and heretofore in Ireland, land could not be coniscated, except as punishment for a crime. Another reason for the submissions may be that the Irish bishops and clergy believed that Henry had come at the Pope’s bidding. Apparently, the Papal Bull issued to Henry in 1155 by Pope Hadrian granting him permission to enter Ireland and reform her church, was proof enough to the cowed clergy, and as a result, Henry found himself readily accepted by them. But, as already mentioned, Henry availed of this Bull, not for the pur- pose of promoting religion, but merely to justify conquest.
King Henry11 of England spent the winter of 1171-2 in Dublin, receiving, entertain- ing and mollifying the Irish kings and chieftains and ingratiating himself with them. But in April, 1172, he was compelled to return in haste to England to answer accusations in con-