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Stephen Dunford: The Journey of The IrIsh
I walked entranced
Through a land of Morn;
The sun, with wondrous access of light, Shone down and glanced
Over bright seas of corn
And lustrous gardens on left and right.
Even in the clime
Of resplendent Spain,
Beams no such sun upon such a land, But it was the time,
‘Twas in the reign
Of Cathal Mór of the Wine-red Hand.
But let us return to Henry 11 for a moment. Having been compelled to go back to England in 1172, Henry did not re-visit Ireland, instead, in April 1185, he sent over his son John as Lord of Ireland. The eighteen year old John arrived at Waterford with a fleet of sixty ships and a force of four hundred knights and a large army of foot. It is documented that he accomplished little during his Irish sojourn other than laying the basis of a central English administration, based on Dublin. He set this in motion by forming the following counties or shires: Dublin, Oriel or Louth, Kerry, Cork, Waterford, Limerick, and Tip- perary, not forgetting the ‘liberties’ these feudal estates with legal powers such as Meath, Wexford, Carlow, Kilkenny, and Ulster -and before he was recalled after a period of eight months, he also managed to alienate several Irish princes and this visit is sometimes referred to as an ‘idle parade.’
Now if as already mentioned, the Irish royal house was at this time in some disarray, but if it was, so too was the English royal house. Henry died in 1189, as some chroniclers say ‘cursing his sons,’ and his sons may be said to have lived and died cursing one another. The aforementioned John, who had attempted to oust his brother Richard, the famed “Coeur de Lion” “the Lionheart” while the latter was involved in the Crusades, and afterwards while he was languishing in a German prison, began to reign over England in 1199. In June 1210, John paid another visit to Ireland, this time as King. Though he only stayed for four months,
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