Lordship of Ireland

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This article is about the prior realm. For the modern state, see Republic of Ireland; for other uses of Ireland, see Ireland (disambiguation).

The Lordship of Ireland (1171-1541) was a nominally all-island Irish state created in the wake of the Norman invasion of the east coast of Ireland in 1169, an area that became known in the later middle ages as the 'pale' or 'Pale of Dublin' from its defences in imitation of the earlier-named 'Pale of Calais'. Its authority was never extended throughout the island of Ireland at any time during its existence but was restricted to the Pale. It owed its origins to the decision of a Leinster dynast, Diarmuid MacMorrough, to bring in a Norman knight based in Wales, Richard de Clare (alias 'Strongbow'), to aid him in his battle to regain his throne, after being overthrown by a confederation led by the new Irish High King (the previous incumbent had protected MacMurrough). Henry II of England, who reigned over England and ruled over parts of France, invaded Ireland to control de Clare, whom he feared was becoming a threat to the stability of his own kingdom on its western fringes (there had been earlier fears that Saxon refugees might use either Ireland or Flanders as a base for a counter-offensive after 1066); ironically, much of the later Plantagenet consolidation of South Wales was in furtherance of holding open routes to Ireland.

Another reason King Henry invaded Ireland was because Pope Adrian IV had made a papal bull authorizing the English monarch to take possession of Ireland. This was because Ireland at the time had a Celtic Christian Church that was independent of the Catholic Church and believed in various heretical doctrines. So the pope wanted the English king to take possession of Ireland so that he could incorporate the Irish Christian Church into the Roman Catholic Church. The pope had the right to grant sovereignty over islands to different monarchs because of a document called the Donation of Constatine. He gave Ireland to the English monarch as a feudal territory under the nominal overlordship of the pope. The papal bull gave the English king the title "lord of Ireland."

Having captured a small part of Ireland on the east coast, Henry used the land to solve a dispute dividing his family. For while he had divided his territories between his sons, one son, nicknamed 'John Lackland', was left without territory, hence the nickname. Henry granted John his captured Irish lands, becoming Lord of Ireland (Dominus Hiberniae) in 1185, with the territory becoming the Lordship of Ireland.

Fate however intervened in the form of the deaths of John/Jean's older brothers. As a result, he became King John of England, and the Lordship of Ireland, instead of being a separate area governed by a minor English prince, became a territorial possession of the English Crown.

English monarchs continued to use the title 'Lord of Ireland' to refer to their conquered lands on the island of Ireland. The title was changed by an Act of the Irish Parliament governing these lands in 1541, when on Henry VIII's demand, he was granted a new title, King of Ireland, with the state renamed the Kingdom of Ireland. The reason for Henry VIII changing his title was because the lordship of Ireland had been granted to the English monarch by the papacy and Henry had been excommunicated by the Catholic Church, which meant that the title was no longer valid. And the title was also nominally subject to the overlordship of the pope. So because of the King of England's split with Rome he had to change his Irish title. See also Earl of Dublin.

Parliaments and great Councils 1318 - 1361

1310, Kilkenny
1320, Dublin
1324, Dublin
1327, Dublin
1328, Kilkenny
1329, Dublin
1330, Kikkenny
1331, Kilkenny
1331, Dublin
1341, Dublin
1346, Kilkenny
1350, Kilkenny
1351, Kilkenny
1351, Dublin
1353, Dublin
1357, Kilkenny
1359, Kilkenny
1359, Waterford
1360, Kilkenny
1366, Kilkenny
1359, Dublin

[Parliament] [link]

References

Norman Davies, The Isles: A History (Palgrave-Macmillan, 1999) (ISBN 033376370X)

Robin Frame; English Lordship in Ireland 1318 - 1361 (Clarendon Press, 1982) ISBN 0-19-822673-X

"|Preceded by:
High Kings of Ireland

|width="30%" align="center" rowspan=""|Succeeded by:
Kingdom of Ireland |- |}

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Irish states in order of creation (1171—present)
Lordship of Ireland \| Kingdom of Ireland \| United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland \| Irish Republic \| Southern Ireland \| Irish Free State \| Republic of Ireland

See also: Confederate Ireland \| Éire \| Northern Ireland \| Republic of Munster