Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/371

 IRELAND 35 T Ulster, Leinster, Meath, Connaught, and Mun- ster, besides a number of petty principalities, being continually at war -with each other. The island had fallen into a state of degeneracy sadly at variance with its former title of isle of saints. St. Bernard of Clairvaux called the attention of Rome to this, and Pope Eugenius III. sent Cardinal Papiron to correct abuses and restore discipline. The synod of Kells, held under his auspices in March, 1152, ac- knowledged the supremacy of Rome, estab- lished the archbishoprics of Dublin and Tuam (Armagh and Cashel already existing), and condemned simony, usury, and concubinage. In 1155 ahull is said to have been issued by Pope Adrian IV., the existence of which is denied, conferring the sovereignty of Ireland upon Henry II. of England ; but the latter did not avail himself of it for many years. The appeal of Dermot McMurrough, king of Lein- ster, to be reinstated on the throne from which he had been justly driven, furnished a pretext for the invasion of Ireland by two bands of Norman adventurers, one under Robert Fitz- stephen in 1169, and another under Richard de Clare, earl of Pembroke, commonly called Strongbow, in the same year. The success of McMurrough's allies aroused the suspicions of Henry II., who issued a proclamation recalling Strongbow and all Englishmen, under pain of outlawry. This course gave him in the eyes of the Irish the aspect of a deliverer rather than that of an invader ; and when in 1171 he arrived at Waterford, many native princes accepted him as liege lord, so that he might settle their existing difficulties, and guarantee them their own possessions and dignities. He was called away in the next year, and his lieu- tenants soon developed a system of spoliation. In 1177 the king's son John was made lord of Ireland, and in the same year Cardinal Vivian, the pope's legate, convening a synod at Dub- lin, published King Henry's title to Ireland with the papal ratification. In 1185 John ar- rived with a fleet of 60 ships, was defeated by Donal O'Brien, and soon returned with charges against Hugh de Lacy, chief of the English in Ireland. In 1210 King John arrived in Ireland, and was chiefly occupied in chastising the most powerful of the Anglo-Norman lords. He di- vided the country into counties, established courts in Dublin, appointed judges, circuits, and corporations, established a new coinage, and assimilated the currency of England and Ireland. In 1216 Magna Charta, or the great charter of liberties, was granted to the Irish by Henry III. Many years were passed in con- tentions among the rival English lords as well as the native chiefs. On May 25, 1315, at the invitation of several Irish princes, Edward Bruce landed in Antrim, where he was joined by Donal O'Neil, prince of Ulster. The natives flocked to his standard. The Anglo-Normans with O'Conor of Connaught opposed him. Bruce and O'Neil marched southward, over- whelmed the Anglo-Norman army, captured all the great towns on their route, and went into winter quarters at Christmas "in the midst of the most considerable chiefs of Ulster, Meath, and Connact." In the spring, having made a triumphant march south, they returned to Dun- dalk, when Bruce was elected and crowned king. Robert Bruce came to the aid of his brother, and, after a successful incursion as far as Limerick, returned to Ulster in May, 1317, the troops having been decimated by a famine of such severity as to compel a suspension of hostilities, after which Robert Bruce returned to Scotland. In August, 1318, the armies were moving. The English under John de Berming- ham were in the field first, found Edward Bruce at a disadvantage, and defeated and dis- persed his troops at Faugard, Oct. 14, Bruce himself perishing on the battle field. Unex- pected dangers interfered with the subjection of Ireland. Notwithstanding incessant war- fare between the Normans and the natives, the middle of the 14th century found the Irish language, laws, manners, and customs univer- sally adopted by the former, while marriage and "fosterage" between the nobles of both races were making the Anglo-Normans " more Irish than the Irish." To avert this danger, many measures were adopted. By an ordi- nance of Edward III., 1341, all offices in Ire- land held by Irish or English men who had estates or were married in Ireland were to be vacated, and filled by Englishmen who "had no personal interest whatever in Ireland." In 1367 a parliament at Kilkenny, under the aus- pices of the king's son Lionel, passed the mem- orable "statute of Kilkenny," directed against the English who adopted Irish customs or man- ners, and making intermarriage, fostering, or trading with the natives, treason. Near the end of the century Richard II. twice landed in Ireland with a large force, but he was com- pletely baffled by Art McMurrough, who in the succeeding reign defied and fought the duko of Lancaster under the walls of Dublin. In the reign of Edward IV. was passed the " head act," which made it lawful to kill "any persons going or coming, having no faithful man of good name and fame in their company in Eng- lish apparel." Henry VII. undertook still fur- ther to reduce the country to a condition of complete dependence by ordaining that no par- liament should meet without his permission, and no law be valid unless sanctioned by the English king and council. To meet his view Sir Edward Poynings, then lord deputy, assembled a parliament at Drogheda in 1495, at which was enacted the "Poynings law," which took away the independence of the Irish parliament, making all its acts subordinate to that of Eng- land. A parliament in Dublin, in 1537, passed the act of supremacy, declaring Henry VIII. supreme head of the church, prohibiting inter- course with the court of Rome under penalty of pramunire, and making it treason to refuse the oath of supremacy. Henry VIII. also took the title of king of Ireland, although in his dr.y