Medieval Meanderings

Number 2 (15 November 1997)

[The names of our ancestors appearing in this narrative are rendered in ALLCAPS.]

I'm quite sure that most of us Southworth's don't make a big deal over Saint Patrick's day, but it might surprise some of you to know that we do indeed have some Irish blood coursing through our veins.

Let's get the boring part over with as quickly as possible. Skip over the next section (between the horizontal lines) if you are not interested in the details of who begat whom. Here is the line of descent to EDWARD SOUTHWORTH of Leyden from our Irish "gateway ancestors":

Go back to [*] in the above paragraph for the path to another "gateway ancestor":

James Touchet, Lord Audley / John Touchet, Baron Audley / John Touchet / Sir John Touchet, Lord of Markeaton m. Joan de Audley / James, Lord Audley / Nicholas, Lord Audley m. Joan Martin / William, Lord Martin / Sir Nicholas FitzMartin / William FitzMartin / William FitzMartin m. Ankaret of South Wales / Rhys, Prince of South Wales / Gruffydd of South Wales m. Gwenllian of Gwynedd / Gruffydd, King of Gwynedd / Cynan of Gwynedd m. Ranghildr of Dublin / Aulded, Danish King of Dublin / Sitric "Silkbeard", Danish King of Dublin m. Slani, a daughter of Brian Boru, King of Munster and Monarch of all Ireland.

The above-mentioned Sitric was the son of Olaf "The Red", Danish King of Dublin and of Gormflaith, who was also a wife of Brian Boru (confused yet!) and descended from the royal house of Leinster.

Let's start from the beginning once more:

Edward Southworth / Thomas / Sir John / Sir Thomas m. Margery Boteler / Thomas Boteler / Sir John Boteler m. Margaret Stanley / Sir Thomas Stanley / Sir John Stanley m. Isabel Harington / Sir Robert Harington / Sir John Harington / Sir Robert Harington m. Elizabeth de Multon / Thomas, Lord Multon m. Eleanor De Burgh / Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster / Walter de Burgh, Earl of Ulster / Richard de Burgh, Lord of Connaught / William de Burgh, Lord of Connaught m. Mor O'brien, descended from the Kings of Munster on her father's side and the Kings of Leinster on her mother's side.

Hang in there for one more line! Go back to [**] in our first line of descent:

Sir Thomas de Ros / William de Ros m. Margery Badlesmere / Bartholowmew, Lord Badlesmere m. Margaret de Clare / Sir Thomas de Clare m. Juliana FitzMaurice / Maurice FitzMaurice, Justiciar of Ireland / Maurice FifzGerald, Justiciar of Ireland / Gerald FitzMaurice, Baron of Offaly / Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Landstephen m. Alice de Montgomery / Arnulph de Montgomery m. Lafcroth O'brien, who was a great great granddaughter of Brian Boru.

Here's where those of us who wanted to skip the "begats" rejoin the group.

Our Irish orgins are shrouded in mystery. Ireland is not a large island and has always been predominantly rural. But for some sort of accommodation, the ancient and medieval Irish would have been constantly at war with each in competition for a very limited amount of real estate.

About two hundred "high kings", or in the ancient tongue "Ard-Righs", of Ireland have been recorded. Keep in mind however, that kingship in Ireland was quite a different concept than in the rest of Europe. Sometime in the era of prehistory, the Irish had divided themselves into four vaguely defined "kingdoms": Ulster, Munster, Leinster, and Connaught. In the center of the Island, about the first century A.D., A strong king established a capitol at Tara, surrounded by a newly- created fifth kingdom of Meath. The office of Ard-Righ was rotated between the kings of the four ancient kingdoms at frequent intervals. Often there ware rival kings at large within the subkingdoms. So, we see, being "king" of somewhere in Ireland did not carry quite the weight as that title would carry in other lands.

The ruling families of all the subkingdoms all claimed descent from a common ancestor - MILESEUS, said to have been a king in Spain approximately contemporary with King Solomon in Israel. MILESEUS is said to have conquered Ireland and his descendants are today referred to as the Milesians.

In ancient Ireland the most prestigious occupation was that of the bard. To become one required the ancient equivalent of a PhD. The bards maintained the ancient genealogies from generation to generation. Unfortunately, as the bards were dependant upon the patronage of the kings, the temptation to fake a royal pedigree for a low-born usurper was doubtless too strong to resist. [It has been proven that BRIAN BORU did just this - the supposed ancestor of the Dalcassians, his clan - CAS, never existed, but was invented as a link from BRIAN to the ancient kings.] The ancient lineages, therefore, before about the sixth or seventh century, must be taken with more than just a few grains of salt. In fact, modern scholars almost unanimously reject the existence of MILESEUS as a historical figure.

The coming of Saint Patrick in the fifth century was indeed a momentous occasion for the emerald isle. The Irish embraced Christianity with more enthusiasm than any race. The Irish monks of the middle ages were deservedly respected for their moral, spiritual, and academic excellence. They were literally the guardians of western civilization during what many scholars refer to as the "dark ages" in the rest of Europe. Being on the fringe of civilization, Ireland was spared from the travail and kept the candle burning. When CHARLEMAGNE calmed the storm of chaos in the ninth century, it was to the monks of Ireland that he turned to rekindle the flame of learning on the continent.

That scourge of the devil from the far north, the pagan Vikings, again brought the nations of Europe to thier knees in the ninth and tenth centuries. Ireland, being so distant, was at first spared, but eventually the men from the north arrived there as well, at first as terrorizing raiders, but later as colonists. The Vikings never completely conquered Ireland, but were able to establish a kingdom centered upon the town of Dublin. These "Danish kings of Dublin" are among our ancestors.

As the years passed, the raids of the Vikings subsided, but the Norse kingdom of Dublin did not. The subkings of the Irish kingdoms were constantly jockeying for power and the kings of Dublin joined in. In time, they came to be accepted as part of the political reality of the island. In fact, they themselves experienced internal discord and we find occasions where Norse and Irish were allied against other Norse and Irish.

Obviously, in this short piece, I cannot attempt an exhaustive history of Ireland. There is one climactic event, however, which may serve as a microcosm and provide for some interesting reading. I am referring to the Battle of Clontarff in 1014. The following narrative from pages 276-283 of Suemas MacManus', "The Story of the Irish Race", I know, is quite long, but I trust the content and superb literary style will easily hold your attention:

"In 980 Mailsechlainn (Malachy) II, surnamed Mor, "the Great," king of Meath, became emperor of Ireland, and in the same year he won a victory over the Danes at the battle of Tara. Somewhere about that time BRIAN [BORU] became the bitter rival of Malachy and made up his mind to dispute the throne with him. In 985, with a great fleet, he sailed up the Shannon to Lough Ree, raided Meath, and did great damage to Connacht. For a few years there was show of friendship between the two kings, and in 998 they came to an understanding, and made a truce accord- ing to which, on certain conditions, Malachy was limited as sole sovereign of the northern, and BRIAN, of the southern half, of Ireland. Thereupon the Leinstermen allied themselves with the Dublin Danes and revolted. BRIAN and Malachy united their forces, "to the great joy of the Irish", as the Four Masters say, and, in 999, defeated them "with red slaughter" at Glenmma, near Dunlavin, County Wicklow. Seven thousand Danes are said to have fallen in the battle. The Irish then marched to Dublin which they sacked of its accumulated treasures, ravaged Leinster and expelled KING SITRIC, with whom BRIAN himself was afterwards to make peace and alliance.

The two Irish kings soon quarreled again, and in the year 1002, Malachy, finding that there was defection in his ranks, was compelled to resign his supremacy to the superior force of BRIAN and to step down to the position of a provincial king. The fact is BRIAN violated the treaty. As Tighernach, the annalist, says this was the first "treacherous turning of BRIAN against Malachy ."

Both Malachy and BRIAN were extraordinary men and it would seem as if Ireland was not big enough for both of them. Of the two, Malachy played the nobler part. He was generous, whole- hearted, and loyal to his promises, and BRIAN's superior in un- selfish patriotism and in readiness to sacrifice personal pride and personal rights to the welfare and Interests of his country. On the other hand, BRIAN was the more forceful, energetic, and ca- pable. He was clearly a usurper and filled with ambition. Yet had he not done what he did, which, after all, is condoned by mod- ern statecraft and was no more treacherous than what has hap- pened hundreds of times In the history of other countries, Malachy or some other rival wouId undoubtedly have attempted to over- reach him. Had he begun his career at an earlier age and had he not had to contend with foreign invasion, he would no doubt have succeeded in welding the Irish cans into a strongly centralised and compact empire. That design probably never entered into his calculations. As It was, he did achieve that result to a certain ex- tent and his reign was remarkably successful, prosperous and happy

He had his royal seat at Kincora, a well situated place near Killaloe, on the Shannon, where he ruled with a steady hand, es- tablished his power and authority on a firm basis, enforced law and order, imparted rigid and impartial justice, and dispensed a royal hospitality. Though much of his time was given to prepara- tion for war, in which, whenever occassion offered, he always proved himself to be a good soldier, a brave warrior and a skilful strate- gist, he still found time to build forts, roads and churches. He founded schools and encouraged learning, dispatched agents abroad to buy books, and during his reign the bardic schools be- gan to rise again. He had difficulties with his own people, and indeed his title as emperor was never admitted by the north. Nor were the Linstermen any too friendly and he had to maintain permenant garrisons in parts of Munster

On one of several royal progresses which he made through the country, about the year I004 he invaded Ulster and visited Armagh where he gave alms of a golden ring in which were twenty ounces of gold and where his official secretary and counsellor, and former instructor Maelsuthain O'Cearbhaill (O'Carroll), Of Loch Lein, reputed to be the best scholar in Ireland, inscribed in the Book of Armagh these words in Latin: "I, Maelsuthain, write this in the presence of BRIAN, Emperor of the Irish."

BRIAN even attempted to extend his power beyond the limits of Ireland. In the year 1005 he fitted out a fleet manned by Norsemen from Dublin, Waterford, and Wexford and Irish and pillaged the shores and levied tribute on the inhabitants of north- ern and western Britain. He did not extirpate the Danes who were domiciled in Ireland or banish them from the kingdom, but treated them with the utmost leniency, and recognised the element of strength they would add to promote commerce and develop the resources of the country. In return for the Dublin Danes bind- ing themselves to follow him in his wars, he was obliged to guar- antee them and the other foreigners possession of their territory in Ireland.

In furtherance of this policy or of his personal ambition, he found it to his interest to bind this peace by ties of marriage even with those who so lately were his bitterest enemies. A few months after Glenmama he gave his own daughter [SLANI] by his first wife in marriage to SIGTRYGGR (SITRIC), his former opponent and king of Dub- lin, while he himself, BRIAN, married, as his second wife, SITRIC's mother, GORMLAITH, a beautiful, powerful and intriguing Irish woman. Like her namesake, the gentle and unfortunate poet- queen who lived sixty years before her, GORMLAITH had a stormy life and her marriage to BRIAN was her third matrimonial venture. She was first married to Malachy the Great, then to OIAFR KVARAN (Amhlaobh "the Shoe"), Danish king of Dublin (celebrated in the history of England), by whom she had a son, the SITRIC men- tioned above; and finally she was married to BRIAN BORU, and was prepared to marry, if one can speak of these connections as legal matrimony, for the fourth time, as we shall see later. In the words of the sagaman, "GORMLAITH was the fairest of all women, and best gifted in everything that was not in her own power, but it was the talk of men that she did all things ill over which she had any power."

It was through GORMLAITH's machinations and deadly hatred that BRIAN lost his life, and the last act in the long Dano-Irish drama was effected. A series of petty family quarrels precipitated the denouement. One day, it was in the year 1013, the Leinster prince Maolmordha (Molloy), who was GORMLAITH's brother and consequently BRIAN's brother-in-Iaw, and in alliance with the Dub- lin Danes, was bringing three large pine masts for shipping, prob- ably as a tribute, to BRIAN at Kincora. As his men were climbing a boggy hill near Roscrea a quarrel broke out between them and other clansmen, and Maolmordha, giving a hand to support one of the masts, tore a silver button from a tunic which BRIAN had given him. On arriving at Kincora he asked HIS SISTER to mend the tunic for him, but instead she threw it into the fire, saying he ought to be ashamed to accept any gift from BRIAN and thus admit his subjection to him, an indignity, she said, which neither HIS FATHER nor GRANDFATHER would ever have suffered. The taunt left a rankling wound in the heart of Maolmrdha. On another day Maolmrdha, looking on while BRIAN's eldest son, Murchadh (Morrough) and his cousin Conang were playing chess at Kin- cora, suggested a move which lost Murchadh the game. Then Murchadh angrily exclaimed, "That was like the advice you gave the Danes which lost them the battle of Glenmama"-to which Maolmordha replied, "Yes, and I will give them advice again, and this time they will not be defeated."

One word led to another, and the men parted in anger. When BRIAN heard of the altercation, he sent a man post-haste after Maolmordha with gifts to appease him and to invite him back to Kincora. The messenger overtook him on the bridge of Killa- loe, but Maolmordha broke the man's head and kept on his way till he reached home where he made known to his people the great insult he had received from BRIAN's son. He then joined forces with O'Neill, O'Ruarc, SITRIC of Dublin and others and attacked BRIAN's ally, Malachy, near Sord (Swords) a few miles north of Dublin, and defeated him. Malachy appealed to BRIAN to come to his aid, but BRIAN was short of supplies and could furnish no assistance.

In the meantime BRIAN had put away GORMLAITH, who was then free to vent all her spleen on him. She was especially anxious to win the help of SIGURD, EARL OF THE ORKNEYS. SIGURD, who was Irish on his mother's [AUDNA, dau of KING KIARVAL] side, promised to come, provided, in case of success, he should be king of Ireland and have the hand of GORMLAITH. For he had ambition to establish a Danish dynasty similar to the one which his countrymen, Svein, and his son, Cnut, had shortly before founded in England. Though his mother wove for him a "raven banner" with mighty spells which was to bring victory to the host before whom it was flown but death to the man who bore it, it was against his own forebodings and those of his men that SIGURD was induced to take part in the expedition.

SITRIC next sought help from two Viking brothers who lived on the west coast of the Isle of Man. Ospak was a heathen and Brodar had been a Christian but apostatised, and was regarded as a kind of magician. He was a very tall man with long black hair which he wore tucked in under his belt, and he was clad in a coat of mail "which no steel could bite." He too stipulated that he would come with twenty ships provided he should wed GORM- LAITH and become king of Ireland. As SITRIC was under instructions to get help at any price, he made no scruple to accept the terms on condition that the agreement was to be kept secret. Ospak, who was dissatisfied with the arrangement, escaped from his brother during the night with his ten ships, sailed round Ireland and up the Shannon where he joined BRIAN and became his ally.

By Palm Sunday in the year I0I4, a great host of the massed forces of the Norselands assembled on the shore of Clontarf, a few miles north of Dublin. It consisted of 1000 mail-clad Norse- men under Brodar, Vikings from Normandy, Flanders, England and Cornwall, and, above all, fierce fighting men from the Ork- neys, Shetlands, Hebrides, and other islands off the west coast of Scotland, all picked men and most conspicuous for valour of the men of their time. With them also were the men of their race who had settled in and around Dublin, and the Ui Cinnselaigh (Kinsellas) from Wexford and the men of Leinster. These lat- ter were under the command of their king Maolmrdha. On the side of BRIAN and Ireland were, besides his own people from Munster, the men of Connacht and Meath and the Christianised Norsemen. He also had an auxiliary force from Scotland under Domhnall, Great Steward of Mar, but he got no help from Ulster.

In spite of his seventy-three years of age, BRIAN wished to lead his army in person, but his advisers persuaded him to retire to a tent not far from the field and there to await the issue. The real commander of the Irish forces was BRIAN's son, Murchadh, A captain of outstanding ability, who stationed himself with a select corps of troops from Desmond and Thomond facing Brodar's mail-clad warriors.

On the night before the battle, the Norse said, their old god of war, Woden himself, rode up through the dusk on a dapple- grey horse, halberd in hand, to take counsel with his champions; and there were other portents. BRIAN was unwilling to fight on Good Friday, but it had been prophesied to the Danes that if the battle was fought on that day BRIAN would certainly be slain, but, if they fought on any other day, all would fall who were against him. So they forced the battle on Good Friday, which fell that year on April 23. The combat began at sunrise, when the tide was at full, and raged till sunset. This celebrated battle is known as the Battle of BRIAN, or the Battle of the Weir of Clontarf. But, as a matter of fact, the scene of the battle was not at Clon- tarf at all, but near Clonliffe, between the Liffey and the Tolka, in what are now the outlying districts of Dublin north of the Lif- fey. In those days the tide flowed over the plain now occupied by Merrion Square, College Green and up to the very walls of the Castle. The Norse battle-line extended roughly from the Four Courts, Rutland Square and Montjoy Square. It was a faulty position, for all retreat was cut off by Tomar's Wood, a part of which is in the Phoenix Park, stretching from Drumcondra towards the Liffey. The Irish lay to the north, their right flank at Drumcondra and their left in Clontarf. Both armies are esti- mated at about 20,000 men, but the Danes were the better armed, many of them being clad in shirts of mail, while most of the Irish fought in tunics. Before the battle, BRIAN is said to have mounted his charger and, with a golden-hilted sword in one hand and a crucifix in the other, urged on his men to meet the enemy.

SITRIC does not appear to have taken part in the battle, but to have held the garrison in reserve behind the walls on the hill of the city, where the Danish women, among them BRIAN'S DAUGHTER, [SLANI] looked on from the battlements; and it appeared to them "that not more numerous would be the sheaves floating over a great company reaping a field of oats, even though two or three battal- ions were working at it, than the hair flying with the wind from them, cut away by heavy gleaming axes and by bright flaming swords.

At the first onset, BRIAN's men came in contact with the mail- clad men In the Danish centre and were cut to pieces. But the enemy's success was not lasting, and towards evening the efforts of the Irish were crowned with success and the day was saved by the arrival of Malachy's men who were fresh and unwearied

Part of the enemy fled to their ships at Clontarf, but the re- turning tide had carried away the boats and prevented the escape of most of them. Great numbers were drowned in the sea and heaps of them lay dead on the ground. Four thousand of them are said to have fallen on BRIAN's side and 7,000 on his oppo- nent's. Both parties lost most of their leaders, including the brave EARL SIGURD.

During the battle BRIAN was guarded in his tent at Magduma, near Tomar's wood, by a "fence of shields," or "skjaldborg," as the Danes called it, composed of chosen warriors who sur- rounded him with their shields locked together. THE KING is said to have knelt on a cushion with his psalm-book open before him. News was falsely brought to him that HIS SON had fallen. Then a spy or traitor in the Irish camp, said to be Tadhg O Ceallaigh (O'Kelly), king of Ui Maine (Hy-Mnany, counties Galway and Roscommon), who afterwards fell In the battle, pointed out BRIAN's position to Brodar. The guard was overcome and, according to one account, BRIAN took his sword, slew the Norse invader and then killed himself; but the Norse account is that BRIAN was slain by a blow from Brodar who was slain in turn by an unknown hand.

It was a costly victory for the Irish; THE KING himself, the heir-apparent (his brave son Murchadh), and the heir apparent's heir (Turlough), all fell in the battle. The bodies of the two former were brought to Armagh and interred honourably in a tomb nearby the sanctuary of Saint Patrick. On the conclusion of the battle the troops disbanded, each clan going to its own ter- ritory, and DONCHADH, BRIAN's son, who had been away on a forag- ing expedition and had taken no part in the battle, took command.

But the days of Ireland's glory were departed. In the words of his eulogist, "BRIAN was the last man in Erin who was a match for a hundred. He was the last man who killed a hundred in one day. His was the last step that true valour ever took in Erin!" He was a sovereign of whom any nation might justly be proud and one of the world's greatest monarchs. Had he or his family lived, the chance is that with the prestige of his name and the great victory at Clontarf, they would have founded an hereditary monarchy which would have put an end to disunion and demoral- isation and provided one of the strongest bulwarks against the Norman invasion which was soon to fall upon the country.

But his death and that of his eldest son brought about the displacement of the Dalcassians and the restoration of Malachy to the throne. In the year after Clontarf, 1015, Malachy led an army against Dublin and suppressed the last attempts of the for- eigners. He reigned eight years and died in I022. Brave, mag- nanimous, and inspired by a lofty patriotism and chivalry, he was the last Irish king to reign without opposition.

After him, as a consequence of BRIAN's unfortunate violation of the law of the realm, there were few Irish kings who had not to fight for the throne instead of being chosen to it according to custom. Frequently two or more claimants assumed the title at the same time and desolated and distracted the country. These men, who are known for the most part as "kings with opposition," because they were unable to secure general obedience to their ad- ministration of affairs, were weaker than their predecessors and their worthless and futile careers only emphasise the greatness of BRIAN and Malachy. For twenty years after Malachy's death, the chief government was vested in the hands of two men, neither of whom was a king, one being Cuan O Lochan, the king's chief poet, and the other a religious of Lismore named Corcran.

The battle of the Weir of Clontarf was one of the decisive battles of history, for it not only warded off Danish rule from Ireland but it probably even altered the whole subsequent history of Europe. Had the Danes been victorious and gotten possession of Ireland, they would doubtless have founded there a kingdom which would have been the greatest step towards the formation of a far-flung northern empire, with its centre at London. For three centuries they strove desperately for possession of the prize, but they were unable to accomplish in those three hundred years in Ireland as much as they had accomplished in one year in north- ern France and in England.

After Clontarf the Danes who were left in Ireland settled down and became as Irish as the Irish themselves . . ."

The years following Clontarf saw a lot of interclan warfare. No one stood head-and-shoulders above the rest. Roderick O'connor, as far as I can tell was not an ancestor of ours. His daughter, Rose, however, was the 2nd wife of HUGH DE LACY, Lord Palatine of Meath, who was. Here is an interesting excerpt from W E Wightman's, "The Lacy Family in England and Normandy, 1066-1194", Oxford (Clarendon Press) 1966, pp. 190-191:

". . . In the summer of 1173 he was in Normandy helping to quell the rising, and with HUGH DE BEAUCHAMP held the castle of Verneuil while it was being besieged by LOUIS VII in July. He spent some time during the year in Ireland, where he had acquired the old kingdom of Meath, so that from now onwards he spent a good deal of time on the west side of St. George's Channel. In the same year he had been given the city of Dublin and its castle, a grant followed five years later by his promotion to Viceroy. That post he held until 1184, although he had been deprived of Dublin castle for a short period in 1181-2 as a penalty for marrying the daughter of Rory O'Connor, the last king of Connaught. At Durrow in July 1186 he had his head cut off by an Irishman while he was showing him how to use a pick, according to the graphic desctiprion in the chronicle of St. Mary, Dublin -- a commentary on his restless nature, apparently intolerant of inefficiency to the end."

Getting back to King Roderick - He was a weak and somewhat indecisive and unable to keep the other subkings from constantly warring and intriguing against each other. DIARMUID MACMOURROUGH, King of Leinster, began to rise in power and coveted the title of Ard-Righ. He was unable to gather the necessary local support to pull this off, so he did what was all so common in the Ireland of his day - and for it has had to bear the shame of having been the immediate precipitator of the loss of Irish soverignty to the English. He enlisted outside assistance. After a military defeat and subsequent banishment, he ended up at the court of KING HENRY II of England. HENRY told DIARMUID that he would indeed like to help him, but was unable to spare the resources due to his ongoing operations on the continent. However, HENRY let it be known that he would not look unfavorably upon any of his subjects coming to DIARMUID's aid.

Even so, the powerful Earl of Pembroke, RICHARD DE CLARE, known as "Strongbow" was not at that time on good terms with HENRY, and was fearful of taking on so bold a quest without HENRY's express permission (which he did not have), so he stayed home, but encouraged several of his vassals and relatives to assist DIARMUID. This they did, and met with much success. STRONGBOW followed the next year . The Norman mercenaries with their superior weapons, armour, and training easily overcame DIARMUID's foes. The English were in Ireland to stay.

Part of the agreement between DIARMUID and STRONGBOW was that STRONGBOW would wed DIARNMUID's daughter, EVE and become King of Leinster. Lest his lord, KING HENRY become suspicious that he was setting himself up as a soverign prince, STRONGBOW laid Leinster at HENRY's feet, asking only to be made his tributary. This HENRY did, and seeing what a desireable prize could be had with so little effort, set out to conquer the rest of Ireland for himself. HENRY was able to make himself Lord of Ireland, but in actuality, much of the island was able to remain beyond his control. He went back home and made his son, the future KING JOHN, Lord of Ireland. JOHN's attitude and actions during the short time he was permitted by his father to actually stay on the island quashed any hope that the Irish would ever wilingly bow to English overlordship.

Many Englishmen made their fortunes and founded family dynasties in Ireland. Among our ancestors are the deLacys whom I have already mentioned. Another was RICHARD DE BURGH, who married EGIDA, the grandaughter of the aforementioned HUGH DE LACY. RICHARD was lord of Connaught and ancestor to the Earls of Ulster.

So we have a patchwork quilt of native Irish and conquering Norman princes jostling each other for the upper hand as 12th century closes. Reminiscent of the situation with the Danes and Irish two centuries earlier, orgins were forgotten and alliances of Irish and Norman lords against alliances of other Irish and Norman lords became common. Still, the native Irish never fully accepted the Norman conquerers and the Normans never came to give the Irish full credit as equals. The result has been centuries of turmoil and hate which persists even to this day. But that is well beyond the scope of this little history lesson.