Free Ireland by Vincent McDonnell Page B

continued to erupt from time to time over the next fifty years. Following the plague, many English landowners returned to England and fewer came to Ireland. The Irish, encouraged by Edward Bruce’s campaign, had also won back some of their lands. By 1366, English control in Ireland had been greatly weakened.
    At this time there were three distinct groups of people in Ireland. There were the native Irish, the descendants of the Celts; there were the Norman families, the descendants of those who had come with Strongbow and in the years since then, many of whom now thought of themselves as Irish; and there were the new English settlers who had been granted lands by English kings.
    At the time of the plague, the Normans had been in Ireland for nearly 200 years. Over these two centuries many of them had begun to practise Irish customs, dress like the Irish, speak Irish and marry Irish men and women. They were, in the words of the famous quote, ‘more Irish than the Irish themselves’. They, along with Irish kings, now controlled large areas of the country. The influence of the English was centred in an area around Dublin, which became known as the Pale. The new English settlers who lived there, and English settlers elsewhere in the country, no longer felt safe among the Irish and the Normans. They lived in fear of rebellion, of losing their lands and of being murdered. They were also alarmed that the Normans were now behaving like the Irish, and oftentimes siding with them in disputes against the English.
    By 1366 Edward III was king of England and was alarmed at the situation in Ireland. He was so worried about losing control of Ireland that he sent his son, Lionel, to be his representative in the country. This position has been known by many names and so as not to confuse you, I’m going to call it the Viceroy. Lionel summoned a parliament, consisting of English settlers from the Pale, in Kilkenny in November 1366. This parliament passed laws, which are known as the Statutes of Kilkenny. These laws forbade the Normans and the English settlers from wearing native Irish clothes, practising Irish customs, playing Irish games like hurling, speaking Irish or marrying Irish persons. However, the Normans ignored them, which continued to alarm the settlers in the Pale and the English king.
    In 1377, Richard II became king of England. He was then only ten years old and his uncle, John of Gaunt, ruled the country. When Richard was old enough to rule, he decided to regain control of Ireland. In October 1394 he landed at Waterford with a great army of 34,000 men. His campaign seemed a success when many Irish kings publicly submitted to him. But once he returned to England the Irish kings continued on as before.
    Richard, like most kings, made many enemies in England, and on his return from Ireland he had some of these enemies murdered. He also seized the lands and property of John of Gaunt. This was Richard’s big mistake, for John of Gaunt had a son named Henry Bolingbroke. He decided to fight to regain what was his by right, and to take revenge on Richard.
    In Ireland, Richard’s power and influence continued to weaken. By 1399 he was forced to return to Ireland to try and regain control once more. While he was here with his army, and before he could regain control, Henry Bolingbroke claimed the English throne. Richard hurried back to England, but was captured and imprisoned and died there, most probably murdered. Henry was crowned King Henry IV on 30 October 1399. But like Richard, his influence in Ireland was restricted almost entirely to the Pale, which was decreasing in size.
    There are a number of reasons why the power of the English king waned in Ireland at this time. One reason is that some Norman families, like the Fitzgeralds of Kildare, had been given positions of power and influence in Ireland. Members of the Fitzgerald family served as Viceroys, but they, like many other Norman families, now regarded themselves as Irish,