John's first expedition to Ireland Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
John's first expedition to Ireland
The year 1185 saw John of England's first expedition to Ireland and there has been much debate in historical scholarship as to its success as an expedition. Much of the debate has arisen due to the dubious primary sources available that has caused this expedition to be shrouded in doubt; namely the Irish Annals and the writings of Gerald of Wales.
The subject of John going to Ireland first came into question under the reign of his father, Henry II specifically with the Council of Oxford in the year 1177. Originally it was established that John - then only a mere nine years old - was going to be King of Ireland. However disagreements with the Pope caused this to be delayed and instead John went as only Lord of Ireland. In 1184 arrangements were made for John's departure with the sending of John Cumin and Philip of Worcester to prepare the ground for John's arrival. John arrived in Ireland in April 1185, landing at Waterford with around 300 Knights and numerous foot soldiers and archers.
Upon his arrival in Ireland, John and his retinue were greeted by numerous unnamed Irish native rulers and this is where the now famous beard pulling story materialised. It is said that upon seeing these strange long bearded Kings, John and his retinue laughed and pulled them about by their beards! We are told by Gerald that the Irish then complained to their overlords - men such as Rory O'Connor - of how John was, "an ill-mannered child...from whom no good could be hoped". Aside from upsetting the natives, John also at this time engaged in a vigorous program of extending land grants to trusted royal administrators such as Theobald Walter, William De Burgh, Gilbert Pipard and Bertram De Verdon as well as other minor land grants to lesser figures. These leading nolemen would go on to become the next generation of English colonials in Ireland and men like Walter would breed a new family generation - the Butler's - who would in time come to be an influential part of Ireland's history.
During his stay in Ireland, John largely followed the route of his father Henry II, landing in Waterford and ending up in Dublin. Along the way John's expedition has been attributed to setting up several castles, espiecially in Western Waterford and Southern Tipperary but also the setting up of basic administrative structures and basic law beginnings to which he was to expand upon later in his second expedition in 1210.
John left Ireland in December and fled back to England. Scholarship has largely been agreed that this was most likely to do with the presance of Hugh De Lacy but it is also likely that John ran out of money. It has been suggested that his departure was a setback in much broader 'plan' to set up adminstrative structures in Ireland in order to control the unruly Barons via loyal, royalist forces such as Walter, De Burgh and De Verdon and that when De Lacy began to threaten his positon, he escaped back to the safety of England. Needless to say his feckless attitude has given him a bad press and caused his first expedition to be viewed unfairly.
Upon his departure his father Henry granted the office of justiciar to the Baron John De Courcy who had massive influence in Ulster. In 1186 Hugh De Lacy was assassinated by an Irish assassin and plans were made to send John back to Ireland. However the death of his brother, Geoffrey, in France cancelled these plans and John did not return to Ireland until his second expedition in 1210.
The following works were used in the composition of this article and are espiecially useful for this area of history:
Duffy S., ‘Ireland in the Middle Ages’, London (1997).
Duffy S., ‘John and Ireland: the Origins of Englands Irish Problem’ found in, Church S.D., ‘King John: New Interpretations’, Woodbridge (1999).
Flanagan M.T., ‘Household favorites: Angevin royal agents in Ireland under Henry II and John’ found in, Smith A.P., ‘Studies in Early Medieval Irish Archaeology, History and Literature’, Dublin (2000).
Frame R., ‘Colonial Ireland 1169-1369’, Dublin (1981).
Frame R., ‘The Political Development of the British Isles 1100-1400’, Oxford (1990).
Lydon J., ‘The English in Medieval Ireland’, Dublin (1984).
Lydon J., ‘The Lordship of Ireland in the Middle Ages’, Dublin (1972).
Orpen G.H., ‘Ireland under the Normans, Vol. II’, Oxford (1911).
Otway-Ruthven A.J., ‘A History of Medieval Ireland’, London (1968)
Robert Bartlett, ‘Gerald of Wales (c.1146-1220x23)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford (2004) - [accessed 31 Oct 2004: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10769].
Trans: Hennesey W., ‘The Annals of Loch Cé: a chronicle of Irish affairs from A.D. 1014 to A.D. 1590’, London (1871).
Warren W.L., ‘John in Ireland, 1185’ found in, Bissy & Jupp, ‘Essays presented to Michael Roberts’, Belfast (1976).
Warren W.L., ‘Lord of Ireland – a lost opportunity’ found in, ‘King John’, London (1961). This is an Article on John's first expedition to Ireland. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About John's first expedition to Ireland Bibliography