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| 3. Ireland |
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(See 1171)| The period following the expedition of Henry II (1171) was marked by a steadily developing conflict between the feudalization of the incoming Anglo-Normans and the old tribal organization of the Irish. In its later phases this struggle bred centuries of discord and bloodshed. Henry's authority was precariously maintained by a viceroy who had orders to be fair to the natives, a policy that estranged the Norman elements. | 1 |
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| 1185 |
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| Henry's son, John Lackland, returned to England after a short and inglorious rule as lord of Ireland, but his authority was maintained by his representative, William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, who married the daughter of Richard of Clare. | 2 |
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| 1213 |
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| John abandoned Ireland, along with England, to Pope Innocent III. | 3 |
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| 1216–72 |
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| Under Henry III the power and possessions of the Anglo-Norman colony expanded rapidly: bridges and castles were built, towns modestly prospered, and guilds were formed. | 4 |
| English colonists practiced an extreme form of ethnic discrimination in Ireland: entire population divided between free and unfree, with native Irish on basis of blood declared unfree. Legal structures on English model with county courts, itinerant judges, and the common law set up, but Irish denied access to them; in civil dispute English defendant need not respond to Irish plaintiff; Irish could not make a will; in criminal cases, murder of an Irish person not considered a felony. | 5 |
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| 1216 |
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| Irish denied access to all higher ecclesiastical offices. | 6 |
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| 1366 |
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| Statute of Kilkenny, to protect racial purity of English, forbade marriage between English and Irish, required that Irish use the English language, and again denied Irish access to church offices (bishoprics). | 7 |
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| 1272–1307 |
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| Edward I's revolutionary legislation in England was extended to Ireland, which continued to prosper, at least in the Anglo-Norman sections. But the cleavage between conquerors and oppressed became very marked. (See Ireland) | 8 |
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