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King John’s expedition to Ireland, 1210: the evidence reconsidered

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Seán Duffy
Seán Duffy*
Affiliation:
Department of Medieval History, Trinity College, Dublin
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Extract

The valiant efforts of certain professional historians to redeem the reputation of King John of England have had a limited impact on the public imagination: there he remains a cruel tyrant, the oppressor of his subjects’ liberty. Even within the profession, it must be said, John has never managed fully to endear himself, and while there is general acknowledgement that he was an innovative king who paid meticulous attention to the day-to-day workings of his civil service, this is hardly likely to overcome the lingering and firmly fixed impression that he was a nasty individual, an unpopular ruler and, ultimately, a failure. Curiously, apart from his reputation for administrative innnovation, John’s Irish policy is one of the few areas of either his public or his private life which has not been viewed unfavourably and where approval by modern historians approaches unanimity.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 30 , Issue 117 , May 1996 , pp. 1 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1996

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References

1 John has not lacked biographers, among the better of whom are Norgate, Kate, John Lackland (London, 1902)Google Scholar; Painter, Sidney, The reign of King John (Baltimore, 1949)Google Scholar; Warren, W.L., King John (London, 1961)Google Scholar; and, most recently, Turner, Ralph V., King John (London & New York, 1994)Google Scholar. For discussion of historiographical perceptions of King John see Galbraith, V.H., ‘Good kings and bad kings in medieval English history’ in History, xxx (1945), pp 119–32 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hollister, C.Warren, ‘King John and the historians’ in Jn. Brit. Studies, i (1962), pp 1–19 Google Scholar; Holt, J.C., King John (Historical Association, General Series Pamphlet no. 53, London, 1963)Google Scholar; Gransden, Antonia, ‘Propaganda in English medieval historiography’ in Journal of Medieval History, i (1975), pp 363–81 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Limerick and Carlingford each have a ‘King John’s castle’, and Roscrea castle is sometimes similarly and erroneously ascribed to him ( Leask, H.G., Irish castles and castellated houses (Dundalk, 1941), p. 57 Google Scholar). Trim had a tower called after John, whose signet ring is said to have been found in the castle enclosure ( Adams, C.L., Castles of Ireland: some fortress histories and legends (London, 1904), p. 361 Google Scholar). A seventeenth-century account refers to the ‘battelments of Kinge John’s chamber’ in St Thomas’s abbey, Dublin ( Berry, H.F., ‘Notes on a statement dated 1634, regarding St Thomas’ court and St Katherine’s churchyard, Dublin’ in R.S.A.I.Jn, xxxvii (1907), pp 393–6 Google Scholar), while in the same century Waterford still had ‘the stone walls of a ruined house caled Kinge Johns’ ( The Civil Survey, A.D. 1654–56, ed. Simington, R.C. (10 vols, I.M.C., Dublin, 1931-61)Google Scholar, vi: Waterford, p. 250).

3 The phrases appear, respectively, in Warren, King John, p. 196; Otway-Ruthven, A.J., A history of medieval Ireland (London, 1968), p. 81 Google Scholar; and Warren, W.L., ‘The historian as “private eye’” in Historical Studies IX, ed. Barry, J.G. (Belfast, 1974), p. 16 Google Scholar. Professor Warren adds: ‘John’s expedition of 1210 had the twofold objective of putting the barons in their place and recovering the confidence of the Irish. He was crushingly successful.’ (‘The historian as “private eye’”, p. 17) Edmund Curtis says that John came to Ireland, in part at least, ‘to meet the claims of Gaelic kings versus Norman conquerors’, and that ‘while he displayed a gracious face to the Irish, John showed a stern one to his offending barons’, adding too that on the expedition, which he describes as ‘a triumph of demonic energy’, John, ’s treatment of the Irish marked ‘a great advance on his visit of 1185’ (A history of medieval Ireland from 1086 to 1513 (2nd ed., London, 1938), pp. 111–14 Google Scholar). Lydon, James states that ‘most of Gaelic Ireland seemed prepared to accept him’ (The lordship of Ireland in the middle ages (Dublin, 1972), p. 65 Google Scholar).

4 The best detailed modern full-length account of the expedition is still Orpen, G.H., Ireland under the Normans, 1169–1333 (repr., 4 vols, Oxford, 1968), ii, ch. 21Google Scholar. Two important studies of John’s Irish policy by the late Professor Lewis Warren should also be noted: ‘John in Ireland, 1185’ in Bossy, John and Jupp, Peter (eds), Essays presented to Michael Roberts (Belfast, 1976), pp 11–23 Google Scholar; and ‘King John and Ireland’ in Lydon, James (ed.), England and Ireland in the later middle ages: essays in honour of Jocelyn Otway-Ruthven (Dublin, 1981), pp 26–42 Google Scholar.

5 One of the best studies of this subject is Richardson, H.G.’s lengthy introduction to The memoranda roll for the Michaelmas term of the first year of the reign of King John (1199-1200) (Pipe Roll Society, London, 1943), pp xi-xcviiiGoogle Scholar. See also Galbraith, V.H., Studies in the public records (London, 1948), pp 64–77 Google Scholar; Elton, G.R., England, 1200–1640 (Cambridge, 1969), ch. 2Google Scholar; Warren, W.L.; The governance of Norman and Angevin England, 1086–1272 (London, 1987), ch. 6Google Scholar; Clanchy, M.T., From memory to written record: England, 1066–1307 (2nd ed., Oxford, 1993), esp. chs 2–3Google Scholar.

6 Curtis, , Med. Ire. (1st ed., London, 1923), p. 125 Google Scholar.

7 The full details of the destruction caused and of the materials that survive appear in the appendix to P. R. I. rep. D. K. 55; see also Wood, Herbert, ‘The public records of Ireland before and after 1922’ in R. Hist. Soc. Trans., 4th ser., xiii (1930), pp 17–49 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lydon, J.F., ‘Survey of the memoranda rolls of the Irish exchequer’ in Anal. Hib., no. 23 (1966), pp 43-134Google Scholar.

8 ’The Irish pipe roll of 14 John, 1211–1212’, ed. Davies, Oliver and Quinn, D.B., in U.J.A., 3rd ser., iv, supp. (1941)Google Scholar.

9 Rotuli de liberate ac de misis et praestitis, regnante Johanne, ed. Hardy, T.D (Record Commission, London, 1844).Google Scholar

10 There is an itinerary of John’s reign published as an appendix to the introduction to Rotuli litterarum patentium in Turri Londinensi asservati, ed. Hardy, T.D (Record Commission, London, 1835).Google Scholar

11 As Sidney Painter observes, ‘The chroniclers were primarily interested in the great struggle between John and the church and make only casual references to domestic politics. These sources show clearly that interesting things were being done, but tell us little or nothing about them.’ (King John, p. 207)

12 Annales Cestrienses: or, chronicle of the abbey of S. Werburg, at Chester, ed. Christie, R.C (Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society, xiv, 1886), p. 48 Google Scholar; ‘Annals of St Edmund’s [to 1212]’ in Memorials of St Edmund’s abbey, ed. Arnold, Thomas (3 vols, Rolls Series (henceforth R.S.), London, 1890-96), ii, 149 Google Scholar; The historical works of Gervase of Canterbury, ed. Stubbs, William (2 vols, R.S., London, 1879-80), ii, 105 Google Scholar; ‘Chronicle of the thirteenth century’ in Archaeologia Cambrensis, 3rd ser., viii (1862), p. 277 Google Scholar; Ralph of Coggeshall, , Chronicon Anglicanum, ed. Stevenson, Joseph (R.S., London, 1875), p. 164 Google Scholar; Memoriale fratris Walteri de Coventria, ed. Stubbs, William (2 vols, R.S., London, 1872-3), ii, 202 Google Scholar; ‘Continuatio chronici Willelmi de Novoburgo’, ed. Howlett, Richard, in Chronicles of the reigns of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I (4 vols, R.S., London, 1884-9), ii, 511 Google Scholar; Roger of Wendover, , ‘Chronicle’ in Matthaei Parisiensis, monachi Sancti Albani, chronica majora, ed. Luard, H.R (7 vols, R.S., London, 1872-83), ii, 529-30Google Scholar; ‘Annales monasterii de Theokesberia [1066-1263]’, ed. Luard, H.R, in Annales monastici (5 vols, R.S., London, 1864-9), i, 59 Google Scholar; ‘Annales monasterii de Wintonia [519-1277]’, ibid., ii, 81; ‘Annales prioratus de Wigornia [A.D. 1–1377]’, ibid., iv, 399. John Gillingham has reminded me that the Welsh annals also contain an interesting account of the royal expedition (see, for example, Brut y tywysogyon or the chronicle of the princes: Peniarth MS 20 version, trans. Jones, Thomas (Board of Celtic Studies, University of Wales History and Law Series, no. 11, Cardiff, 1952), pp. 83–1 Google Scholar). For this and for other helpful suggestions I am most grateful to him.

13 See Gransden, Antonia, Historical writing in England, c. 550–1307 (London, 1974), ch. 15Google Scholar.

14 There is a brief account of all the main sets of Anglo-Irish annals in MacNiocaill, Gearóid, The medieval Irish annals (Dublin, 1975), pp 37–9 Google Scholar. For a full discussion of the work of particular annalists see Williams, B.A., ‘The Latin Franciscan Anglo-Irish annals of medieval Ireland’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Trinity College, Dublin, 1992).Google Scholar

15 A.F.M., s.a. 1209; Ann. Clon..s.a. 1208/9 (p. 223).

16 A. L. C., s.a. 1210.

17 Misc. Ir. Annals, s.a. 1210. For an important discussion of these annals see Fiaich, Tomás Ó, ‘The contents of Mac Carthaigh’s Book’ in I.E.R., 5th ser., lxxiv (1950), pp 30–39 Google Scholar.

18 See also Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 404.

19 Ann. Inisf., s.a. 1210.

20 It is referred to in a footnote by Norgate, both, John Lackland, p. 153 Google Scholar, and Curtis, , Med. Ire. (2nd ed.), p. 112 Google Scholar. Extracts from this chronicle which refer to events in Scotland in 1210 are printed in translation in Anderson, A.O., Early sources of Scottish history, A.D. 500 to 1286 (2 vols, Edinburgh, 1922; repr., Stamford, 1990), ii, 387 Google Scholar.

21 For a brief description of the manuscript see De la conqueste de Constantinoble, par Joffroi de Villehardouin et Henri de Valenciennes, ed. Paris, Paulin (Société de l’Histoire de France, Paris, 1838), pp xxxvii-xxxviiiGoogle Scholar.

22 For William of Jumièges see Gransden, Historical writing in England, pp 94–8.

23 There is a full discussion of this and of a related chronicle in Petit-Dutaillis, Charles, ‘Une nouvelle chronique du règne de Philippe-Auguste: l’anonyme de Béthune’ in Rev. Hist., 1 (Paris, 1892), 63–71 Google Scholar. See also Bouquet, Martin, Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France, xxiv, ed. Delisle, Leopold (Paris, 1904), pp 750–53 Google Scholar; Pertz, G.H. et al., Monumenta Germaniae historica, scriptores, xxvi, ed. Holder-Egger, Oswald (Hanover, 1882), pp 699–702 Google Scholar; Molinier, Auguste, Les sources de l’histoire de France (6 vols, Paris, 1901-6), iii, nos 2217–18Google Scholar; L’histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, ed. Meyer, Paul (3 vols, Paris, 1891-1901), iii, p. xci Google Scholar.

24 Petit-Dutaillis describes it as ‘un des plus intéressants [ouvrages] qu’on puisse lire sur les vingt premières années du XIIIe siècle et n’a pas été encore utilisé autant qu’il le mérite’ (‘L’anonyme de Béthune’, p. 65). Although Kate Norgate in 1902 described its author as ‘a writer who was strictly contemporary, and who ranks as one of the best, and certainly the most impartial, of our informants on the closing years of John’s reign’ (John Lackland, pp 291–2), in the following year T. F.Tout still felt it necessary to call attention to ‘the very valuable chronicle called the Histoire des ducs de Normandie et des rois d’Angleterre, which English writers have so strangely neglected’ (‘The fair of Lincoln and the “Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal’” in E.H.R., xviii (1903), p. 242).

25 Petit-Dutaillis, ‘L’anonmye de Béthune’, p. 69; Gransden, Historical writing in England, p. 518. The standard work on the de Béthune family (Histoire de la maison de Béthune) was published by André du Chesne as long ago as 1639. For Béthune itself see Quarré-Reybourbon, L.F., Histoire de la ville de Béthune (Lille, 1886)Google Scholar. For the influential monastery of St Vaast at Arras see de Moreau, Edouard, Les abbayes de Belgique (Brussels, 1952), p. 64 Google Scholar.

26 Doubleday, H.A. et al. (eds), The Victoria History of the counties of England: Northampton (Westminster, 1902), i, 373 Google Scholar; Farrer, William, Honors and knights’ fees (3 vols, London, 1923-5), i, 22 Google Scholar. Another Robert de Béthune became prior of Llanthony before 1123 ( Brooke, C.N.L., The church and the Welsh border in the central middle ages (Woodbridge, 1986), p. 36 Google Scholar n. 85) and was bishop of Hereford, 1131–48. According to du Chesne (Histoire de la maison de Béthune, p. 570), he was unrelated to our family. The most recent account of Robert, Bishop is to be found in English episcopal acta VII: Hereford, 1079–1234, ed. Barrow, Julia (British Academy, Oxford, 1993), pp xxxvii-xlGoogle Scholar.

27 The Red Book of the Exchequer, ed. Hall, Hubert (3 vols, R.S., London, 1896), i, 24 Google Scholar; ii, 692, 697; Farrer, Honors & knights’ fees, i, 22, 23.

28 Roger of Howden, , Chronica, ed. Stubbs, William (4 vols, R.S. London, 1868-71), ii, 119, 192 (where he is described as one of the ‘barones de regno Franciaé’)Google Scholar.

29 Farrer, , Honors & knights’ fees, i, 23 Google Scholar.

30 Ibid., p. 25; Sanders, I.J., English baronies: a study of their origin and descent, 1086–1327 (Oxford, 1960), pp 141–2 Google Scholar. For Baldwin de Béthune see G.E.C., Peerage, i, 354 Google Scholar; Painter, Sidney, William Marshal: knight-errant, baron, and regent of England (Baltimore, 1933), pp 142-3Google Scholar and passim; idem, King John, pp 24, 40–41, 295; SirPowicke, Maurice, The loss of Normandy, 1189–1204: studies in the history of the Angevin empire (2nd ed., Manchester, 1961), pp. 109-10Google Scholar; Gillingham, John, Richard the Lionheart (2nd ed., London, 1989), pp. 125-6Google Scholar.

31 Rot. litt, claus., 1204–24, p. 133; Farrer, Honors & knights’ fees, i, 26.

32 Farrer, Honors & knights’ fees, i, 26; Norgate, John Lackland, pp 230, 255; Painter, King John, pp 309, 362, 372. For the lands of Richard de Clare see G.E.C., Peerage, vi, 501-3Google Scholar; Painter, Sidney, ‘The earl of Clare: Richard de Clare, earl of Hertford’ in Feudalism and liberty: articles and addresses of Sidney Painter, ed. Cazel, Fred A. jr, (Baltimore, 1961), pp 220–25 Google Scholar.

33 Petit-Dutaillis, ‘L’anonyme de Béthune’, pp 65–6.

34 See Histoire des ducs de Normandie, pp 88, 97, 100 (‘Bauduins de Bethune, li cuens d’Aubemalle, qui moult estoit preudom et loiaus et boins chevaliers . . .’), 109–10, 111, 115 (a detailed account of his death in 1212 and burial in the Cistercian abbey of Meaux in his lordship of Holderness on Humberside); see also Holt, J.C., ‘The end of the Anglo-Norman realm’ in Brit. Acad. Proc., lxi (1975), pp 254, 263Google Scholar.

35 Howden, Chronica, iii, 306, and Stubbs’s note.

36 For Hawise see G.E.C., Peerage, i, 353-5Google Scholar; English, Barbara, The lords of Holderness, 1086–1260: a study in feudal society (Hull, 1991), pp 30–37 Google Scholar; Clay, C.T., Early Yorkshire charters, VII: The honour of Skipton (Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, Extra Series, v, York, 1947), pp. 20–21 Google Scholar and passim. Sidney Painter believed that she might well have been one of the future King John’s mistresses (King John, p. 235).

37 Powicke, Loss of Normandy, p. 110; Gillingham, Richard the Lionheart, pp 261–2.

38 English, Lords of Holderness, p. 34.

39 Rot. liberate, pp 185, 186, 195, 200–01 (John and Herbert de St Quintin and Walter de Ver were Baldwin’s military tenants; see also English, Lords of Holderness, p. 162), 210–11, 212–13.

40 Rot. liberate, p. 214. Baldwin’s tenants Fulk and Lambert de Oyry and Robert de Ros received prests at Dublin on 21 August (ibid., p. 225). The ‘knights of the earl of Aubemarle’ received further payments at Dublin two days later (ibid., p. 226). All told, at least thirty-three Flemish knights received prests during the expedition (Painter, King John, p. 265 n. 130).

41 The relevant extract from the Histoire is printed as an appendix below, along with a translation, for assistance with which I am much indebted to Dr Jean-Michel Picard of University College, Dublin, and Nicholas Jacobs of Jesus College, Oxford (though they are not responsible for any errors that may remain).

42 As John Gillingham has pointed out to me, this suggests the possibility that the Flemings (or the informant) sailed directly to Dublin.

43 Rymer, , Foedera (4 vols in 7 pts, Record Commission, London, 1816-69), i, pt 1, p. 55 Google Scholar; Hist. & mun. doc. Ire., pp 51–5; Anc. rec. Dublin, i, 1–13; Niocaill, Gearóid Mac (ed.), Na burgéisí, XII-XV aois (2 vols, Dublin, 1964), i, 76–89 Google Scholar. For John’s favourable treatment of, and consistent support by, the towns throughout his domains see Turner, King John, p. 111.

44 Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 226. On the castle see Gilbert, J.T., A history of the viceroys of Ireland, with notices of the castle of Dublin (London & Dublin, 1865)Google Scholar; McNeill, Charles, ‘Notes on Dublin castle’ in R.S.A.I. Jn., lxx (1940), pp 194–9 Google Scholar; Hughes, J.L.J., ‘Dublin castle in the seventeenth century: a topographical reconstruction’ in Dublin Hist. Rec., ii (1940), pp 80–97 Google Scholar; Leask, H.G., Dublin castle: a short descriptive and historical guide for the use of visitors (Dublin, 1944)Google Scholar; Maguire, J.B., ‘Seventeenth-century plans of Dublin castle’ in Clarke, H. B. (ed.), Medieval Dublin: the making of a metropolis (Dublin, 1990), pp 193–201 Google Scholar. Detailed reports of the important modern excavations at the castle have yet to appear, but see Lynch, Ann and Manning, Conleth, ‘Dublin castle — the archaeological project’ in Archaeology Ireland, iv, no. 2(summer 1990), pp 65-8Google Scholar.

45 Roger of Wendover, , Flores historiarum, ed. Hewlett, H.G (3 vols, R.S., London, 1886-9), ii, 56-7Google Scholar, though a better edition of the text of Wendover is supplied in small type in Luard’s edition of Matthew Paris’s Chronica majora (vol. ii, pp 529–30). It should be pointed out that King John also spent about a week at Dublin just before his departure, and that Wendover is no doubt conflating the business of both visits.

46 See, for example, Grierson, Philip, ‘Commerce in the dark ages: a critique of the evidence’ in R. Hist. Soc. Trans., 5th ser., ix (1959), pp 123–40 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. pp 135–9; and, for Ireland, Doherty, Charles, ‘Exchange and trade in early medieval Ireland’ in R.S.A.I. Jn., ex (1980), pp 67–89 Google Scholar. It is worth noting that in 1211 King John ordered that scarlet robes be presented to the kings of Ireland (Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 531; see also Curtis, , Med. Ire. (2nd ed.), p. 114 n. 1)Google Scholar.

47 There are detailed discussions of the subject in Simms, Katharine, From kings to warlords: the changing political structure of Gaelic Ireland in the later middle ages (Woodbridge, 1987)Google Scholar, ch. 7, and Flanagan, Marie Therese, Irish society, Anglo-Norman settlers, Angevin kingship: interactions in Ireland in the late twelfth century (Oxford, 1989)Google Scholar, ch. 6; see also Kelly, Fergus, A guide to early Irish law (Dublin, 1988), pp 120–21 Google Scholar. For later medieval Irish society in general see Nicholls, Kenneth, Gaelic and gaelicised Ireland in the middle ages (Dublin, 1972)Google Scholar, ch. 2.

48 Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh; The war of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, ed. Todd, J.H. (R.S. London, 1867), pp 132-3Google Scholar.

49 Simms, From kings to warlords, pp 101–4; see also Dictionary of the Irish language based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials, ed. Quin, E.G et al. (Dublin, 1913-76)Google Scholar, s.v.

50 Simms, From kings to warlords, p. 103.1 am grateful to Dr Simms for reading this paper in advance of publication, and especially for her helpful comments on this particular point.

51 See Edwards, R.W.Dudley and O’Dowd, Mary, Sources for early modern Irish history, 1534–1641 (Cambridge, 1985)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, ch. 5.

52 Giraldus Cambrensis, [Gerald of Wales], The history and topography of Ireland [Topographia Hiberniae], trans. O’Meara, John J. (Portlaoise, 1982 ed.), p. 101 Google Scholar.

52 Chronicque de la traïson et mort de Richart Deux Roy Dengieterre, ed. and trans. Williams, Benjamin (English Historical Society, London, 1846), p. 171 Google Scholar.

54 The original text, in French, is printed in full, along with a translation, in Stat. Ire., John-Hen. V, pp 430–69. Essentially the same translation is provided in Curtis, Edmund and McDowell, R. B. (eds), Irish historical documents, 1172–1922 (London, 1943), pp 52–9 Google Scholar.

55 Froissart’s chronicles, ed. and trans. Jolliffe, John (London, 1967), p. 366 Google Scholar.

56 Facs. nat. MSS Ire., iii, plate xxxiii. It appears on the cover of Art Cosgrove, Late medieval Ireland, 1370–1541 (Dublin, 1981)Google Scholar. The Chronicque de la traïson et mort de Richart Deux, in describing Mac Murchada, specifically states that while he rode a very fine steed, he did so without a saddle (p. 173).

57 La chronique de Monstrelet, 1400–1444, ed. d’Arcq, Louis Douët (6 vols, Société de l’Histoire de France, Paris, 1857-62), iii, 284-5Google Scholar. For the horse among the Viking settlers in Ireland see Kavanagh, Rhoda, ‘The horse in Viking Ireland: some observations’ in Bradley, John (ed.), Settlement and society in medieval Ireland: studies presented to F. X. Martin (Kilkenny, 1988), pp 89–121 Google Scholar; for Irish horsemen in the later middle ages see J. F. Lydon, ‘The hobelar: an Irish contribution to mediaeval warfare’ in Ir. Sword, ii (1954-6), pp 12–16.

58 John Gillingham has recently done much important work on the contemporary ‘barbaric’ portrayal of the Irish and other Celtic peoples; see, for example, ‘The context and purposes of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britanniae’ in Anglo-Norman Studies, xiii (1990), pp 99–118 Google Scholar; ‘The beginnings of English imperialism’ in Journal of Historical Sociology, v (1992), pp 392–409 Google Scholar; and ‘The English invasion of Ireland’ in Bradshaw, Brendan et al. (eds), Representing Ireland: literature and the origins of conflict, 1534–1660 (Cambridge, 1993), pp 24–42 Google Scholar. See also Jones, W.R., ‘The image of the barbarian in medieval Europe’ in Comparative Studies in History and Society, xiii (1971), pp 376–407 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, ‘England against the Celtic fringe’ in Jn. World Hist., xiii (1971), pp 155–71. On the views and influence of Giraldus Cambrensis see Bartlett, Robert, Gerald of Wales, 1146–1223 (Oxford, 1982), ch. 6Google Scholar; and, more generally, idem, The making of Europe: conquest, colonization and cultural change, 950–1350 (London, 1993), passim. The subject also forms an important theme in Davies, R.R., Domination and conquest: the experience of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, 1100–1300 (Cambridge, 1990).Google Scholar

59 A.L.C, s.a. 1210; Cronica regum Mannie & Insularum, ed. and trans. Broderick, George (Belfast, 1979)Google Scholar, f. 41v; ‘Continuatio chronici Willelmi de Novoburgo’, ii, 511; Paris, Chronica majora, ii, 530. The praestita roll also refers to the activities of John’s agents in Man at this point (Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 407).

60 Rymer, Foedera, i, pt 1, pp 107–8. Duncan soon received his reward, with a grant of Lame and Glenarm and fifty carucates of land in between, approximating to the modern barony of Upper Glenarm in County Antrim (Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 907; Orpen, Normans, ii, 267). For a discussion see Greeves, Ronald, ‘The Galloway lands in Ulster’ in Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, 3rd ser., xxxvi (1957-8), pp 115-22Google Scholar; Stringer, Keith J., ‘Periphery and core in thirteenth-century Scotland: Alan son of Roland, lord of Galloway and constable of Scotland’ in Grant, Alexander and Stringer, K.J. (eds), Medieval Scotland: crown, lordship and community: essays presented to G. W. S. Barrow (Edinburgh, 1993), pp 82–113 Google Scholar; Duffy, Sean, ‘Ireland and the Irish Sea region, 1014–1318’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Trinity College, Dublin, 1993), pp 64, 72–6, 94–9, and app. 4Google Scholar.

61 Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 279; Rot. litt. claus., 1204–24, p. 62. See Walton, Helen, ‘The English in Connacht, 1171–1333’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Trinity College, Dublin, 1980), pp 37-41Google Scholar; eadem, (Walton-Perros, Helen), ‘Crossing the Shannon frontier: Connacht and the Anglo-Normans, 1170–1224’ in Barry, T.B., Frame, R.F. and Simms, Katharine (eds), Colony and frontier in medieval Ireland: essays presented to J. E Lydon (London & Rio Grande, 1995), p. 131 Google Scholar; See also Lydon, James, ‘Lordship and crown: Llywelyn of Wales and O’Connor of Connacht’ in Davies, R. R. (ed.), The British Isles, 1100–1500: comparisons, contrasts and connections (Edinburgh, 1988), p. 56 Google Scholar.

62 For Carrigogunnell see Westropp, T.J., ‘Carrigogunnell castle and the O’Briens of Pubblebrian in the County of Limerick’ in R.S.A.I. Jn., xxxvii (1907), pp 374–92 Google Scholar; Orpen, Normans, ii, 168 n. 2.

63 Misc. Ir. Annals, s.a. 1210.

64 Cal. doc. Ire., 1171–1251, no. 649; see also Empey, C.A., ‘The settlement of the kingdom of Limerick’ in Lydon, (ed.), England & Ireland in the later middle ages, pp 14–15 Google Scholar.

65 For a general discussion see Warren, , ‘King John & Ireland’ Google Scholar, and Frame, Robin, Colonial Ireland, 1169–1369 (Dublin, 1981); p. 57 Google Scholar.

66 See Simms, From kings to warlords, ch. 5.

67 Cog. Gaedhel, pp 128–31.

68 Translated in Curtis, Edmund, Richard II in Ireland, 1394–5, and submissions of the Irish chiefs (Oxford, 1927), p. 221 Google Scholar; see also Simms, From kings to warlords, p. 70.

69 A.L.C., s.a. 1210.

70 Ibid.; for comment see Walton, ‘The English in Connacht’, pp 41–3; eadem (Walton-Perros), ‘Crossing the Shannon frontier’, p. 132.

71 A.L.C., s.a. 1210; Ann. Clon., s.a. 1213.

72 See Powicke, F.M., ‘King John and Arthur of Brittany’ in E.H.R., xxiv (1909), pp 659-74CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, The loss of Normandy, pp 309–28; Legge, M.D., ‘William the Marshal and Arthur of Brittany’ in I.H.R. Bull. lv (1982), pp 18–24 Google Scholar. John’s most recent biographer comments: ‘Baronial fear and distrust of John . . . confronted them with a dilemma when he demanded their sons as hostages. Handing over hostages was difficult once rumours spread of Arthur of Brittany’s disappearance while in his uncle’s custody ... Rumours of the boy’s death spread by the spring of 1204; and they drastically damaged John’s moral authority, especially with those nobles whose sons he held hostage.’ (Turner, King John, pp 17, 121)

73 Turner, King John, p. 253.

74 Roger of Wendover, Flores historiarum, ii, 48–9.

75 Their fate is discussed in detail in Norgate, John Lackland, pp 287–8.

76 L’histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, II 13272, 13355–419; see also Painter, William Marshal, pp 143, 146; Crouch, David, William Marshal: court, career and chivalry in the Angevin empire, 1147–1219 (London, 1990), pp 91, 94, 99Google Scholar.

77 The best discussion is in Duncan, A.A.M., Scotland: the making of the kingdom (Edinburgh, 1975), pp 241–52 Google Scholar.

78 Barrow, G.W.S., Kingship and unity: Scotland, 1000–1306 (Edinburgh, 1981), p. 146 Google Scholar.

79 Walter of Coventry, Memoriale, ii, 207; Roger of Wendover, Flores historiarum, ii, 61; for the importance of the hostage question in John’s dealings with the Welsh princes at this point see Smith, J. Beverley, ‘Magna Carta and the Welsh princes’ in E.H.R., xcix (1984), pp 344–62 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Needless to say, in view of the longstanding affinity between both countries, in Ireland the memory would still be strong of Henry II’s equally cruel treatment of Welsh hostages during his 1165 campaign, a campaign recorded in the Irish annals (see A. U., s.a. 1165); for the most recent account see Latimer, Paul, ‘Henry II’s campaign against the Welsh in 1165’ in Welsh Hist. Rev., xiv (1989), pp 523–52 Google Scholar.

80 Brut y tywysogyon ... Peniarth MS 20 version, p. 86.

81 Painter, King John, p. 229.

82 This was a favourite oath of John’s. It occurs in one of his outbursts following the loss of Normandy, recorded in L’histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, 1.13159. Roger of Wendover also has him using it in a fit of rage a couple of years later: ‘Rex ... in verba blasphemiae prorupit, jurans per dentes Dei ...’ (Flores historiarum, ii, 46).

83 We know that at Carrickfergus, on 20 July, Roger Pipard was given a prest of 2 marks ‘ad equos emendos’ (Rot. liberate, p. 197).

84 See Simms, From kings to warlords, pp 130–36; Kelly, Guide to early Irish law, p. 19.

85 Ann. Conn., s.a. 1230; see also A.F.M.

86 Irish pipe roll of 14 John’, ed. Davies & Quinn, pp 36, 66; see also Simms, Katharine, ‘The O’Hanlons, the O’Neills, and the Anglo-Normans in thirteenth-century Armagh’, Seanchas Ardmhacha, ix (1978-9), p. 77 Google Scholar; eadem, ‘Gaelic lordships in Ulster in the later middle ages’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Trinity College, Dublin, 1976), ii, 640-42Google Scholar.

87 Ann. Inisf., s.a. 1210.

88 The only satisfactory account remains unpublished in Simms, ‘Gaelic lordships in Ulster’, ii, 636–18.

89 A.F.M., s.a. 1209=1210: ‘Hugh O’Neill repaired hither [to Carrickfergus] at the king’s summons, but returned home without giving him hostages . . . The king of England then went to Rathguaire, whither O’Conor repaired again to meet him; and the king requested O’Conor to deliver him up his son, to be kept as a hostage. O’Conor did not give him his son, but delivered up four of his people instead ... The king then returned to England, bringing these hostages with him.’

90 Walton, ‘The English in Connacht’, pp 42–3; Simms, ‘Gaelic lordships in Ulster’, ii, 641–2.

91 This is what the Dictionary of the Middle Ages has to say: ‘Since 1200 John’s only success had been the Irish expedition of 1210 that enabled him to impose his control over the whole island and to introduce the English administrative system’ (ed. Strayer, J.R et al., vii (New York, 1986)Google Scholar, s.n. ‘John, king of England’, by Lyon, Bryce, p. 130)Google Scholar. Sidney Painter puts it thus: ‘History has not, I believe, fully recognized either the full scope of John’s plans to recover his prestige or how near they came to fruition ... He humbled the great Anglo-Irish barons and the native chieftains and vastly increased his authority in that lordship.’ (King John, p. 227)

92 Otway-Ruthven, Med. Ire., p. 81.