The Talbot-Ormond Struggle for Control of the Anglo-Irish Government, 1414-47

Extract

The feud between the Talbot and Ormond interests, which dominates Anglo-Irish history from about 1414 to 1447, is of interest chiefly as an illustration of the final stage in the collapse of a government, and as affording a striking instance of that parallelism which can often be observed between English and Anglo-Irish history. In both cases the period is marked by the relapse of politics into mere faction and the corresponding decline of the institutions of government in estimation and effectiveness. In Ireland this decline is even more marked than in England, lacking, as it does, the more cheerful colours of rapid commercial progress to lighten the dark picture of political decadence. In Ireland the feuds and factions of the early fifteenth century, connected with the personalities of Sir John Talbot and the fourth earl of Ormond, brought the government to such a pitch of disorder that by the beginning of the Tudor period thorough reorganization was necessary.