Presentation Brothers

From 1169 to the present day England has had an immense and often malign influence on Ireland's history. In that year, Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster, who was seeking a solution to a personal problem of his own creation, invited Richard Fitzgilbert de Clare, a powerful Norman leader in Wales known as Strongbow, to come to his aid. Strongbow landed with an army in Wexford where he joined forces with an advance party which had already gained a foothold. He had agreed to come to MacMurrough's aid on condition that he would marry Aoife, the king's daughter, and that the right of succession in Leinster would pass to him and his heirs. The cities of Waterford and Dublin were soon in the control of the invaders.

Henry II, Norman king of England, realised that Strongbow might establish a strong independent kingdom in Ireland and this could be a threat to his own supremacy. Henry landed at Waterford in October 1171 with a strong force and marched through the country. Neither Strongbow nor the Irish had little choice but to submit to him.

By the year 1300 the Norman conquest of Ireland was extensive, though not complete. Towns were primarily Norman in population and character. In rural areas a feudal system of land tenure was established similar to that found in other parts of western Europe and the Irish continued to live and work on the land. The Norman legal system prevailed in those parts of the island which were reduced to obedience to England. The church benefited from the coming of the Normans through the introduction of new monastic orders, particularly the Franciscans and the Dominicans, and many of Ireland's most impressive stone-built churches and cathedrals date from this period.