Above: Picture of Richard II

Ireland now entered the international arena, and England was confronted in her foreign affairs, for the first time, by ” the Irish Question.” The King of England at that time was Richard II. Vain, impulsive, and ambitious, he became a candidate for the Imperial Crown of the ” Holy Roman Empire ” by right of his wife.

But the German electors and princes thought but little of the power of the English King; they needed a strong Emperor to meet the menace of the Turks, who were now in Europe;  and  they taunted  Richard with the  fact that he   was  unable to   hold Ireland,  over  which  he claimed dominion.    

Richard sailed for Ireland, and landed at Water-ford at the head of what was then an overwhelming army of 34,000 men (October, 1394).    

 New Ross being in ruins, Richard marched to Kilkenny, suffering much on the way from guerilla warfare.   Here he proposed humiliating terms to Mac Murrough, which were rejected, and the English King resumed his painful march to Dublin, his army harassed at every step by incessant guerilla attacks.   

At Drogheda O’Neill, O’Donnell and other northern chiefs came to meet him (having refused to come as far as Dublin) and paid him the usual formal homage. In February of next year Mac Murrough met Richard’s ambassador— the Earl of Nottingham, Earl Marshal of England—at Ballygorry near Carlow, and vowed allegiance on condition of getting his ” black rent ” and his wife’s lands.  

Above : Map of Dublin & Kildare Region map

 A number of the Irish chiefs visited Richard in Dublin, and seventy-five of them are said to have paid homage to him, while O’Neill, O’Brien, O’Connor of Connacht, and Mac Murrough were knighted by the King’s hand.

   Mac Murrough, however, was imprisoned for a short time on a charge made by the Earl of Ormonde, arid was only released on giving hostages.  

After a stay of nine months, mostly spent in empty display, Richard returned to England ” with much honour and small profit … he did not increase his revenue one sterling pound, nor enlarged the English borders the breadth of one acre of land;  neither did he extend the jurisdiction of his courts of justice by one foote  {May, 1395).