Above : Painting “Marriage Of Strongbow & Eva”

There was, however, an influence at work amongst the descendants of the early Normans in Ireland greater than that produced either by the increased activity of the Irish or by the Weakness of the Crown of England. It was the influence of a vigorous national life upon what was still an artificial element in the nation. Its effects were radical because they produced a change of character. Like the Norsemen in an earlier period, the Normans were being assimilated by the Nation—they were rapidly being Gaelicised. They had now been in the country for nearly two centuries, holding most of the lands they had seized against the Irish, who encompassed them on all sides. In many a feud—both Irish and Norman—the two races had frequently fought side by side, and intimate intercourse in peace could not be prevented. Marriages between the two races had been frequent from the time of those of Strongbow with Eva, and of De Lacy with Rose O’Connor. The Normans, originally partly Welsh, as has been seen, were now strongly Irish in blood. They found a charm in many features of the national life around them, and they adopted many of them. Their children were fostered in Irish families, the tie of gossipred bound many of the two races, Irish bards were welcomed in the castles of the lords. They adopted the Irish language (the son of the first Earl of Desmond was a Gaelic poet) and Irish names, and many personal customs which were peculiarly Irish. Many of their followers were Irish in race, who took the place of the settlers who had fled from the country, and some of the great lords had under their ” protection ” isolated Irish clans who occupied parts of their original territories under their own chiefs.

This process of absorption had been progressing steadily for a long time, but the most definite evidence of it was given when the De Burghs, or Burkes, renounced allegiance to England, and adopted Irish language, Irish land tenure, Irish names and customs. Their example was deliberately followed by the other Normans of Connacht, while it was imitated by many of those in other parts of the country. The Desmond Geraldines, in particular, were conspicuous for their adoption of Irish ways. But the process was a natural one, and it affected all. The Normans in Ireland were becoming as Irish as the Gaelic clans around them, from whom they differed only in tradition, in their systems of holding and succeeding to land and titles, and, in some cases only, in a nominal allegiance to the English Crown.

The change in the character of the Normans in Ireland was the more marked because a change had also taken place amongst those in England. Soon after the invasion King John had lost Normandy, which became incorporated in the growing Kingdom of France.* The English Normans, deprived of their possessions on the Continent, were forced to look upon England as their home, and they soon ceased to be Normans, and became fused in the composite ” English ” nation which was then evolved. The Gaelicised Norman consequently found that his Irish neighbour had more in common with him than had the Anglicised Norman.

* The Kings of England still retained, however, a great part of the south of modern France, as vassals of the French King.

The ” English ” language was ordered to be used in the law courts in England in 1362—five years before the ” Statute of Kilkenny.”

This difference was recognised by both peoples. To the Irish the descendants of the early settlers became known as ” Sean $AIU” (” Sean Ghaill,” or ” Old Strangers “) as opposed to the more recent arrivals. The latter were known to the Sean Ghaill as the ” New English,” and they again regarded the older settlers as ” Degenerate English.” Henceforward the English government recognises three classes in Ireland—the ” mere (or ‘ purely’) Irish,” or the “King’s enemies”; the “degenerate English,” or ” English by blood,” who are often also the ” King’s rebels”; and the ” English by birth,” or ” new English,” or sometimes ” mere English.”

Above : Lionel “Duke Of Clarence” Family Tree

Lionel Duke of Clarence and ” Earl of Ulster.”—The antagonism between the early settlers and the ” new English ” was in evidence as early as the time of the visit of Prince John and his arrogant courtiers. But the distinction between the ” English by descent ” and the ” English by birth ” was first officially ratified by the decree of 1341. That decree, as has been seen, was withdrawn in the following year. Its offensive spirit was more definitely and insultingly proclaimed after a lapse of twenty years. The occasion of this was the first visit of Prince Lionel, the son of Edward III, who was sent over as Lord Lieutenant in 1361— to save ” our Irish dominions ” from being totally lost, said the King. This prince had married the infant daughter of the murdered Brown Earl of Ulster* and in her right he now put forward the claim to the De Burgh possessions in ” Ulster ” and Connacht which had been anticipated by Ulick and Edmond Albanach. He had scarcely landed when he issued a proclamation forbidding any of Irish birth to approach his army. The proclamation, however, was certainly not heeded by the O’Byrnes, Mac Murroughs, and other Irish clans, and Prince Lionel was soon forced to invite the support of ” all the King’s subjects.” Even with their help he was unable to displace the Clann Aodha Buidhe from ” Ulster,” or to bring the rebellious Mac Williams back to allegiance. He returned to England, and was created Duke of Clarence.

* The Earl’s widow had been re-married to Ufford, the ” New English ” Viceroy