Above : Picture Of King Henry VII, The Tudor

During this period, then, English influence was at its lowest ebb. The country was independent, and the nation with a unified in culture ; but the one had no centre, and the other no head— there was no national focus. The conditions were remarkably like those after Clontarf or like those of the Italian States down to recent times. Certain definite groupings there were. O’Neill and O’Donnell, O’Brien and Mac Carthy were still the accepted leaders of many subordinate clans. Indeed, the continued recognition of the chief family, and of the ruling clan, is striking—in families and clans there were dissensions, but there was very little disloyalty. Those leaders, however, were surrounded by other clans, Gaelic and Norman, over whom they had no traditional claims. Amongst the Normans, too, the three great Earls were obeyed by numerous inferior lords, but they also were opposed by their rivals in any ambitions beyond their respective territories. It was a state of affairs that could not last. The natural course of events was certain to bring forward one family, either Gaelic or Norman, which would establish its influence over the political fragments of the country. Such a family was, in fact, produced in the Kildare Geraldines.

When Thomas, Earl of Kildar died (1477), he was succeeded by his son, Garrett or Gerald (geA^oro ttl6p) as 8th Earl. The Irish Council elected Garrett as Lord Deputy, but the English King (Edward IV) refused to recognise him, and sent over Lord Grey in his stead. But the King’s nominee was refused admittance to Dublin Castle by the doughty Keating, and the Lord Chancellor refused to deliver him up the Great Seal. Grey called a Parliament in Trim, but Kildare and the Chancellor (his father-in-law, Fitz-Eustace, Lord Portlester) immediately called a rival Parliament at Naas. During two years the contest went on until finally Kildare won, and was appointed Lord Deputy with increased powers, which left him practically independent. For the next 35 years (1478-1513) the Great Earl was the most powerful man in Ireland, and with the exception of one break of four years (1492-6) he was all that time Lord Deputy under the Yorkist Kings, Edward IV and Richard III, until 1485, and then under the Tudor King, Henry VII.

Below : Picture Of Richard III

In 1485 the House of York fell at the battle of Bosworth, and Henry Tudor became King of England as Henry VII. The Wars of the Roses had ended, and new conditions prevailed England which were to have a profound influence on Irish affairs. The wars had destroyed the old feudal nobility of England, and for many years to come that country was to be ruled by sovereigns whose power was arbitrary. Untroubled by powerful nobles, the Tudors were able to direct the policy of England with a single mind. To their despotism in England, the condition of Ireland was a sharp contrast. There the clan and feudal nobility were powerful, independent, and assertive, with a princely nobleman at their head, who, although invested with the authority of the King, was a subject only in name.