Above : Picture Of Normans Knight It is necessary to understand who and what were those Normans to whose King the deposed Diarmuid had gone for support against his fellow-countrymen. Early in the tenth century a body of the Norsemen who were at the time devastating Ireland and other countries, had made a settlement on the banks of the River Seine. The King of Paris granted to them a large tract of country on the shores of the English Channel called Neustria—one of ... Read More

Above : Picture Of Robert Fitz-Stephen In the month of May, 1169, the first body of the adventurers arrived under the leadership of Robert Fitz-Stephen and others. About 2,000 strong, they landed at Bannow Bay in the extreme south of the present county of Wexford. The district was part of Ui Cinnsealaigh, and the people of the open country were loyal to their chief. But on the one side lay Waterford, and on the other Wexford, and the Norse inhabitants of both towns ... Read More