Above : Map Of Leinster

Power of the Great Lords.—The story of the Norman settlement is not, however, to be found in the records of the appointments and dismissals of nominal Chief Governors in Dublin. It follows, indeed, no single course, but varies with the varying fortunes of the great families to whom had been granted the right of plunder in so many Irish territories. The history of the early Normans is the history of the great Lordships and of the families upon whom they were conferred. The grants had been accompanied by almost sovereign rights, and in their own territories the great lords made peace and war, granted lands, created nobles and officials, and erected castles, independently of the Crown. Over them the King’s governor had no control; he was merely a rival competitor. The events connected with the development and fate of the four great Lordships—that of Strongbow in Leinster, of De Lacy in Meath, of De Courcey in ” Ulster,” and of De Burgh in Connacht—comprise nearly the whole history of the Normans in Ireland during this period.

Above : Richard “Red Earl” De Burgh Logo

De Courcey in ” Ulster.”—The extension of Norman power to the North was the result of pure brigandage, for there is no evidence that John De Courcey had even the excuse of a royal grant for his adventure. With a small body of picked men he marched beyond Dundalk, and penetrated the gap between the Mourne Mountains and Lough Neagh into the ancient retreat of the Clanna Rury (1177). Suddenly appearing before Downpatrick, he seized it despite the protests of the Papal Legate, Cardinal Vivian, who was then in the town, and defeated an army under Mac Dunlevy, the chief of Dal Araidhe. Firmly establishing himself in the territory of Lecale on the shores of Dundrum Bay and Strangford Lough, and in the peninsula of the Ards, De Courcey was eventually given the title of Earl of ” Ulster ” (1181). The name was borrowed—as were most of the Norman names for Irish territories —from the Norsemen of the maritime towns. ” Ulster ” represented then, and for centuries afterwards, only the narrow belt of north-eastern coast which hitherto we have known as the Kingdom of ” Ulaidh.” and only a part of this—Lecale and the Ards—had been occupied. But in later times it became the policy and interest of the English Crown to extend the name of this little maritime district over all the country which lay behind it.