THE STORY OF IRELAND

New Zealand Tablet, 27 February 1919, Page 10

THE STORY OF IRELAND

(By A. M. Sullivan.)

XVIII.— THE NORMAN ADVENTURERS GOT A FOOTHOLD ON IRISH SOIL. The fatal hour was now at hand. Early in the month of May, a small flotilla of strange vessels ran into a little creek on the Wexford coast, near Bahnow, and disembarked an armed force upon the shore. This was the advanced guard of the Norman invasion—a party of thirty knights, sixty men in armor, and three hundred footmen, under Robert Pitzstephen. Next day at the same point of disembarkation arrived Maurice de Preudergast, a Welsh gentleman who had joined the enterprise, bringing with him an additional force. Camping on the. coast, they quickly despatched a courier to McMurrogh to say that they , had come Diarmid hastened to the spot with all the men he could rally. The joint force at once marched upon and laid siege to Wexford, which town, after a gallant defence, capitulated to them. Elate with this important victory, and strengthened in numbers, Diarmid now marched into Ossory. Here he was confronted by Fitzpatrick, Prince of Ossory, commanding, however, a force quite inferior to McMurrogh A sanguinary engagement ensued. The Oesorians bravely held their own throughout the day, until decoyed from their chosen position into an open ground where the Norman cavalry had full play, the “poise of the beam” was turned against them; they were thrown into confusion, pressed by the enemy, and at length overthrown with great slaughter. Roderick the Second, titular Ard-Ri. now awakened to the necessity of interposing with the national forces; not as against an invasion ; for at this period, and indeed for some time afterwards, none of the Irish princes attached such a character or meaning to the circumstance that McMurrogh had enlisted into his service some men of England. It was to check McMurrogh, the deposed King of Leinster, in his hostile proceedings, that the Ard-Ri summoned the national forces to meet him at the Hill of Tara. The provincial princes, with their respective forces, assembled at his call; but had scarcely done so, when, owing to some contention, the northern contingent, under Mac Dunlevy, Prince of Ulidia, withdrew. With the remainder, however, Roderick marched upon Ferns, the Lagenian capital, where McMurrogh had entrenched himself. Roderick appears to have exhibited weakness and vaccillation in the crisis, when boldness, promptitude, and vigor were so vitally requisite. He began to parley and diplomatise with McMurrogh, who cunningly feigned willingness to agree to any terms; for all he secretly desired was to gain time till Strongbow and the full force from Wales would be at bis side. McMurrogh, with much show of moderation and humility, agreed to a treaty with the Ard-Ri. by which the sovereignty of Leinster was restored to him ; and he, on the other hand, solemnly bound himself by a secret clause, guaranteed by his own son as hostage, that he would bring over no more foreigners to serve in his army. No suspicion of any such scheme as an invasion seems even for an instant to have crossed the monarch-® mind; yet he wisely saw the danger of importing a foreign force into the country. He and the other princes really believed that the only object McMurrogh had was to regain the sovereignty of Leinster. The crafty and perfidious Diarmid in this treaty gained the object he soughttime. Scarcely had Roderick and the national forces retired, than the Leinster King, hearing that a further Norman contingent, under Maurice Fitzgerald, had landed at Wexford, marched upon Dublin—then held by the Danes under their prince, Hasculf Mac Turkill, tributary to the Irish Ard-Riand set up a claim to the monarchy of Ireland. The struggle was now fully inaugurated' Soon after a third Norman force,-under Raymond le Gros (or “the Fat”), landed in Waterford Estuary,

on the Wexford side, and hastily fortified themselves on the rock of Dundonolf, awaiting the main force under Strongbow. And now we encounter the evil and terrible results of the riven and disorganised state of Ireland, to which I have already sufficiently adverted. The hour at last had come when the curse was to work, when the punishment was to fall! It was at such a moment as this—just as Roderick was again preparing to take the field to crush the more fully developed designs of Diarmid—that Donogh O Brien, Prince of Thomond, chose to throw off allegiance to the Ard-Ri, and precipitate a civil war in the very fao© of a foreign invasion! Meanwhile, Strongbow was on the point of embarking at Milford Haven with a most formidable force, when King Henry, much distrusting* the adventurous and powerful knight—and having, secretly, his own designs about Ireland, which he feared the ambition of Strongbow if successful, might thwart—imperatively forbade his sailing. Strongbow disregarded the royal mandate, and set sail with his fleet. He landed at Waterford (23rd August, 1171), and joined by the force of Raymond, which had been cooped up in their fort on the rock of Dundonolf, laid siege to the city. Waterford. like Dublin, was a Dano-Irish city, and was governed and commanded by Reginald, a prince of Danish race. The neighboring Irish under O’Felan, Prince of the Deisi patriotically hurried to the assistance of the Danish citizens; and the city was defended with a heroism equal to that of the three hundred at Thermopylae. Again and again the assailants were hurled fiom the walls; but at length the Norman besieging skill prevailed ; a breach was effected, the enemy poured into the town, and a scene of butchery shocking to contemplate ensued. Diarmid arrived just in time to congratulate Strongbow on this important victory. He had brought his daughter Eva with him, and amidst the smoking and bloodstained ruins of the city the nuptials of the Norman knight and the Irish princess were celebrated.

(To be continued.)