Invasions

The king’s representative was the justiciar, and there was an Irish parliament. Towns and cities were incorporated and much of the country was shired. Ring-forts died out, and people lived mainly in wooden or mud houses, in small settlements or in towns. Bishops’ links with Rome and the proliferation of monastic orders of continental origin built international connections, as did thriving trade with France, Spain, Britain and the Low Countries. Gaelic-Irish leaders stood fast against Anglo-Normans in some areas and enlisted the aid of Scotland’s Edward Bruce to fight them in 1316–1318. But in general the two groups entwined politically, socially, economically and personally (through marriage) with each other. All professed the same religion, and spoke, or understood, the same language: English was the language of administration and of the king’s representatives, but Irish remained the lingua franca , and most of the towns established by Normans (mostly in Leinster and Munster) had Irish names. Many European texts were translated into Irish. But by 1490, Irish political interests were united enough to support the Yorkists in England’s civil wars. At this stage around Dublin was an area known as the Pale, considered the extent of English power. The Anglo-Norman Fitzgerald dynasty of Kildare emerged as leaders of Ireland by 1500, although in Ulster the O’Neills held sway.