From Norsemen to Normans..

The Norsemen, also known as the Northmen, set about their rampage in Europe around the end of the eight century. Commonly known to us as the Vikings, they hailed from the Teutonic peoples who inhabited the harsh environments of Scandinavia, meaning Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. To find better conditions and improve their prospects they invaded other lands like France, Italy, Germany, and Britain.

While Ireland, with its deep bays along its coastline, was an easy target for the Vikings (Danes as they were also known) who rowed their boats into land, raid and kill. They took gold and silver items from monasteries, kidnapped women to sell as slaves, stole cattle and destroyed the beautiful books held by the monks. Buildings were set on fire when the Vikings invaded Ireland.

During the second stage of the invasion, they discovered more about Ireland and became more brazen. Soon they took possession of land off the coast of Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, and Limerick. These Vikings had built separate kingdoms all along the coastal counties. But by the middle of the 10th century invaders attempted to form a Norse kingdom and Mael Sechnaill, King of Meath, was captured and taken prisoner. During that period, the strongest concentration of the Norsemen was in Dublin and their king ruled from Meath to Arklow.

In France, the Norsemen established Normandy in the north of France and from here their descendants, by then known as the Normans, invaded Britain. 1066 AD was the year that the Normans under William the Conqueror began ruling Britain and made French the official language of government. In the late 12th century, Norman forces arrived in Ireland by invitation.

Diarmaid MacMurrough the King of Leinster became uneasy when his position in the quest for the ‘High-Kingship’ of Ireland came under attack from Rory O’Connor of Connacht who was an ‘Ulster claimant’. But Rory became High-King and Diarmaid, seeking to bolster his forces to defeat his enemies, turned to Henry II, the English Norman King.

Norman forces under Richard de Clare, the Earl of Pembroke aka Strongbow, were given permission by Henry II to go to Ireland. In time, they would establish Norman control in parts of the country. The Norman knights were the most superior and systematically organised military forces, accompanied by foot-soldiers armed with bows and arrows. The knights were a remarkable sight for the eyes to behold, dressed in chainmail, over which they wore shining metal plated armour and carried knives, swords, and lances.

Soon the English King wanted the land in Ireland under his patronage, and the Normans were ordered to submit to him, as did the bishops and Irish chiefs. Thereby, the country began to find itself coming under English rule by stealth. The castles built by the Normans were sturdy and virtually impossible to penetrate with the weapons of the time. From these strongholds they went forth and took over more “strips of land” on which to build additional fortresses from where they could launch further raids for land.

The Normans’ arrival in Ireland was felt in various places including parts of Breifne which geographically now forms modern day Co Cavan and Co Leitrim. The impact of the Anglo-Normans was less pronounced in Cavan and Monaghan than it had been around Dublin and throughout the territory known as ‘The Pale’, a district that has lent its name to the phrase ‘beyond the pale’.

In chapter three, from the book, ‘Cavan History and Society’, Dr Paul McCotter has written about ‘The early history and sub-divisions of the kingdom of Breifne’, and states that: ‘In most of Breifne, Anglo-Norman settlement was light or non-existent’ and he adds, that ‘the brief presence of Colonial lords here endured long enough to create some manors with corresponding rectories.’

Clogh Oughter Castle situated upon an island on Lough Oughter, Co Cavan, has strong associations with the O’Reilly family. In its former state, it was most likely built by the Anglo-Normans, argues Conleth Manning in a Breifne published booklet titled ‘Clogh Oughter Castle’ which he researched and wrote in 1990.

Manning notes that ‘O’Reilly was with Strongbow defending Dublin against the High King, Rory O’Connor and Tighearnan O’Rourke, King of Breifne.’ But O’Rourke got killed and a ‘power vacuum’ ensued in which the Anglo-Norman Hugh de Lacy saw as an opportunity to take possession of more property. While considering his next move, he cast an eye towards Oriel too. The ambition of the Anglo-Normans to take charge of Central Ulster meant that they needed to erect fortresses in the region. At Clones, Kilmore, and Belturbet, they built castles which were vital to the progress of acquiring lands ‘further south.’

In Anglo-Norman Ireland, Michael Dolley notes that in 1220 that ‘loose ends’ had to be tidied up following the restoration of Meath to Walter de Lacey, and an agreement was made to cede Drogheda to the Crown. However, compensation for losing the territory was paid and de Lacey was left to his devices.

Dolley explains: ‘The earl was now free to pursue an expansionist policy on the Cavan mearing and overran the O’Reilly crannog on Lough Oughter.’ But there was a slight twist in the plot when the O’Reillys switched allegiance to the Crown forces and helped to conduct an ‘attack on their old island-fortress on Lough Oughter.’ A half-brother of Walter, named William de Lacey, became a fugitive to the Irish and members of his immediate family were imprisoned when the O’Reillys changed sides.

MCMAHONS IN MONAGHAN

In Monaghan, the McMahons became the most significant family when the O’Cearbhails of Airghialla were overrun by the Normans. In the book, At The Ford of The Birches, James and Peadar Murnane noted that the O’Cearbhails had ‘borne the brunt of the Norman invasion in the north … under the depredations of de Courcey’s armies.’ The Murnane brothers added that by the middle of the 14th century the McMahons attained the position of being the ‘leading Airghialla Sept’.

Eventually, Anglo-Normans and the surrounding Gaelic culture became intermingled. Dr Eamon Darcy, a historian at Maynooth University points to the ‘Cultural hybridity they fostered’ through absorbing Irish customs as part of their way of life. The support then given by them to Gaelic scribes and poets is another example of the assimilation, which included marriages between the two cultures. They brought a certain order and structure to life in Ireland, establishing corporations, laws, and markets.

In time the Anglo-Normans became as Irish as the Irish themselves.