Part 4 (1/2)

[17] Reeves's Ad.a.m.nan, p. 332 n.

[18] _Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill_, chap. x.x.xvi.

[19] _Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill_, chap. xl.

[20] The quotations are from _Burnt Njal_, chap. cliii.

[21] _Burnt Njal_, chap. cliv.

[22] _Ibid._, chap. clvi. _Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill_, chaps.

xcviii. and xcix. _Annals of Lough Ce_, pp. 7-13.

[23] _Burnt Njal_, chap. clvi.

[24] Many details about the Hiberno-Norse coins are to be found in Worsaae.

[25] _Book of Rights_, pp. 225 _sqq._, and O'Donovan's preface.

[26] See Hook's _Lives of Lanfranc, Anselm, and Ralph d'Eures_.

Translations of the letters mentioned in the text may be found in King's Primer of the Irish Church; most of the originals are printed in Ussher's _Sylloge_.

[27] The Irish always called Dublin Ath-cliath, or the Ford of Hurdles.

[28] The great mine of knowledge about the Irish Scandinavians is Todd's _Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill_, in the Record series. I have also used Dasent's _Story of Burnt Njal_, and Anderson's _Orkneyinga Saga_.

Haliday's _Scandinavian Kingdom of Dublin_, edited by Mr. J. P.

Prendergast, is a good modern book. Worsaae's _Danes and Norwegians_ is said to be somewhat fanciful, but it contains information not readily accessible elsewhere.

[Ill.u.s.tration: IRELAND IN 1172.

_The princ.i.p.al Danish Settlements are underlined Blue._]

CHAPTER III.

THE REIGN OF HENRY II.

[Sidenote: England lays claim to Ireland, 1155.]

The claims of the Kings of England to Ireland were very vague. They sometimes acted as patrons of the Irish Ostmen, who were not unwilling to follow the example of their Northumbrian kinsmen, but they performed no real function of sovereignty. William the Conqueror and his sons had not time to attend to Ireland, and this applies in an even greater degree to Stephen. Henry II. ascended an undisputed throne, and in the first year of his reign turned his thoughts to the fertile island of the West. Being badly in want of a t.i.tle, he sent John of Salisbury to Rome for leave to conquer Ireland, to root up the saplings of vice there, and to bring the wild Irish into the way of the true faith. The Pope was Nicholas Breakspeare, known in history as Adrian IV., the only Englishman who ever filled the papal chair. The popes were usually ready to grant boons to kings, if by so doing they could extend their own power, and an English pope must have felt a double pride in conferring favours on a king of England. The mission of John of Salisbury was successful. He brought back the Bull _Laudabiliter_ and a gold ring containing a very fine emerald, intended to be used in Henry's invest.i.ture. Empress Maude objected to an Irish expedition, and nothing was done until long after Adrian's death.

Henry took the precaution of having the grant confirmed by Alexander III., and there is ample evidence that he annexed Ireland with the entire approbation of that Pope.[29]

[Sidenote: Adrian IV grants Ireland to Henry II.]

Irish scholars, torn asunder by their love of Rome and their love of Ireland, formerly attempted to prove that Adrian's bull was not genuine; but its authenticity is no longer disputed. The momentous doc.u.ment runs as follows:--

[Sidenote: Adrian's bull.]

'Hadrian the bishop, servant of the servants of G.o.d, to his very dear son in Christ, the ill.u.s.trious King of the English, health and apostolic benediction: