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Dermot's Dilemma - His
Flight to England - Applies to Henry II for Assistance - Meets Strongbow -
Engages FitzStephen - Returns to Ireland - FitzStephen lands - Besieges
Wexford - Dermot attacks Ossory - Comes to Terms with Roderick O'Conor and
Tiernan O'Rourke - Maurice FitzGerald arrives - Strongbow sends Le Gros.
Dermot was now between the
devil and the deep sea. The devil being Tiernan O'Rourke and the sea
Roderick O'Conor. Whichever way he turned he had to face a foe, for
friends he had none. O'Rourke, a vindictive and violent man, was the first
to move. Elated by his victory over O'Loughlin, and strengthened by his
alliance with O'Conor, he determined to settle old scores with the ex-King
of Leinster. To make assurance doubly sure, he enlisted the friendship of
Dermot O'Melaghlin, his brother-in-law, and the sympathy or the Ostmen of
Dublin, as well as the support of many of the men of Leinster. With this
force he proceeded to exact hostages from Dermot McMurrough "in order to
take vengeance upon him" for his wife fourteen years after that eventful
episode in her career! Dermot, in face of such a hostile array, fled, and
thus left Roderick O'Conor sole King of Ireland.
O'Conor now made a circuit
of the island, getting hostages from all the various septs save the Cinel
Owen, the subjects of Murtagh O'Loughlin. These held out for over twelve
months, and were with difficulty subdued.
It is as necessary here to
follow the fortunes of Dermot as it was in a previous chapter those of
Brian Boru, for a full understanding of the baleful influences at work for
the subjugation of Ireland, and the ultimate loss of her independence.
On the 1st of August, 1166,
Dermot fled from Ferns to Youghal, and thence took ship to Bristol. Here
he and the few companions of his misfortunes were well received by Robert
FitzHarding, a prominent citizen of Bristol who had been a warm supporter
of Queen Matilda, and was therefore in high favour with King Henry II.
Fitz-Harding, on hearing Dermot's story and on being appealed to by the
ex-king for help to regain his kingdom, must have recognized that the work
of restoration was far too great an undertaking for a man of his years or
means; and there is little doubt that he recommended Dermot to apply
direct to King Henry, acquainting him at the same time of Pope Adrian's
Bull and Henry's slumbering intention to subdue Ireland. Henry, however,
was in distant Aquitaine, and thither Dermot followed him. Here he
endeavoured to enlist the active sympathy of the king; but Henry had his
time fully occupied in endeavouring to pacify the province, which was in a
state of revolt. Nevertheless he gave Dermot a letter in which he stated
that any assisting the Prince of Leinster to recover his dominion would be
assured of his favour.
Armed with these letters
patent Dermot returned to the hospitable house of FitzHarding at Bristol,
where he caused the King's letter to be read in public, and issued
broadcast invitations to such as would accompany him, and held out liberal
inducements to those who would undertake the risk of settling in Ireland.
Amongst those who lent an ear to his promises of grants of land in
Leinster was Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, who had lost the major
portion of the estates in Wales which he had inherited from his father and
grandfather, and was ambitious to retrieve his fortune. The nickname of
Strongbow which he bore had been first bestowed on his father, but is now
associated solely with himself, and it is as Strongbow his name lives
to-day.
Dermot and Strongbow
quickly came to terms, whereby Dermot, always good at promising, agreed to
give his eldest daughter, Eva, to Strongbow as wife, and to ensure him the
succession to the throne of Leinster. The first arrangement, of course,
lay in Dermot's power to carry out, but the latter could only be assured
by conquest. Dermot's eldest son and heir, Enna, was alive and in the
clutches of the King of Ossory, who on Dermot's return to Ireland, as was
customary in dealing with royal prisoners, cruelly blinded him. In any
case the tribal law forbade the transfer of land to any individual, or the
succession to the crown to even the heir apparent, without the consent of
the people. But no doubt Strongbow valued Dermot's promises at what they
were worth, and took the risk with his eyes open. That he exercised due
caution is proved by the fact that he pondered on the problem as to
whether he should consider Henry's letter to Dermot sufficiently strong to
justify his helping him, or get a special permit from the King himself
before proceeding. In this way a delay of two years occurred before he
took action.
In the meantime, to a man
of Dermot's temperament delay was irksome, and, being ill at ease, he,
possibly on the advice of Strongbow, repaired to North Wales, and at St.
Davids was entertained by the bishop, David FitzGerald, who no doubt
sympathized with Dermot as one who had been a munificent patron of the
Church, and possibly might be again. Dermot, it must be remembered, had at
this time grants of money from King Henry, and was therefore no beggar. At
St. Davids Dermot was promised the assistance of Robert FitzStephen, who
was released for that purpose from the prison in which he had been immured
by his cousin, Rhys ap Gruffudd, a prince of South Wales, on account of
his adherence to Henry. It was arranged that FitzStephen, accompanied by
Maurice FitzGerald, brother of the bishop, should in the following Spring
cross to Ireland and receive as a reward for their services the town of
Wexford and a large portion of the adjoining territory, and that Dermot
should leave forthwith to make preparations for their coming. Accordingly
Dermot, after a twelvemonth's absence, returned to Ireland in August,
1167, landing a little south of Arklow Head, and repairing quietly to
Ferns, where the Church secreted and sheltered him during the winter. But
a man of Dermot's eminence could not long remain hidden. His presence in
Leinster became known to O'Conor and Tiernan O'Rourke, who at once called
on the King of Meath and the Ostmen of Dublin, and took the field against
him. Dermot, using all the diplomacy he could master with such implacable
enemies, prolonged negotiations for peace without avail, and an encounter
took place between the foe and his retainers which ended in a victory for
the enemy.
It is strange that
notwithstanding this victory Dermot succeeded in getting the victors to
come to terms. O'Conor he pacified by the giving of hostages, and O'Rourke
accepted gold (no doubt English gold supplied by King Henry) in
recognition of his personal grievance against Dermot, and so the Ardri and
his coadjutor departed, leaving him once more in possession of lands which
were less than a moiety of those which he once had held.
The year 1168 seems to have
passed away in comparative peace. If human nature then bore even a remote
resemblance to human nature in our own day, Dermot no doubt heard with
sorrow and anger of the blinding of his eldest son, Enna, by the King of
Ossory, and no doubt, if fatherhood was what it is now, he vowed vengeance
on his many enemies. At any rate, irritated by the slow coming of the
expected invading host, he sent his secretary, Maurice Regan, to Wales,
with instructions to renew his promises of grants of land and other
rewards to all who would help him. As the "Song of Dermot and the Earl",
so admirably edited by Mr. Goddard Orpen, tells us, Dermot announced that
Whoever shall wish for land
or pence,
Horses, trappings, or chargers,
Gold or silver, I shall give them
A very ample pay.
Whoever may wish for soil or sod,
Richly shall I enfeoff them.
This message roused the
slumbering enthusiasm of Robert FitzStephen, and he got together a small
army consisting of some 30 knights, 60 half-armoured horsemen, and 300
youthful archers, and, putting them on board three vessels, he landed on
1st May, 1169, at Bannow Bay, on the coast of Wexford, where a chasm
between the rocks was long known as "FitzStephen's Stride". Here next day
they were joined by Maurice de Prendergast of Rhos, in Pembrokeshire, who
brought with him, in two ships, some ten knights and a large body of
archers. The total force must have numbered about 700 men. The
acknowledged leader was FitzStephen, who had with him Meyler FitzHenry,
his nephew; Miles, a son of the Bishop of St. Davids; Harvey de
Montmorency, an uncle of Strongbow; and Robert de Barry, a brother of
Giraldus the historian. As soon as Dermot heard of their arrival he sent
his son Donnell to greet them, and he himself being again in high favour
with his people, they flocked to his standard, with the result that he was
able to join the invaders with a force of 500 men. Having determined their
line of action, the combined forces marched on Wexford. This old Danish
town was filled no longer with vikings but with simple traders, who did
what they could in their own defence. The town was garrisoned by 2000 men,
who sallied forth, full of confidence, to meet the foe. But they had no
longer to contend with kerns and gallowglasses, but an orderly array of
fully armed men clad in complete armour and mounted on heavy Flemish
horses also clothed in armour. No wonder that they deemed it wiser to
return to their towers and battlements for shelter than meet such foes in
the open. But they did not retreat until they had set fire to the wooden
huts of which their suburbs were composed, and having done so they closed
the city gates, from which they twice drove back their assailants. So
violently, indeed, did they drive the enemy back, that they withdrew,
Giraldus says, "in all great haste from the walls", eighteen English being
killed, while the townsmen lost but three. Sunset saw no change in the
situation.
Next morning FitzStephen
was preparing to renew the attack, when he was approached by the besieged,
who, led by two bishops, sued for peace and agreed to surrender the town
and swear fealty to Dermot, to whom they gave four hostages. These terms
were accepted, and in order to prove his good faith to his Norman allies,
Dermot presented the town of Wexford to FitzStephen.
Elated with this success,
Dermot, after three weeks' rest at Ferns, proposed an attack on Ossory.
With reinforcements his army now consisted of nearly 3000 men. With these
he deemed it possible not alone to subdue Ossory but to regain all his
lost possessions. To the English it mattered little what enemy they were
called upon to face, and accordingly an attack on Ossory was made
forthwith. The Ossory men, like the Danes of Wexford, saw the futility of
fighting in the open; they therefore attacked the invading force from
ambuscades, and, gradually luring them into woods and bogs, very nearly
gained the day. But the English, who had been retiring, suddenly faced
their foes, and, being supported by the return of many of Dermot's men who
had fled, a belated and bloody victory was won. It is said that over 200
heads of his enemies were laid at Dermot's feet, and that he turned them
over one by one in order to identify them, praising God the while. Dermot
subsequently made several raids on Ossory, but without success.
Roderick O'Conor now began
to grow alarmed at the progress made by Dermot and his English allies. He
appealed to the princes and chiefs, and, war being declared against
Dermot, Roderick found himself at the head of a large army. Dermot,
dreading the possible consequences of attempting to cope with such a foe,
retired to fastnesses near Ferns, and having strengthened a naturally
strong position he awaited the arrival of O'Conor. Roderick, on his part,
saw the impossibility of conquering Dermot under such circumstances, and
deemed it wiser to send offers of gifts to FitzStephen to induce him to
return to his own country. Finding this argument unavailing, he applied to
Dermot, promising to restore him to his kingdom if he would join forces
with him and exterminate the foreigners. But Dermot, bad as he was, would
not consent to this treachery, and in the end, after fruitless
negotiations, an understanding was arrived at, Dermot agreeing to
acknowledge Roderick as Ardri, and handing over his son Conor as hostage;
receiving in return the peaceable possession of Leinster. It is believed
that in addition to these terms a secret agreement was made between Dermot
and Roderick, whereby the former promised to get rid of the foreigners as
soon as Leinster was subdued, and not to introduce any more into the
country.
Dermot was, as we have
seen, a good promiser, but he had no intention to keep his word. Maurice
de Prendergast having left him in disgust at his barbarity, he welcomed
with enthusiasm the arrival of Maurice FitzGerald, FitzStephen's
half-brother, who brought with him 10 knights, 30 mounted men, and 100
archers. It was the archery which frequently decided the day, for the
death -dealing crossbows were
weapons of war with which the Irish were unfamiliar; therefore so large an
addition to his forces greatly rejoiced the wily King of Leinster. He
recommenced all his old tactics, and when his son-in-law, O'Brien of
Thomond, rebelled against O'Conor, he sent FitzStephen and the English to
his assistance, with the result that the Ardri was driven back to his
kingdom defeated and disgraced.
But Dermot had now a more
ambitious project in hand. He determined to march on Dublin and wrest it
from the Ostmen. For this he required reinforcements, and he therefore
again addressed himself to Strongbow, urging him to hasten his coming. The
delay on Strongbow's part, however, was caused by Henry's ambiguous
replies to his several applications for permission to attack Ireland; but
as he could not come himself he sent, in May, 1170, his friend Raymond le
Gros, with a small force consisting of 10 men-at-arms and 70 archers. Le
Gros landed near Waterford, and was with De Montmorency, who joined him
almost immediately, besieged by the men of Waterford and Ossory, numbering
nearly 3000. He had, however, fortified the position and driven into the
enclosure several head of wild cattle. These, when he was attacked, he
drove out and followed, and, the terrified cattle clearing the way, he
fell upon the disordered ranks of the enemy, slaughtering many and taking
seventy prisoners. These, at De Montmorency 's instigation, had their
limbs broken and were then cast into the sea.
Dermot and his allies now
awaited with eagerness the promised coming of Strongbow. |
