Fact Play: Anglo-Norman Ireland, Michael Dolley

Résumé du document

Anglo-Norman Ireland by Michael Dolley is the third volume of a series of eleven volumes named The Gill History of Ireland. This series of books covers the Irish history from the fifth century to 1960 and was published and printed by Michael Henry Gill and MacMillan. Michael Dolley is one of the authors of the series as each book is being written by a different person. He is a reader in the Department of Modern History in the Queen's University of Belfast. This volume is about Ireland from 1100 AD to 1318 AD. It is a book which mainly relates the history of Ireland during this period (the progressive colonization of Ireland by the Anglo-Norman). It begins a little earlier than it should be, according to the title, since the Anglo-Norman are not yet established in the country in the first and second chapters.

Extraits

[...] With the arrival of the Anglo-Norman, the military forces became better. But it did not really diminish the conflicts. Indeed, there were fights among the Irish kings, between the Anglo-Norman and the Irish (most of them in fact were between those two part), and also among the Anglo-Norman themselves. Now, when a region was conquered, most of the time a castle was built there. It was a symbol of power. That is why the conflicts ended most of the time with the destruction of the castle taken. [...]

[...] In parallel with the entry of the Anglo- Norman in Ireland, the reformation process was accelerating. The marriage of Irish bishops was now seen by the Papacy as something that needed to disappear. So there was a conflict between Christian morality and Irish traditions. The fact is that in Ireland, the economy was mainly pastoral, which shows how important the reformation was in the eye of the Anglo- Norman and English people. However, Irishmen became little by little excluded from the Church of Ireland by the Anglo-Norman and the English, with two declarations: one forbade Irishmen to be bishops and another one disqualified them from election and nomination to major benefices. [...]

[...] He will recover it in 1116 and then, he exiled. Throughout his reign, a will to reform the Church was present and a new clerical hierarchy has been created on the European model. There was also a will to open up Ireland to Europe. In the second chapter, “Connacht's heyday” to there is a focus on Turlough O Connor, who was seen as the master of Munster and who dominated the northern scene. There were a lot of revolts and fights between the five kings of Ireland. [...]

[...] During Edward's reign, there was a fall in the proportion of Irishmen in bishoprics and English by blood were not elected as justiciar. However, he wanted progress in Ireland. That is why he named a Geraldine as justiciar. The Anglo-Irish imitated the English parliament. In 1299, an embryonic constitution was developed. However, it was a weak parliament since divergence emerged between the Anglo-Irish. The royal army waged war on the “English by blood”. Edward Bruce wanted to expulse the Englishry and became King of Ireland. [...]

[...] Weak points There are too many details to be able to remind of everything. The precision with what the author relates the Irish history can also be a weakness of the work. Indeed, that is a good point insofar as the reader can found a lot of information but if there are too much information, the reader can't be able to remind of everything that he has read. It will neither complicate the understanding, nor bore the reader, but the fact is that he can sometimes feel overtaken. [...]