Henry II., having heard of the conquest of Strongbow, became nervous for
fear he might become too powerful, and prepared an expedition with which
he landed at the little town of Crook, or at the still smaller town of
Hook, near the mouth of the River Suir. Some said that he landed by Hook
and some said he landed by Crook, and that was the origin of the saying
that is heard to this day, "either by hook or crook." Henry II. had
about ten thousand fighting men and they were so well organized and
armed that resistance was impossible. Almost all the Irish kings and
chieftains came promptly to make submission, and the Irish bishops,
presided over by Lawrence O'Toole, met in synod and acknowledged him as
their sovereign. Their action was based upon a bull issued by Pope
Adrian IV., authorizing Henry II. to take possession of Ireland. Adrian
IV. was an English monk named Brakespear, and he was influenced by an
unfair and exaggerated account of the influence of the Church in England
and by misrepresentations of the state of religion in Ireland. Some
historians have questioned the genuineness of this edict; others have
declared that it was a myth, but there seems to be no reason to doubt
that Adrian IV. did authorize Henry II. to invade Ireland, believing
that a strong centralized government there would be for the advancement
of religion and for the good of the people.
Troubles with the Holy See resulting from the assassination of Thomas à
Becket called the king back to England before he had completed his plans
of settlement, and he left Ireland in April, 1172, after remaining there
less than six months. He had intended to erect a string of Norman
castles at frequent intervals throughout the island and garrison them
with English troops in order to overawe the native kings and
chieftains, and so that his own earls might watch and check each other.
But he left that work to his subordinates and rewarded them with grants
of enormous area without regard to the rights of the native owners.
Leinster was given to Strongbow with the exception of Dublin and two or
three other towns on the coast; the province of Meath was given to Hugh
de Lacy, and the province of Ulster to John de Courcy, and other tracts
to the ancestors of many of the noble families of Ireland to-day.
Under Strongbow, after Henry II. left, Ireland fell into a state of
anarchy and confusion. He was tyrannical and unreasonable. The native
princes rebelled and almost overcame him. They drove him to Waterford
and besieged him there, where he was rescued by Raymond le Gros, who
demanded the hand of his sister Bassilia as his reward. They were
married here, as I have told you, in the Abbey of the Holy Sepulchre.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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