in temporal matters of the Pope. They had their own laws, administered by their own Brehons, or judges-laws described by Spenser as "a rule of right unwritten, but delivered by tradition one to another, in which oftentimes there appeared great show of equity in determining the right between party and party, but in many things repugnant quite both to God's laws and man's." These laws, originally framed at the instigation of St. Patrick, and therefore, it may be supposed, not quite "repugnant to the laws of God and man," for the good saint was a scholar too, helped to preserve a spirit of national independence which the papal conclave and the Irish ecclesiastics perhaps found inconvenient; and as the Papacy has never strongly objected to avail itself of the temporal arm, Adrian was probably the less unwilling to sanction the designs of Henry of England.

The bull asked for was issued; and, after the formal greeting and benediction, proceeds in these terms :—

"Thou hast communicated unto us, our very dear son in Jesus Christ, that thou wouldst enter the island of Hibernia, to subject that land to obedience to laws, to extirpate the seeds of vice, and also to procure the payment there to the blessed apostle Peter of the annual tribute of a penny for each house. Granting to thee thy laudable and pious desire the favour which it merits, we hold it acceptable that, for the extension of the limits of the holy Church, the propagation of the Christian religion, the correction of morals, and the sowing the seeds of virtue, thou make thy entrance into that island, and there execute at thy discretion whatever thou shalt think proper for the honour of God and the salvation of souls." The bull of course concluded with an exhortation to consider the interests of the Church, and of the religion and morals of the people, and so to order matters generally that "thou shalt become worthy of obtaining in heaven a reward everlasting, and upon earth a name illustrious and glorious in all ages."

The bull has been described as "a sort of decent envelope for a political compact, entirely similar to that of William the Bastard with Pope Alexander II. for the invasion of England." Henry was willing

KING HENRY'S LETTER.

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enough to avail himself of it; but his quarrels with his brother Geoffrey of Anjou, the rivalry of the King of France, and the troubles arising from the murder of A'Becket, for a time hindered the execution of the project. Besides, although it was easy enough to plan an invasion, it was less easy to find an excuse, however bad, for attempting it. The King must depend upon his barons for military aid; and those powerful personages were not very ready to obey a king or a pope either, unless they saw their way to some advantage for themselves.

The results of the abduction of Devorgoil by Dermot MacMurrough offered an opportunity for English interference. That unprincipled and cruel King of Leinster, familiar with acts of treachery and sacrilege, had made himself odious by such acts as forcibly carrying away the abbess of Kildare, and putting out the eyes of eighteen men of noble rank, and of many others too ignoble, perhaps, for compassion. He treated the unhappy Devergoil with great harshness while she remained with him; and after he had been compelled to give her up, it is not surprising that an alliance was formed against him, that he was excommunicated by the Church, and driven from his dominions. He sought refuge in England in 1168, hoping to find the King at Bristol, and to ask his assistance in recovering his kingdom. But Henry was in Aquitaine, and thither went Dermot MacMurrough, who contrived to obtain the King's promise of help, on condition that he should pay a vassal's homage to the English crown. Henry himself had no men or money to spare, but he knew that some of the warlike barons at home would be willing to avail themselves of his permission to assist MacMurrough, if they could by doing so advantage themselves. The King wrote a letter to "all his liege men, English, Norman, Welsh, and Scotch, and to all the nations under his dominion." In this document, intended for circulation among the nobles, he said: "As soon as the present letter shall come to your hands, know that Dermot, Prince of Leinster, has been received into the bosom of our grace and benevolence: wherefore, whosoever within the ample extent of our territories, shall be willing to lend aid towards this prince as our faithful and liege subject, let such person

know that we do hereby grant to him for said purpose our licence and favour."

So, for the sake of imposing the tax of Peter's pence, the Pope readily sanctioned the invasion by an English king of a country to which he had not the shadow of a claim; and with no better excuse than that of restoring a king who had been driven from his dominions as a punishment for his atrocious crimes, Anglo-Norman warriors carried fire and sword into Ireland, and laid the foundation of that political supremacy which for more than seven hundred years has been the fruitful source of war, crime, secret conspiracy, and open rebellion, and an undying animosity of creed and race.

MacMurrough returned to Bristol, the spot where he had landed when he fled from Ireland. There were adventurers and soldiers of fortune, waifs and strays of the sword,-pirates and brigands in reality, though they would have disdained the name,-to be met with, who would readily have taken service under even worse men than MacMurrough, if pay and plunder were assured; but he desired the aid of influential and practised leaders, who could bring a large body of trained and well-equipped men-at-arms into the field. He knew the men he would have to encounter, and was too shrewd to suppose that he could recover Leinster with the assistance of a small and disorderly rabble of adventurers, any one of whom would be quite ready to desert him, and take arms on the other side, if the other side offered a better prospect of "loot."

More valuable allies were at hand, and to them MacMurrough appealed. Some of the Norman nobles who had been invited to England to take part in the contests between William Rufus and his successor Henry I. and their brother Robert of Normandy, had been rewarded for their services by grants of confiscated estates; and others were paid by permission to harry the Welsh, and possess themselves of such territory as they could conquer. Foremost among these leaders, distinguished by valour and proficiency in military exercises, was Gislebert, or Gilbert de Clare, younger brother of Richard, Earl of Hertford, and created Earl of Pembroke in 1138. He had under his

STRONGBOW, EARL OF PEMBROKE.

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command a trained body of soldiery, Normans and Brabançons chiefly (the latter esteemed the best infantry in Europe), but with some of English birth in the ranks. By the last-named he was known as Strongbow, an epithet descriptive of his skill in archery, and by that name his son was also known. Availing himself of the permission to attack the Welsh, he undertook an expedition by sea, and landed on the western coast of Pembroke. The Cambrian people were unable to repel the invaders, and most of them fled to the mountains; those who attempted resistance were ruthlessly slaughtered. An extensive tract of country was soon taken possession of, and the conquerors shared the towns, houses, and domains among them. Strong forts to secure them against reprisals were erected; and the Norman and Flemish captains became wealthy landowners. Their descendants were the aristocracy and county gentlemen of Pembrokeshire; and the English soldiers, who, being fewer in number, obtained fewer of the prizes of conquest, were the ancestors of the small farmers and traders who for centuries after preserved their English habits and language in a district surrounded by Welshmen, and known as " Little England beyond Wales."

Other Norman leaders followed the example of Strongbow, and established themselves by the right of the strong arm in Wales. Irish traders who had visited the Welsh ports were struck with surprise at the sight of the massive armour of the soldiers, and the powerful Flemish horses; and on their return told wonderful stories of the strength and skill of the warriors they had seen. MacMurrough, who had known them by reputation, now applied to them for aid, addressing himself to the most powerful, the second Strongbow, Richard de Clare, who had in 1149 succeeded his father as Earl of Pembroke. Thierry says of these Norman and Flemish adventurers: "In settling on the domains which they had so recently usurped, these men had not laid aside their old idle and dissipated manners for habits of order and quiet; they consumed in gaming and debauchery the revenues of their lands, exhausting instead of ameliorating them, counting on fresh expeditions rather than upon domestic economy to repair their fortunes

at some future day. They retained the spirit and the character of soldiers of fortune, ever disposed to try the chances of war abroad, whether on their own account or in the pay of another."

Strongbow (by that name he is better known in history than as the Earl of Pembroke) listened favourably to the proposals of MacMurrough. Others were ready to join in the adventure, among them Robert FitzStephen and Maurice Fitz-Gerald, said to be sons of Necta, a beautiful but frail woman who had been the mistress of Henry I., but afterwards married Gerald, lord of Carew. Maurice Fitz-Gerald was, as the name indicates, her son; the paternity of Fitz-Stephen, judged by the same test, is doubtful. MacMurrough promised these young knights the city of Wexford and two "cantreds" of land, a cantred being equivalent to the English "hundred," or that number of homesteads. Strongbow himself was to succeed MacMurrough as King of Leinster, and to marry his daughter Eva. These inducements were sufficient to procure the hearty co-operation of Strongbow and his friends, who looked forward to those opportunities which conquest offers in addition to the stipulated rewards; and an expedition was at once planned. Knights, esquires, and archers to the number of four hundred, led by Robert Fitz-Stephen, who was accompanied by other able warriors, embarked, and directed their course to the Irish coast. Fitz-Stephen landed at Bannow, near Waterford, in May 1169; and a day afterwards Maurice de Prendergast, with a second and smaller detachment of invaders, disembarked a few miles farther north, near Wexford.

MacMurrough, who had reached Ireland shortly before, and remained in concealment, according to some authorities in the Augustinian monastery at Ferns,-founded by himself, in one of his virtuous or politic moods,-joined his friends with about five hundred followers, whom he had contrived to collect; and the united force laid siege to Wexford, a town founded by the Danes, and included in the kingdom of Leinster. The inhabitants of the town-hardy, seafaring folkwould have resisted, and thrown up entrenchments; but the ecclesiastics of the town advised terms of capitulation, which were agreed to, and by that course the townspeople were probably spared from