Fiontir - Country of Liberty: an Irish TL

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Chapter 10 – The War of 1419

Chapter 10 – The War of 1419

By 1418, the O'Neills had successfully put down the last of the revolts, and were eager for a piece of the poorly defended Norman lands. Brian O'Neill, the current King, set about convincing Diarmaid to join him in battle, and in 1419, the Gaels attacked. The army of Ulster advanced from the North, and the army of Munster from the Southwest. The two armies met surprisingly little resistance as they advanced into Norman territory.

The Munster army divided into two. One army, under the command of the Earl of Cork, entered Ormond territory along the coast, and secured the territory around Dugarvan that had been lost to Ormond in the 1380s before heading towards Waterford. The other army, under the command of Diarmaid himself, headed for Kilkenny. The seige of Kilkenny was fully invested by June 1419. As it was clear that the seige would take months, and Diarmaid was anxious for victory, he decided to leave the larger part of his force to continue the seige, and take a smaller detachment deeper into Norman territory.

O'Neill, on the other hand, decided to keep his main force united. His goal was to take Dublin, as, once he had done so, he expected the Normans would be willing to give almost anything for peace. Drogheda, was his first goal, and he hoped to be able to win a quick seige and then continue South. He was surprised that he met no resistance between Dundalk and Drogheda, and wondered if the Normans were really as weak as they seemed.

But, the Normans had a surprise up their sleeve for the Gaels. They had recently purchased a number of cannon, and had them installed at various fortresses, including those at Waterford, Kilkenny, and Drogheda. While the Gaels knew of the existence of cannon, none of them had ever seen them in use, and the shock of such a loud and destructive weapon threw the beseiging armies at Kilkenney and Drogheda into disarray. Sorties by Norman troops caused large numbers of casualties among the Irish, and many more soldiers fled the battle before discipline could be reestablished.

FitzGerald, whose grandfather had fought in the early part of the Hundred Years' War, had the most knowledge of how to maintain order in the face of cannon, and was able to prevent a complete loss of order amongst his force. O'Neill's army was large enough that the sorties from Drogheda made little difference. But Donal Mac Carthy, in charge of the seige of Kilkenny, panicked in the face of the cannon, and lost complete control of his army. James Butler led a cavalry sortie from Kilkenny which scattered the Munster troops and forced them into a retreat.

When Butler learned that Diarmaid was not in command of the retreating Munster army, but was in fact deeper in Norman territory now cut off from his supply line, he realized that his opportunity had come to find him and capture him, ransoming him off for peace. While he sent the bulk of his troops after the retreating army, he sent his cavalry to search out Diarmaid and keep him on the move. He knew that if Diarmaid could be cut off from any opportunity to resupply he would eventually have to surrender.

When Diarmaid realized that the seige of Kilkenny had been broken, and that he was now cut off from his army, he decided to head South in the hopes that the seige of Waterford had gone better. However, he soon ran into the army of Wexford, which was now between Diarmaid and Waterford. Diarmaid realized that he was going to have to fight his way out....

Drogheda fell in July, and Waterford in August 1419. By then, FitzGerald, in command of the army at Waterford, had learned that Diarmaid was trapped behind enemy lines and began to march North and East towards his assumed position. In September, the armies of Ormond and Wexford found themselves trapped between Diarmaid's attempt to break through their lines and FitzGerald's advancing army. The battle was long, but, in the end Munster prevailed. However, when FitzGerald reunited with his cousin Diarmaid, he found that Diarmaid had been badly wounded and didn't have long to live.

Diarmaid's early death brought the war to an end. His son, Lui II, was ready to succeed him, but was still only 15 years old, and didn't want to learn the ropes of power in the middle of a war. Thus, in December 1419 a peace agreement was reached. While Kilkenny had fallen before the peace was signed, Munster was willing to give it up for peace, and kept only the territory that had been captured by FirzGerald's army in the South, including the City of Waterford. This new territory was incorporated into the Earldom of Cork, as the population their had become used to living under Norman law (and because FitzGerald had led the army to victory).

In the North, the war continued on. O'Neill had already invested the seige of Dublin in the fall of 1419, but in spring of 1420, the armies that had been fighting Munster in the South arrived to break the seige. O'Neill's forces were driven back from Dublin yet again, but were able to defend Drogheda against the Normans. But, with Munster out of the war, the King of Ulster began to realize that victory woulld not be easy.

In the peace negotiations with Ulster, the Normans refused to let O'Neill keep Drogheda. Such a position was too close to their capital at Dublin. Thus, they made many other offers to O'Neill, and in the end Ulster got large swaths of inland territory that the Normans had captured from local Gaelic chiefs under Richard II's campaigns in the 1390s. This was a symbolic victory for Ulster because amongst the territory granted was the Abbey of Kells, which had been in Norman hands for centuries.

 

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Map - Eire 1425

This is a map of Ireland in 1425

 

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I think from now on I may leave actual accounts of battles and campaigns out of this TL. I feel like I have very little understanding of late medieval warfare (for example, I have no idea how the hundred years' war lasted as long as it did - the descriptions of it I have describe a few key battles and campaigns, but there always seem to be periods of years between these significant events for which not much happens), and so I think for the next few wars, I'll mostly just describe who won and what the terms of the peace were, and maybe a little bit about how they won. I feel the play-by-plays that I'm trying to give are not very realistic. If anyone on the board DOES have a good understanding of late Medieval warfare and wants to advise me on how to revise this TL that would be great. If this does end up going somewhere, I'm probably going to end up doing a rewrite at some point....

 

[telynk]

Chapter 11 - an Empire Built on Fish

Chapter 11 – An Empire Built on Fish

When we look at why the cities of Munster came to dominate Irish trade during the period known as the “Munster Renaissance”, one of the most popular explanations is that, by 1425, Munster was the only Irish state to unite 4 of the island's trading ports under common rule. Limerick, Galway, Cork, and Waterford all came under control of the Munster crown.

However, it was partly because the Munster crown DIDN'T control a number of these cities that they rose to prominence. The Irish merchant class was largely dominated by families of Norman and Viking origin, and, while by the mid-15th century most of these families spoke Gaelic, they still mistrusted native Irish Kings. The cities of Cork and Waterford were more or less content to be ruled by the FitzGeralds because they were also of Norman origin, however it was clear that Limerick and Galway would not be content to be ruled directly by the Mac Dougals and O'Briens respectively. Thus, they were made Free Cities whereby each city was itself a small republic, with an elected Mayor responsible for governing affairs internal to the city. The only jurisdiction that the Kingdom had over the cities was military: the Free Cities were not permitted to raise their own armies, would have to allow the Munster army use of their fortifications, and would have to pay taxes in exchange for protection by the Munster army.

This relative autonomy meant that the Cities of Limerick, and to a lesser extent Galway, were under control of the merchant classes, who enacted laws to promote commerce and trade. Tariffs kept away English merchants and helped raise tax money. Guilds were created to support various trades. Trade agreements were made with France and Spain to encourage direct trade and bypass England.

However, one of the leading factors in the rise of Limerick (and to a lesser extent the other Munster cities) to become a center of trade was the founding of the Limerick Fish Merchant's Guild in 1410. Although, strictly speaking, it wasn't a guild but a cabal, it ended up controlling a number of the guilds in Limerick and thus fostering the growth of many fishing-related trades and industries.

“The Guild”, as it was often referred to, was the brainchild of Ceara, sister of the King (she was often referred to this way as it was uncertain as to whether she had been married to Snorri and able to use his last name). Upon the return of the Fiontir Expedition, Ceara was the only expedition organizer left alive, so she became the natural recipient of the ship's cargo of fish. She took charge of selling the fish in Limerick's marketplace, and was surprised at how much money she was able to obtain for what she thought was a worthless commodity. She paid the expedition's crew using the proceeds from the fish sales, and offered to pay them as much again if they could make another trip to Iceland and return with another cargo of fish.

After the ship had returned the third time with its third cargo of fish, Ceara was convinced that the Iceland fish trade could be valuable for Limerick merchants. Cod in Iceland could be fished year-round while all of Ireland's local fisheries were seasonal. This meant that many fishermen would jump at the chance to work year-round (at thus receive a full year's pay), and that fish could be sold at times when there was not much local competition. She organized a meeting of local merchants in January 1411 where she proposed the purchase of a fleet of ships (which she couldn't afford herself) to be sent to fish in Iceland. The Limerick Fish Merchant's Guild would be created to help keep the secrets of the bountiful Iceland fishing grounds, and to foster development of the industry. In exchange for sharing her information about Iceland with the merchants, Ceara was appointed First Lady of the Guild, a position which put her in charge of calling, facilitating, and hosting guild meetings and came with a fair salary. Thus while, officially, Ceara was just an employee of the guild, and not a member, she held more real power than most members.

The Guild were not the only ones sending fishing fleets to Iceland. In 1412 and 1413 a number of English ships joined the Irish on the fishing grounds. There was tension between the two fleets, and each fleet wanted to deny the other the prime spots. By 1415, however, the Guild was able to send a large enough fleet that English merchants gave in and decided to buy fish from the Guild rather than fish the waters themselves. The English then began sending trading ships to Iceland rather than fishing ships, and the Guild soon copied these methods, keeping the fishermen in Iceland from April to October, and sending trade ships to pick up the fish and bring them back to Limerick.

By 1420, the Guild had opened branch offices in Galway, Cork, Waterford, Dublin, and even Bristol, to expand the market for their fish. The final phase of the Hundred Years' War was also building in France, and, with the loss of much of their Channel coastline, the French were having a shortage of fish. While the English were not willing to sell fish to their enemies in France, the Irish were, and the Guild were able to sell cod in La Rochelle at a higher price than they were elsewhere.

One of the first problems the Guild encountered in their first decade was the loss of too many ships to storms and reefs. The ships they were purchasing in London and Bristol were usually designed for trade on the somewhat calmer North Sea, English Channel, and Irish Sea. More seaworthy vessels capable of crossing open ocean were required, and, for that purpose, Ceara made a trip to Portugal in 1427. The Portugese had been expanding their influence along the coast of Africa, and had colonised the island of Madeira. They had been developing a new type of ship – the Caravel – to facilitate these voyages, and Ceara recruited a Portuguse shipbuilding master to found a shipbuilding guild in Limerick. The Munster Caravel was the name given to the ship design that came out of the Limerick Shipbuilding Guild.

In 1431, when the first Munster Caravels were ready to sail, Ceara's son, Dougal Mac Snorri, was made captain of one of the trading ships. He had been wanting to go to sea ever since he was a child, having grown up around the fishing fleet, and had made a number of voyages apprenticed to one of the merchant's captains. Now he was ready to take charge of his own ship. His first voyage was North to Iceland to pick up fish from the fishing fleet. He then sailed back South to Dublin to sell a large part of the catch before heading even farther south to La Rochelle to sell the remainder. He bought wine from the French, and then returned north to Iceland to trade the wine to the locals in exchange for food and clothing for the fishermen, and wood and canvas to repair the ships and sails, before returing to Limerick with another load of fish. This was typical for such a voyage, and it bec

The success of the Limerick Fish Merchant's Guild and the consequent prosperity of the City of Limerick continued until the 1450s. In 1455, the merchants of Limerick were met with a surprise when a Danish war fleet sailed into their harbour. It turned out that the Danes, who were nominally sovereign over Iceland, had a monopoly over trade to the island. However, they rarely sent merchants to the island, as they had little need of fish, which is why the Icelanders were so ready to trade with the Guild. However, the Danish King had decided it was time to enforce his monopoly, ordering the blockade of Limerick. Lui II was outraged that the merchants' actions had almost led to war, and negotiated with the Danish. He obtained an end to the blockade in exchange for a substantial sum of money (which he in turn took from the Guild coffers) and a prohibition on Icelandic trade from the ports of Munster.

After this prohibition, the Guild was able to continue some fishing in Iceland organized from their branch offices in Dublin and Wexford, which were outside of Munster jurisdiction. However, the Guild lost much of its power at this time, and most merchants who were members of the guild began using their ships for trade of other commodities. The first era of Guild prosperity was over.

 

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Chapter 12 - John III of France

Chapter 12 – John III of France

The boy who would become John III of France was born as the fourth son of the current King Charles VI, and thus was not even the Dauphin for most of his childhood. He was married to Jacqueline of Hainaut, Holland and Zeeland in 1406 and brought up in Hainaut, as he was expected to reign in the Low Countries upon the death of Jacqueline's father William. However, in 1415, John's elder brother Louis passed away, and thus John returned to France to serve as Dauphin and prepare himself to rule France someday.

In the 1410s, France was plagued by conflict. A civil war between the Burgundian and Armagnac factions had been ongoing for years. John's father, Charles VI, was suffering from some form of madness, and the conflict had arisen as a conflict between Philip the Bold of Burgundy and Louis of Orléans over their roles on the regency council. This feud was continued by John the Fearless of Burgundy and Bernard, Count of Armagnac, each leading their respective parties. In 1415 the Burgundians were driven from Paris and the Armagnacs were now in control.

John, however, was a Burgundian sympathizer. His time in Hainaut had put him close to Burgundy's possessions in Brabant, and he had become an admirer of John of Burgundy when he had come to visit Hainaut. More importantly, John was in favour of the economic policies put forward by the Burgundians as what was good for Burgundy's domains in Brabant was also good for John's in Hainaut. Thus, with John as the Dauphin, the Burgundians' priority changed from taking control of the current King Charles VI to trying to establish John the Dauphin on the throne with John of Burgundy as a close advisor.

Also, in 1415, the English invasion of Normandy had begun. The French lost the Battle of Agincourt, and the English were in the process of taking control of much of Normandy. Both the Burgundians and Armagnacs knew that the civil war must end quickly if France was to be defended. Thus John and the Burgundians decided to act decisively to take control of Paris and the country.

In 1418, the Burgundians attacked and took control of Paris with the Dauphin's help. Bernard, Count of Armagnac and John's younger brother Charles (who the Burgundians believed to be an illegitimate son of Louis of Orleans) fled the city. However, the Burgundians now had control of the King, and they arranged to have John made regent to organize the defence of France.

With John's regency now in clear support of the Burgundian party, the Armagnacs felt that their only hope now lay with the English. In 1419, the Armagnacs reached an agreement with the English whereby the English would restore them to power in France in exchange for territorial concessions in Normandy and Brittany. Bernard of Armagnac gathered his supporters in the South, and soon the land between Bourdeaux and Toulouse was under secure Armagnac control. John of Brittany, who was allied with the Armagnac party, but whose power base was far from the Armagnac South, organized his own army to support the English campaigns in the North.

With the English and Armagnacs working together, the relentless advance into French territory continued. Soon the English controlled all of the Channel coast, and by 1425, with John of Brittany's support, the English had taken Nantes, Angers, and Le Mans. The Armagnacs had been able to push through to the Mediterranean at Narbonne, and the loyalist French were forced to fight on two fronts. In 1428 when Paris itself was beseiged by the English army it began to seem that all was lost.

When Paris had been beseiged, John the Dauphin had been away leading an army to the West. King Charles, however, remained trapped in the city itself. This development could have spelled the beginning of the end for the French, as if King Charles had been taken prisoner by the English, his madness may have led him to give away territory or even the crown itself to the English in exchange for peace. However, luckily for the French, and especially lucky for John the Dauphin, King Charles himself was killed during the seige. A common soldier by the name of François Leronde, who is now remembered as one of the heroes of the war, was able to sneak through the English lines, and rode for days on end in order to bring the message to John that his father was dead and that he was now King. Thus, in 1429, John III was crowned King of France.

 

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New map - France during hundred years' war

This is France upon coronation of King John III - 1429

 

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Chapter 13 – The Great Council of Munster

Chapter 13 – The Great Council of Munster

The early reign of Lui II was a time of much turmoil in the Kingdom of Munster. Lui II's young age and inexperience meant that many of the discontented in the Kingdom decided to use the opportunity to revolt. A good deal of this discontent was due to the unsatisfactory outcome of the War of 1419. Many of the Gaelic traditionalists blamed the failure of Munster's campaign on FitzGerald's generalship, claiming that, being of Norman descent, he had taken it easy on his fellow Normans. On the other side were the reformers who believed that it was the Munster army's failure to adopt innovations such as cannons that had prevented victory.

Lui II, like his grandfather and namesake, was very much a supporter of reform. His first actions as King were to support such reforms, putting a motion before the Council to purchase cannons for the Munster army. His motion passed with the support of Limerick, Galway and the Earl of Cork, although it was strongly opposed by Thomond and Old Desmond. The Mac Carthys of Old Desmond in particular were enraged by what they saw as Norman control of their Council. The Earldom of Cork was led by Earls of Norman descent, and the Mayors of both Limerick and Galway were, at the time, both Norman (although they were fluent in Gaelic, which they spoke at the council). While the Normans were a minority, even in the cities, they formed a majority of the merchant classes who held power in the Free Citites.

Soon, armed rebellions had risen up in Old Desmond, and to a lesser extend Thomond, demanding that the Gaels should hold a majority of the votes on the Council, as it was, after all, a Gaelic Kingdom. While the King was able to put down these rebellions, it was clear that something must be done to satisfy the Gaelic traditionalist. At the same time, the people of Cork and Waterford began demanding their own votes on the Council. While none of these rebellions ever seriously threatened the King's person or his hold on power, they were numerous enough that Lui II knew that something must be done.

Thus, in 1423, the Council was expanded and reformed. Its mandate was expanded to include not just military matters, but it was given the powers of legislation and taxation as well (thus it became referred to by the English as the Munster Parliament). The seats were redistributed in what was seen as a more equitable manner. The cities of Limerick, Galway, Cork and Waterford were each given two seats on the Council: one Norman and one Gael. The King was given a separate seat, while New Desmond's seat became traditionally held by the next in line for the throne (until Lui's son Dougal came of age, it was held by his younger brother Donal). In addition to the seats held by the Dukes Thomond, Old Desmond, and New Desmond, and the Earl of Cork, seven additional seats were added to be elected from amongst the nobles of the three Duchies and one Earldom – two per Duchy and one for the Earldom of Cork. This made a council with 20 seats in total.

Lui's reforms to the Great Council helped balance out the various competing interests in his Kingdom. A Gaelic majority was almost guaranteed as the three Dukes, and at least 4 of the six elected seats from the Duchies were always held by Gaels. The rural nobles controlled more seats than the cities, but, if the cities were able to gain the support of the Norman nobles form the Earldom of Cork and at least one other vote (which they often did when supporting Lui's reforms) they could form a majority. Lui's key accomplishment was in obtaining majority support of Councillors while still maintaining a council which was majority Gaelic and majority Nobles.

 

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Chapter 14 – Lui II of Munster

Chapter 14 – Lui II of Munster

Lui himself was a reformer, but was more of a Gaelophile than his grandfather. While he made key steps to modernize the military - which had changed little since it was centralized at the beginning of Lui I's reign – he also made sure never to adopt a given policy simply because it was the one adopted by England and France. The main difference between Lui II and Lui I, though, was the view that they took towards England.

Lui I had been educated in Italy and France and had idealized France to the detriment of England. He saw England as the biggest threat to Munster's independence and thus made every effort to be like France as he saw France as the only true threat to England. Like most of the other Gaelic Kings in the 1590s, Lui I had sworn fealty to Richard II of England to avoid being crushed by Richard's armies, but, also like most of the other Gaelic Kings, Lui I never really meant it.

Lui II on the other hand saw an alliance with England as the only way to avoid annihilation. n the 1420s it looked like even France couldn't stand up to England. Lui II hoped that, by becoming a vassal of England, the Kingdom of Munster could avoid being crushed.

Thus, once his country had stabilized and revolts were less common, Lui II started building diplomatic ties with the Norman Lords of Ireland and with England herself. He made a non-aggression pact with the Normans of Ireland, and paid homage to Henry V of England. He secured a marriage with a daughter of the Earls of Kildare, and arranged for his own younger sister to be married off to an English Lord. He even offerred to hire out a portion of his army to Henry V to fight in France. While he made it clear that Munster couldn't afford to pay for a war overseas, he knew that Henry was suffering from a lack of manpower, so figured he would be interested in hiring Irish mercenaries. This also provided an opportunity for Lui's army to learn from the English about both general matters of strategy and also how to make use of handguns and cannons.

While many of the Normans of the Kingdom of Munster were pleased with Lui's decision to support England, most of the Gaels were not. Revolts again became common during the early 1430s. However, the existence of the Great Council meant that much of the energy which could have been used for armed revolt was instead directed into arguments during Council sessions. By 1436, the Council had successfully forced Lui to withdraw his troops from France, although, by then it was clear that the English were attempting to find a diplomatic solution to the war, so the troops were not missed too much. Thus, Lui was able to walk the fine line between offending the English and defying the will of the Council. This art of making such a fine balance was something Lui would perfect through the rest of his reign.

 

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Chapter 15 – War Comes to Antwerp

Chapter 15 – War Comes to Antwerp

When Henry V died on the battlefield in 1433, his son Henry VI then came to power. At this point in the war in was clear that things were no longer going the way of the English. The seige of Paris had been relieved in 1430. With the crowning of King John, the Armagnacs had began to see more and more dissent within their own ranks, and, in 1432 Bernard of Armagnac had reached an agreement with King John. Bernard recognized John as King in exchange for John recognizing the legitimacy of his younger brother Charles. At this point, Queen Jacqueline had already given John a daughter and a son, so, provided the son survived, Charles would be out of the line of succession. With the Armagnacs switching sides, the English were having difficulty holding their gains and had already lost their territory in Aquitaine.

Thus the strategy taken by Henry VI (who, as he was still a teenager, left many decisions to his advisors) was to push for a diplomatic solution. It had become clear that King John wanted to drive the English into the sea, and would not be willing to negotiated unless the English were willing to give up all their mainland possessions. However, the new Duke of Burgundy, Charles, was less committed to fight to the end. Charles' territory in the Low Countries was vulnerable to English attack, and had been suffering as their trade had been cut off by an English blockade. England and Brabant were technically not yet at war, but only because the English had had no desire to open another front, and the Brabant army were not willing to fight to defend Charles' French possessions.

So, in 1434, Henry launched a new campaign with an invasion of Brabant. He pulled much of his army out of Normandy and marched through Picardie and Flanders to cross the Schelt and beseige Antwerp. Brabant was unprepared for war, and the reinforcements from Holland, Hainaut, and Luxemburg were not enough. By 1436, the English army had taken Antwerp and Brussels and were beseiging Breda.

However, such progress came at a cost. Henry had left most of the English-held land in Normandy poorly defended, and the French army had pushed them back almost to the Sea. In the campaign season of 1437, many English regiments were trapped between the French and the coast, and were forced to surrender as ships to evacuate them by sea couldn't come in time. This combined with high casualty rates in the Low Countries created a sever manpower shortage for England, and, by 1439, it was clear that the English were in no position to hang on to Normandy.

Brittany, however, proved much more resilient. The Duke had chosen to remain allied with the English even when Armagnac switched sides, and the Breton troops had stayed in place when the English troops in Normandy had been sent to the Low Countries. Thus, while in 1440 the English were retreating in Normandy and Flanders, the French campaign in Brittany was making little progress.

In 1442, Charles of Burgundy finally convinced King John to negotiate peace. The English were willing to give up Normandy and Flanders and renounce all claims to Aquitaine. Brittany, however, the English wanted to keep. The Duke of Brittany was willing to become a vassal of England rather than France, and the French were willing to part with a territory that was not all that important economically, and was also rather prone to revolt. Thus, at the end of the Hundred Years' War, England was left without Normandy, without Aquitaine, and without Calais, but with Brittany.

This peace settlement, while it was acceptable to both Henry and John, was seen as inadequate to many of the English lords who had spent years fighting in France and the Low Countries. They questioned Henry's decision to invade Brabant, and were disappointed with his leadership. These discontented lords eventually discovered that there was another who had a claim to the throne, a descendent of Lionel of Antwerp's daughter Phillipa. This discontent began a series of conflicts which later became known as the Wars of the Crown.

 

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Chapter 16 – The Great Irish War

Chapter 16 – The Great Irish War

Lui II's support of England was the end of the alliance between the Mac Dougal's of Munster and the O'Neill's of Ulster. The two Kingdoms had already been growing apart, as Ulster was a traditionalist, rural, Gaelic state, while Munster was becoming increasingly urbanized, cosmopolitan, tolerant, and modernizing. However, until Lui II's reign, the two Kingdoms had seen themselves in natural alliance against the Hiberno-Norman lords and their English King. With Lui II supporting the English, the O'Neills began to pursue a deeper alliance with the Kingdom of Scotland.

While Scotland had been caught in a series of succession disputes for most of the early 15th century, by 1432, they had stabilized enough to think about matters outside their own borders. England was caught in a war in France which was keeping them occupied, so Scotland was looking for ways to take advantage of English weakness. King Robert of Scotland knew that an attack on England directly would be suicide, as the army would be recalled from France to defend the home country, but he thought that perhaps English possessions in Ireland could be taken more easily. Thus, Robert forged an alliance with the O'Neills of Ulster, agreeing to recognize the O'Neills as High Kings of Ireland, and help defend them against the English, if they could successfully drive out the Norman lords.

Thus in 1438, a Scottish army landed in Dundalk and joined the Ulster army in a seige of Dublin. This time, the O'Neills prevailed, and Dublin fell before the end of the campaign season. The Norman lords sent a request for military aid to London, but were met with a reply that no troops could be spared until peace had been made with France. Munster was also asked for support, but Lui II replid that he could do nothing without the support of the Council (who were unwilling to take sides at this time). Thus the Normans were left with no choice but to sign a truce with the O'Neills, temporarily giving up Dublin in the hopes that English reinforcements could arrive soon.

But Hugh O'Neill were not willing to settle for Dublin. He had been crowned High King with Scottish support, but most of the island was unwilling to bow down to him. Thus he decided that he must conquer the rest of Eire by force. Connacht, the weakest of the Gaelic states, was the next to be attacked. In 1441 the Ulster/Scottish army invaded Connacht, demanding that the O'Connors submit themselves to High King O'Neill. The Connacht army was no match for even the Ulster army alone, and soon Roscommon itself was under seige.

But, while the Council of Munster was unwilling to go to war to support the Normans, supporting the O'Connors was another matter entirely. Not only was the King of Connacht the uncle of Lui II, everyone in Munster saw that if Connacht fell, Munster would be next. Thus, in 1442 the Army of Munster was mobilized, and sent North to retake Connacht.

The Great Irish War was long and bloody. While the combined armies of Munster and Connacht could easily have defeated that of Ulster alone, Ulster still had a good part of the Scottish army fighting alongside, and Connacht had lost almost half their army in the campaigns of 1441. Roscommon was taken and retaken seven times during the course of the war, and it wasn't until 1445 that the O'Neills had been pushed out of Connacht.

The real turning point in the Great Irish War was Henry VI's decision to send troops to Ireland in 1446. The Normans had re-entered the war two years prior, taking some pressure off the fighting in Connacht, but weren't able to retake Dublin, due to improvements in the fortifications made by the Scots. Henry decided to lead the campaign in Ireland himself, and landed in Wexford with his army in the summer of 1446.

1447 was the year of great victories by England and Munster. Dublin fell to the English in June, and soon the O'Neills had been pushed back to Dundalk. The Battle of Kells in August 1447 was one of the most famous of the Irish War. The English had taken control of the Abbey in July, and King Henry himself was visiting the Abbey when the O'Neills launched a surprise attack. The English were beseiged inside the Abbey until Munster troops, led by King Lui himself, arrived to lift the seige. It turned out that the Ulster force which had attacked the Abbey had been in the process of retreating from Connacht, and had been pursued by Lui, and finally defeated outside the gates of Kells.

King Henry always remembered that it was the army of Munster that had saved him. The Battle of Kells was the first time that Henry VI and Lui II had met as adults (when Lui II had travelled to London to pay homage to Henry V, Henry VI had still been a chile), and they grew to like each other soon after. Henry would always remember that it had been Lui that had defeated the O'Neills at Kells, and Lui would become one of Henry's key supporters in the Wars of the Crown that would follow.

By the end of 1448, Ulster had finally been defeated. Once it was clear that this was a war that they couldn't win, the Scots gave up on Ulster and sought peace with England. Without Scottish support, the Ulster army was no match for the English and Munster armies, and they soon fell. The O'Neills were stripped of their land, and Henry named Lui's younger brother Donal King of Ulster. While the Norman Lords resented Henry's decision not to appoint one of them, Henry knew that a Gael would have an easier time governing Ulster than a Norman.

While Henry tried to legitimize Donal Mac Dougal's Kingship by having him marry a daughter of Hugh O'Neill, his lack of understanding of the system of Tanistry that governed succession only increased discontent amongst the people of Ulster. Donal lacked much of Lui's talent for striking a balance between competing interests, and for many years Ulster was plagued by many revolts that were only put down with the help of the Munster army.

In January 1449, while Henry was still working on restoring order to Ireland, he received word from London. Richard, Duke of Clarence, with the support of Parliament and a number of nobles, had taken control of the city, and had taken Henry's family prisoner. Henry's mother Margaret, had declared Henry to be an illegitimate child: a product of an affair she'd had while Henry V had been campaigning in France. Richard had married Henry's sister Mary and had crowned himself King Richard III. The Wars of the Crowns had begun.

 

[telynk]

Chapter 17 – The House of Clarence

Chapter 17 – The House of Clarence

The House of Clarence had its origins with Lionel of Antwerp who was named Duke of Clarence in 1362. Lionel was the second son of King Edward III, and his daughter Phillipa became heir to the throne as Richard II, grandson of Edward III by his first son, had no children or siblings. Phillipa died before Richard, and her son, Roger Mortimer inherited her claim to the throne. As there were still hopes that Richard would sire an heir, Roger Mortimer didn't take his claim serious, and spent most of his time acting as King's lieutenant in Ireland, far from London.

Henry Bolingbroke Duke of Lancaster, and Edward III's grandson by his third son John of Gaunt was one amongst many who were dissatisfied with Richard II's rule.Bolingbroke was also next in line for the throne after Mortimer. Thus, when Bolingbroke led a revolt with the support of many nobles, he was named King Henry IV when Richard was deposed.

At the time of Henry IV's coronation in 1399, Roger Mortimer was missing in Ireland, and was thought to be dead. However, within a year, Mortimer had returned at the head of a small army, demanding to recognized as the rightful King. In actuality, Mortimer knew that he didn't have the talent to be a successful monarch, and knew that, if he ascended to the throne, he would be deposed just as Richard had. In public he claimed the throne, but, in private letters, he had pledged to Henry that he would be willing to give up his claim in exchange for certain concessions. Roger would recognize Henry as the rightful heir, and in exchange, Roger would be allowed to inherit his grandfather's title of Duke of Clarence, and would obtain a position at court close to the King.

Thus, for fifty years, the House of Lancaster reigned in England with the rule of Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI. The prevalent view at the time was the the Clarentist claim to the throne had been given up by Roger Mortimer, and the rule of the House of Lancaster seemed secure. While many revolts arose aimed at putting Roger Mortimer, then his son Edmund, on the throne, none of them had the assent of the Mortimers, who were satisfied with their title as Dukes of Clarence.

Everything changed with the death of Edmund Mortimer in 1444. Edmund's firstborn son Richard was rebellious and ambitious, and had spent much of his childhood around Edward, son of the Duke of York. The Duke of York had led a rebellion in 1427, which had aimed at putting Edmund Mortimer on the throne. The rebellion had failed, and York's titles had been stripped, but in young Richard's mind, the idea that he had a claim to the throne had stuck.

Thus with the widespread dissatisfaction with the outcome of the war in France, and with Henry VI's departure for Ireland, many nobles started discussing ways of putting Richard on the throne. By 1447, plans had been made regarding the Royal family (who were already under guard by troops commanded by the “trusted” Duke of Clarence), and the only sticking point was Parliament, which would have to approve the succession for it to have any legitimacy.

In 1448, when news came that Henry had appointed Donal Mac Dougal King of Ulster, the Clarentists saw their opportunity. They described the appointment as the King willingly ceding territory to the same Gaels whom he had just defeated. They argued that the King had betrayed England by spilling English blood only to surrender territory once the war had been won. It was then that the allegations of Henry's illegitimacy were unveiled. While these allegations were clearly seen to be baseless by the educated classes, they served to provide a reason for Henry's disinheritance in the eyes of the masses. With Richard's marriage to Mary of Lancaster, he now had the support of both the Lancastrian and Clarentist claims to the throne.

To Richard III, the next course of action was clear. Henry himself must be captured and killed, followed by his children, who were already imprisoned. However, he knew that he could not leave London to pursue Henry, as his grasp on power was tenuous at best, so he waiting, hoping that Henry would choose to attack.

 

[telynk]

Chapter 18 – The Campaign of 1449

Chapter 18 – The Campaign of 1449

Henry VI, in his youth, was a hotheaded, stubborn, ruler, who rarely listened his advisors. While he had been told before he left London that Richard had coveted the throne, he had refused to send Richard away or bring him with him to Irish, and had left Richard with much power and influence in parliament. Similarly, when he was advised by his loyal generals that he should stay in Ireland as, if he was killed in battle, there would be no one left to challenge the pretender. However, Henry, stubborn as usual, decided that he had to challenge Richard immediately, before his power could be consolidated.

While the Parliament in Westminster and most of the South of England supported Richard, many in the North remained loyal to Henry and the Lancastrians. Many of these Northern lords were joined by Lancastrian loyalists fleeing from London, and an army was gathered at Lancaster. Henry sailed across the Irish Sea to lead the Lancastrian army towards London.

The Lancastrian army met little resistance, and by midsummer 1449 Henry had arrived in Coventry. However, by this time, Richard had raised his own army, and left London to meet Henry on the field of battle. The battle was met North of Oxford. While the Lancastrian army was more numerous, Richard's Clarentist army had only one target: Henry himself. When Henry was hit in his arm by an arrow, and knocked from his horse, the Lancastrians had to break formation to protect him while he could be removed from the battle. The Lancastrians were forced to retreat to Coventry so that Henry could receive medical attention.

After the Battle of Oxford the morale of the Lancastrian army was broken. While another loyalist army advancing from Cambridge forced Richard's army to withdraw to London, the doctors proclaimed that Henry was not fit to campaign. Henry decided it was better to live to fight another day. When Richard's army was victorious at the battle of Berkhamstead, and a Clarentist army loyal to the Duke of York was assembled in the Northeast, the Lancastrians decided a retreat was necessary. They Lancastrians fled to Gloucester, where many boarded ships for Ireland.

While Henry and the most important Lancastrian lords crossed St. George's Channel to Waterford, many Lancastrian soldiers and knights were not able to find passage on a ship. Many of them continued to Wales, where they took up residence in the hills. They survived by raiding local manors and farms, and were not chased out of the hills until the Wars of the Crown came to an end fifty years later.

With Henry and most Lancastrian forces withdrawing to Ireland, Richard began to consolidate his power. The lands and titles of Lancastrian loyalists were attained and distributed amongst Clarentist supporters. Henry's wife and children, imprisoned in the Tower of London, were executed so that if Henry were to die from his wound, he would have no heir to succeed him, and envoys were sent to Scotland and France to encourage them to recognise Richard as the new King.

 

[telynk]

Chapter 19 – Burgundy and France

Chapter 19 – Burgundy and France

John III, King of France, and Charles the Wise, Duke of Burgundy had been strong allies during the war with England. Charles' farther John had been an advisor of King John in his youth, and the King's cooperation with the Burgundians had been necessary to end the civil war and present a united front to England. However, now that the war was over, the two began to agree less and less.

One of the key points of disagreement was the relationship between Duke and King. Charles, who possessed many territories in the Holy Roman Empire in addition to the Duchy of Burgundy in France, had much more independence under the Emporer than he did under the King. The various Duchies of the Holy Roman Empire were more or less independent statelets, and Charles felt that the Duchy of Burgundy should be ruled in the same way.

John on the other hand, believed that, to rule effectively as King, he needed to centralize control over his entire Kingdom. The Duchy of Brittany had recently become part of England because it had been allowed enough independence that it sided with England against France. Thus John felt that, by allowing Burgundy any degree of independence, he was creating opportunity for another civil war.

The one thing he two agreed upon was that the Duke's status as a vassal of France was not tenable in the long run. King John wanted to attain Charles' lands and title, but knew that he couldn't do so without angering many other nobles, and would risk another civil war. Charles wanted sovereignty over his own lands, and to rule a truly independent Duchy, although he knew that this would also not be possible without war.

In the end, the two worked out a compromise. Queen Jacqueline was heiress to Hainaut, Holland and Zeeland: territories which were economically tied to Burgundy's Brabant and Flanders. While these lands were not yet in personal union with France, they would be upon John's son Charles' ascent to the throne. John was willing to give up these territories as he did not like being subject to the Holy Roman Emperor in Hainaut and Holland while being a rival of the Emperor in France.

Thus, in 1447, Charles agreed to give up the Duchy of Burgundy and all adjacent territory in exchange for Holland, Zeeland and Hainaut. While Charles was still subject to the King of France in part of the Duchy of Flanders, he now controlled more territory in the Empire. Jacqueline was initially resistant to giving up her inheritance, although the marriage of her daughter Madeleine to Burgundy's son Phillip, and the condition that Holland, Zeeland and Hainaut would be passed to Madeleine and her new husband if Phillip were to die without issue.

Thus, the Burgundian Netherlands were formed. A large triangle of territory from Holland to Flanders and inland to Namur were now under control of the House of Burgundy. While these lands would not be politically unified for another century, the economic integration of the Burgundian territory began in the 1450s and 1460s. The port of Antwerp increased in importance as smaller ports such as Amsterdam and Den Haag directed much of their trade through Antwerp rather than trading directly with England or France. At the same time, industries in the cities of Hainaut, Holland, and Zeeland grew as they gained access to a larger market. An era of prosperity in the Low Countries had began.

 

[telynk]

Chapter 20 – The Union of Ireland

Chapter 20 – The Union of Ireland

Henry VI was able to recover from his wound, although he lost his left arm in the process. As he recovered, he began to become more and more aware of the political situation in Ireland. While the Norman and Gaelic rulers of various pieces of Ireland were all nominally his vassals, they had been fighting amongst themselves for almost a hundred years. If Henry was to be able to raise enough support in Ireland to retake his throne in England, the island would need to unite behind him. While the Norman Lords were likely to be willing to do so, convincing the Gaels to support a war in England would be much more difficult.

In the fall of 1451, Henry called a meeting of all Norman and Gaelic lords in Dublin (all members of the Great Council of Munster were invited: the middle-class city representatives as well as the nobles). While rebuilding the city that had been devastated by a decade of war, Henry had ordered the construction of a new, larger parliament building. It was in this building that the various representatives met.

In his speech to the representatives, Henry began by recalling the devastation of the war that had just ended. He called on all present to make sure that no such war happened in the future, and presented a proposal for how to guarantee a secure future for Ireland. He portrayed the Great War of Ireland, and played up the risk of an invasion by the Clarentist army from England. He explained how the Clarentist uprising had been sparked by the appointment of a Gael as King of Ulster, and that the Gaels and Normans alike would be better off with Lancastrian support.

He explained that while he had supporters and and army that had escaped with him from England, he did not have the resources to pay and feed his army alone. He admitted that he had no right to tax the Irish without their consent, but that if if the Irish were willing to support him, he would bequeath his army to Ireland: to defend the island against Scots and English. When he heard agreement from the assembled representatives, he began his proposal.

Ireland would be divided into five Kingdoms. The Kingdom of Meath, created from “the Pale” around Dublin (which had recently been recaptured from the O'Neills by Henry's army) would be ruled by Henry, and be inherited by his descendants. The Kingdom of Leinster, consisting of the territory controlled by the Normans, would be ruled from the Kilkenny, which had served as the de facto capital since the fall of Dublin. The Norman nobles would be allowed to elect their own King from amongst their own ranks. Henry also officially recognized the independence of the Kingdoms of Munster, Connacht, and Ulster, although a significant amount of territory that had been held by Ulster before the war was now transferred to Connacht and Leinster.

To prevent war between the Five Kingdoms, an Irish Parliament would be created to adjudicate disputes between the Kingdoms. While each Kingdom would have full sovereignty over their own internal affairs, border disputes and other conflicts would be decided by the Parliament. To back up its authority, the Army of the Union of Ireland would be created from the Lancastrian army with contributions of additional troops from each Kingdom. The Parliament would have the authority to tax the various Kingdoms to support the army. The Parliament and Army of the Union would be based out of Dublin, although each Kingdom also maintained its own army.

Thus, with the adoption of Henry's proposal, the first Parliament of the Union of Ireland began. While Henry is often credited with the creation of the Union of Ireland, many historians believe that the real mastermind behind the Union of Ireland was Lui II of Munster. Lui had visited Henry a number of times during his recovery, and the two had spent many days engaged in private conversation. Henry was grateful to Lui for the rest of his life, and credited Lui with saving the House of Lancaster.

To help further cement ties between Munster and Meath, Henry married Lui's daughter Brighid in 1452. After the death of his family at the hands of Richard III, and his own wounding, Henry in dire need of an heir to take up the banner of Lancaster if he was himself to fall. By the time the Wars of the Crown heated up again in 1461, Henry had two daughters and a son by Brighid.

 

[telynk]

Chapter 21 – Richard the Tyrant

Chapter 21 – Richard the Tyrant

Richard III was known as one of the most ruthless monarchs to ever rule England. When he executed Henry VI's family in order to eliminate them from the line of succession, he set a precedent that continued for the rest of his reign. His heavy-handed techniques used for dealing with those he suspected may challenge his rule, alienated many who had initially supported him. Armed revolts in various parts of England were common during Richard's reign, but he put them down as easily as they sprung up.

Richard's relationship with parliament was often tense, but open conflict never erupted. While Richard knew that he needed parliament's support to govern, most parliamentarians knew that they couldn't oppose Richard without risk of being tried for treason. Thus, Richard never tried to force unpopular legislation through parliament, and parliament never tried to block anything Richard supported.

Richard's marriage to Mary of Lancaster turned out to cause him more harm than good. Mary never produced an heir for Richard. Many later accounts state that she was taking contraceptive herbs, although how she obtained them without Richard's knowledge is a mystery. If Mary hadn't been part of Richard's claim to the throne, he probably wouldn't have executed her in the early 1450s, but, Richard knew that disposing of her could be more trouble than it was worth.

In 1460 matters began to come to a head. Richard and Mary had been married for ten years without issue, and Richard was concerned that he would have no heir to succeed him. While it is not clear whether Richard had been violent toward Mary in the past, in May of 1460, Richard's brother Edward stumbled upon Mary when she was recovering from a beating she had received at Richard's hands. Disgusted by his behaviour, Edward offered to protect Mary, and escorted her out of the Tower, intending to bring her to his own London home.

When Richard found out what was going on, he sent soldiers to pursue and capture Edward and Mary. However, the soldiers were met by an angry mob of Londoners who had heard how King Richard had mistreated the Queen. While Edward and Mary escaped the city, fighting was breaking out in the streets.

Soon the Clarentist nobles had split into rival factions. Those who remained loyal to Richard worked to restore order in London, while many, seeing that Richard was having difficulty maintaining order in the city, decided to support Edward instead. Edward Duke of York, one of the most important supporters of Richard's claim to the throne, now began to call on Richard to abdicate in favour of his younger brother.

By early fall, both Richard and Edward had raised an army. Richard had restored order in Londo to a large extent, and decided to leave the city to try to capture Edward and Mary in Cambridge The two armies battled outside of Cambridge, and Richard's army prevailed, although Richard's army was suffering from a good deal of dissent within its own ranks as many were unwilling to fight for such a tyrant as Richard.

After the Battle of Cambridge, Edward's army retreated to Yorkshire, where the Duke of York had more troops available. Richard was forced to return to London to put down riots that had sprung up again. Soon winter fell, and Richard decided to wait on pursuing Edward until the spring. But, by springtime, things would become more complicated as the Lancastrians re-entered the picture.

 

[telynk]

Ok, I've been doing a lot of writing for this thread, and, as much as I like writing, I'm not particularly interested in writing material that no one is reading.... And I haven't gotten any comments on this in ages. So, I'm having a couple thoughts.

1) I'm probably prioritizing quantity too much over quality right now. So, I think I'm going to try to write less, but write better.

2) I'm kinda feeling like I'm getting stuck in the 15th century, when the really interesting stuff I really WANT to write about is 16th/17th/18th century material. So I'm thinking I need to re-look at how I want to tackle this TL.

My idea right now is I want to change the format of this a little. I want to create a "framing" story where the TL is discussed from the point of view of a 20th century Fiontirean history student and teacher. My hope is rather than to treat things in chronological order, to treat causes and effects together and to skip parts of history I want to gloss over. Thus when talking about the 16th century founding of New Limerick, I can also talk about the events leading up to an Irish fishing presence in the New World at the time.

Anyways, my main reason for writing this post is that I want COMMENTS! Is there anyone out there who is reading this? If you are, do you like the way I've been writing it? If you don't like the way I've been writing it, do you thinking my suggested changes might improve it? Please respond, as I really don't like writing into a vacuum....

 

[Mackon]

Cant believe I missed this thread for so long. very interesting and entertaining timeline. One thing that strikes me is the disappearance of Ceara and her son, they seemed set to be if not major players than at least influential

 

[telynk]

Yay! Comments.
OK, good to hear that at least someone likes it. Ceara and her son will be back. Well, actually it's her granddaughter who will be more important than her son. She is the first in a line of powerful women... i have that bit written i just haven't posted it yet....

 

[MFOM]

If i recall correctly one of the more important towns in Cork in that period of time was Youghal in East Cork, as i remember it was very involved in the salted herring trade, indeed up until the harbor silted and the fish dried up, it was in many ways more important in economic terms then Cork city. That and the First Jewish person to hold the office of Mayor in the British Isles was Mayor of Youghal 1555 i think.

 

[Mackon]

Maybe some cross-pollination of ship construction/design methods with the importation of the Caravel and general traffic to Iceland?