y. The counties were ruled by many smaller kings. The first Lord of Ireland was King John, who visited Ireland in 1185 and 1210 and helped consolidate the Norman controlled areas, while at the same time ensuring that the many Irish kings swore fealty to him.the thirteenth century the policy of the English Kings was to weaken the power of the Norman Lords in Ireland. For example King John encouraged Hugh de Lacy to destabilise and then overthrow the Lord of Ulster, before creating him to the Earl of Ulster. The Hiberno-Norman community suffered from a series of invasions that ceased the spread of their settlement and power. Politics and events in Gaelic Ireland served to draw the settlers deeper into the orbit of the Irish.
3.3 The Norman Decline
their superior fighting capability and successful conquests, the Norman colony in Ireland began to decline after 1250 AD. Firstly, there were not enough dedicated Normans to occupy all the land they had acquired. Secondly, after 1216, the Norman Kings back in England had lost interest in Ireland and no longer sent military assistance to defend the Norman Lords in Ireland. Thirdly, the Normans had begun to be 'Irishised' and many had married Irish people and had learned the Irish language and traditions. Lastly, many Normans who had come to seek their fortune on the 'new frontier' became tired of Ireland and left again.more anti-Norman Irish lords began to realise that they had a chance against the Normans again. Aided by hired mercenaries from Scotland, called the 'Gallowglasses', they began to attack the property of the Norman Lords. In 1261, the Normans of Kerry were defeated and the O'Connors defeated the Normans of Connaught in 1270. And in 1274, the Normans of Wicklow were defeated. By 1300, large chunks of Ireland were once again ruled by the Irish Lords. The Norman King did not regard Ireland as strategically important (aside from trading goods) and was not prepared to waste his forces protecting the Normans there.this point, the Norman kingdom consisted only of England and the lands in Ireland. In 1296, however, King Edward 1st of England sought to expand northwards and invaded Scotland. He took control, and removed the Stone of Scone (an important royal treasure of the Scottish Royal family that was finally returned 700 years later in 1996). For 10 years the English-Normans ruled the Scots. In 1306, however, a Scot named Robert Bruce hatched a plot to regain Scottish independence and with help of some Scottish lords, he defeated the English at Bannockburn in 1314. The victorious Robert Bruce then became King of Scotland.Irish Lords in Ulster, O'Neill and O'Donnell, were impressed by this turnaround in Scotland and wondered if Bruce could help them defeat the remaining Normans in Ireland. Robert Bruce knew that the English got many supplies from Ireland so the two sides...
