Irish History Tales - A Chronological History of Ireland from the years 1169 to 1923

In Episode 2.6 of Irish History Tales, John de Courcy faces a northern coalition determined to drive out the Normans. We explore the Second Battle of Down, the sacred relics carried into battle, and what the medieval sources reveal and leave unanswered about the Gaelic defeat.
Then we cross to England for the Council of Oxford in May 1177. With the Treaty of Windsor failing to restrain Norman expansion, Henry makes plans for his ten-year-old son, John, and grants lands in Irish kingdoms his followers have yet to conquer.
From the proposed kingship of Ireland to new responsibilities for Hugh de Lacy and William FitzAldhelm, we examine a settlement that prepares the way for further invasion. Robert Fitzstephen, Milo de Cogan and Philip de Braose now have royal backing to pursue lands around Cork and Limerick bringing the rival kingdoms of Desmond and Thomond into focus.
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In 1177, just weeks after John de Courcy’s dramatic seizure of Downpatrick, another Norman commander looked west.
In Episode 2.5, we follow Milo de Cogan’s invasion of Connacht, launched with a small but highly mobile Norman force and guided by Muirchertach O’Connor, the rebellious son of High King Rory O’Connor.
What followed was one of the most striking defensive campaigns of the early Norman invasion. The Connachtmen burned settlements, destroyed food supplies, removed cattle and denied the invaders the resources they needed to survive. De Cogan pushed as far as Tuam, but after days in hostile territory, the expedition began to unravel.
As the Normans retreated towards the Shannon, Rory O’Connor moved to intercept them — and when the survivors finally escaped Connacht, the High King turned his fury on the son who had brought them there.

The year is 1177, and John de Courcy has launched one of the most audacious campaigns of the Norman invasion of Ireland.
With just over 300 men, de Courcy marches north from Dublin in the depths of winter and seizes Down, modern-day Downpatrick and catching the kingdom of Ulaid completely by surprise.
But Rory MacDunleavy is not prepared to surrender his kingdom without a fight.
In this episode, we follow the dramatic events surrounding the capture of Down, the intervention of papal legate Cardinal Vivian, and the first major battle between de Courcy’s small Anglo-Norman force and the vastly larger army of Ulaid.
Archers, armour, marshland and brutal hand-to-hand fighting combine in a battle that will establish John de Courcy as one of the most formidable figures in our story.
This is the First Battle of Down.

In Episode 2.3, we take a closer look at the ambitious Norman knight John De Courcy and the forces gathering around him in Dublin, and the growing tensions along the northern frontier after the Battle of Slane. We also examine one of the biggest questions surrounding his invasion: did De Courcy actually have King Henry II’s permission to march north?
With the Treaty of Windsor still technically in place and William FitzAldhelm pursuing a cautious royal policy, De Courcy’s plans begin to look increasingly like a private gamble for land, wealth and power.
By the end of January 1177, that gamble was about to begin.

Strongbow is dead, and the Norman colony in Ireland enters a new and uncertain phase.
In 1176, Henry II sends William FitzAldhelm to Ireland to take control of the king’s growing lordship. His arrival brings the remarkable career of Raymond le Gros to an end, while other veterans of the conquest find themselves pushed aside by a new royal administration.
But beyond the Norman settlements, the Gaelic kingdoms are watching and fighting back. When the Normans of Slane launch raids into the surrounding countryside, Máel Sechlainn Mac Lochlainn strikes into Meath. The resulting attack on Slane exposes just how fragile Norman power still is beyond its principal strongholds.
As settlements are attacked and abandoned, another Norman adventurer arrives in Ireland: John de Courcy.
Restless, ambitious and soon to become one of the most extraordinary figures of the conquest, de Courcy is about to turn his attention north.
The struggle for Ireland is entering a new phase.