The Treaty of Windsor (1175) was a territorial agreement made during the time of the
Norman invasion of Ireland
The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land from the Irish, over which the kings of Kingdom of England, England then claimed sovereignty ...
. It was signed in
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is a historic market town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British monarch. The town is situated west ...
by King
Henry II of England
Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...
and the Ard Rí or
High King of Ireland
High King of Ireland ( ga, Ardrí na hÉireann ) was a royal title in Gaelic Ireland held by those who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over all of Ireland. The title was held by historical kings and later sometimes assigned an ...
,
Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair
Ruaidrí mac Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair (Modern Irish: Ruairí Ó Conchúir; anglicized as Rory O'Conor) ( – 2 December 1198) was King of Connacht from 1156 to 1186, and High King of Ireland from 1166 to 1198. He was the last High King of I ...
(
Rory O'Connor).
Treaty
Overall, the agreement left O'Connor with a kingdom consisting of Ireland outside the provincial
kingdom of Leinster (as it was then),
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
and a territory from
Waterford
"Waterford remains the untaken city"
, mapsize = 220px
, pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe
, pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe
, pushpin_relief = 1
, coordinates ...
Dungarvan
Dungarvan () is a coastal town and harbour in County Waterford, on the south-east coast of Ireland. Prior to the merger of Waterford County Council with Waterford City Council in 2014, Dungarvan was the county town and administrative centre ...
, as long as he paid tribute to Henry II, and owed
fealty
An oath of fealty, from the Latin ''fidelitas'' ( faithfulness), is a pledge of allegiance of one person to another.
Definition
In medieval Europe, the swearing of fealty took the form of an oath made by a vassal, or subordinate, to his lord. "F ...
to him. All of Ireland was also subject to the new religious provisions of the
papal bull Laudabiliter
''Laudabiliter'' was a bull issued in 1155 by Pope Adrian IV, the only Englishman to have served in that office. Existence of the bull has been disputed by scholars over the centuries; no copy is extant but scholars cite the many references to ...
and the
Synod of Cashel
The Synod of Cashel of 1172, also known as the Second Synod of Cashel,The first being the Synod held at Cashel in 1101 was assembled at Cashel at the request of Henry II of England shortly after his arrival in Ireland in October 1171. The Synod ...
(1172).
O'Connor was obliged to pay one treated cow
hide for every ten cattle. The other "kings and people" of Ireland were to enjoy their lands and liberties so long as they remained faithful to the kings of England, and were obliged to pay their tribute in hides through O'Connor.
The witnesses were
Richard of Ilchester,
Bishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' (except dur ...
;
Geoffrey,
Bishop of Ely;
Laurence O'Toole,
Archbishop of Dublin
The Archbishop of Dublin is an Episcopal polity, archepiscopal title which takes its name after Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Since the Reformation in Ireland, Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one ...
;
William, Earl of Essex;
Justiciar Richard de Luci; Geoffrey de Purtico, Reginald de Courtenea (Courtenay) and three of Henry's court chaplains.
The ''
Annals of Tigernach'' recorded that: "
Cadla Ua Dubthaig came from England from the Son of the Empress, having with him
the peace of Ireland, and the kingship thereof, both Foreigner and Gael, to Ruaidhrí Ó Conchobhair, and to every provincial king his province from the king of Ireland, and their tributes to Ruaidhrí." The Annals also listed the ongoing violence in Ireland at the time.
The Annals of Tigernach
§T1175.17 The text reveals a misunderstanding of the scope of the treaty and the matters agreed by the two kings that soon proved fatal to the peace of Ireland. Henry saw O'Connor as his subordinate within the feudal system
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structu ...
, paying him an annual rent on behalf of all his sub-kings; O'Connor saw himself as the restored High King of Ireland
High King of Ireland ( ga, Ardrí na hÉireann ) was a royal title in Gaelic Ireland held by those who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over all of Ireland. The title was held by historical kings and later sometimes assigned an ...
, subject only to a very affordable annual tribute to Henry.
Treaty Text
Outcomes
The treaty broke down very quickly, as O'Connor was unable to prevent Norman knights carving out new territories on a freelance basis, starting with assaults on Munster
Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following t ...
and Ulaid
Ulaid (Old Irish, ) or Ulaidh (Modern Irish, ) was a Gaelic over-kingdom in north-eastern Ireland during the Middle Ages made up of a confederation of dynastic groups. Alternative names include Ulidia, which is the Latin form of Ulaid, and in ...
in 1177. For his part Henry was by now too distant to suppress them and was preoccupied with events in France. In 1177 he replaced William FitzAldelm
William FitzAldelm, FitzAdelm, FitzAldhelm, or FitzAudelin was a Anglo-Norman nobleman from Suffolk or North Yorkshire. He was the son of Adelm de Burgate, and an important courtier who took part in the Norman invasion of Ireland.
Courtier
In 116 ...
with his 10-year-old son Prince John and named him as Lord of Ireland.
See also
*List of treaties
This list of treaties contains known agreements, pacts, peaces, and major contracts between states, armies, governments, and tribal groups.
Before 1200 CE
1200–1299
1300–1399
1400–1499
1500–1599
1600–1699
1700–1799
...
References
External links
{{wikisource, Treaty of Windsor
1175
History of Berkshire
Windsor, Berkshire
1175 in Ireland
1175 in England
12th-century treaties
Peace treaties of Ireland
Windsor 1175
Treaties of medieval England