The Treaty of Windsor (1175) was a territorial agreement made during the time of the

Anglo-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 in Ireland over which the List of English monarchs, monarchs of England then claimed sovere ...

. It was signed in

Windsor, Berkshire Windsor is a historic town 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 Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarch. The town is situated we ...

by King

Henry II of England Henry II () was King of England The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with the ...

and the Ard Rí or

High King of Ireland High King of Ireland ( ) 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 was later sometimes assigned anachronously or to leg ...

Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair Ruaidrí mac Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair (Modern Irish: Ruairí Ó Conchúir; anglicised 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 Ire ...

( Rory O'Connor).

Treaty

Overall, the agreement left O'Connor with a kingdom consisting of Ireland outside the provincial

kingdom of Leinster The Kingdom of Leinster () was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland which existed in the east of the island from the Irish Iron Age until the 17th century Early Modern Ireland. According to traditional Irish history found in the ''Annals of the Four Mast ...

(as it was then),

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and a territory from

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

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 of ...

, as long as he paid tribute to Henry II, and owed

fealty An oath of fealty, from the Latin (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. "Fealty" also r ...

to him. All of Ireland was also subject to the new religious provisions of the

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

Laudabiliter was a papal bull, 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 it a ...

and the

Synod of Cashel The Synod of Cashel of 1172 in Ireland, 1172, also known as the Second Synod of Cashel,The first being the Synod held at Cashel in 1101 in Ireland, 1101. was assembled at Cashel, County Tipperary, Cashel at the request of Henry II of England short ...

(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'' the offic ...

; Geoffrey,

Bishop of Ely The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with ...

; Laurence O'Toole,

Archbishop of Dublin The Archbishop of Dublin () is an Episcopal polity, archiepiscopal title which takes its name from Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Since the Reformation in Ireland, Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: ...

; 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 The ''Annals of Tigernach'' (Abbreviation, abbr. AT, ) are chronicles probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin language, Latin and Old Irish, Old and Middle Irish. Many of the pre-historic entries come f ...

'' 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 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 a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structuring socie ...

, paying him an annual rent on behalf of all his sub-kings; O'Connor saw himself as the restored

, subject only to a very affordable annual tribute to Henry.

Treaty Text

Outcomes

However the Treaty was soon broken. The land-hungry Anglo-Norman lords rapidly began expanding. Henry II himself repudiated the Treaty in 1177 and named his son John as Lord of Ireland. However, John never assumed the position of King of Ireland simply because Henry died suddenly in 1189 and John, being the heir apparent to the English throne became King of England, and as the kingship of England at this time carried with it the ancillary title of ‘Lord of Ireland', and as the Treaty of Windsor had been repudiated by his father, John assumed the titles 'King of England' as well as 'Lord of Ireland', which had the further ''de facto'' effect of denying any claim he had on the Irish kingship. Meaning subsequent claims by the English monarchy to the kingship of Ireland, such as Henry VIII and later kings claimed, were in the opinion of some, rendered illegitimate.

References

External links

{{wikisource, Treaty of Windsor 1175 Medieval Berkshire Windsor, Berkshire 1175 in Ireland 1175 in England 12th-century treaties Peace treaties of Ireland Windsor 1175 Treaties of medieval England Henry II of England

Treaty

Treaty Text

Outcomes

See also

References

External links