References and Further Reading
Wasserschleben, F. W. Die irische Kanonensammlung.2nd ed.,
lib. 45 (“De questionibus mulierum”), xlvi (“De ratione
matrimonii”). Leipzig, 1885.
Thurneysen, R. “Cáin lánamna: die Regelung der Paare.” In
Studies in Early Irish Law, edited by R. Thurneysen and
D.A. Binchy, pp. 1–80. Dublin, 1936.
Ó Corráin, D. “Irish Law and Canon Law.” In Irland und
Europa: die Kirche im Frühmittelalter/ Ireland and Europe:
The Early Church, edited by P. Ní Chatháin and M. Richter,
pp. 157–166. Stuttgart, 1984.
Ó Corráin, D. “Marriage in Early Ireland.” In Marriage in
Ireland, edited by A. Cosgrove, pp. 5–24. Dublin, 1985.
Kelly, F. A Guide to Early Irish Law. Dublin, 1988.
Reynolds, P. L. Marriage in the Western Church: The Chris-
tianization of Marriage during the Patristic and Early Medi-
eval Periods. Leiden, 1994.
Ó Corráin, D. “Women and the Law in Early Ireland.” In Chat-
tel, Servant or Citizen, edited by M. O’Dowd and S. Wichert,
pp. 46–57. 1995.
Jaski, B. “Marriage Laws in Ireland and on the Continent in the
Early Middle Ages.” In The Fragility of her Sex?, edited by
C. Meek and K. Simms, pp. 14–42. Dublin, 1996.
Tatsuki, A. “The Early Irish Church and Marriage: An Analysis
of the Hibernensis.” Peritia15 (2001): 195–207.
See alsoBrehon Law; Canon Law; Law Tracts;
Penitentials
MARSHAL
Marshal family, earls of Pembroke and lords of Striguil
and Leinster, were prominent in Ireland in the late
twelfth and early thirteenth centuries after William I
Marshal (d. 1219) married Strongbow’s heiress, Isabel
de Clare, in 1189.
Perhaps the most influential family in Ireland and
England, the Marshals epitomize that type of Anglo-
Norman noble—common in Ireland in this period—
whose lands were scattered across the dominions of the
king of England. As such, the Marshals brought the
Irish lordship onto the main stage of English politics.
William I Marshal, regent for Henry III, is reputed to
have suggested using Leinster as a refuge for the king
from the threat of civil war and French invasion. When
William’s eldest son, William II (d. 1231) countered
Hugh II de Lacy in his attempt to regain the earldom
of Ulster in 1223–1224, he was in fact tackling a con-
federation that embraced both sides of the Irish sea and
included de Lacy’s ally, the Welsh prince Llywelyn ab
Iorwerth. The most notorious intrusion of English pol-
itics onto an Irish stage is the case of Richard Marshal
(d. 1234), brother and heir of William II. Richard had
opposed Henry III’s foreign favoritism and fled to
Leinster in 1234 where he was murdered, almost cer-
tainly with the king’s connivance. The murder shocked
the English political community, and Henry III had
hastily to distance himself from any involvement.
Given their importance, the attention that the
Marshals paid Ireland is remarkable. The family’s
interest there should perhaps be linked to the loss of
Normandy in 1204, after which Leinster was seen as
an alternative source of revenue. William I spent con-
siderable periods in Ireland from 1207. He risked cen-
sure from King John in 1210 for harboring the king’s
enemy William de Braose, but was not deprived of his
estates, and in 1212 Marshal declared his allegiance
to the king, to whom he remained steadfastly loyal
throughout the Magna Carta crisis.
It has been suggested that the Marshals were leaders
in Ireland of a party that wished to make their estates
profitable through the expropriation of the native Irish.
The king’s consent to this project has been interpreted
as a reward for the declaration of loyalty of 1212. Such
an interpretation requires some modification. Firstly,
the Gaelic Irish had been undermined by royal charters
as early as John’s expedition to Ireland in 1185. The
policy, therefore, was not an innovation. Moreover, the
Marshals had close relations with the native Irish.
William I’s wife was the product of a mixed marriage
between Strongbow and the daughter of Diarmait Mac
Murchada. Moreover, in 1226, the Gaelic annals
refer to William II as the “personal friend” of Áed
UaConchobair, claimant to the kingship of Connacht.
The family, therefore, was neither the originator nor the
perpetuator of an aggressive racial policy against the
native Irish.
That is not to say that they did not attempt to profit
from involvement in Ireland. Marshal died in 1219 and
was succeeded by his son, William II. Both father and
son encouraged the economic development of Leinster
through the towns of Kilkenny and New Ross, and they
administered their lordship from their castles at Carlow,
Dunamase, Kildare, Kilkenny, and Wexford. The profit
accruing from Leinster had long concerned the crown.
Prince John attempted to prevent William I from gain-
ing possession of Leinster after 1189 but was under-
mined by King Richard I who interceded on the
Marshals’ behalf. Even so, Marshal was constantly
harried in Ireland by John’s justiciar, Meiler fitz Henry,
until a settlement was reached in 1208. At William II’s
death in 1231, Henry III similarly attempted to prevent
Richard Marshal from gaining his lands in Ireland.
Following Richard’s murder in 1234, Henry III did
not dare to deny his heir control of Leinster. Leinster
passed to Richard’s brothers, Gilbert (d. 1241), Walter
(d. 1245), and Anselm (d. 1245), who each died child-
less. These deaths profoundly affected Ireland. Leinster
was divided between the five daughters of William I,
and some of the greatest noble houses in England
became entangled through marriage with Ireland.
Carlow descended to the Bigod earls of Norfolk,
Kilkenny to the de Clare earls of Gloucester,MARRIAGE